• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Does Canada suck now?

JordanN

Banned
I know this sounds like a strange thread to make, especially coming from me, but man, every day I'm starting to wonder what is Canada at this point?

Whereas every other country has something unique or special going for them, I'm getting convinced that Canada now feels like a really bland or uninspired version of the U.S, but with a lot more downsides.

Such as:

Our money is worthless:

Seriously, wtf happened? I remember as a kid, I would carry around both U.S and Canadian 25 cents and when we cashed them in, we would joke that the cashier would take the U.S quarters without noticing.
But now flash forward and our money isn't even worth as much as the U.S anymore and it appears it's getting worse.

QbjVCSH.png


It all looks the same:

Even though I've spent my entire life living in Ontario, I think it's pretty crazy that when I look at other provinces, they all have the exact same layout. Long roads surrounded by strips malls. Or an entire jungle of houses.
That's it. Even though I understand this is the standard in a lot of Western countries, when it comes to Canada that is 99% of what everything looks like.

You take a look at the below screenshot and tell me which town this is? Halifax? Oakville? Winnipeg? Vancouver? The real answer is Markham. But would you even care if you gave a different answer?

HyowMvd.png



Everyone is crowded at the U.S border:

To be fair, this just might be the limitation of our geography. Despite how huge this country is in terms of sheer landmass, there isn't actually a lot of areas suitable for raising farmland.
That said, with the huge amount of people who continue to migrate here every year, it does kinda worry me that there isn't actually an attempt to spread out the population.

Think about it, if an army where to invade this country, all they have to do is take over Toronto or Montreal, and the rest of the country would collapse very easily.

eitqCQ7.gif




Not much [local] entertainment:

This one actually affects me, because my current profession is wanting to make 3D Art for Movies and Games, however, I've done my research a long time ago and basically found that Canada is serioussssssssly underrepresented in terms of having our own thriving movie or game studios.

And while that's not to say there isn't an industry here, the limited offerings combined with a surplus of artists means competition is EXTREMELY fierce.

I remember going to job fairs for doing TV animation and the amount of people applying is huge. You really have to be cut throat to land a job in Canada.

i3leZMY.jpg


Pictured: What a typical Canadian job fair looks like.



Food & Rent are skyrocketing:

If you move to Canada, expect to start paying out the ass now just to eat. It wasn't always like this but fuuuuuuuuuuuuck, I barely don't cook anymore because meat is now expensive.

bTyKIIl.jpg


And renting is even worse. In just about every city, you can only expect $800 a month as the "cheapest" and everywhere else, it's $2,000 a month that is the average. This is on top of working the same jobs found in the U.S but with half the salary.


What is Canada anymore?
1ezYrZC.gif


I ask myself this question everyday. What exactly is Canada? I don't really see any real culture that isn't just people working themselves to death and consuming. That's it. It doesn't feel like Canada no longer has a culture that isn't obsessed with consumerism.

For example, why don't we have a Space Program? Why aren't we sending people to the moon or other planets? We literally border the U.S, I'm sure we could do trade with them or redirect our resources to accomplish our own NASA?

But nah, it feels like the future is just building more and more houses and strip malls and filling them with more people who just go to work or spend their time shopping.
 
Last edited:

Elitist1945

Member
Not sure I can really agree with you. Your points about the urban landscape being boring is fair, but that's just more on the geography and the fact that the majority of the population is along the same area (as you said). And while our dollar may be weaker at the moment, I think it's still generally regarded as being stable and reliable (perhaps more so to investors, banks, etc).

Also doesn't Canada have (one of?) the largest amounts of game studios? We have Ubisoft (which I think is one of largest gaming employers) and EA as well. Sure, a lot of that is concentrated in basically the same metro areas, but it's there.

A lot of the stuff is there, you just gotta look around. I've done some deep dives and research on Canada and different cities out of boredom and have found a lot of interesting information I never knew beforehand.

Glad to live here.
 

