Socialism, in regard to whether America or Canada is socialist, is over-hyped. Obama was "accused" of being socialist, yet the nation was overwhelmingly unsocialist for his entire term: it was just a GOP political label to demonize him. The truth being, pure capitalism does not work, and it's up to the propagandists to convince everyone that we are leaning too far towards socialism in order to maintain pure capitalism. This is part of the corruption of America.

"In order for a country to be socialist it requires a lack of economic freedom."
FALSE
Socialism is simply the Gov agreeing to care for its citizens, first and foremost. As such it can be attached to ANY political system or economic system.

During the cold war and red scare there was a consistent effort to link Socialism and Communism.
USSR= United Soviet Socialist Republic, which was Communist, and the terms got mixed up
Communist Socialists, Fascist Socialists, Democratic Socialists, are all possible and historical.

Cannuck is Democratic Captitalist and Socialist
SO IS AMERICA
Social Security, The VA, Police, Firemen, first responders of all ilks
ALL socialist ideas manifest.

Canada is not a Socialist nation.

I do not believe Canada is a socialist country.

Canada is not socialist . Just because we have universal health care does not make it socialist. The U.S. government could have expanded health care but now it shrinks it. Canada is capitalistic too but we care about social programs. The US has the highest per capita spending on health care but it doesn't help the majority of its citizens. I saw a documentary called Death by Delivery. It shows that the US has the highest rate of infant mortality in the developed world. Mainly because poor people can't afford prenatal and obstetric care.

I adore Canada. I've spent a fair amount of time over the years, having been involved with women in Ontario and BC. I would live there in a heartbeat if the possibility came.

No not at all.

I thought it was before the NAFTA agreement thing but I now lean toward it becoming close to many of the USA things, that darn thing of money overriding principle and what NAFTA has caused.

Hi athena,
well done , your information is true and valid
canada is the only country in the world that is socially oriented
that means canada cares about its people . You forgot the OAS : old age security
canada is by far the finest country on earth
and offers the best possible life to be lived
greetings from mephisto

HUMANISM is the only "ism" that matters, not Socialism, Capitalism or Communism...   Whatever works best, alone or in concert, for the HUMAN BEINGS involved, at the time in question...

I would love to live in Canada except for the weather. Do they accept immigrants from the USA?

If Canada would be warmer, I would move immediately.
So, America is on the 18th place? in the countries with economic freedom for the ones that can afford it. The rest are slaves and you can see easily who is slave (and refused to think) and those are a little or much smarter that are not. Maybe 18th in economic freedom (who has set the parameters) but the country is so much lower if you would talk about which country treasures the most individual freedom.
If Alaska would be a separate country, Alaska would score pretty well I suppose.

Nope, just caring and friendly. But spend a lot of time in Canada.

I would really like to state something and this is supposedly the place to do it since the word socialist is being used. Any time people get together to perform something that affect the group that is a socialist act. Socialism has had many bad proponents in the past. There has been National Socialism, what the Nazi's in Germany tried in the early half of the 20th century and which is thought to be great by many today, there are the forms of socialism that form political parties in Europe and other countries, these seem to be working to some degree within the systems that have put them into power. In order for Socialism to exist several things have to come into being. First there has to be a place where the idea is seen to be a good one. What ever this is it has to be democratic, of all the people, for it to be sustainable, there has to be a manner in which the efforts and contributions of all (and I mean all) can be of benefit to all. There can be people who become wealthy, but they cannot have power over others because of this wealth. It would be great if there was a manner in which the abundance of wealth could be reinvested back into the economy so that it makes all better off. A Question: What would happen if we were all allowed a way to have clothing, food, shelter, health care, and some other necessities so we can all be taken care of in at least a minimal manner? Could there be a way for anyone with an idea for a new business or a new means to care for people, or for there to be a way to make sure everyone was cared for and made to be able to contribute something back to society? I will stop now since I am starting have my thoughts ramble and I may not make sense. Please reply with any and all thoughts as I am interested in seeing what others think. Really.

Only the fascist Republicans.

