UAW Local Publishes Spring Hill Scab List

Various: Er, yeah, I was referring to Canada's tiny and ethnically homogeneous population. Land doesn't join unions nor can it have ethnic component. A single US state has about the same population as the entire country of Canada. Canada is 85% white, the Scandinavian countries exceed 90% white, Japan is 98% ethnic Japanese, China 98% ethnic Han. The US, at 65% non-hispanic white, is a paragon of ethnic diversity compared to any of those countries. There really can't be any comparison. When you look and talk and think just like each other it's very easy to come to a consensus about political matters. Are there any "right to work" provinces in Canada as there are in the US? The nice thing about the US is if you don't want to pay union dues you can always move to a right-to-work state. I assume that isn't the case in Canada but I could be wrong. In aggregate US right-to-work states are are gaining young adult population while mandatory union states are losing young adults, which tells me that people are voting with their feet. A look at Wisconsin's continuing plunging public sector union membership certainly bears this out. Given a choice more than half the people dropped out and quit paying dues.

@Roader Visible minorities in Canada as of 2011 = 19.1% of the population Aboriginal status Canadians as of 2011 = 4.3% of the population Self-identified as a French/Francophone background = 15.8%. This is important as Quebec follows a different legal system (Civil Code) and enforces French language laws (a function of Federalism). Therefore many Francophone Canadians do not speak English and the vast majority of non-Francophone Canadians have little to no working knowledge of the French language. In Toronto visible minorities comprise well over 40% of the population and Toronto (the GTA) represents nearly 14% of Canada's population. So certainly not a 'heterogeneous' population. In fact approximately 40% non-English speaking and/or non-Caucasian. The Canadian government endorses a policy of 'Multiculturalism', one of the few national governments to do so. And with a population of approximately 35 million it is larger than any American state with the possible exception of California. As for the increase in the population of right to work southern U.S. states, look to the rising Hispanic population (birth rates and immigration) not to 2nd generation plus Americans moving south. Then compare standards of living and wage rates between States. The American standard of living (and income) peaked in the mid to late 70's and has been declining ever since. Coincidentally (?) union rates peaked at the same time. For a quick review, read the recent posting in Slate Magazine regarding social mobility. The social mobility rate of those in the U.S. is now about 17th in the world and below that of Canada and many western European countries. From WWII until the mid to late 70's social mobility in the U.S. was the highest in the world. Add in the fact that the U.S infant mortality rate has increased greatly in regards to other nations since 1980 and that the life expectancy of those in the U.S. has declined sharply in relation to that of other nations (the U.S. now lags behind most other 1st world nations in regards to these statistics) and you have to ask what has changed in the U.S. since 1980 that has caused its standard of living measures to decrease so dramatically?

@Arthur Dailey If you count French as minorities, you might as well count our entire South and much of New England/ New York. The South for culture, and the other for non English speakers. Give it up, US is more diverse by far, and has the political weight of slavery and segregation weighing on it. Somehow, I don't see your immigrants (selected carefully for demographic suitability btw) having quite the same issues. Canada is not "tiny" but it is a large state compared to the US though I don't know why that matters. Infant mortality is a lie. The US uses a different measure than most other countries. Just drop it. I lived in Calgary when they had an OB shortage, caused by Ottawa planning, so you aren't going to win this one. Canada healthcare laws nearly killed me and left me scarred. I will stay here all day and argue healthcare with anybody over the evils of the Canadian way. I liked Alberta overall, but you should just quit on this one right now. Biggest regret in my life was not getting evacuated for what is a simple, common diagnosis and surgery in the US. You don't no a thing about healthcare if you think the Canadian system is a good one. It takes willfully choosing dogma over fact to like the Canadian way on healthcare. It's like me denying Texas imprisons too many people. Just Give it up! Slate is a biased source. Social mobility isn't at all properly measured in the US. I'll believe it has been reduced. I blame government. You don't? Who else could be responsible? Some star chamber? Black helicopters? Okay, rant over.

@Arthur Dailey No getting around the fact that, compared to the US, Canada is a very small, very ethnically homogeneous country, and it is very easy to govern as a result. I don't know where you get the idea that living standards have dropped in the US since 1980. Canada's infant mortality rate is virtually identical to the US's. Removing traffic fatalities and homicides - instant deaths that not even the most gloriously statist health care system system can reverse - shows that the US is either #1 or #2 for life expectancy in the world. The broadest standard of living measure, the Human Development Index, shows the US at #5, behind, very white Norway, Australia, Norway, Switzerland,and the Netherlands, and ahead of very white Germany, New Zealand, and Canada. In fact, the top ten are all very white except for the US and Singapore. A classically liberal system of government allows a fantastic standard of living in the very ethnically diverse US, while Singapore employs an arguably authoritarian government to maintain a high standard of living in their relatively diverse (74% Han/13% Malay/9% South Indian) population.

