Canada is a very political nation, and the Canadian people as a whole tend to be very obsessed with the policies and rules that their country operates under. International pundits will often describe Canada as a European-style a "welfare state" that is a fundamentally more "left wing" country than our southern neighbor. Though this is debatably true, it would be a mistake to think Canadians are completely satisfied with the status quo. Canada is a nation of constant debate, criticism, and whining. We're never satisfied.

Here is a summary of some of the more contentious, popular, infamous, or proud laws and policies in contemporary Canada. It's hard to find a Canadian who won't have an opinion on one of these issues.

HEALTH CARE

"May I see your Care Card please sir?"

One of the things Canada is best known for is its free health care. All Canadians are issued a special healthcare card that allows them to access any Canadian hospital, doctor's office, or drop-in clinic free of charge. This means that in most circumstances you can get any type of surgery, from a lung transfer to a tonsillectomy performed for free. This is a relatively new thing. There has been some form of free healthcare in Canada since 1968, but it's only been since 1984 that all private "for profit" healthcare has been outlawed. Today it is actually a crime in Canada to open a private hospital or attempt to charge someone for performing medical services. Healthcare in Canada is officially a government-run monopoly and opposition from the private sector is simply not tolerated.

The system is generally respected by Canadians, although they will be quick to tell you it is not without its problems, either. Free health care is extremely expensive for the government to maintain, and is partially responsible for Canada's high levels of taxation. Universal access to all of Canada's hospitals and doctors regardless of personal income also leads to chronically high waiting lists, and it is not uncommon to be required to wait over a year to get surgery.

In the 2000 Prime Minister election debate, conservative party leader Stockwell Day famously brandished this sign to let everyone know where he stood on the healthcare issue. Conservative politicians are usually suspected of being the most sympathetic to the two tier idea, though they always deny it.

Canadians looking for a quick fix advocate the creation of a Two-Tiered healthcare system. Under this plan, private doctors could be paid to perform surgery for any patients who could afford their fees, while government-run hospitals would remain open to anyone would could not. This system would allegedly cut down waiting periods, while still providing medical care to all who need it. Critics of this system allege that if it was implemented, all current government doctors would flee to the private sector, making state-run hospitals blatantly inferior. For this reason, every political party in Canada is publicity opposed to the creation of a two-tiered system, although many still believe there is room for improvement.

Though rarely mentioned in public debate, its an uncomfortably well-known fact that an "underground" two-tier system already exists in Canada. Though illegal, many richer Canadians do in fact secretly pay for private healthcare from private doctors and clinics. Past Prime Ministers have admitted to using such a system, as have most other political leaders of importance. Another harsh reality is the fact that in an attempt to cut costs the government is now increasingly changing the rules over what the Canadian healthcare system "covers," and what it does not. The definitions of of "vital" versus "elective" operations are thus constantly being redefined, and many Canadians are now finding that they have to pay for certain "elective" medical services they never had to before. There's a lot of talk on the political left these days about stemming the "creeping tide" of privatization.

JUSTICE CONCERNS

Canada is generally a safe country, although our crime rate is one of the highest in the Western world. While Canada is often regarded as being a country with less crime than the United States, in actuality Canada is really only noticeably better than the US in terms of violent murders. That is to say while we have less gun violence, other forms of crime, such as robbery, assault, and sex crimes occur at about the same rate. So watch yourself.

This guy, David Milgaard, was at the center of another highly controversial Canadian case. When he was 16 years old he was sentenced to life in prison for murder. In 1998, 27 years later, he was cleared with DNA evidence and released.

Canada does not have the death penalty. It was banned in 1976 following a series of controversial death penalty cases, notably the Stephen Truscott case, in which a 14-year-old boy was sentenced to death by hanging for allegedly raping a 12-year old classmate. According to the polls, Canadian opinion remains largely divided on whether or not capital punishment should return to Canada. It comes up for debate from time to time.

Along with no executions there aren't really any "life sentences" in Canada anymore, either. We don't have "concurrent sentencing" which means you can only get one sentence at a time, and not "12 consecutive life sentences" or whatever, as they sometimes do in the US. "Life" usually ends up meaning about 25 years in Canada, except in extraordinary circumstances. Canadian Jail terms will often seem oddly brief because of this fact.

Social Issues

It is in the realm of social policy that Canada's liberal character apparently becomes most obvious.

There are no laws in Canada that regulate abortion in any way. It was illegal until 1969, and tightly restricted until 1988, at which point the Supreme Court threw out the restrictions, calling them unconstitutional. The conservative Mulroney administration of the day tried to make new laws, but these never passed the Senate. So, in modern day Canada you can essentially have an abortion whenever, wherever, with no regulations. This is a bit controversial, and there is always talk of bringing in at least some mild safety regulations, but abortion being the hot-button topic that it is, it's been hard for any government to argue for restrictions on abortion without being branded "anti-choice."

