It's the name of a short play one of my classes has been working on for a while, but thought it might be a good title for this post.
I've read a few blogs and facebook comments from friends south of the border about what they prefer about Canada (or when the outcome of the election was in doubt, why they might move here afterward) so I thought I'd write a bit today about some things I might envy a little bit about their side of the line.
I suppose weather might be something I'd envy those in Southern Cal. I wouldn't want the blizzards of the midwest or the hurricanes of the gulf coast, nor do I covet the yearly tornado watch in states like Kansas, but it would be nice to have a little less rain in the winter. (Of course Seattle's in the same situation.)
Gas prices--we are a net petroleum exporter yet somehow our gas is more expensive at the pump. It's mostly taxes that are to blame, and my city has additional taxes on gas you won't find an hour north of here which support the transit system.
Just for fun (how sad) I did a little conversion work of figuring out our gas price in early September adjusted to the US dollar and the US gallon, and then compared it to now. It's valid, since our government let the big oil companies close most of our refineries a few years ago and now the vagaries of U.S. hurricanes and the fluctuations of the exchange rate do impact what we pay at the pump. Like most places, it's been dropping--price per U.S. gallon was $5.36 in September, and yesterday it converted out to $2.70 per gallon when I filled my tank.
Prices for a case of beer or bottle of wine are also more here. "Sin taxes" are high--both for alcohol and for cigarettes, but at least we can buy it on Sundays now, which changed back in '86 when Expo in Vancouver made the politicians examine some rather archaic rules. Before that, all bars, pubs and liquor stores had to close on Sundays. We still can't buy a bottle of wine in a grocery store, though.
I'm just fine with the high price of smokes here.
Now I'd also have to add your country's leader seems a lot more charismatic than ours--we'll see in the next few months how he handles the responsibilities of the job.
There are other things as well--I could do without our provincial monopoly for basic auto insurance, the fluctuations of our dollar (although I guess that happens on both sides) and I like some of the retail choices/chains that we don't have on this side of the border. (H&M, Century 21, Target, Best Buy...)
I'm sure there's more, but I'm off to go see a play up island with my wife this afternoon. Have a good weekend--if anyone actually reads this.
2 comments:
I live in the puritanical state of PA--state stores can only sell liquor and wine, beer distributors can only sell cases of beer, bars can only sell 6-packs. Our state stores just recently opened on Sundays...and that's only some of them. You can't buy alcohol in the grocery store.
I'm reading, I'm reading!
Can't buy alcohol in the grocery. But one can buy wine and beer. Bars are on-site consumption only and must have a certain percentage of food sales to remain open. Can't just sell alcohol. Virginia-we're tobacco country. Thankfully, most restaurants are now non-smoking. Doesn't stop my new co-workers from having approximately 6-8 cigarettes during the four hours one of them is there- I know because they have to walk past my desk, open the door to the freezing cold we have outside, and let the Arctic blast sweep over my workspace.
Target is awesome. I love it. H&M is okay.
Yes, Mr. Charisma has inherited a big mess. I hope he can fix it.
I am a bad blogger but I'll get back at it.
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