Looks like a great place to hang your hat. Happy Canada Day!

No Sparklers. Ha. What a beautiful place! Hopefully one day we can visit. Happy Canada Day for sure.

Wishing you guys a (belated) Happy Canada Day! Looks like it was! :)

Happy Canada Day! And I must thank my late grandmother for immigrating from Scotland to Vancouver to Southern California. I have relatives from Regina to Vancouver and they all love coming to visit….especially in the winter months!! LOL!

Being on the border with Canada, Buffalo, NY, and the Peace Bridge I have grown up visiting Canada like going to the nearest town. Of course, 9/11 has changed the ease of such visits, and now you still have restrictions in place on the Canadian side because of Covid. In many respects I can say "I Love Canada", but I would never want to live there.

How anyone can afford the costs of day in and day out needs like groceries, milk in a bag anyone?, high meat prices, lack of Federal oversight on meat products (like the FDA in the U.S.), government control over beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes, and pricing of course. The population is forced to live in high-rent apartment communities because of land prices that do not match the sheer size of the country and the available wide open expanses of land. And let's not forget taxation!

Is it any wonder that those that have the ability to come to spend a good portion of the year living in the U.S., Ray you are one of them, or anyone that knows anything about Florida and the Canadian invasion come every fall, do so? Taking advantage of our free or ridiculously cheap BLM lands out West and South West, or the moderately priced condos, campgrounds, apartments, etc. available throughout the U.S. south.

I don't mean this post to be a bash on Canada, but sometimes I don't hear the appreciation of the U.S. and what we offer through our form of government and heritage from some Canadians who take advantage of ALL we have to offer with nary a word of Thanks For The U.S.A.

I think your view seems to be very southern Ontario-centric. Southern Ontario is very densely populated. About 1/3 of all Canadians live in the small region. I've never drank milk from a bag. It isn't sold like that out here. :) We also have private liquor stores everywhere. Out here in the west, there are many open lands just like the USA west. Boondocking for free or cheap is very common on what's called Crown lands, with tons of backcountry to explore, but in some areas like BC, you do need a smaller-sized RV to access them due to thick forests and mountains.

Most Canadians head south simply to enjoy the warmer climate in the winter, there isn't anywhere in Canada during the winter that is warm enough to enjoy RVing, Snow and RVs don't mix well.;) or people would likely travel to the USA much less I'd imagine since it costs a lot in fuel to make the trek south and back plus needing to pay for extra health insurance. You'd also be amazed at how many Canadians choose Mexico instead for the winter escape.

There is also the flip side of visitors from the USA coming to Canada, especially in the summer. Our parks and campgrounds see a great many American tourists. They also trek through BC. Yukon and Alberta, in large numbers on the way to Alaska and back every year. Add to that a ton of fisherman and hunters heading north. USA boaters invade our west coast waterways each summer in droves as well since the BC coast is full of islands and fjords, inlets, bays, etc. Awesome for boondocking on the water. Most of the US west coast is fairly open to the Pacific so not suitable as much for pleasure craft boats. Many USA large boat owners use our marinas So I see it as a mutually beneficial trade, not just a one-way thing. When covid hit, that was proved to be very bad for travel-related businesses on both sides of the border.

Once you add up all the different costs, the standard of living for the average Canadian versus American isn't so different. Both countries have costly places to live and cheaper places. Things also vary from state to state, province to province, and region to region. Cheers, Ray

very well put Ray,

Being from Montana, we just love shopping in Alberta and buying groceries that we can't get stateside that we used to buy when we lived in Europe. I completely agree with you Ray that overall things are not all that different.