Close X
Sunday, September 22, 2024
ADVT 
National

Calgary Man Writes New York Times' Most Popular Comment Of All Time

The Canadian Press, 30 Dec, 2015 01:54 PM
    The most popular comment ever made on the New York Times website was penned by a Calgary man.
     
    Bob from Calgary, as he is identified on the site, received some 7,040 recommendations for his comment on a 2010 column about wealth and privilege written by Paul Krugman.
     
    The newspaper, which fields some 9,000 comments each day, says Bob's is the top post "of all time."
     
    The runner-up, posted on a story about the mass shooting in Charleston, S.C., drew roughly 5,489 recommendations.
     
    In his comment, Bob praises Canada's public schools, universal health care and banking system and says his tax bill is only two per cent higher than it would be south of the border.
     
    He also says he doesn't feel Canadians are in any way less free than their American counterparts.
     
    "My household makes just over $250,000 here in Canada. One of the best bargains I get for my money is living in a place where I and everyone I know sends their kids to public schools because they are really good," his comment reads. 
     
    "We end up with few criminals, because students learn how to be productive good citizens in schools."
     
    Other "bargains" of living in Canada include health care "whenever you need it without worry about not being approved," modernized infrastructure and public universities "where my children and the children from all types of households can go to and graduate with a big debt, but not a devastating one," he writes.
     
    Paid maternity and paternity leave also "ensure that parents and kids bond and families have some time to look after one another," he says.
     
    "Lastly (there are more, but I have to get back to my work), we get governance. This includes a banking system that is there to support the economy, not end run it to make a few $$," he says. 
     
    "With all of that said, I have to say that along with this, I enjoy one of the freest countries on earth. Our business freedoms are as extensive as the USA. We are free to hunt and own guns (aside from assault weapons and who needs those anyways). In fact, I have lived in the U.S.A. and I have to say, I can't see any freedoms there that we don't have here."

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Tax Rates Changes And TFSA Limit Reduction Means Reviewing Your Financial Plan

    Tax Rates Changes And TFSA Limit Reduction Means Reviewing Your Financial Plan
    The vast majority of Canadians will not be affected by the new tax bracket for income over $200,000 a year, but everyone will see their tax-free savings account contribution limit be reduced back to $5,500 for 2016.

    Tax Rates Changes And TFSA Limit Reduction Means Reviewing Your Financial Plan

    Murder Charges Laid In Deadly Alberta Convenience Store Robberies

    Laylin Delorme, 24, Colton Steinhauer, 27, and the youth who can't be named were arrested Friday morning.

    Murder Charges Laid In Deadly Alberta Convenience Store Robberies

    Social Media Playing Key Role As Syrian Refugees Arrive In Canada

    Val Macdonald says it only took a few minutes before a little red notification popped up on her Facebook page after posting about donations for a Syrian refugee family.

    Social Media Playing Key Role As Syrian Refugees Arrive In Canada

    Kathleen Wynne Wants Clear Regulations On Medical And Recreational Marijuana

    Kathleen Wynne Wants Clear Regulations On Medical And Recreational Marijuana
    Ontario is looking for federal government guidance on regulating clinics that sell medical marijuana and on how pot should be sold for recreational use once it's legalized.

    Kathleen Wynne Wants Clear Regulations On Medical And Recreational Marijuana

    New Brunswick Professor Shocked By Guilty Verdict In Oland Murder Trial

    A professor of criminal justice history who has been following the Dennis Oland second-degree murder trial says he is shocked by the jury's guilty verdict.

    New Brunswick Professor Shocked By Guilty Verdict In Oland Murder Trial

    Finance Ministers Meet In Ottawa To Confront Canada's New Economic Reality

    Finance Ministers Meet In Ottawa To Confront Canada's New Economic Reality
    Provincial and territorial finance ministers are scheduled to gather tonight in Ottawa with federal counterpart Bill Morneau to begin confronting the hard economic truths facing Canada and the new Liberal government.

    Finance Ministers Meet In Ottawa To Confront Canada's New Economic Reality