JordanN

Banned
Not sure I can really agree with you. Your points about the urban landscape being boring is fair, but that's just more on the geography and the fact that the majority of the population is along the same area (as you said). And while our dollar may be weaker at the moment, I think it's still generally regarded as being stable and reliable (perhaps more so to investors, banks, etc).

Also doesn't Canada have (one of?) the largest amounts of game studios? We have Ubisoft (which I think is one of largest gaming employers) and EA as well. Sure, a lot of that is concentrated in basically the same metro areas, but it's there.

A lot of the stuff is there, you just gotta look around. I've done some deep dives and research on Canada and different cities out of boredom and have found a lot of interesting information I never knew beforehand.

Glad to live here.
While EA and Ubisoft are big employers, they are still foreign companies.

And while they haven't done it yet, when foreign companies come to Canada and don't see immediate success or high profit levels, they do easily shut these places down.

See what happened to Pixar Vancouver, Target Canada, and Futureshop (bought out by Best Buy).

In my eyes, Canada needs to have their own home grown businesses to succeed. Otherwise, we just look like a playground for foreign investors to come into our country and literally call the shots.
 

JordanN

Banned
I should also mention when I talk about the layout looking the same, I'm also talking about architecture design.

If you go to an Asian country like Japan or China, they still have buildings that are Western inspired but they also have their own Asian flair.

6XkWWHx.jpg


Like you look at this and obviously know this is Japanese right away.

But when you look at Canada and you see this you're like "WTF is this?". It's like someone played SimCity and just kept building more tall buildings just because they can.

laSztnG.jpg
 
Last edited:
The canadian dollar being high is abnormal. It tends to be around 75% of the american dollar for a decade or so then it goes above the US dollar for a few years before sinking again.

Canada has been a colony of the USA for a very long time. The vast majority of popular culture is the same (but slightly limited) as south of the border and the only reason it isn't 100% is because the media governing agency forces radio and TV to have Canadian content.

Most businesses are owned by Americans. These owners don't want to provide a "canadian discount" (which it isn't due to lower wages as you mentionned) so everything gets sold at a premium so 1 canadian sale = 1 american sale.

The biggest issue in my opinion is people want -more- american influence so nothing will ever change for the better. The goverment tries to promote a Canadian identity but it's a colonial one. Americans do this but we do this because we are better. Canada can't stand on its own.

Edit: yeah house design in Canada is garbage. In Japan people think it is beneath them to buy a house someone else lived in so fresh construction is popular. Most houses are customized to their current owner's preferences. In canada some company builds 50 houses that look the same in a small area after buying the land. I guess it's noob proof though.
 
Last edited:

lock2k

Banned
I went to Canada in 1997 and spent some time in Toronto and Missisauga.

I loved it and it was pivotal to my English language development but I understand your points. It does feel like a country without a clear identity. Everyone sees Canada as America Jr.

To me it's a good thing, but I can see why it bothers Canadians.
 

Elitist1945

Member
While I disagree on Vancouver because I think it looks beautiful, I can 100% agree on you with foreign investors/businesses.
 

JordanN

Banned
Canada used to be great, but then Justin Trudeau happened...
Even before Prime Minister Blackface, I believe Canada was already in decline.

The big problem is that a lot of successful Canadians immediately run south of the border instead of staying behind.

Imagine if Alex Trebek, Mike Myers, John Kricfalusi, Elon Musk, James Cameron etc had all decided to stay in Canada, we could have increased our influence. The brain drain is real.
 
Last edited:

lock2k

Banned
Even before Prime Minister Blackface, I believe Canada was already in decline.

The big problem is that a lot of successful Canadians immediately run south of the border instead of staying behind.

Imagine if Alex Trebek, Mike Myers, John Kricfalusi, Elon Musk, James Cameron etc had all decided to stay in Canada, we could have increased our influence. The brain drain is real.

Maaaaan... never knew Elon was Canadian, nor South African for that matter.

