Conquer Club

Tune in next month for a poll using another random alphabet letter.


--Andy

Carl's Jr

Congo Zaire, as a Belgian I feel like I at least owe them a vote.

Please add Cornwall to the list

Voted Chili

Because I like my Chili Sauce

Canned 30 jars of an awesome mixed pepper garlic chili sauce this season ;o)

How in the HELL can any country but Canada win? Nice people, great food and booze....free codeine.....Players smokes....goin oot for a rip....come on!!

What about Cymru?

jonesthecurl wrote:What about Cymru?

Principality.

More of a country than Cyprus.

Most (if not all) of Canada's votes are probably from people that are yet to visit any of the other countries.

Nymeria Stark wrote:Most (if not all) of Canada's votes are probably from people that are yet to visit any of the other countries.

Canada is a country?

KoolBak wrote:Canned 30 jars of an awesome mixed pepper garlic chili sauce this season ;o)

How in the HELL can any country but Canada win? Nice people, great food and booze....free codeine.....Players smokes....goin oot for a rip....come on!!

WOOT!

Nymeria Stark wrote:Most (if not all) of Canada's votes are probably from people that are yet to visit any of the other countries.

Don't know about "most". Probably some, but definitely not mine.

I was born in Czechoslovakia. I still hold dual citizenship, Czech and Canadian. I've travelled 85% of Europe, pretty much all of it except Scandinavia and Iceland. I've travelled every state of the U.S. except Hawaii, and every country in Central America except Panama. As part of the Czech diaspora I've got close relations in Lucerne (Switzerland), Essen (Germany), Paris (France), St. Petersburg (Russia), and more distant relatives in Poland, Estonia, Austria, Italy, England, the U.S., Rhodesia, Madagascar, and Australia.

I love Europe deeply, but when I look at things objectively, we really have it good here in Canada. When this poll came up, I only briefly paused to think about voting "Czech Republic" and after only a moment's hesitation I voted Canada.

Every place has its good points and its bad points, but when I sit and weigh every possible factor, it just doesn't get any better than life in Canada. Different organisations come up with different rankings, but Canada is always in the Top 10 on everyone's list, regardless of what metric you use -- longevity, happiness, health, wealth, whatever.

Life is good in all of the G7 nations, but it just doesn't get more pleasant that Canada. France may have more beautiful architecture, the U.S. may be a little easier to make money in, Italy may have better wine, Britain may have the strongest tradition of privacy and personal freedom, Germany may have better cars, but when I take Canada's 2nd or 3rd place ranking across all of these things, it really doesn't get any better than here.

And when it comes down to it, the general air of courtesy and interpersonal respect is something you just can't replace. Just a few stories:

• I went home to Prague a few years ago, ordered a beer. The waiter brought some pretzels with it, completely unsolicited. When I went to pay the bill, there were the pretzels, and when I protested, they got very angry and insisted I pay. That kind of thing just doesn't happen in Canada. If someone brings something to the table unsolicited, it''s safe to assume this is a promotional item and it's free. A very small thing, but these small things add up.
• Even if you do ask for it, most condiments and dressings in Canada are free. Not a safe assumption in any other country. I remarried a few years back, went to France for my honeymoon. Every single fucking thing is an extra charge. Ask for extra onions on your burger, there's the extra onions on the bill. Ask for some lemon in your Coke, there's the lemon on the bill. I suppose you get used to it, but you shouldn't have to.
• Just try to find a free bathroom anywhere in Europe. Everything is pay, pay, pay. In Canada, almost every restaurant will let you come in and use their bathroom if you need to. Once in a while there's a sign "bathrooms for customers only" but it's almost never enforced, unless the owner is Chinese.
• I went to the gas station last week. They were out of regular gas, so they put up a sign: "We are out of regular. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please fill up with Supreme at the same price as Regular." You just don't get that anywhere else. I actually was at a gas station in Niagara Falls, New York (the American side of our falls) a couple years ago, and they were out of regular, and it was tough titties. Either fill up with Supreme at the Supreme price, or go somewhere else. The Canadian spirit of respect for the customer is completely unmatched anywhere that I've been.

My aunt in Lucerne is quite wealthy, but she lives in this tiny little apartment, and she has to park her Audi in a basement garage in this tiny little spot where she can barely open the doors once she pulls in. Here in Canada, I'm not wealthy by any means, actually just broke out past the poverty line a few years ago, but I can pull my work truck in the driveway and still have room for three cars. I look at pictures of the shit that goes on in China and Japan, where they have to load their cars in an elevator and stack them on top of each other, and I wonder "how the hell can anyone live like that?"

I have eight fruit trees in my back yard, and I'm a poor working stiff. In London or Paris or Tokyo, if you want fruit trees in your back yard you'd better be a millionaire.

I know there's nothing in Canada quite as beautiful as Notre Dame or the Louvre or the Alhambra or Neuschwanstein or the Prado or Karlstejn Castle, but those are just places you can visit but you can't live in them. When it comes to places you can actually live, most people in the world live in sardine cans compared to the house of the average Canadian.

Most people in the world are hopelessly stressed compared to Canadians. I don't lock my car, unless I'm going to like downtown Hamilton or something. Anywhere in Niagara Falls I just leave my car on the street and walk away. You just wouldn't do that anywhere in Europe or Asia or Africa. Hell, in Mexico people tried to steal shit from our car while we were sitting in it!

