After living for 20 years in Canada (13 years in BC and 7 years in NS), I once again crossed the Atlantic. I currently live in Germany for a Post-Doc position on a Long-tailed duck project.
Canada is often seen as the country of freedom (if you need proofs), yet living in Canada you sometimes forget about those freedom.
Sure, the country recently legalized marijuana, however people can not smoke regular cigarettes in most places. If you dare smoking in public, people will change sidewalks to avoid you, kids will plug their nose as they walk past. You see fewer and fewer smokers in the streets. As much as it is a lack of freedom for smokers, it is the freedom to the rest of us not to inhale their smoke. We all know this: One person’s freedom end where another’s begin.
At the campus where I work in Germany, people can smoke everywhere….and most of them do so right in front of the buildings’ entrances; logic, this is where the ashtrays have been put in place. So as a non-smoker, I have to cross a group of smokers before getting into the building. There is no changing sidewalks possible, no plugging my nose, just accepting this situation as it is.
On a similar note, I recommend against taking the train on soccer game nights. People are drinking beer in the wagons, they are spilling beer all over the floor, they are burping as if they were in the comfort of their own place. I have yet to decipher their behaviour depending on their team winning or losing, maybe I could ask the employees in charge of cleaning the train wagons after the games, they probably have more experience than me on that subject.
So yes, Canada is a land of freedom, at least if you are a non-smoker that enjoy a glass on wine (or a beer) with your friends in a quiet place.