Wakanda is real :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Well I am not so sure about population around US border. I inherited house in Creston, BC. It's 25 miles from US border and it's desert wasteland, just driving from Calgary seems to be like you are driving in rural Russia. And yes it's pretty expensive everything there, I am comparing to EU even with our Scandinavian "brothers"...
 

eot

Banned
I should also mention when I talk about the layout looking the same, I'm also talking about architecture design.

If you go to an Asian country like Japan or China, they still have buildings that are Western inspired but they also have their own Asian flair.

6XkWWHx.jpg


Like you look at this and obviously know this is Japanese right away.

But when you look at Canada and you see this you're like "WTF is this?". It's like someone played SimCity and just kept building more tall buildings just because they can.

laSztnG.jpg
China's cities are the ugliest I've ever visited. That skyline ain't a beauty either though, I'll give you that
 
Even before Prime Minister Blackface, I believe Canada was already in decline.

The big problem is that a lot of successful Canadians immediately run south of the border instead of staying behind.

Imagine if Alex Trebek, Mike Myers, John Kricfalusi, Elon Musk, James Cameron etc had all decided to stay in Canada, we could have increased our influence. The brain drain is real.


bu..bu...but we replace them with Prince Harry and Megan Markle
 

YukiOnna

Member
Canada used to be great, but then Justin Trudeau happened...
Been in decline since before Trudeau sadly.

Anyways, while I don't agree to that extreme, it's all pretty fair. There just isn't much and the dollar being shit is probably the worst aspect of all of this. Trade with almost anything sucks.
 
We've always been shit man just no one wants to admit it. The only thing to make it worse recently is the cost of living is getting out of control.

As far as working in arts/film/etc... Your best bet is to find a way to get out of here. Our industry is God awful and if you want to go make some money and work on good projects you need to find somewhere else because it's not ever going to happen here.
 

Sakura

Member
Canada has always sucked.
Canada has been having an identity crisis since forever.
We don't have a culture. We have a bunch of regions separated by vast distances, populated by small numbers of people. The country has a relatively short history, with a significant portion of the population being born abroad (20%).
We don't have the time or people to foster a culture, and we live right next to the US which has 10x our numbers, so we are just slowly Americanizing year over year. Everyone watches American TV, listens to American music, speaks more like Americans, etc. We just talk about how we are different than Americans, rather than talk about our own culture.

I knew this girl who was going to do a month or two homestay in Canada a few years ago. She asked me about Canada at the time, and I told her Canada is a pretty place, and great if you like nature. But there is no culture. And when she came back, she told me I was right, there is no culture.

As for the money, I'm guessing you are younger than me. When I was working my first job at 16, I'm pretty sure the Canadian dollar was only like 0.70USD or something. It was just a period of around 6 years or so where the CAD and USD were around the same.
 

lock2k

Banned
Canada has always sucked.
Canada has been having an identity crisis since forever.
We don't have a culture. We have a bunch of regions separated by vast distances, populated by small numbers of people. The country has a relatively short history, with a significant portion of the population being born abroad (20%).
We don't have the time or people to foster a culture, and we live right next to the US which has 10x our numbers, so we are just slowly Americanizing year over year. Everyone watches American TV, listens to American music, speaks more like Americans, etc. We just talk about how we are different than Americans, rather than talk about our own culture.

I knew this girl who was going to do a month or two homestay in Canada a few years ago. She asked me about Canada at the time, and I told her Canada is a pretty place, and great if you like nature. But there is no culture. And when she came back, she told me I was right, there is no culture.

As for the money, I'm guessing you are younger than me. When I was working my first job at 16, I'm pretty sure the Canadian dollar was only like 0.70USD or something. It was just a period of around 6 years or so where the CAD and USD were around the same.

Canada is a dream place for Brazilians because they want to live the American life they see in movies and they think its easier to emigrate there. I personally wouldn't want to live there because I don't like cold weather. But the summers were really hot.

