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11.  Is America Becoming Canadianized?

In Canada, worrying about being Americanized is a national pastime, particularly in political and media circles. It seldom occurred to me that the United States could become Canadianized until I moved to the U.S., during an election year, no less, and found Americans obsessed with many Canadian ideas. Ironically, this comes at a time when some of those Canadian ideas are losing favor north of the border because they just don't work.

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, for example, and heavy hitters in the Democratic Party have unambiguously supported a series of labor-law changes that would replicate some of the worst parts of Canadian labor laws. For example, the Democrats support card-check certification for unions. It means unions can become certified as the exclusive agent of workers without a secret ballot vote.

Such a system already exists in parts of Canada. Interestingly for America, though, Canadian governments have largely been moving away from this system because of its negative consequences, namely creating a pronounced imbalance between union power and that of the workers and employers.

Also at a time when Canadians have realized that after decades of not supporting their military, it has declined to the point of 4th world status. Canada is discovering the consequences of this situation and now supports reinforcing and modernizing its military. U.S. congressman Barney Franks however, wants to cut the military budget in the U.S. by 25%. Canada also practices the closest thing to open immigration than any other country in the world. Canada has not yet awakened to the downside of this folly but the U.S. may continue to offer safe haven for tens of millions of illegal people who have crossed into their country and even grant them legal status. California wants a federal bail out of $ 9 billion while it spends that much on illegal immigration alone.

Canadian courts practice light sentencing and favor home tethering over incarceration, even for serious crimes. Prisoners in Canada can even vote. I have read here in California, more and more about moving in this direction as well. Rehabilitation over punishment seems nice and it reduces costs on the surface, but Canada is finding that by letting convicts loose, time and time again, crime increases along with police and court costs. The Conservatives in Canada continue to propose tougher crime legislation but the opposition parties, though weakening in power, continue to block movement in this direction. I suspect that the U.S. may begin to move to softer laws in general and move away from where Canada is heading.

Another interesting area of similarity between Canada and the U.S. is in bilingualism. Canada is torn apart culturally, commercially and politically by its official French and English language status. No politician, bureaucrat, or military officer can expect to be promoted or in many cases even be elected to office, if they do not speak both English and French. This process lends itself to many French speaking Canadians, who gravitate more naturally to English, disproportionately running the country. The U.S. continues to flirt with bilingualism and one wonders if it will not, one day, become a Spanish and English speaking nation. Canada considers itself a cultural quilt to the point where a person can select among 13 languages when applying for a driver's licence. The U.S. has been very successful being a melting pot that absorbs other cultures and uses it to fortify and enrich the predominant American culture. Again I see America becoming more and more splintered especially among African Americans, Hispanics, and others; much like Canada.

Consider also the American replication of Canadian health care. Large constituencies in America, including much of the Democratic Party, favor single-payer health care based on the Canadian model. Indeed, my experience in California is that average Americans are more than ready to implement Canadian style health care, not because they necessarily understand it but because elites have convinced them that it is a better system.

I know from experience that the reality of Canadian health care is substantially different from the romanticized version I've heard about since landing in America. Canada's health system is one of the most expensive in the industrialized world and provides relatively poor access to doctors and technology, which results in long and often painful waiting times. And these are only two of many problems plaguing Canada's health system.

U.S. health care suffers from serious problems too, of course, and it took me less than four months to experience them firsthand. What I've quickly learned, however, is that the United States does not have a market-based health system, which would eliminate or dramatically reduce many of the problems observed.

Rather, the problem is that the American system is heavily and prescriptively regulated by Washington, DC, and state capitals. Swapping a heavily regulated, privately provided health system (US) for a heavily regulated, government provided health system (Canada) is not the panacea advocates make it out to be.

Taxes are another area where much of the United States seems intent on mimicking Canada, at least Canada pre-1996. That is, Canadians prior to 1996 were generally arguing about which taxes to increase. The environment here seems to be the same. Most of the debates, particularly in the presidential race, are about whether or not to increase taxes, and if so, which ones. Barack Obama, for example, would allow the Bush tax cuts to expire (thus increasing current rates) and apply payroll taxes to incomes of more than $250,000, resulting in a top marginal tax rate well north of 50% for American workers.

Ironically, Canadian governments, both national and provincial, are reducing personal and corporate taxes because they recognize through experience the damaging and counterproductive effects of high taxes. Canada is supposed to be more egalitarian while the United States supposedly focuses more on entrepreneurship and merit-based compensation. However, the ability to retain the fruits of one's efforts is deteriorating in the United States while it's now improving in Canada.

American politicians seem intent on copying Canada without regard to consequences. They have picked Canadian ideas that don't work very well, to the point that Canada is actually discarding them. That can leave a new arrival feeling like Al Pacino in Godfather III: "Just when I think I'm out, they drag me back in."

It wouldn't be so bad if America copied some aspects of Canada today which would mean tightening the spending belts of government, balancing the books, and reducing taxes-aggressively in some cases. Americans should welcome that kind of Canadianization but not the wealth busting, big government, job killing malaise that socialism creates.

Jason Clemens, The Fraser Forum

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