Canadians: do yo think that America is an unstable and unsafe place to live?

Question

or no?

Answer 1

not necessarily, but the US is one of the most hated places because of the power they hold and they're at war. Plus, I rather stay right here in Canada because of the free health care!

Answer 2

A few things to look at:

1. Highest crime rate in the world with crappy gun regulations; you don't hear about people walking into schools for a shoot out once in a couple years/decade in Canada.

2. US=control freak govt that just doesn't want to mind its own business; therefore you have people like Bin Laden wanting to take a hit at it.

3. Economically

2/3 of the screwed up US economy is made up of debt and spending. Over time that piles up to $88 trillion in govt debt. The US govt should have filed bankruptcy ages ago.

Answer 3

This type of question seems to keep coming up where people ask Canadians what we think of USA. I'm not sure why. I guess it is because of our proximity to the States, or because people know that Canadians prefer to distinguish themselves from Americans.

Unfortunately, it also leads to the "My dad is better than your dad" syndrome. Why does one country have to be better than the other?

If you want my opinion, I think that Canada has almost as many problems as USA presently, given that our economy is highly dependent on exports to US.

Our tourism industry is suffering at the moment due to the US dollar being almost at par as Canadian dollar, so it is not as economical for someone to vacation up north.

We have violent crimes in Canada, just not as much as in USA, but some of their cities have almost as many people as Canada's entire population (eg. NYC metro area estimated at 20 million people, Canada's 2006 population was 32 million).

And you don't necessarily need a gun for violence in Montreal. A lot of recent assaults have been stabbings or simple fist punches. Montreal just had a case of a twenty year old guy who came out of a bar at closing time and some guy who was upset that he was not allowed in punched the young fellow, leaving him in a coma. (see link below)

As for USA being the most hated nation, I think that depends on who you talk to. Pretty much everyone in the Middle East hates Israel more than USA...They just also hate USA because they ally themselves with Israel all the time.

And as for the question, is America unstable? I'd say current "management" has not guided the ship on a safe and steady course. I wonder what changes will occur come November when they get a new "commander-in-chief"...

But as for us Canadians, we will work with you and live side-by-side with you either way...

Answer 4

Well the US economy is in the toilet, the US is the most hated nation on the earth, and the murder and domestic crime rates are through the roof.

I know that if you have money you can have a good life in the US but why when you can have the same thing here for free?

Answer 5

After skimming through the answers, I agree and disagree with bits of each contributor's comments.  I am a Canadian who has lived in the U.S. for 11 years now, I am also a naturalized U.S. citizen.  Before moving to the U.S., I visited several different states many times, and thought all were great save for a thing or two that I didn't like.  My mother has a saying, when translated, it means "Coming to see me and coming to live with me are two different things."  When I moved to the US, over time, I notice the bigger differences between Canadians and Americans; things I hadn't experienced as a visitor.  "Unstable" is a very broad description because it could refer to the U.S. economy (yes, it is unstable) or the government (yes, there are often personal scandals by government officials who then are forced to resign or officials ignoring protocols i.e. Bush acting without congressional approval, or on a state level, the local police with corrupt behaviour - these are just a few examples highlighting the "bad" because that is the heart of the question; I know that there are great things in each area as well... just highlighting why "unstable" would be applicable here.  By "unstable" you could also mean race relations (yes, just when you think significant improvements have been made, you hear another horrifying report on the news and you begin to wonder what decade it is).  So, in short, yes, the U.S. is unstable in at least a few areas... but then again so are other countries, including Canada, whether it is to a lesser or greater extent in some areas, it almost doesn't matter because no country is "perfect."  

As for whether the U.S. is an unsafe place to live, yes, of course it is, but there are also cities in the U.S. that have very low crime rates.  If you compare the crime with Canada, yes, Canadians have significantly less violent crime and gun violence (every murder in Toronto from Jan 1st of each year is tallied, so when we watch the news, the news reporter says "This is our 20th murder of the year so far."  The Greater Toronto Area has a population of just over 8 million, while Houston, Texas has just 5.5 million.  While Toronto has about 70 murders per year (with a record of 89 almost two decades ago.... Houston's average is more than 3 times higher than Toronto's record of 89, and if you can believe it, Houston's record went up from about 270 to more than 300 after hurricane Katrina evacuees moved to Houston.  Smaller population size, but 3x higher... yes, certain areas are more unsafe... not to mention most people in Houston, or Texas for that matter, own a gun.  One thing also differs, when murders are mentioned on the news in Houston, the news reporters do not give an annual tally.

Answer 6

If all of you Canadian sissies think the U.S is an extremely dangerous country than you would all literally S**t in your pants if you ever visit Brazil. Brazil has a murder rate of 23.8 homicides per 100,000 people while in comparison the U.S only has 5.6 homicides per 100,000 people.

Answer 7

I think it is an unstable place with their economy and a dangerous place to live.

Answer 8

unstable yes (economically speaking) Unsafe...depends where you are, same as in Canada.  Although, yes we are much safer of a country, we still have our bad pockets.  I think what people forget too is many of this "gun violence" we see is gang shootings.  Yes some people are just plain murdered, but a lot of the time it is gang related, stay out of that lifestyle and your okay.

Answer 9

I'm not going to argue that the US is unstable right now, because in all honesty, it is. The economy isn't the best right now, and well simply put, Bush is just an idiot. Unsafe, that all depends on your area. I'm originally from WI, but now live in New Brunswick, and I know many good places and many bad places to live. It's like that in any country. It's true that the US has a higher rate of violent crime, but Canada has a higher rate of non-violent crime and property crime. Crime in general isn't that much of a difference, but violent crimes are. The rate of violent crimes in the US has been on the decline actually, there's less murders than in past years, but compared to Canada it's still kind of high. Whenever I go back to my hometown, I never feel unsafe, but I grew up there. I know the ropes so to speak. If my husband were to go there, he may feel some what intimidated because he's not used to a large city or a large population of minorities. My husband's never been to the US and thinks that it's completely unstable and completely unsafe. If he'd actually go for a visit, he will actually see how it is in the city I'm from. Like someone already said, there's a difference between visiting and living in a place. Visiting, you only experience a small portion whether it's good or bad. Living there, you see it all. The good, the bad, and everything in between.

Answer 10

No, not really.  I've traveled across Canada several times and have lived here all my life.  I've also visited many parts of the US and liked what I saw. For the most part, people there are much like us and we have a lot in common.  I have relatives there and I like their accents!  They laugh at mine.  Oh well..

The economies of both countries aren't great at the moment, but certainly they're not bad enough to make things seem unstable.  For the average guy out traveling that doesn't really make a difference.  And I wouldn't say it's unsafe either.  There are some cities here..Vancouver and Toronto...maybe even Montreal but I can think of others, where there seems to be lots more crime than similar sized cities I've been to in the US.  So if you're thinking of going for a visit...go ahead and you'll probably love it!