Kevin A. Bryan

I came to U Toronto from Chicago today 10 yrs ago on Canada Day.  So a short thread on Canada from an US perspective. And yes, living in Toronto is like living in NYC and talking about the US overall, but I've also been from Tuk to Tofino to rural Newfoundland &amp; Quebec. 1/23

Best thing about Canada is the cultural emphasis on "be nice". Politeness is really the country's core value, very good for quality of life. I had a car in downtown Saskatoon stop for me to cross the road *when they had a green light*. 2/x

Interestingly, it's politness, not outgoing friendliness. Canadians are friendly but a bit taciturn compared to Americans - similar to Minnesota in this way. It's not like the Deep South where strangers chat with you nonstop. 3/x

Canada is very attractive. The Canadian Rockies, Vancouver and its Island famously so, but I'd also rec the east coast from Cape Breton to Gros Morne, the "fleuve" villages out to Gaspe, and the Dempster Highway (which makes Texas look like Singapore, population-wise) 4/x

Canada is also "newer" than the US, outside of Quebec east. In 1900, there were about 700k Canadians N and W of Detroit.  Alberta had 73k. The Dakotas, or Oklahoma, had more people in 1900 than all of Central and Western Canada. 1900 Toronto was Louisville-sized. 5/x

For this reason (again, w/ exception of Quebec and east), many Canadian cities incl. Toronto &amp; Vancouver don't have blockbuster museums, "famous local foods", and the like that you might expect. They are more like W and SW US cities in that way, creating their culture today. 6/x

Obviously immigration is the other big noticeable thing. Esp. w/ huge numbers last 3 years, Canada is about 27% foreign born, 33% non-white. US is 17% foreign born, 42% non-Hispanic white. But 2/3 of non-white, non-Native Canadians are 1st gen immigrants, 96% 1st or 2nd gen. 7/x

That is, Canada has quickly changing demographics (non-Native, non-white % of pop: 13 to 27% in last 20 years). US has much larger racially diverse population who aren't immigrants/kids of immigrants. You really notice this when people talk about "diversity" in each country. 8/x

The other big difference is that the Canada Native population is ~5% (vs 1% in US, 4% in Australia). This group is by far the most SES-disadvantaged population in Canada - roughly the US white-black gap on most measures. Remoteness allowed society to ignore this for too long. 9/x

People in places like Toronto see immigrants as the distinctive Canada difference, but they only see this a cause des 2 solitudes, même en 2024, musique, politiques, news, tout est distinct entre Québec et le reste du Canada. Mais, les francos sont 1/4 des Canadiens! 10/x

The Franco/Anglo gap, and Native impoverishment, partly result from Canadians not finding their history interesting. *Way* fewer popular books/school knowledge about Can. history than same in the US. With high immigration, this is a problem: many don't "get" key cleavages. 11/x

But Canada history actually interesting! The Innis resource cycles (fur, wood, oil+gas), Acadia, BC and NL almost joining the US, the 70s terrorism, the SES recovery of Quebecois, and just in the 90s, 2nd biggest party went away, country was .2% away from splitting into 2! 12/x

What makes Canadian economy "work" and "not work" is same as politics: high levels of trust. No real border to defend, free trade w/ US, educated pop, massive resource wealth, all makes things pretty easy! Institutions "function", and aren't in a state of constant conflict. 13/x

What makes Canada economy not work is that this "easy mode" plus "nice people" plus aversion to conflict = lower ambition. Many de facto oligopoly sectors run by very old money "Laurentian elite": telecom, grocery, etc. Very low R&amp;D, low productivity growth. 14/x

Canada is still rich, but when you look at the numbers, it's basically selling resources plus real estate to foreigners that pays for much of the country. That's still enough to be a top 10 wealthy place in human history! But more "fight" and ambition, could do even better. 15/x

One does worry at the moment about housing. Canada has no Texas/AZ/NC/etc. to take pressure off housing-constrained major cities. Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and even Montreal now (!, via Numbeo data) have home price-to-income ratios worse than Boston and SF. Plat new cities! 16/x

The simplest way to understand US/Canada differences (though they are 90% the same, don't kid yourselves!) is their slogans: "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" vs "peace, order, and good government". Most ppl on each side of border prefer their motto! 17/x

Underrated source of Canada peace: limited federal power. Provinces have trade wars! Supreme Court decisions can mostly be ignored by provinces (e.g. QC anti-hijab law). Provinces can leave govt health care, social security. Hence natl politics low stakes-US should try this! 18/x

Since I always get asked: no, rich Canadians don't fly to the US for health care; yes, much easier that (some) health has no bill; no, not all "free" (pharma, dental, vision, scans and more are paid by you); yes, there are big problems right now (years-long wait for doctor) 19/x

Also, "$10/day child care" quite hard to actually get, equiv. of Social Security far lower than US (avg &amp; max Social Security 3x higher than CPP). Govt health care eats up a lot of budget! One big difference: child tax credit in Canada much better, US should bring this back. 20/x

The best way for Americans to understand what it's like living in Canada is "slightly less prosperous, higher immigration, more urban, upper Midwest". To be clear, that's not a bad thing! A decade from now, add "heavily South Asian" - rise of India will help Canada! 21/x

Canada's future is clearly tied to immigrants. Now, it's harmonious, but maybe not as successful as you'd think. Very few non-white major CEOs (vs. Google and MSFT and FedEx and Walgreens and...in US), no non-white PM, no elected non-white leader of Big 4 province, ever. 22/x

But I'm optimistic about Canada. Fix housing (easier building, new cities). Allow more competition (which pushes up pay-for-quality, keeping talent from going to US). Teach more history. Kind, smart, hardworking people, resource-rich, safe: a great start! Happy Canada Day! 23/23