Is Canada the truly liberal-progressive version of America? An open message to Canadians, & American liberals & progressives.

Before we start, my political affiliation and nationality are irrelevant. I have no intention to hate on, insult or disrespect, Canada or Canadians (even if we disagree, I don't intend to disrespect anyone), but rather, provide a perspective that's a little different from what much of the media portrays. And I am not a conservative.


From what I've seen, many self-identified American liberals and progressives as America's more progressive twin, and I've seen people say things along the lines of "I can't believe that America won't adopt a working system north of the border", and sometimes act like that one must either accept or reject issues such as same-sex marriage, universal healthcare, and strict gun control all in one package.

Now, let's see how much truth there is to the belifs that Canada's universal healthcare works, how strict their gun laws actually are (and how docile their gun culture is), along with war and peace (the most important issue), multiculturalism, freedom of speech, and economics, not really in particular order.


War and peace:
Sadly, Canada (or at least their government) is not a peaceful as many think. Sure, they spend less than 2% of their GDP on defense, but not only are they heavily involved in Afghanistan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Canada#21st_century), but also, particularly as explained in the CBC news article Let's not kid ourselves, Canada is in the war business, Canada is exporting arms to Saudi Arabia and the government didn't question it (why would they if it gives Canada more money?).

Economics:

Is Canada really that socialist of a country? A truly socialist economy would have lots of government control.

The corporate tax rate is actually lower (http://taxfoundation.org/blog/canadas-lower-corporate-tax-rate-raises-more-tax-revenue), and Canada is listed in this article as having one of the freest economies: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/insight/canada-ranks-top-10-economic-freedom-study-shows-172337119.html.


Freedom of speech:
Canada has a few laws on hate propaganda. But isn't there a better way to handle things?

I'd prefer to have groups known to the public online and have an idea of what's going on instead of pulling the wool over my eyes and not knowing what they're doing on the deep web or on the streets.

Multiculturalism: is it really all that great? And this is not hate rhetoric.

Healthcare: 
How truly good is universal healthcare? For starters, I hope that you're willing to wait in some long lines.

And are other options all that bad? 

Before we get to the last part, I reccomend reading the following articles:

Think Canada is a progressive paradise? That’s moose$*** - The Guardian, 
Canada's racism problem? It's even worse than America's - McLean's.ca
Racism still an uncomfortable truth in Canada - CBC.ca
A quick list of a few New Hampshire positives. And is New Hampshire one of the most successful states in the union?,

and as a bonus, 

Surprise! We’re more conservative than Americans. 
Keep in mind though that marriage is not a big issue to me.

AJ+ even made a video about racism in Canada:

Guns:

Before we get into laws, let's see how many people own guns.
As of 2015, there are over 2 million firearms licenses (http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/citation/news/663).
As of that same year, there are more than 5 people out of 100 who have a firearms license (http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/citation/quotes/4214).

People tend to think Canadian gun laws as "strict". But the media is rarely specific, and, when it comes to "assault weapons", misleading.

Okay, it's a bit of a challenge to get a non-restricted firearms license (even more so for restricted and prohibited).

Okay, let's say that Billy Bob gets his non-restricted license. What can he buy with that license? And remember, he can just walk right into a store, show it, and buy up as many guns as he wants to. So which types of guns can one get on a non-restricted license?

Want a shotgun? They have them!

Want an "assault weapon" that cambered for the .223 "military" (actually, it's mainly civilian) round (just with 10 round "pistol" magazines)? They have them!

Want a full size semi-automatic rifle that's actually more powerful than typical assault rifles, also with 10 round "pistol" magazines? They have them!

Are those rifles not big enough for the job? Will this .50 BMG (restricted in the state of California and a few other places) magazine-fed, semi-automatic rifle get the job done?

They have them!

Are you unsatisfied with this selection? There are a few other options.

And remember, NONE of these guns are registered!

Okay, let's say that Billy Bob gets a restricted license. What can he buy with that?

Well handguns, obviously.

But also short barreled rifles.

But things get really exciting when you get into machine guns. If you're well motivated enough and run a firearms dealing business to sell to government agencies or museums, you might get a 12(2) machine gun license (http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/fs-fd/prohibited-prohibe-eng.htm). And I can prove this better than I can say this.

So here's your battle rifle (more powerful but harder to control than an assault rifle).

Here's your real assault rifles, one being compact.

Here's your even more compact submachine gun.

Here's your general purpose machine gun (look how fast this MG42 fires!).

And here's your classic water cooled machine gun with an armored shield.

How many guns can one have? As long as all of them are stored in compliance with the law/regulations, as many as they want!  There's even a story of a man with over 100 guns who was allowed to keep them as that he legally stored them; http://costalawfirm.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/201106-johnny-sombrero-1.pdf.

And up to 225 pounds of explosives can legally be kept. But it's more of an enviromental regulation than law:

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/explosives/acquisition-storage-sale/9827

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/explosives/pdf/20131107-D03E.pdf

http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/mineralsmetals/pdf/mms-smm/expl-expl/pdf/dl60-ld60-eng.pdf .

Did you know that it's possible to legally carry a gun?

But guess what? You can get deactivated guns, paintball markers, airguns, antique guns, and even almost all crossbows (except for pistol crossbows) without a license!

So deactivated machine guns and rifles with plugged up barrels are legal.


So rubber ball shooting paintball guns are legal.


So fully automatic blank guns that shoot gases out the front are legal:

So pellet rifles and pistols are legal:

(Yes, the air rifle above is avalible in Canada: https://www.airgunsource.com/kalibrgun-cricket-25-cal-no-stock/dp/1702.)


Fully automatic bb (not airsoft!) guns are legal.

New flintlock rifles and shotguns.

And even fully operational antiques: http://antiquegunscanada.com/Home_c1.htm?page=all, http://usedfirearms.ca/ad-category/antique-firearms/.

But do you know what the ultimate kicker here is? According to www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/canada, while the number of guns and licensed gun owners went up, yearly homicides went in the opposite diretion.

Also read:

So Canada is America's liberal utopia? Give me a frigging break!

This article is a heavily edited excerpt from https://saynotodemocide1.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-silver-lining-to-trump-presidency.html.