Happy Canada Day!! Proud to be Canadian!

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As Canada Day is fast approaching, I've been reflecting on why I'm proud to be Canadian and what makes this country of ours, so great.

Many reasons come to mind, but a few off the top of my head....

1) Our universal health care system. I am thankful all Canadians, regardless of their financial situation, are able to go to a Dr. or the emergency room, whenever we need to. No system is perfect and ours does have some problem areas, but generally speaking it's works well. One of the arguments I quite often hear is about our waiting times, but if you compare private care, it may not be as bad as it seems. I recently read an account of a person who had to rely on private health insurance coverage. The battle went on for years as to whether a certain medical procedure was needed. After years of fighting and losing the battle with the insurance company, the person finally opted to pay out-of-pocket. Immediately after the procedure was done, the person had relief, feeling better than they had in years. So while our waiting times may be a few weeks to a few months, it certainly beats years and all the stress of dealing with an insurance company.

2) Our social programs. There are many but one off the top of my head --Maternity/Paternity leaves. They are now one full year for new moms/dads. (My mom told me when I was born, she got about six weeks off. Wow, wonder what she did witha all that time off??)

3) Our overall cultural attitude towards guns. I saw a recent website that was all about guns. It even had a section on how to successfully conceal your gun on your body ---- like at church when somebody tries to give you a hug. So glad this is not an issue for us.

4) The cultural and physical beauty of our country. From east to west and all points in between, all regions are so vastly different.

5) Our role in the helping of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Here is a link to a CBC story and this one reviews of a book written on the topic. I had hoped to link to a CBC documentary I saw, but am unable to find it. While these links speak specifically of Newfoundland's help (all planes in flight had to land here and most of the planes, if not all, were American), the rest of our country's help was astounding throughout the whole tragedy.

5) All of the freedoms we enjoy every day.

Happy Birthday Canada!!!

Eh? ;-)