Nowhere else is society quite as tolerant as in Canada. My neigbour on one side is black as coal, my neighbour on the other side is white as a ghost, and me I'm in the middle with my swarthy Mediterranean look. Never has it been an issue. I've never seen a race riot. Literally. have. never. seen. one. I work with blacks, orientals, natives, and there's never been a fight. Barely even a nasty word on some very, very rare occasions. I'm not afraid to smile and say hello to anyone, even in the middle of the night on a downtown street.

I've never seen a house in Canada with bars on the windows. Some businesses, but never a residential house. In Europe, the first floor of almost every building has bars on the windows. In Latin America, its often on the second floor, too.

We bitch about the taxes here in Canada, but when you take an objective look, our taxes are not exceptionally high. We bitch about the crooked government, but compared to most of the world our politicians are angels. We have our share of arrogant cops, but in all my life I've never had a cop in Canada demand a bribe or threaten to beat me up. In Mexico, the U.S., Italy, France, I've had cops demand bribes on a regular basis, and although I've never been beaten by the cops, I have seen it happen to other innocent people.

It wasn't always my attitude. When I was young I thought my parents made a mistake coming here. I didn't fit in, I felt like a stranger. I badmouthed Canada all the time. I used to say I was only here temporarily, and I was going back to Europe soon, but soon never came, and I'm glad it didn't. It took a long, long time, but eventually I got comfortable with my Canadian identity. Fairly late in life, I finally realized I love Canada. I've been to many countries, seen beautiful things, met wonderful people, but when I balance out all the good and all the bad, it really doesn't get any better than here.

What's all this 'in Europe‘? Living in different parts of the UK I've never seen a pay-to-use public restroom or any houses/apartments with bars on the windows.

I'd also contest your tolerance/race riots point, thinking of both London and Singapore, but I can't really be bothered and in any case feel like 99% of people in any country are pretty tolerant.

mrswdk wrote:I'd also contest your tolerance/race riots point, thinking of both London and Singapore, but I can't really be bothered and in any case feel like 99% of people in any country are pretty tolerant.

I never claimed that any single positive attribute of Canada is unique, only that when one balances all the good and all the bad, it comes out with the highest net total.

Singapore may be a wonderful place in some ways, but

• It's got one of the highest population densities on the planet.
• There's no winter and the humidity never goes below 90%. If you can't afford air conditioning, you're in hell.
• You can do hard time for smoking weed.

Just three reasons I wouldn't want to live there, despite a host of positive attributes.

AndyDufresne wrote:Tune in next month for a poll using another random alphabet letter.


--Andy

Random?

The dice are more random.

This is clearly a troll on someone who frequents the forum who is obsessed with a "c-named" country.

WingCmdr Ginkapo wrote:Please add Cornwall to the list

Not a country.

However if you subscribe to the same logic as some forum participants, then I can see you point.

Clearly the Normans invaded the isle of Britain and took over. The Cornwall people have a right to have their country returned to them.

Dukasaur wrote:but when I take Canada's 2nd or 3rd place ranking across all of these things, it really doesn't get any better than here.

Weather?

mrswdk wrote:I'd also contest your tolerance/race riots point, thinking of both London and Singapore, but I can't really be bothered and in any case feel like 99% of people in any country are pretty tolerant.

Didn't London have some fairly nasty riots just a year or two ago?

Isn't like every Football (i.e. Soccer) Match just another word for Riot?

jimboston wrote:

mrswdk wrote:I'd also contest your tolerance/race riots point, thinking of both London and Singapore, but I can't really be bothered and in any case feel like 99% of people in any country are pretty tolerant.

Didn't London have some fairly nasty riots just a year or two ago?

Isn't like every Football (i.e. Soccer) Match just another word for Riot?

The 2012 riots weren't race riots.

I mean sure, at the very start there were some people trying to make out they thought this guy had been shot by the police because he was black, but they didn't manage to keep that pretense up long.

Dukasaur wrote:

mrswdk wrote:I'd also contest your tolerance/race riots point, thinking of both London and Singapore, but I can't really be bothered and in any case feel like 99% of people in any country are pretty tolerant.

I never claimed that any single positive attribute of Canada is unique, only that when one balances all the good and all the bad, it comes out with the highest net total.

Singapore may be a wonderful place in some ways, but

• It's got one of the highest population densities on the planet.
• There's no winter and the humidity never goes below 90%. If you can't afford air conditioning, you're in hell.
• You can do hard time for smoking weed.

Just three reasons I wouldn't want to live there, despite a host of positive attributes.

A quick Google says that the humidity in Singapore is going to be around 60% most of this week, which is comfortable enough.

If you can't afford AC, get an electric fan

mrswdk wrote:

jimboston wrote:

mrswdk wrote:I'd also contest your tolerance/race riots point, thinking of both London and Singapore, but I can't really be bothered and in any case feel like 99% of people in any country are pretty tolerant.

Didn't London have some fairly nasty riots just a year or two ago?

Isn't like every Football (i.e. Soccer) Match just another word for Riot?

The 2012 riots weren't race riots.

I mean sure, at the very start there were some people trying to make out they thought this guy had been shot by the police because he was black, but they didn't manage to keep that pretense up long.

Wrong.