Completely random questions for Canadians

[Amanda W]

I've never actually known any Canadians except for those I've "met" online. I have some questions and I know I could probably just Google most of these things, but I wanted to get points of view from different people if possible.

~ It seems that a lot of Canadians don't drive. Why is that? I don't think I've ever known anyone in the US who doesn't have a driver's license.

~ What is typical Canadian food? Like burgers and fries are considered "All American". Do you have anything like that in Canada?

~ I understand that you have socialized healthcare, but how exactly does it work? You just walk into a doctor's office or hospital and everything is free? Is everything included like dental/vision/pharmacy/birth control?

~ What's the deal with Quebec? I know they speak French, but is it completely different there then in the rest of Canada. And are almost all Canadians bilingual?

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps me improve my ignorance!

[hollyhill]

Ok I will give it a shot.....

~ It seems that a lot of Canadians don't drive. Why is that? I don't think I've ever known anyone in the US who doesn't have a driver's license.
Ummm, that is news to me! Where did you hear that? The only people I know who are of age and don't drive can't drive because of a disability.
~ What is typical Canadian food? Like burgers and fries are considered "All American". Do you have anything like that in Canada?
Probably anything with Maple Syrup on it. And on the west coast it would be also smoked salmon, in Alberta... beef and Cod in the Maritimes. We are also very proud of our Nanimo bars and Butter tarts.
~ I understand that you have socialized healthcare, but how exactly does it work? You just walk into a doctor's office or hospital and everything is free? Is everything included like dental/vision/pharmacy/birth control?
Yes, everything in the Doctor's office and Hospital is free. But we pay a premium of about $120 per month for a family of 5 (free for low income families) but Dh's company pays the premium as part of his benefit package. Dental and vision is not included except for children of low income families. Drugs are free over an income threshold and is based on income. So if all of a sudden you needed very expensive drugs it would be free after the threshold is reached. But many companies offer dental and extended health coverage (drug coverage, massage, vision, physiotherapy), my Dh's company does. So we pay $45 per paycheck for dental, drug, extended health, travel medical insurance, life insurance and disability insurance and Company pays the rest. Also, cost of medical premiums and services varies by province abit
~ What's the deal with Quebec? I know they speak French, but is it completely different there then in the rest of Canada. And are almost all Canadians bilingual?
I don't know what you mean by "different", but they do speak french. Most Canadians learn french in school. But unless the are fortunate enough to beable to use it they lose it...just like any one else. Being from B.C. I have lost all my french....because I have never needed it. Which I am rather sad about. And yes ALL our packaged foods have the ingredients listed in both languages.

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps me improve my ignorance![/QUOTE]

[celina]

im from ontario and lived in quebec, im french canadian.....every province is slightly different like i assume californians are different than from michigan...



It seems that a lot of Canadians don't drive. Why is that? I don't think I've ever known anyone in the US who doesn't have a driver's license.

everyone i know drives.....most households have 2 cars, we dont and we're in the minority...

~ What is typical Canadian food? Like burgers and fries are considered "All American". Do you have anything like that in Canada?in quebec you cant forget POUTINE which is fries smothered in gravy and cheese....we eat pretty much an american diet

~ I understand that you have socialized healthcare, but how exactly does it work? You just walk into a doctor's office or hospital and everything is free? Is everything included like dental/vision/pharmacy/birth control?every province is a little different in this...its federal but controlled by the provinces...here we dont pay anything off our checks except for vision dental and prescription ins...... my kids have had 2 surgeries...quite complexe one and they were both FREE follow up with the nations top 5 eye surgeon FREE....my mom has laser therapy for glaucoma and its FREE...i love our healthcare and feel blessed by it....we couldnt have afforded the same in the us

~ What's the deal with Quebec? I know they speak French, but is it completely different there then in the rest of Canada. And are almost all Canadians bilingual?i speak french....i was born and raised in ontario..there are over a million franco canadians outside of quebec....french here is the equivalent of spanish in the us but we have the right at any goverment office to be served in french...almost all french canadians outside of quebec speak english fluently..quebecers have their own culture in a similar way native canadians or black or even texans have their own special things.... i would say most cnds arent bilingual but several are..


hope these answers helped a little...someone from different provinces would answer differently

[monkeywrangler71]

I'm originally from Nova Scotia, currently living in Ontario.

~ It seems that a lot of Canadians don't drive. Why is that? I don't think I've ever known anyone in the US who doesn't have a driver's license.
I have a grandmother & 2 elderly aunts that don't drive, I've never met anyone else that didn't. We are a very large, relatively unpopulated land mass, it's hard to get by in most places without driving.

~ What is typical Canadian food? Like burgers and fries are considered "All American". Do you have anything like that in Canada?
I don't know any typical Canadian food that isn't eaten in the US (aside from a few regional novelties), but there is a lot of typical US food not eaten in Canada. We have a mix of cultures, and most of the food reflects that, same as the States.

~ I understand that you have socialized healthcare, but how exactly does it work? You just walk into a doctor's office or hospital and everything is free? Is everything included like dental/vision/pharmacy/birth control?

