3 ms·

> A few months in, the reports back to friends and family change. More and more mention of the "amazing" house they found in the suburbs with an outdoor pool (!

> A few months in, the reports back to friends and family change. More and more mention of the "amazing" house they found in the suburbs with an outdoor pool (!) that is so much less expensive than in Toronto or Vancouver, the "fantastic" school the kids attend with sports teams and cheerleading and other afterschool activities, and—especially—how unbelievably cheap everything is at the supermarket, mall, and gas station. I wonder, why doesn't Canada simply... compete?

TMWNN 5y ago
>I wonder, why doesn't Canada simply... compete? It's not that simple. The cities I mentioned are all in the US sunbelt, and Canada (and the northeast and northern midwest US) can't compete with the southern and western US's. The sunbelt has cheaper land, as well; Vancouver (the only part of Canada with competitive weather to the US sunbelt) is jammed into the Fraser Valley between the Pacific Ocean and the mountains. The prairie provinces have plenty of land (which is partly why Edmonton and Calgary are growing so quickly), but have terrible winters. On the other hand, the weather and cheaper land don't wholly explain the competitive differential, either. It's not unusual for an American to move from New York or Boston to San Francisco, Dallas, Phoenix, or Miami, or a Canadian to move from Toronto or Montreal to any of those cities. It's also not unusual for someone to move from San Francisco, Dallas, Phoenix, or Miami to New York or Boston, despite the latter cities' colder winters. It is unusual for someone to move from NY, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas, Phoenix, Miami, etc. to move to Toronto or Montreal; I've calculated elsewhere (<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25367731 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25367731>) that an average Canadian is 27 times more likely to move to the US than an average American is to move to Canada. Another differential is cost of living. Why Canadians pay much more and have access to less despite living in a country that is 95% culturally, economically, and politically identical to the US, I do not know. I didn't fully understand the disparity until I read the amazing stories in a Reddit discussion. victorn72's account (<http://np.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/1ueai3/why_are_our_prices_so_much_higher_than_the_us/cehewa1?context=3 http://np.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/1ueai3/why_are_our_pr...>) caused my jaw to drop open. This is why every large US border town along the Canadian border has malls where, every day (in normal circumstances with the border fully open) you see hordes of Canadian shoppers in parking lots frantically opening sealed electronics and clothing to try to bypass import duties when returning home.

TMWNN 5y ago

>I wonder, why doesn't Canada simply... compete? It's not that simple. The cities I mentioned are all in the US sunbelt, and Canada (and the northeast and northern midwest US) can't compete with the southern and western US's. The sunbelt has cheaper land, as well; Vancouver (the only part of Canada with competitive weather to the US sunbelt) is jammed into the Fraser Valley between the Pacific Ocean and the mountains. The prairie provinces have plenty of land (which is partly why Edmonton and Calgary are growing so quickly), but have terrible winters. On the other hand, the weather and cheaper land don't wholly explain the competitive differential, either. It's not unusual for an American to move from New York or Boston to San Francisco, Dallas, Phoenix, or Miami, or a Canadian to move from Toronto or Montreal to any of those cities. It's also not unusual for someone to move from San Francisco, Dallas, Phoenix, or Miami to New York or Boston, despite the latter cities' colder winters. It is unusual for someone to move from NY, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas, Phoenix, Miami, etc. to move to Toronto or Montreal; I've calculated elsewhere (<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25367731 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25367731>) that an average Canadian is 27 times more likely to move to the US than an average American is to move to Canada. Another differential is cost of living. Why Canadians pay much more and have access to less despite living in a country that is 95% culturally, economically, and politically identical to the US, I do not know. I didn't fully understand the disparity until I read the amazing stories in a Reddit discussion. victorn72's account (<http://np.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/1ueai3/why_are_our_prices_so_much_higher_than_the_us/cehewa1?context=3 http://np.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/1ueai3/why_are_our_pr...>) caused my jaw to drop open. This is why every large US border town along the Canadian border has malls where, every day (in normal circumstances with the border fully open) you see hordes of Canadian shoppers in parking lots frantically opening sealed electronics and clothing to try to bypass import duties when returning home.