I have never considered Canada to be Socialist. Perhaps some people confuse their (your) social healthcare program with social-ISM. Big mistake. =]

I am turned off by societal tags like "socialism".. I have some really good friends who are either Canadian or American he spent a lot of time in Canada but now reside in the states.. all of them say that there are several advantages and conveniences of living in Canada. The ironic thing is that the Americans who spent significant amount of time there prefer Canada. And the Canadians that are now living here prefer life in the states

No

First of all Master Trumphole has brought a lot of our idiots out of the woodwork. They want to make America great again by wrecking all the good we have accomplished. Bring us back to an era where big business has free reign to do whatever it wants to do for the enrichment of the well connected and entitled few. This is NOT progress. They want their perverted version of fascist christiantiy insanity to reign supreme. This is NOT progress. They want atheists and agnostics to be second class citizens if not be sent to concentration camps. This is NOT progress. They want women to no longer have control over their own bodies, their own destinies, their own lives. This is NOT progress. It's going to be a real struggle to beat them back. They have stacked the courts with regressive minded judges. This is NOT progress. We need to resist them. We need to stand up and vote despite all their rather successful voter suppression laws. Their gerrymandering. It is an up hill battle but one we cannot afford to lose...

Not even remotely. It is merely a nicer, saner, more civilized country!

Pretty much. Many right leaning americans relate socialism with communism...but they are not the same, not close at all really and every capitalist (democratic) country has some degree of socialism as far as I know. Socialism exists in a spectrum within an economic system, capitalism or communism or authoritarianism even (Cuba).

There is a reason most capitalist countries practice socialism to a greater degree than the US. I think because the govt's job in a democracy is to do the best for the most people...that is how they get elected. The US is starting to resemble and always has to some degree, a corporate oligarchy, more than a social democracy. There is corruption in all political systems but here it is pretty much in the open with big lobby groups "buying" law/votes by creating narratives across media that scare enough people into choosing their platform. Guns, tobacco, oil/gas/energy are all the most obvious and have been around the longest, many of them since America was a country. The healthcare industry is massive, especially true here in Nashville, and essentially run by insurance/pharmaceuticals essentially. It is why drugs cost more here than anywhere else in the world even though many are developed here., er, the legal drugs...the illegal ones are just a market to market thing.

Canadians pay more taxes on average. I think my EOY tax payments were probably 25% in Canada and somewhere around 15-20% in the US (thanks giant mortgage). However in addition to that 8% we pay "sin" taxes on things considered luxuries...alcohol, tobacco, gasoline, etc. Because these are burdens on the healthcare system the government has decided that those that indulge will pay more thatn those that do not. It actually makes alot of sense and is common

A country is like any system...you are as strong as your weakest links. If you can put everyone on more or less equal footing it strengthens the nation. As a result the education system is highly subsidized all the way through university and obviously the healthcare system is almost exclusively a publically funded program. Better educated and healthy populations can provide better workers and opportunities for all.

Not to mention the Patriot Act reduces the personal privacy freedoms of Americans in the name of "security". Your govt/law enforcement/court has a much greater ability to access and share your information,no matter how private, than they do in Canada. I can't speak for other countries but I am sure they are closer to Canadian privacy than the US version

A friend of mine was born in the U.S. but moved to Norway (where her father was born) as an adult. Norway is a socialist country. Canada is not.

No Canada is not a socialistic country, but they are not Lilly white either.

On trade they want to appear to be free market advocates but in fact they are not, "Canada uses supply-management systems to regulate its dairy, chicken, turkey, and egg industries. The regime involves production quotas, producer marketing boards to regulate price and supply, and tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for imports. Canada’s supply-management regime severely limits the ability of U.S. producers to increase exports to Canada above TRQ levels. Under the current system, U.S. imports above quota levels are subject to tariffs (e.g., 245 percent for cheese, 298 percent for butter).​

The United States spends more on national defense than China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, France, United Kingdom, and Japan combined. While the chart above illustrates last year’s defense spending in dollars". This could be the reason Canada can spend so much on Health Care. Piggy backing off the United States when we are protecting its citizens.

On immigration many Canadians believe our ration policies are cruel. Canada's immigration policy is merit based and bias toward rich business men / women and the highly skilled work force.

Then there is the environmental aspects of Canada. They don't seem to have a problem polluting the Great Lake's. Even going to far as to endanger them by piping oil under the Mackinaw Bridge.

In conclusion I would just consider Canad to be yet another ungrateful country

No.

no?