Healthcare is the responsibility of the province, and it varies across the country. Some provinces have a lot more money than others. Going to the doctor, clinic or hospital is generally free, although you have to pay for some elective procedures. Private rooms in the hospital have to be paid for. In Ontario we have to pay some kind of health care premium on our income tax, that didn't exist in NS. Vision and dental is covered here for children, back home just dental was covered. Drugs are not covered by the government (unless issued in the hospital), although depending on your income and where you live, huge drug bills might get covered (big descrepancy across country on this, gov't supposedly looking into it)

We have insurance with my husband's employer which covers 80% of drugs, dental and vision. We pay a premium for that of about $12 a month. Some people pay a lot more, or pay those expenses out of pocket.

~ What's the deal with Quebec? I know they speak French, but is it completely different there then in the rest of Canada. And are almost all Canadians bilingual?
I'd say most Canadians are not bilingual. I think French people are more likely to speak English than the other way around.
Are they completely different? They are different, but so is every region in the country. In Eastern Canada there is a large population of French Acadians, and their culture is completely different than the French in Quebec. And, if you put someone from Newfoundland and someone from BC together, you'd probably having trouble determining if they even speak the same language (both English).
There are a lot of unique laws in Quebec. There is some animosity between Quebec and the rest of the country that we've been trying to work out for decades. It's a very complicated situation that may never get resolved.

[FarmerSue]

What a funny question but I think I'll give it a try!

1. In 34 years of life I only knew 2 people that didn't drive. Other than that everyone I know drives.....you can drive for hours out here and see nothing so if you want to get around you need a car...or a big SUV.....something.

2. Typical Canadian food is a hard one....perogis, cabbage rolls, I guess might be considered weird I'm not sure. Other than that its pizza, burgers, etc. One thing about american food from watching paulas home cooking......I have no idea what grits are, black eyed peas, collared greens, corn bread is not very popular. Stuff like that I try to find in the store but we don't have it.

3.Our healthcare is great....surgeries that we have had are all free. Doctor visits are free. Specialists are free. Optomitrists aren't. The kids visit free. We have to pay for the dentist unless your job covers it. We pay for perscriptions unless your job covers it. My hubby has excellent insurance so we don't pay for much.
4. I live in a very french area of Saskatchewan. I grew up in an area that wasn't. A lot of people speak french around me and I am clueless. My hubby swears in french. Just like you can take Spanish in school we take french. You don't learn a whole lot and if you don't use it you lose it!

I live fairly close to Minot North Dakota and I LOVE going down there. I love seeing the American flag hanging everywhere......you don't see a huge amout of Canadian flags up here although I have on up. Like some of you decorate in Americana......not here!
You have Awesome deals in your grocery stores!!!!!!!!! You will NEVER see milk here for 99 cents.
Target.....LOVE Target.
I think our climate is a lot more the same than differnet, does that make sense? All four seasons pretty much were ever you go. You guys on the other hand are all over with Florida and North Dakota being REALLY different.

Love coming South to visit you! Come on up north some time!

[suesue]

If it's okay to join this thread, I'd like to ask another question. Concerning you Government benefits, which sound great, what is your tax base like? Do you pay an income tax? Is it set by the province or the Federal Government, and how much is it?

Thanks for educating a Texan!!!!

[halloweenfreak]

i would love to visit canada sometime, it all looks so beautiful. i had a friend from (crud i just forgot, i want to say toronto...) come for a visit and he didnt have a drivers license. he just walked or took a bus. that was soooo strange to me as we live in a podunk town in oklahoma and if you didn't have a car, you wouldn't be able to get anywhere around here.

[marei]

A lot of Canadians don't drive - never heard that one before, I have one aunt who doesn't drive and I can honestly say that is the only person I know who doesn't drive, most families are two car families.
Typical Canadian food - think that changes by area just as it does in the States. I live in a wonderful area that produces many kinds of foods, within 30 minutes or less I can buy locally produced honey, maple syrup, we have a cheese factory, a brewery, a chocolate factory. all kinds of veggies and fruit (unfortunately no citrus) eggs, beef, pork, chicken so we eat mostly food from our area to support our local farmers.
I should be ashamed to admit this but actually don't know what is covered by the government or what is covered by my husbands employer. We pay absolutely nothing for doctor and hospital care from specialist down to our own doctor with no yearly limit. We pay $3.00 per prescription no matter the cost of the drug and no yearly limit . Our dental care is completely free and my husband can get one pair of prescription glasses a year and the other members of the family can get new glasses every two years.
The Quebec issue - one has to remember that the majority of Quebecers are happy with the status quo, proven by a vote, but as in a lot of cases the negative side of the issue is what gets all the press.
Hope this helps.

[miss_thrifty]

the one main problem with Health care here is the slow service in certain sectors. e.g. in PEI it can take up to 3 months for a man to get tested for prostate cancer and treatments. Alot of main things that involve cancer we go off the island to New Brunswick.

