prestonway

My wife Dale & my kids Angela & Nicolle recently spent five wonderful days in Corvallis/Albany, Oregon. The area we visited is to the west of the I-5 between Portland and Eugene, and a bit off the "beaten path".

The trip was a florist fact-finding mission for Simon Says Roses, as to the differences in how flowers are ordered and delivered between Canada and the U.S.

That's not the most important thing we learned, however...

Driving down from Canada, the first thing we noticed were the gas prices. What does $4.19/gallon mean to a Canadian?

First, I'm going to assume that the U.S. dollar and our loonie are almost the same value on any given day.

Secondly, before leaving Victoria the gas price was $1.52/litre, and it takes 3.785 litres to make up one U.S. gallon.

So as a Canadian, I'm paying $5.75/gallon. That's 37.3% more!!!

WOW!

At this same gas station, beer was $10.99 for 18 cans, about $.61/can. In Canada for 24 Kokanee beer it was $36.99, or $1.54/can. That's almost 2.5 times as much.

Cigarettes are $3.90 down south, but in Canada $8.20 or 2.1 times as much.

My favourite chocolate milk is $.69 compared to $1.29, or 1.87 times more expensive.

After I made comment after comment, my youngest daughter Nicolle (who's 18) confronted me.

"Why are these things so much cheaper, Dad? Is this the price we pay (as Canadians) for universal health care?"

My answer was "Yup, that's the price we pay for being more of a socialist country. We pay higher taxes so that the more expensive things in society like health care is subsidized".

"Interesting" was her only reply!?

She was so thrilled with the U.S. lifestyle that after we came home she wanted to find out about going to the University of Oregon in Eugene.

She wants to take her Masters in Education sometime in the future.

Suddenly, living in the U.S. suddenly didn't look so good after all...

Tuition at the U of O is $5,200 per term, or a whopping $15,600 per academic year for a non-resident!

...and at the University of British Columbia...only $5,745 for the entire year!

It's just another case of Canadian society providing a subsidy so that more equal access is available...for health care & post-secondary education as well.

Does this make the U.S. a better country? Worse?

Or is it just the way things are, so deal with it?

It's going to be interesting to see which path she takes...and why.

I guess that's what being a parent is all about...for a while we get to teach...and then after they're a certain age...we get to learn from them too!!