Kek - Lawn Chair Larry
I'm not going to assume things haven't changed from 30 years ago. Things in the States have degraded a lot in that time. There are plenty of lifers on welfare in the States. I don't know how that works, but the people who do are generational welfare recipients.
At the time I was working closely with some Canadians, I had people bragging to me that they only had to work a couple more months to go back on unemployment. One guy had only been with the company a few months, and had spent something like the previous 18 months living in a cabin in the Georgian Bay area, drinking, fishing, and chasing girls (he had the beer gut to prove the drinking part). I seem to recall he had a mix of unemployment and welfare.
Me, being who I am, asked a lot of questions. I was surprised at how easy it was for some people to game the system. I don't recall all the details anymore.
Honestly, I loved most of the people I knew from Canada. Most were fairly conservative. Had a couple different families come down and stay with us, and made a couple trips up to visit them. Sadly, lost touch with them over the years.
Actually, it's the same old story. Give people something they think is free, and they all want their fair share of it. Make it easy to go on welfare, and some people are happy to collect until the time runs out on and they are forced to work until they are eligible again (I had a coworker in the great white north who did that). It's not much different here if you're an illegal invader.
In some places the economy sucks, but the fishing is great, so rather than move to where the jobs are, they stay and collect as long as they can. I can't say I blame them for that.
Unless things have changed significantly since I last spent a bit of time in the Toronto area, quite a few around there are used to the social welfare system. And we all know about Quebec's taste for living off the rest of the country's hard work.
While I whole-heartedly agree with that, there's a big difference between statues for remembering historical figures and events, and objects of worship.
Sometimes that only time someone learns important historical facts is while reading the plaques on statues.
Lots to clean up - hope the new administration sees that as a target rich environment