A rchive Date
[ 20-08-2000 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[How do you measure quality of life?
By DAVID SUZUKI-- CNEWS Science
Headlines on the front pages of some Canadian newspapers recently trumpeted an Industry Canada report claiming that Canadians' standard of living has fallen far below that of Americans - even below the standards of poor southern U.S. states.
Some economic analysts immediately jumped on the report as proof that Canada needs to lower taxes, privatize health care, decrease government spending and take other measures to make Canada more "competitive." Others tried to find concrete examples that would clearly show how much our standard of living has dropped.
One analyst, for example, noted that while the best-selling car in the U.S. is the Toyota Camry, Canadians "have been downgraded to the Corolla." Well, actually it's not just Canadians. Corollas are the best-selling cars in the world - of all time, in fact, recently even overtaking the ubiquitous VW Beetle.
But since when does making the thoughtful decision to buy a practical, fuel-efficient vehicle make people less well-off? Canadians buy fewer and smaller vehicles than do Americans. That means less traffic, fewer freeways, fewer road accidents and less air pollution. It seems to me that these are things that actually improve our standard of living.
One reason why Americans buy larger and more vehicles may be because they drive more often than do Canadians and for greater distances. This is not just because Americans love their cars more, but also because the decentralization of American cities and poor public transit in many suburbs leaves them with few options except to drive. Is this what it means to have a higher standard of living?
Yes, there are more extremely wealthy Americans than Canadians, but to suggest that the average person's quality of life in Alabama or Arkansas is far better than that of the average Canadian is ludicrous. Has anyone from Industry Canada ever been to the southern U.S. states?
According to Industry Canada, the top economic performer in the U.S., and therefore the state with the highest standard of living, is Alaska. Now, Alaska may be a nice place to live, but Americans themselves aren't exactly clambering to get there. In fact, the state's population growth rate is considerably lower than that of the national average.
Something doesn't seem right here. If our standard of living is so low, why does the United Nations keep saying that Canada is the most liveable country in the world? Even an analyst from the pro American-style governance Fraser Institute has questioned Industry Canada's blanket statements about living standards, pointing out that other measures of standard of living show a far smaller difference between the two countries.
Furthermore, a recent paper in the British Medical Journal reported that Canada's method of redistributing wealth through the provinces reduces income inequality, which in turn reduces mortality and improves public health. In other words, Canadians live longer, healthier lives than do Americans, at least in part because of the more equal distribution of wealth in our country. Indeed, Canadian men born today can expect to live three years longer on average than their American counterparts, while women will live two years longer on average.
This is not to say that Canadians should be smug. In fact, the article in the British Medical Journal points out that income disparity in Canada is on the increase. The question is, do we want to follow the American path to greater monetary wealth for some, but greater disparity between the rich and the poor? Or should we work towards improving our own system, to the benefit of all Canadians? As a society, this is what we have to decide.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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