These two Quebec men were the first gay couple to wed in Canada.

Gay marriage is legal in Canada, but the story of legalization has been a long and sordid one. It all began in 2003, when three provincial courts, in rapid succession ruled gay marriage legal. Now in Canada marriage is a federal responsibility, which meant that provincial courts did not legally have the jurisdiction to change marriage policy. Regardless, after the rulings tons of gay couples flooded to city halls and court houses in the three provinces (Ontario, Quebec, and BC), demanding marriage certificates. As more and more courts across the country began to follow suit and rule gay marriage legal, eventually the cases were appealed to the Supreme Court. The High Court in turn refused to rule, and told parliament to pass a law clarifying the definition of marriage, calling the status quo too ambiguous. Finally, in the Summer of 2005 the Parliament of Canada narrowly voted to make gay marriage legal. Canada thus became only the fourth country in the world to officially sanction same-sex relationships.

After the United States, Canada is said to be the most religious country in the western world. A recent poll found that around 86% of Canadians believe in God, while an additional 43% believe they have actually "felt God's presence" in their daily lives.

As it is everywhere else, gay marriage is a very controversial topic in Canada, with polls repeatedly showing Canadians divided almost 50-50 on the issue. The formerly ruling Liberal Party only grudgingly agreed to legalize the nuptials, in a big flip-flop that came after they had successfully opposed the policy for years. The justification that the "courts had tied their hands" was thrown around a lot. The Conservative Party, by contrast continues to oppose gay marriage. They were elected to power in 2006, but with only a narrow plurality of seats in the parliament, so it is unlikely they will be able to directly repeal the legislation any time soon.

Lastly, contrary to what they said on a recent episode of The Simpsons, pot is not legal in Canada. Possession of marijuana is still an offense, though in big city areas the police may turn somewhat of a blind eye to small amounts. When the Liberal party was in power there was always talk that the government might ormally legalize possession of small amounts someday, but now that they're out of power its unclear when, if ever, that's going to actually happen. Medicinal marijuana is legal, though.

FOREIGN POLICIES

Here are some photos I took highlighting my nation's ties to Cuba. As you can see, Cuban cigars and Cuban vacations are openly advertised.

Foreign policy plays a large role in shaping the Canadian identity. Many Canadians like to think of themselves as ideal citizens of the world who are beloved internationally for their peaceful, moderate ways. Many critics, however, would allege that Canada is actually a nation with a foreign policy ego that greatly eclipses it's actual global relevance.

Perhaps one of our bolder foreign policy initiatives is the fact that Canada has diplomatic relations with the Republic of Cuba, something with is rare among countries in the Western Hemisphere. Historically, Canada has refused to participate in the American-led boycott of trade with the Communist nation. This is partially due to the fact that until 1991 Canada was not part of the Organization of American States, and thus under no obligation to follow America's attempts to orchestrate a coherent plan of isolating Cuba. Cuban cigars can therefore be purchased in Canada, and many Canadians travel to Cuba for their summer vacation. Likewise, many Canadian prime ministers have either visited Cuba, or welcomed Fidel Castro to visit Canada. In fact, the relationship between Castro and former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau was so close that when Trudeau died in 2000, Castro served as an honorary pallbearer.

A proud multilateralist nation, Canada is a member of many international organizations (although often near the bottom of the hierarchy). Canada belongs to the G7, although we're the poorest of the gang. We also belong to the NATO military alliance, although aside from Luxembourg, Canada has the most under-funded military. Canada has also recently joined the Organization of American States, and continues to be a prominent member of the British Commonwealth- at least to the extent anyone can be "prominant" in that group.

Here's a propaganda poster from the 1990's produced by the Canadian army. It shows how a lot of Canadians like to imagine our military: full of heroic, blue bereted men of indeterminate ethnic origin heading off to solve all of the world's problems.

As I mention in more detail on the military page, Canada has a military, consisting of a jointly administered army, navy, and air force. Then there is also CSIS (the Canadian Security Intelligence Service) a covert intelligence unit. The Canadian military is chronically under funded and ill-equipped however, and is one of the smallest militaries in any democratic nation. For many years the principal function of the Canadian army was supervision of UN peacekeeping missions, something many Canadians continue to speak proudly of. For a variety of political and logistical reasons, however, this "peacekeeper" role is currently under revision, and today Canada does not have a large military presence in the world.

Right now the biggest operation for the Canadian army continues to be Afghanistan, which our troops have been helping rebuild and stabilize since the aftermath of 9-11. Canada was one of several countries that opposed the Iraq war. Many Canadians, especially French Canadians, tend to favor rather pacifist policies for a number of reasons, a lot of which tend to be motivated by anti-American or left-wing concerns. The Afghanistan mission has become somewhat controversial in recent years because of it's increasingly "war-like" nature, and in 2006 the parliament only barely authorized Canadian troops to remain for an additional two years.