I agree that it's totally Americanized. When I was 14, in 1997, I liked Canada a lot because it resembled me of the states (I travelled to New York the year prior). It's like Toronto was an extension of New York. And I thought it was cool. But if someone dropped me there without telling it was Canada, I would think I was dropped in the states. Even my Canadian friend joked that the elders in Canada would go to Niagara Falls and talk shit about the U.S. side but he liked the U.S. very much and thought that the mentality was bullshit. It was funny.
 

JordanN

Banned
We've always been shit man just no one wants to admit it. The only thing to make it worse recently is the cost of living is getting out of control.

As far as working in arts/film/etc... Your best bet is to find a way to get out of here. Our industry is God awful and if you want to go make some money and work on good projects you need to find somewhere else because it's not ever going to happen here.
It's actually a damn shame. There use to be some good art houses here.

Back in college, I had a Professor who worked at Pseudo Interactive. They made a few games for the PS2 and Xbox 360 and then they went out of business in 2008.

There also use to be a studio called Silicon Knights ran by Denis Dyack (lol). They too also shut down but they made Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes and Eternal Darkness.
 
Last edited:
One of the worst things about modern, post-industrial, consumer-centric life in general is the homogenization of culture.

It sucks to be an explorer at heart, born in a time where you can go to this place with a McDonald's or that place with a McDonald's.

giphy.gif
 
I always had the impression that Canada is the poor mans America.
But I'm from neither of those countries, so I don't know.

I'm from this bad boy city
osijek18.jpg
 
Last edited:

Nester99

Member
Ontario is the but crack of Canada and you are the loose turd.

you remind me of a reset era bitch with this cry fest.
 

JordanN

Banned
Ontario is the but crack of Canada and you are the loose turd.

you remind me of a reset era bitch with this cry fest.
Unless the rest of Canada decides to separate, I think it's worth bringing up Ontario because they do wield a disproportionate amount of power.

The City of Toronto alone has just as much people as the whole of Saskatchewan and judging by migration statistics, it's only going to get even more bloated in the future.

It also holds a lot of jobs hostages. It's not so easy to just leave this place since Ontario, and especially the GTA, is where a lot of employers choose to plant themselves.
 
Last edited:

YukiOnna

Member
Canada has always sucked.
Canada has been having an identity crisis since forever.
We don't have a culture. We have a bunch of regions separated by vast distances, populated by small numbers of people. The country has a relatively short history, with a significant portion of the population being born abroad (20%).
We don't have the time or people to foster a culture, and we live right next to the US which has 10x our numbers, so we are just slowly Americanizing year over year. Everyone watches American TV, listens to American music, speaks more like Americans, etc. We just talk about how we are different than Americans, rather than talk about our own culture.

I knew this girl who was going to do a month or two homestay in Canada a few years ago. She asked me about Canada at the time, and I told her Canada is a pretty place, and great if you like nature. But there is no culture. And when she came back, she told me I was right, there is no culture.

As for the money, I'm guessing you are younger than me. When I was working my first job at 16, I'm pretty sure the Canadian dollar was only like 0.70USD or something. It was just a period of around 6 years or so where the CAD and USD were around the same.
Best part is, any international I know always asks me about Vancouver and I direct them to BC anyway lol. Like Green? go BC.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Your currency and food prices are legit concerns. But stuff like cultural uniqueness, lack of local entertainment, endless strip malls, and a populated border are some first world gripes.

Don't take what you have for granted. A lot of humans would kill to live in a place like Canada. But they're stuck in some shithole rural Indian village or mosquito infested African jungle.
 

haxan7

Banned
Wouldn't that be Mexico? lol

Brazil is more like the poor man's China or Russia.
I've had an online friend from there since 2007 and I've always gotten the impression from him that it's like the US, but crappier.

I imagine Mexico is quite a bit different from the US but I don't know too much about it.
 