@Landcrusher Very hard to have a meaningful dialogue with someone who will not accept facts. Check out these facts re: life expectancy and infant mortality: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.IMRT.IN http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/life-expectancy-country.html As for diversity Quebec views itself as a 'distinct nation' due to cultural and linguistic differences. Very much different. The only American parallel would be the Confederacy. And Quebec has held multiple referendums regarding whether it should secede from Canada. Regards 'visible' minorities the facts were provided, close to 40% in 2011 and that percentage is growing rapidly due to immigration and demographic patterns. As for health care. The U.S.A. is out of step with all the 'civilized' nations. The U.S. government pays more per capita for health care than the Canadian government and still does not have a workable universal health care system. Yours is an argument that was lost decades ago in all other 1st world nations and any epidemiological study can demonstrate the reasons behind it. Instead in the U.S. private health care organizations and insurance providers reap profits and pay exorbitant salaries, while driving an appalling number of people into bankruptcy. You blame government for the reduction in social mobility but you do not say what they did to reduce it, since 1980.

@Roader Your statements regarding diversity and ease of governance. are factually incorrect, as any historian, political scientist, sociologist or student of demographics can tell you. The statistics were provided, you choose to ignore them. As for the U.S. system, the American Constitution and the system that it created is truly remarkable. Well balanced and logical. Thank your Founding Fathers for that. Blame your current education system for the recent problems.

@Landcrusher Arthur, No need to be rude. I accept facts. You are presenting a well known and repeated lie. I told you why the stats you present are false. You have presented nothing to contradict that merely sourced the lie. First, it's not a matter of fact that Quebec francophones should count as a minority. I have been there, and they are much less different from average white Americans and Canadians than many people in the US who you we don't count as minorities. You can disagree, but it's not over any facts. I would send you to southern bayous and the Appalachians for starters and see if you want to keep your position. Enjoy the food while there. And, if you go to a hospital note they don't stop you to ask about payment until after they are sure you are not dying. I used not understand why that's important. Second, the US defines a live birth as any birth where the baby breathes and/or shows other signs of life. Most other countries do not. Some have size requirements or other criteria that their health systems have prescribed. The result is that they simply don't count the births of many of their most high risk babies. It's that simple. Those deaths they do not count as deaths just as we don't count miscarriages. Then, if you norm for that somehow (which you really cannot in most cases without guessing), you will not find the differences in the US are from lack of spending but rather the opposite. Now. It may be a shame if someone doesn't get proper prenatal care due to ignorance, willfulness, or lack of resources. I was in Canada when women could not get checked by a doctor for prenatal care because the government had purposefully reduced the supply of OBs allowed to graduate and followed that up by not allowing enough of them to move their practices to Alberta and providing funding for them to treat there when it was attracting hoards of young Canadians looking for work. OBs in other parts of the country were just taking it easy while babies in Calgary were at risk. It was on public radio as an issue nearly daily. That's not a shame. That is a good reason to change your government. Your own highest court found against your system and your government merely sidestepped the decision and kept acting abhorrently. What you have is a tyranny of the healthy majority over a minority of people who need health care and must (and often do) leave your country to get it. I hope you don't ever see the dark side of your system. Facts have very little to do with a constructive argument. You first have to be willing to look for truth. Then you have to be willing to not attack the other party, but merely his position. Then, you can start discussing evidence of which what you think is a fact is one part. If you can't give up your facts, then why argue at all? I can accept that there is lots of problems with US healthcare because the facts are not a matter of religion, ideology, or national pride. Canadians don't seem to be able to do that.

@Roader Mr. Dailey: Your infant mortality rate link shows the US at six and Canada at five. But could we increase the resolution? Here's a couple more ratings with better resolution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate CIA: 4.78 Canada vs. 5.2 US United Nations: Canada 5.22 vs. 5.4 US For all intents and purposes Canada and US infant mortality rates are identical. Life expectancy is a bit more complicated. US citizens have more car accidents than citizens of other developed countries because population centers in the US are more spread out. And we have a robust right to bear arms (thank you District of Columbia v. Heller!), much more robust than any other developed country. Couple those two factors with a much more ethnically diverse population and you have a lower life expectancy due higher rates of instantaneous death: homicides, suicides, and car accidents. Control for those factors and the US has the highest life expectancy in the world: http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2007/09/natural-life-expectancy-in-united.html#.VEAzeJ4UdsE I fully agree that the US is a much higher risk / reward country than other developed countries. It's a riskier place to live but the rewards are higher, although Canada and the US are very similar economically. For example, per capita GDP vs. Gini coefficient, after taxes and transfers: Canada: 52K / 0.324 US: 53K / 0.378 From an economic perspective, the US is a slightly more rewarding place to live, but it's also slightly more economically risky. On a personal note, I travel frequently to Europe and Asia and I find that Europe, for a whole lot of reasons, is boring as hell. Japan and China too. Everybody looks and acts the same...all are monocultures. And although I can't comment on Canada because I haven't been there in decades, ethnically diverse Brazil and the US are much, much more fun to visit and live in.