Every province is deffently differnt about taxes, Health care, and foods.
Canada is so diverse in languages, ethnic and reliegon. I love the diversity of all thew differnt kinds of foods that are brought o Canada. Alot of PEI 's original homesteaders are Irish, Scottish and French. MicMaq Indians are the first ones settles here on PEI.

I love seeing all the differnt toursit from everywheres. Sometimes I see Texans, New Orleans, Maryland, etc. I love differnt accents people have .

[celina]

from what my bil says who moved down to the us, taxes are close to the same.....dh makes about 63000 a yr take home is about 46800 plus i get 200/m from federal govt for my 2 kids and 145 a month provincial for my 2 kids...i stay at home..
also we get 52 wk maternity leave paid at 55% with job guarantee at the end...

in quebec there is also another insurance for pregnancies if your job poses a risk to your pregnancy and dr signs off on it, you get 90% of your salary for the duration of pregnancy with job guarantee plus the 55% of salary for a yr, so with my dd i was off for 7 months at 90% and 12 months at 55%

i LOVE my country..and here there are tons of cnd flags

[Buckeye5]

Great thread!!! I have learned more in those threads about your Country than I did in all of high school!!! Very interesting!!! After reading your info on health care is sounds nice to me, although the waiting period may be a snag for many. Many bankruptcies in the US are from medical bills. A few other questions for the Canadians: I am confused about something in a post above: does the govt pay you to stay home with your children??? When planning vacations, do many plan to go the states or do you vacation in your own country? Also, what is the cost for education in Canada, college etc? How old do you have to be to drive and drink alcohol? Thanks for the info.

[Cricket1]

Really? You've never known anyone in the US that doesn't drive? I know quite a few people that never got their license. Most of them live in a city and use public transportation.

Question for Canadians: What's Tim Horton's? Is it like Dunkin Donuts? Other than that, are donuts really popular there?

[Buckeye5]

We have a Tim Horton's in our town in Ohio. It is similar to Dunkin Donuts by selling donuts and coffee, but they also sell breakfast sandwiches etc, and it is as big as McDonald's.

[celina]

hey that's it, the canadian food is "tim hortons" .yes its a donut chain and so much more here...its a meeting place and they are everywhere

and yes when you give birth the govt through unemployement ins pays you 55% of your salary to a maximum which i think is 475 (or at least was a few yrs back) for 52 week....only 8 weeks of it HAS to be taken by mom the rest can be devided between mom and dad...its called parental leave

in quebec as i was saying the quebec govt through an ins that employers pay...if your pregnancy is at risk....factory, fragile pregnancy etc....chemicals..etc......they pay you 90% to stay home for the duration of pregnancy then you get the 52 weeks


also we monthly (depending on imcome) get child supplement, 100 per kid under 6 per month from federal and i get 144 total for both kids from provincial


now i want timmies....tim hortons coffee here is bigger (and cheaper and simpler) than starbucks there......its very common from towns of 50-75000 to have at least 5 of them....

[mom2three]

I know of a few groups of people that do not always drive - those from a previous, more frugal generation (my mother-in-law, my grandfather) and younger people (no kids) that live in cities. I also know people who live on assistance that do not drive as well as those that have a disability. Once people have the double income with kids, two cars and multiple drivers is the norm (we used to have two cars, but now have one).

Typical Canadian food depends on where you live. I think I would also add totiere (sp?), split pea soup, and salt pork dinner as well. Tim Horton's is very popular Ontario and East (not as much in the west). In some cities (London, Ontario, Kitchener, Ontario, Halifax, Nova Scotia), there are ~ 30 when we were last there (live in London now).

Health care is free, but can have longish waiting times. Vision and dental are not at least in Ontario. Optometrist appointments are paid yearly for children and not covered for adults. You (or your insurnace) pay for glasses. Prescriptions are covered by you or insurance unless you are on assistance or are a senior (and I think you still have to pay a small amount). What I have found neat is that the NS plan covered my MIL doctor visits and hospital stay two years ago when she needed care!

As for the maternity leave it is 17 weeks for Mom and 35 weeks to either Mom or Dad (or split) at a maximum rate of 413/week or 55% of income whichever is less (I am on leave at present). We get Canadian Child Tax Benefit depending on income (~ $110/month per child if you fall in the right income) and since July, those with children under 6 get $100/month per child under 6 as a childcare supplement (this helps - we were paying $1600/month for one full time and one part time in child care). since it looks like there is actually no job to go back to (yes there is suppose to be a guarentee, but I do not know how it will work out for me as the grant funding has run out). Taxes are quite high - hubby's take home is ~ 42 600 with a 63K income.

Canadians are not all bilingual even though we have two official languages. Many people do speak two languages, but they are not necessarily English and French. New Brunswick is a bilingual province which I find neat. There are lots of French speaking areas of the country that are outside of Quebec. There is also a renewed interest in educating in French - my 6 yo dd is in French immersion (part of the public school system).

I have a couple of questions as well.

How common is it to be able to double couplons? I rarely see useful coupons and have never seen them doubled.

What is thepay rate for teachers? I believe it is much higher here.

It's great learning about others!