Hello world.  When you are done reporting on Libya, Yemen, Syria and Japan, you might want to direct your attention to Canada, where the federal government was dissolved, the Prime Minister was found in contempt, and we are currently in the throws of major campaigning for a new government.

I know I talked alot about Belgian politics while living in Brussels, so I thought it would be good to do the same for Canadian politics.  And I’ll try not to make the same judgements (ie – if Belgium ceased to be a country, would anyone notice).  As I am delving into the world of Canadian civics, I thought it would be helpful to make glossary to help foreigners in Canada.

Commonwealth — Canada is a member of the British Commonwealth, which is why we have pictures of Queen Elizabeth on our currency. (side note — there are people playing hockey on the $5 bills.  this may be as interesting to you as it has been for me). (I mean, no one is playing baseball on the US bills, and there is no football representation on the Euro, so this just shows Canadian committment to their national sport).  (or they couldn’t come up with anything better).  Anyways, the government is similar to the British Parliamentary system, and can be call Her Majesty’s Government.  The Queen does have a role in government, but it is for the most part very passive.  There are two houses — one is voted by the people, there other (the Senate) is not elected, which I can’t figure out why.  Lets just focus on the one that you can vote for — the House of Commons.

Ridings – Canada is divided into 300 or so ridings, which are similar to electoral districts.  Each riding is supposed to be made up of an equal number of people.

Voting – Canadians don’t vote for a prime minister, they vote for their representative for their riding (member of parliament, or MP).  Once voting is done, the number of MPs for each party is counted, and whoever has the largest amount of seats is the winner!  Their leader would be the Prime Minister.   The losers would normally form an opposition party.

Majority – If the winners get more than half of the seats, they have a majority government, which makes them practically omnipotent.  The opposition parties would have band together to try to make some progress in their favor.

Federalism – Each province has their own government.

Political parties – There are 5 political parties that I hear about in Canada.  I am sure there are others.

Green Party – The Green party, although small, has received a small percentage of votes, which has increased in the past year.  In 2008 they had a MP member.  They are in fact, similar to other green parties — socially progressive, create “green collar” jobs, tax polluters, etc.

Liberal Party – The liberal part in Canada is not left, but in fact more of a right-centrist party.  They were in power for majority of the 90′s and early 2000′s.

The Conservative Party – They are the most right leaning party, which was in power (with Prime Minister Stephen Harper), but did not have the majority and could not get a budget passed.  THey are supposedly conservative, but most of their politics seems more left than Democrats in the US, so I guess it is all relative.  They believe in tax cuts, increases in public health care funding, and are more pro military than other parties.

New Democratic Party – This is the most left leaning party in Canada.  They are socialist. If you are European, this might make you smile.  If you are American, this might scare you.  They like social program — health care, child care, etc.

Bloc Quebecois – I love this.  The Bloc Quebecois is not a national party, it is just for the province of Quebec.  They fall between the NDP and Liberals in terms of policy, but would also like to see Quebec succeed.  Because of the number of people in the province, there are many many Bloc Quebecois MPs.  It is the third largest party in the House of Commons.  Unlike the Parti Quebecois, they are not solely focused on separating from Canada and forming their own country.

Language – all Prime Ministers are expected to be functional or fluent in both English and French.  While chatting with a francophone Quebecois, he mentioned that this is an important factor for Quebecers.

The vote is set for May 2 (only 5 weeks of campaigning is awesome!), and the thought is that the Conservative party will win the elections.  There is a fear here in Montreal, where the Conservative party is not seen positively, that they may even win a majority.  Am not sure this will make a difference in your daily life, but thought it was my duty to share.

In April we visited the lovely city of Toronto.  It is a 5 hour drive from Montreal, and we went for a long weekend with our friends Justine and Mathieu.

I can’t remember why I never wrote about the trip earlier — maybe it was because it was in April, and that is when the weather started to get really warm in Montreal and I couldn’t handle the excitement of watching snow melt?  Anyways, Justine and Mathieu are a fabulous French couple who moved to Montreal a few months before we did.  I love spending time with them because they are so cool and fun to hang out with, and Mathieu teaches me new French words that I use all the time (mostly in the wrong context).  Pedram loves to hang out with them because then they all reminisce about the old continent, and how superior everything is over there — and how silly North Americans are, and how they can’t find good cheese.  I don’t get offended by any of this because in alot of ways they are right.  Please take a look at exhibit A.  One of these people is definitely not as chic as the others.

Look at their effortless style, the scarves, the scruffy beard, the cool jackets.  I look like a silly tourist next to them.  Perhaps it is all in my head, but I definitely felt the need to up my game that weekend.  Check out exhibit B

I think at this point, Mathieu started to ignore me completely.  That is, of course, until I started climbing on his wife.

