Special Canada Day Report: How Canada stole the American Dream

Reginald Bibby notes the irony of the situation. The U.S. is a country that aggressively pursues happiness, but Canada seems to have just stumbled onto it. While Americans are putting in overtime to pursue the American dream, we’re at the pub having a few pints with friends. They may have bigger cars and bigger homes, but they’re living under a mountain of debt. They look richer, but the numbers prove that they’re not. The truth is that all of that competition, all of that keeping up with the Joneses, can take its toll. Getting ahead can be a lot easier when everyone is moving in the same direction. “The pursuit of happiness is ingrained in Americans as part of what it means to be an American,” Bibby says. “But in Canada, happiness is almost something of a by-product of coexisting peacefully.”

Be it sports, health care, business or wealth, Americans are still competing to be the best. And it’s true that the best in the U.S. is the best you’ll find on the planet. But when you look at the medians and the averages, their accomplishment pales. As the hard numbers in this report show, Americans have shorter lives, poorer health, less sex, more divorces, and more violent crime. Which may mean that perhaps America isn’t the greatest nation on earth. After all, you can’t judge a nation by the best it produces, you have to judge it by the success of the average Joe. And the average Joe in Canada is having a way better time.

© Maclean’s Magazine

Keywords: canada, study