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Ask Catnip I am from Nova Scotia Canada please ask me anything

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Catnip:
I am from Nova Scotia Canada please ask me questions I will do my best to answer them.

Zelhar:
Hello there.

How long have you been following JTF?

What are the gun laws in Canada (or the provinces within)?

Is your social healthcare over-rated?

Catnip:
Thanks for the questions!  "How long have you been following JTF?"

I have been following JTF since I discovered Youtube, approximately 2008. I was searching for good right wing / pro-Israel videos; David Horowitz, Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes, and then one day I came across JTF, I love Chaim's sense of humour.

"What are the gun laws in Canada (or the provinces within)?"

They are Labyrinthian, I actually had to look this one up: according to the RCMP's website, there are restricted firearms, and there are prohibited firearms:  http://goo.gl/tCj3bv     There is the criminal code of Canada http://goo.gl/DYtJFk and there is the Firearms Act http://goo.gl/g3fU6E  So, yeah!  Lots of Canadians have hunting rifles, but assault rifles are not very common although I believe they are restricted which means you can get special license to own them as long as they are not automatic; handguns are not very common but you can get license, and of course automatic weapons are totally prohibited.  Certain ammo is illegal, magazines over 10 rounds are illegal, certain types of scopes and folding stocks are illegal. 

There used to be a "long gun registry" but the Conservative Party scrapped it years ago.    There are no "gun stores" in Nova Scotia, only places sell guns are Canadian Tire and Walmart etc, they only sell hunting rifles, not handguns or AR type firearms. 

"Is your social healthcare over-rated?"

I've never lived outside Canada so I don't have anything else to compare it to; but in general the system has become quietly more mixed (public/ private) in the last decade or so, since we had to allow some private health care companies to move in and take the strain off the over-stretched public system (MSI).  MSI doesn't cover dental, you need private insurance for dental. 

There are long wait times for certain surgeries with MSI.  The long wait times are the most notorious dis-advantage with Canada public health care, which is why years ago there was a big debate over allowing (legalizing) some private health care in Canada, like MRI clinics.  The left wing parties fought against it because it would mean "rich" people could "jump" the queues ("No 2 tier health care!")  My buddy who works at the hospitals tells me there is a small private hospital somewhere  nearby.  MRI clinics are all over the place.

The gov't run hospitals are very modern and state of the art but it is run by the gov't which means big govermnent unions and bureaucracy.  All the nurses are part of big public service unions.  They recently tried to strike in NS, which was very unpopular.  The govt passed "back to work" legislation immediately and the nurses who didn't show up for work got fined, LOL.

Doctors are paid more in the US private health care system so Canada has difficult time retaining doctors and specialists, adding to wait times.  Rural areas in NS have VERY hard time retaining doctors as they can get paid more in US or other parts of Canada. 

Catnip:
Another thing about the public health care system in Canada is that it tends to be centrally located; for example in the Maritimes, all the big regional hospitals are in Halifax, so if you live in a rural area or New Brunswick or PEI, you need to drive to Halifax for appointments, surgeries, treatments etc.  This can put strain on families who need to pay for gas and maybe even hotel stays.

Catnip:
So to sum up: 
Advantages of Canada health care:
--In theory, Canadians don't generally lose their house or car or declare bankruptcy or go into severe financial hardship
over a broken arm or catastrophic illness like cancer.  However MSI doesn't cover all drugs 100%, like when my friend got cancer she still
had to pay for a portion of the drugs, and while it was still pretty expensive, her parents didn't have to mortgage their house or anything.
However, MSI doesn't cover the cost of travel to hospital for your chemo and dialysis etc, which can be significant if you live in a rural area.
-Hospitals are generally well-equipped, high-tech.
-Hospitals here receive tons of charity money too, it's not all gov't funding.  Capital Health (MSI) gets tonnes of charity money from the rich philanthropists, telethons, etc.

The disadvantages are, like I said, VERY loooong wait times for certain surgery and diagnosis; difficulty retaining doctors and specialists
owing to the fact they can make more $$ in the USA or other parts of Canada; rural areas especially lack access
to family doctors---in NS it is fast approaching crisis levels, combined with an aging rural population; it can be difficult to get a family doctor in Canada, owing to wait times.
Many people use emergency rooms as their family doctor, which adds to the wait times.  Regional hospitals are centrally located in big cities, meaning
people who live outside the population centers have long drives to get treatments (and in Canada where things are VERY far apart, this can be a logistical and expensive nightmare for families, MSI
doesn't cover your gas, travel, hotels, etc).
-Govt health care = gov't bureaucracy, and unions.

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