JordanN

Banned
Your currency and food prices are legit concerns. But stuff like cultural uniqueness, lack of local entertainment, endless strip malls, and a populated border are some first world gripes.

Don't take what you have for granted. A lot of humans would kill to live in a place like Canada. But they're stuck in some shithole rural Indian village or mosquito infested African jungle.

Those are actually stereotypes. In fact, I blame whatever mass media brainwashing that tried to paint this picture that the rest of the world is completely unlivable.

There should should be nothing wrong with living in Africa or India. These places have their own history and the people should be doing all they can to preserve it.

Here is what the capital of Kenya looks like. It's not all jungles and mosquitoes.

iBWaCIn.png



Or in regards to India, I still rather be poor but appreciate having a culture that built this (Taj Mahal).

psx0ODW.jpg



When people move to Canada from these countries, I actually feel sorry for them. They are giving up their own unique history to join a country that is knee deep in consumerism. Why? Just because they make more money at the complete expense of having no more history to go with it?
 
Last edited:

YukiOnna

Member
When people move to Canada from these countries, I actually feel sorry for them. They are giving up their own unique history to join a country that is knee deep in consumerism. Why? Just because they make more money at the complete expense of having no more history to go with it?
Yes? Because a good portion of the immigrants are worse off in their country or dealt a poor hand due to the political situation. Source : My family and many of my family friends. Unique history means little in the way of survival and better quality of life which is an objective improvement for many and my parents included.
 
Last edited:

lock2k

Banned
Those are actually stereotypes. In fact, I blame whatever mass media brainwashing that tried to paint this picture that the rest of the world is completely unlivable.

There should should be nothing wrong with living in Africa or India. These places have their own history and the people should be doing all they can to preserve it.

Here is what the capital of Kenya looks like. It's not all jungles and mosquitoes.

iBWaCIn.png



Or in regards to India, I still rather be poor but appreciate having a culture that built this (Taj Mahal).

psx0ODW.jpg



When people move to Canada from these countries, I actually feel sorry for them. They are giving up their own unique history to join a country that is knee deep in consumerism. Why? Just because they make more money at the complete expense of having no more history to go with it?

Even though Brazil has a lot of culture I would move to a place like Canada in a heartbeat because living without the money I need is hard as fuck. I would gladly give up culture for money, as sad as it sounds. I just won't move to Canada because I would have to work in a shitty job and I hate cold weather. But the money side of things is nice as fuck.
 

JordanN

Banned
Yes? Because a good portion of the immigrants are worse off in their country or dealt a poor hand due to the political situation. Source : My family and many of my family friends. Unique history means little in the way of survival and better quality of life which is an objective improvement for many and my parents.
Well, I've debated this a lot in the politics section, but I believe everyone has a responsibility to fix their own countries first as opposed to just jettisoning out of there.

For example, it's very easy to assume that the West always had it easy and we all exist on cruise control, but look at what happened to countries like Germany or Japan after WW2? They were completely obliterated and to your average German or Japanese, getting out of there might have seemed really attractive.

And yet today, both these countries are superpowers while still retaining hundreds of years of their own culture.

Everyone in life is dealt a bad hand, but abandoning it for someone elses country does not nothing to improve the situation. I honestly would be disappointed if Japan ceased to exist because they all could have moved to California instead of rebuilding Tokyo & Hiroshima. And look how much the world is better off because of it? I'm sure the Japanese are proud to have a thriving video game or animation industry that reflects their own culture and exports it all abroad.

I wish the same for places like India or Kenya. I don't look down on them, I do want all these 3rd world places to succeed. It may be hard but the reward is worth it.
 
Last edited:

JordanN

Banned
Don't take what you have for granted. A lot of humans would kill to live in a place like Canada. But they're stuck in some shithole rural Indian village or mosquito infested African jungle.
Also, this is a double post but I want to answer something.

