:The socialist (see below if interested) governments of Canada had for many,
:many years run themselves at a "deficit" in their budget.

Just because a government likes to spend money it doesn't have, that doesn't mean it is a socialist government.

:But of course "Canada's people, can't do THAT, they "NEED" the government
:to do things FOR THEM, cause only the government "knows what is best"
:HA, HA, HA. Funny, yes, but that is what Canada's government philosophy
:is, whether they admit or not (they don't) and most surprising to me
:is somehow Canadians seem to buy this line and let the government "run"
:there lives in a way that is not possible in the US (yet anyway).

We don't buy this line at all. Unfortunately our country has suffered from very poor leadership in the recent past. We would certainly vote for a better choice if their was one. The opposition parties are woefully inadequate. We are still waiting and hoping that Don Cherry will enter the political arena and straighten this country out. Hehehe.

thers on this thread have mentioned democracy and socialism. One at
:least wanted to deny that Canada has a socialist government. Oh the Queen
:and parliament mean it's not socialist I suppose!! It may not be an
:absolute socialist state, but it is pretty close and there is no
:real question of that. The taxes are confiscatatory and I don't care
:if that "includes" "free" health care, besides which it is amazing how
:many Canadians have to cross the border to get what the government
:calls (elective) procedures but which real people (who have the
:choice, meaning money) do not want to get on some government "list" and
:wait for many months if not YEARS.

If it makes you happy to call Canada a socialist state hey, be my guest. I beg to differ. We have a couple of national corporations (which operate more like private companies), we have a national airline and we have health care for all. The health care is not free. It is not free for us nor is it free for you. We pay taxes which fund the health care system. Does it have problems? Yes. Could it be better? Yes. Although I am not complaining. Last year I had a heart arrythmia corrected at a hospital in Halifax. I had the best care immaginable. My problem was not life threatening and I waited a total of 5 months. The cost if I had of raced to the US to have it done would have been in excess of $25,000.

:As for US being a democracy, that is the common assumption. The US is
:rather (and more precisely) a "Representative Republic", which is
:quite different from a democracy in many, many fundamental ways.

Democracy is defined as government by the people, usually through elected representatives. A republic is a form of government in which the head of state is an elected president rather than a monarch. Socialism is collective ownership of the means of production and control of the distribution. CANADA DOES NOT HAVE THAT! Could you say some of our government programs resemble socialism, maybe. In many, many ways the US and Canada are very similar. We drive the same type of cars, view the same programs, work at many similar jobs, eat the same food. We both have capitalism. Perhaps you have more capitalism than we do. We both have governments that legislate, tax and regulate. That's is what governments do. The strength of the US seems to be its steadfast conviction to hold on to the ideals of freedom and the sheer number of people which stand behind them. That conviction was forged at the time of the American Revolution and passed down through generations. I admire that very much. This is where we differ greatly. Canada negotiated all of its freedoms as a nation with Britian and that seems to have made us less passionate about the way we are governed. An excuse, perhaps, but I think of it more as reality. We have always been relatively safe and comfortable (we have big furnaces for winter) and that tends to breed complacency. One of our provinces is bordering on treason in their activities, and our govenment and countrymen appease them. Our federal government has imposed gun control legislation that would send shivers down the back of an American and what does the majority of our population do...nothing. Do we need better leadership? I think so. Will we get it? I'll send an email to Don Cherry today and find out.

In the final analysis I'm going to stick to buying lawn tractor seats at Princess Auto, which is just up the road from me, for $5 and modifying them to fit into my kayak rather than send a great big cheque to J.R. Sweet for a hunk of minicell. And like Chip said, when possible make the product yourself from scratch, afterall isn't that what building kayaks is all about.