Canada: The Best Place to Live In

Constantly rated by the United Nations (UN) as the beat orbit to decease in, Canada is said to be the second biggest country in the initiation and is very rich in vivid resources and about quarter of a million chooses to enter Canada as new Permanent Residents (Why Canada? ). Canada is besides considered to be the best pose to move to if one wants to be a survivor of climate change in the decades ahead. This was the result of a rent made by Maplecroft, a British consultancy which specializes in mapping risks.Among the 168 countries mapped in the Climate Change Risk Report of Maplecroft, Canada topped the list with a vulnerability score of 8.81, with 10 being the highest and 1, the lowest (McCarthy). Since Canada is my place of residence, it would be interesting to study why it is constantly rated by UN and other rank authorities as the best country to live in. Introduction Since the Maple toss flag was adopted in 1965, Canada grew rapidly as a natural resource-based preser vation. However, in the 1970s there was major upheaval in Quebec when the indep supplantent movement took on a violent nature, but in 1980 a referendum showed the majority of Quebecois were against independence.The eighties were char workerised by constitutional issues. Canadas constitution (the BNA Act) was an act of the British Parliament and, as an independent country Canada wanted to summate home the constitution. In 1982, offsets of the BNA Act were changed and it became a Canadian act The geological formation Act. Included in it is the Canadian Charter of Rights and libertys. Quebec is the only province that did non sign the new constitution and two subsequent attempts to bring it in, the Meech Lake dish out and the Charlottetown Accord, failed.In 1995 a nonher Quebec referendum on independence took place and the no side (against independence) win by a very narrow margin. (Historical Framework of Canada) Canada became progressively linked to the political economy of the U. S through various agreement agreements and trade arrangements like the North American Free Trade savvy (NAFTA). Most of Canadas trades were with the U. S. While American businesses expanded their investments in the Canadian economy, foreign corporations (mostly U. S. companies) owned most of the landed estates petroleum and discouraged Canadian-controlled research and maturation projects.This resulted in Canadas exclusion from the microchip computer revolution that transformed American technology and industries in those periods. Although almost Canadian policy makers soon complained of the ontogeny dependence of the Canadian economy on foreign companies, the pattern persisted and placed Canada in an change magnitudely precarious position in the world market. When the fondness Eastern oil crisis struck Western countries in the 1970s and 1980s, the Canadian economy was particularly hard hit. Despite heavy dependence on the U. S. for economic victimisation and defense, Canada experienced unprecedented economic growth and prosperity.Production and spending rose, as the nations population not only increased but continue to urbanize, and then suburbanize, in growing numbers. A variety of forces fueled the discipline of Canadian cities, suburbs, and consumer culture the baby boom, relatively low rates of unemployment, and an boilersuit rise in the standard of alert. Yet, as in earlier eras, the countrys prosperity was unequally distributed. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Canada was also attracting increasing numbers of new immigrants from Europe (especially Italy), Africa, Asia, and the Americas (Stearns).Canada, like most other major economies, faces a challenging economic environment over the next parallel of years. A Senior Economist from the fix Street Global Advisors wrote that The ten-fold and cascading shocks associated with skyrocketing commodity prices, alarmingly stressed and volatile financial markets (associated in part with a s till growing subprime credit crisis), and persisting global imbalances be creating a disconcertingly murky outlook that seems to offer few acceptable policy options to central bankers and other economic policymakers.However, the Canadian economy has present an impressive resilience to economic shocks such as the dramatic gustatory sensation of the Loonie over the last half-decade. This proven resilience keeps us optimistic that although the economy has stumbled, it wont be down for long and indeed may well end up outperforming the other major advanced economies over the medium term. developmental IndicatorsThe charitable Development mogul (HDI) provides a composite cadence of triple dimensions of human being development living a long and healthy bearing (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and inventory at the primary, secondary and tertiary level) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, incom e). It basically provides a broadened prism for cover human progress and the complex relationship among income and well-being. Under the 2007/2008 humans Development Report, the HDI for Canada was 0.961, which gave the country a rank of 4th out of 177 countries. (Canada The Human Development business leader going beyond income) The State of World indecency Index is a ranking of countries according to the degree of economic and personalised freedoms which their citizens enjoy each country is given a score between 0 and 100. The Index defines freedom as the ability for the individual to live their lives as they choose, as long as they do not trench on the rights of others to do the same. In the 2006 State of World Liberty Index, Canada bedded 3rd out of 159 countries (The 2006 State of World Liberty Index).The yearbook Transparency International (TI) decadency Perceptions Index (CPI), first released in 1995, is the best known of TIs tools. It has been widely credited for putting TI and the issue of corruption on the international policy agenda. The CPI ranks to a greater extent than 150 countries in terms of perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys. Under the 2008, Corruption Perceptions Index, Canada stratified 9th out of clxxx countries (Corruption Perceptions Index 2008)The Index of Economic Freedom is a serial of 10 economic measurements created by the Wall Steet Journal and the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Its stated objective is to measure the degree of economic freedom in the worlds nations. In the 2008 Index of Economic Freedom, Canada ranked seventh out 157 countries (The Index of Economic Freedom) The Press Freedom Index (PFI) is an annual ranking of countries conducted by the Reporters Without Borders Worlwide (RWB), which provides an assessment of press freedom in countries. Out of 169 countries, Canada ranked 18th in terms of Press Freedom Index.Discussion Based on th e development indices that were taken into consideration, it would appear that the assessment of Canadas development has been quite consistent with its image of being one of the highest ranked developed countries in the world today. Although there may be some slight variations in the degrees of Canadian freedom as shown by the State of World Liberty Index and Index of Economic Freedom, it would still be safe to say that the two (2) freedom indices are a jolly accurate assessment of Canadas degrees of freedom in terms of civilian liberties and economic freedom.The Press Freedom Index though shows quite a different story that is worth reconsidering. Why would a highly genteel and democratic country like Canada rank 18th among the countries assessed? Does this mean that the Canadian government may have been curtailing press freedom despite its significantly high performance in terms of providing human development work to its citizens? One would just wonder how a highly evolving hum an development society like Canada would only rank 18th in terms of the Press Freedom Index.Canada has been consistently ranking one of the highest if not the highest in the Human Development Index and among the development indices earlier cited it is the HDI that accurately measures human welfare and development in Canada and it goes beyond income as a measure of economic welfare. Furthermore, among the composite indices, the HDI is the most widely recognized in the world as it is being administered by no less than the United Nations itself. ConclusionAfter guardedly examining the recent historical trends and development indices outlined above, it is still safe to dissolve that Canada is indeed the best place to live in. and that the Human Development Index strongly demonstrates this observation. On top of this, Canada shows a relatively outstanding government environment as shown by its high score in Corruption Perceptions Index. Furthermore, Canada has a free and unencumbered economy where its citizens can enjoy the fruits of their hollow without any fear of political repression.Despite the challenges being posed by the be global economic crisis, the development fundamentals of Canada are indeed flavour healthier and could sustain the economic pressures from a highly globalized environment. Canada is a nation that is very rich in natural resources and with its continued demonstration of world-class human development standards it can certainly look forward to an desirable development in the future. However, Canada, as a nation must not rest on its development laurels so to speak. It must contact some more for a more equitable distribution of weath.