Anyways, back to Toronto.  There were high expectations for the city, as it is the largest city in Canada, the most diverse, the fastest growing city, the financial hub of Canada, and overall just a cool place to hang out.  We explore as much as possible on foot, getting lost multiple times, including one unfortunate incident when my beloved iPhone took us to a restaurant in the middle of a freeway.  It was the one time my new young technological lover (google maps) was outdone by my older, finds-his-way-by-looking-at-stars husband.

Overall, impressions were good of Toronto, but I am not sure we had the same level of awe about the city as others expected us to have (many people described Toronto to me as the NYC of Canada — those are big shoes to fill).  It definitely has a different feel and attitude than Montreal, much more North American than European, but the great dymanic scene of a huge metropolitan.  My favorite aspect was some of the amazing architecture we saw — you get the feeling that the city is brimming with artistic talent and creativity.

The last one was taken from the top of the CN Tower.  Whoah.

And where was Pedram in all of this fun?  Was he worried that he no longer had the Euro hipness in him, that he had lost his cynical I-am-too-cool-to-care side to become a friendly Canadian?  That my Americanism had influenced him and he would expect stores to be open on Sundays?  That he has lost the ability to spend 4 hours dining, and instead likes to eat food on the go, coffee in to-go cups?  That the Frenchies would catch him eating (and – gasp – enjoying) cheeses like cheddar?  Take a look below — the expression is all European, but the gluttonous two ice creams screams a changed man.

Are you planning to watch the winter Olympics in Vancouver this year?  It starts tomorrow people!  This year, Canada may have a chance of winning Olympic gold, for the very first time on their own soil.  It didn’t happen in Calgary, and it didn’t happen in Montreal.  This year, all my colleagues and Canadian friends have assured me — it will happen.  The land of snow will win a gold medal for doing sports in snow.  It all just makes so much sense.

The spirit is in the air, with people wearing Olympic scarves, gloves and hats to support their country.  I am also rooting for Canada, hoping this country will get some recognition that prevent international journals from making comments like this:

“Theirs is a vast country that in many ways is run like a small town, with small-town values, and it has a highly developed culture of modesty, if not a collective inferiority complex. The athletic record in general is a little underwhelming, and some Canadians think that is because their countrymen prefer that, considering a good effort just as valuable as a trunkload of trophies, maybe better.”

courtesy of the New York Times (even if is true, it reeks with smugness)

Sigh…ask me a year ago, and I could have written a testament on how Canada is an inferior country, the 51st American state, the distant cousin you were embarrassed to talk about because they mispronounced every word, ay?  And now I am crossing my fingers and toes that the Canadian national team will win the Olympic Gold in hockey, cause that is where they wear their pride.

Sigh…after 7 months living here, I am on the Canada bandwagon.  Who am I?

So, undoubtedly I was going to post something about healthcare. I am sure people remembered how much I complained about Belgium and their crazy socialist government controlled, tax sucking system until I got sick.  I went to the nearest doctor who was open — and there were quite a few, waited 10 minutes before being seen, paid 20 euros for the visit, got 13 back from the government, and 4 more euros from my supplemental health insurance through my work.  I paid 3 euros — and that was it.  It was SO easy and SO affordable.  Almost as if basic healthcare was a human right!

When I told people in Europe that I was moving to Canada, they told me that at least I will still have good healthcare coverage.  That is, until my boss, who lived there for many years, told me — “Canadian healthcare is wonderful — as long as you don’t get sick”.

There is the current fear in the US that Obama would make the American healthcare systems like the current Canadian one, in which, most Americans will tell you that they know a Canadian who needed a new heart/CT scan/colonic and had to wait 10 years in Canada before they were treated.  TEN years.  They could have died, but the government did not care.  And they don’t have any equipment, or doctors.  Or nurses.  And all of these poor Canadians had to cross the border to get proper diagnosis and medical attention.

From what I can tell from my time here, alot of that is true.  My landlord waited 3 years before having his knee surgery.  His wife, who is a nurse, says that they are very understaffed and overworked.  There are waiting lists for us to find a general practitioner, and unlike Belgium, we won’t be seen by them immediately — an appointment can take 2-3 weeks.

But still, I am hopeful that the Canadian system will prove everyone wrong, knowing at the same time that universal health coverage means that critical patients will have priorities, and that I may have to wait for non-essential surgery, such as breast implants longer than in the US.  But I guess that is a price I am willing to pay for peace of mind that everyone is equal in terms of medical attention.