Oh Canada

Laura was born in San Francisco. Her mom (Cathy) was born in Edmonton, but lived in the USA for many years. The two of them moved back to Vancouver in 1972, and Cathy married Walter. Laura's been here ever since.

When we married in 1982, my career trajectory was either working for a Canadian multinational (Northern Telecom) or a US-based one (Hewlett-Packard). Our thinking over the majority of our life together was that it would be good for Laura to hang on to her US Citizenship. We've had several opportunities over the years to move to the USA, and Laura being American would simplify everything.

All that changed in the last five years. I left Agilent (which was a spin-off from HP) and I had a stroke - both in 2009. US health insurance costs alone would make it impossible to consider a move south.

All this came to a head when we learned that the USA is now aggressively pursuing citizens worldwide to tax any income they may have. Normally, this wouldn't mean much more than Laura filing a US tax return, but we now have things like TFSAs which have no corollary in the States. Our joint savings and home could be taxable as well.

Eighteen months ago, Laura started the arduous process to get her Canadian Citizenship (she would decide on giving up her US passport once everything was said and done). We just learned that December 12, 2014 will be the day she officially becomes a Canadian.

This leads me to think of all the bounty we have that we tend to take for granted, and the things that differentiate us from our neighbours to the south:

• We have a peaceful society. We worry about crime, but we don't live in fear of it (or fear the police either).
• We are a wealthy country. There is a safety net for everyone. If I had my stroke in the USA, we'd be broke.
• Things work. We complain about the small stuff, but most of the big stuff works.
• Talking about the big stuff: Inasmuch as we may not like our Government, it works. So does our power grid. So do our roads. Our water is clean and plentiful.
• Everyone around the world loves us. All you have to do is go abroad to appreciate this.

I know there are hundreds of reasons to love Canada, and these are only a few of them. There may be one reason that surpasses all the rest.

It's home.