I have met a lot of people in my life who moved here from these poor countries but their conditions haven't actually changed. They've gone on to work full-time jobs at these warehouses which are completely brutal. They then come home to an apartment or basement that is also packed full of other people.

I understand that even a warehouse job pays more money than in India, but I just can't imagine it being worth the effort to travel half way around the world for something like that.

If people want to come here with certain skills, and they do have a lot of money to live a comfortable life, I could understand that. But the situation in my country seems to represent a mixture of both high and low income earners, all being forced to compete in the same real estate market. It creates an end game where our culture is based on just infinite growth instead of actually caring for the people who are here.

For example, if you work these full time warehouse jobs, there's no way you have time to raise a family anymore. So what's the solution? Keep importing more people to fill the quota.

Meanwhile, even in a poor third world country, you can still balance family life with having a job. But as everything in Canada gets expensive as fuck, the people moving here aren't going to work less hours. They are being turned into machines where they only care about money and nothing else.
 
Last edited:

YukiOnna

Member
Well, I've debated this a lot in the politics section, but I believe everyone has a responsibility to fix their own countries first as opposed to just jettisoning out of there.

For example, it's very easy to assume that the West always had it easy and we all exist on cruise control, but look at what happened to countries like Germany or Japan after WW2? They were completely obliterated and to your average German or Japanese, getting out of there might have seemed really attractive.

And yet today, both these countries are superpowers while still retaining hundreds of years of their own culture.

Everyone in life is dealt a bad hand, but abandoning it for someone elses country does not nothing to improve the situation. I honestly would be disappointed if Japan ceased to exist because they all could have moved to California instead of rebuilding Tokyo & Hiroshima. And look how much the world is better off because of it? I'm sure the Japanese are proud to have a thriving video game or animation industry that reflects their own culture and exports it all abroad.

I wish the same for places like India or Kenya. I don't look down on them, I do want all these 3rd world places to succeed. It may be hard but the reward is worth it.

Of course, my point was very anecdotal. I know there's some people who moved here and things are more or less the same life wise or struggle with money. But to the point of trying to fix their own countries, in regards to where I'm from or refer to it's basically corruption heaven on the politics side, so there's little to be done. Lot of voice but the bullshit continues kind of thing. I don't really take it as running away because I think one is free to live where they want if they see it better fit for their family in regards to safety and security, but regardless you need to make an effort if you do go through with it.
 

cryptoadam

Banned
Nah Canada rules.

Sure we are a bit bland and things are getting expensive. We voted in a black face wearing iditot whose qualifications were he was the son of that guy. Our weather is crap and goes from extremes of cold to heat.

But I love Canada. I actually get very prideful during our anthem or around other Canadian events. We have some amazing scenery if you ignore the urban jungles. You can go to the martimes or the moutains of BC. We have flat land prairies and the arctic tunder of the NWT/Yukon.

If you get sick of all the bland english peeps, then move to Quebec and deal with the french assholes. and Vice Versa. And if you ever need to laugh Newfies have been providing Canadians with being the butt of jokes for decades.

I really think its been the latest liberal government that has been ruining things. Felt like Canada was a lot better and going places under Harper. Trudeau has just been too soy and is willing to scede Canadian sovereignty to look cool.

I think we get all of the best of the US, but with a lot less of their crap.
 

MilkyJoe

Member
Last time I went to Canada I fucked a dudes wife while he was upstairs. He was fine with it as he fucked someone else earlier in the day while I was watching TV on her couch. Then we drunk beer and smoked weed on the drive back to Calgary. Strange people.

I can confirm Canadians say Eh! a lot.
 
Compared to where. From where I'm standing Canada is awesome and you probably need to get out more to realize just how great it is here. As a Torontorian "this message is a paid message by the Rob Ford foundation"
 

demigod

Member
I thought the average income was way higher than USA. Don't you guys pay $90 for your games? My wife hypes up Canada and wants to move there even though she doesn't know shit about Canada. But hey, you guys get free health care so that's a win at least!
 
Top Bottom