Government-sponsored health care works.

It took a while, but a few discussions, and proof in the pudding, convinced my American sweetheart that Canadian-style health care can actually work. She thought it was something like everything is covered. In Canada, it's not. Only the basics are covered.

Let's do the math.

A country of 330 million people can't 'afford' a single payer system. A country of 35 million people that is larger in size, can somehow afford it. Hmm. My bullshit detector just went off.

Is it easy, or cheap? Is it perfect? Is everyone absolutely happy? NO, no, and no.

But let's look at the alternative.

A profit-based system that wants government to pay for the indigent (those who don't have private health plans) but that will happily take $4,000 per year just for insurance, and then deny it if you forgot to dot an 'i', or admit to a bout with Chlamydia 14 years ago, is not health insurance. It is a health mafia, that only gives you the paper stamped with a logo if you are a good risk. How much does it cost to stamp that paper so the logo is embossed anyway?

Develop an irritating tick, a weird rash, and you move up into the realm of higher risk. Talk about irritating. If you move up in the risk rank and are paying for the coverage, your family is riskier too.

I can without a private health plan still visit a doctor, get tests, and with a little gentle arm-twisting, be provided with what I need drug-wise. Most doctors get sample packs of various medications that they have no use for, and they will ALL provide them to patients who absolutely need them. All for NO out of pocket expenses.

ZERO dollars. What part of ZERO is hard to understand? That week I am not getting paid, after all the bills are paid and I have no money, I can still see the doctor. I can still go to the hospital without getting a bill in the mail.

Americans call it socialized medicine, but have very little idea of what it actually entails.

Christina and I have had the TAX discussion. Yes, up front taxes are lower in the U.S. Yes, so are a lot of other taxes.

Add in the toll roads (I know we have the 407 Highway, the stench of which will live on for another 90 years), the local taxes, local sales taxes....and the cost of privately paying for health insurance though, and the amount is remarkably similar.

http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/taxes.htm

The kicker about health insurance in Canada though, is that when you need it, it is ALWAYS THERE!

Nobody, by virtue of job, economic status, colour, immigration status, is ever treated less than someone who has full, comprehensive medical coverage. In Canada, everyone is provided basic medical care on as needed basis.

It does not include dental, prescription drugs, eye care, chiropractic care, prosthesis, crutches, and many other things that broadly fall into the category of 'elective' procedures. It seems cruel that the Chiropractic procedure I received to align my spine (successful) would be considered elective, as in I chose it for no good reason other than personal, non-medical, not absolutely necessary reasons, but there it is.

In Canada, I have no fear of visiting a doctor due to monetary reasons.

It is true that initially in the U.S. there will be a huge take up of any pseudo-socialized health services. This will be a function of the demand that hasn't been met. Millions of Americans have been living with easily treatable ailments, and with coverage will seek treatment.

Health-wise, don't you think someone living in pain would be less likely to be interested in working, being nice on the freeway (road rage), or being a good citizen, when from every side they hear about how good the U.S. system of government is, how everything is peaches and cream. If only you could get your hands on some peaches. Or cream.

It is completely social, in a society kind of way, acceptable for me to not want my fellow citizens to live in unnecessary pain and suffering, to be able to get their burst appendix fixed, to be able to walk after knee surgery, to be able to work alongside me.

DO I think everything about the healthcare system here is fair? No. Do I like it. Yes. Are we constantly trying to make it better. Yes.

Your turn, naysayers.

Small food from China.

Small food. Small quality food. That is my beef.

Does everything have to come from China, a place where they had to shut down 30,000 factories so the air would be clear enough to host an Olympic event, a place where people were tasked with clearing the green slime from the waterways by hand, so the rowers could compete?

I do not want my food to come from China. 80% of store bought fish is processed in China. China is a place where fish farms can exist in a seemingly endless chain, where the excess feed, antibiotics, and poop from the fish farm upstream are injested, then expelled downstream to the next farm.

I buy things at the 'Dollar Store'. A place in which I know just about everything is made in China, and what isn't, is made in India.

Still, that doesn't mean I am without taste. I like Oysters, Mussels, Clams...lots of stuff from the sea. The stuff I am used to, produced in Canada or the US, tastes good and comes in whole morsels of seafood.

One day, I noticed the Dollar Store had some for sale. A can of mussels, a can of oysters....

The seafood was broken, miscellaneous pieces that could have been from any sea animal. A lot of it consisted of parts of the oyster some people leave out, like the intestines. They are small animals, so eating those parts by accident won't kill you, but they are not the tastiest or meatiest parts.

Several months ago I noticed the disappearance of Snow Peas from the grocery shelves. What took the place of one of my favourite raw foods was labelled Snap Peas. They look the same, but these ones, only from China, are smaller, a grey-green (think tired), and are bitter, even after cooking.

Wasn't China until the last few years a recipient of food aid? Someone could help me here. What are they doing exporting food to us? I thought we had an abundance of food to sell to others.

Look, I will buy a crappy ladle that will break after 100 uses, or a frying pan that will fry itself after 50 uses. I will buy the cheap batteries, the pack of pens that will each spontaneously explode or stop working after a week.

I will NOT buy my food from China, a polluted wasteland where expertise in government supersedes expertise in any form of engineering.

Is THIS the country we want free trade with?