A number of liberal-minded friends, acquaintances and newspaper columnists recently have muttered vague intentions of heading to Canada ever since we took that hard right turn in the last election.

The Spectator even went so far as to call Canada a “bastion of liberal thinking.”

As an American who has spent quite a few of my years in Canada, I have some perspective on the question. Do not mistake my following observations for a dislike of Canada. I like Canada just fine. The people are very friendly, and there is a lot of beautiful scenery. But I prefer to live here, as do some Canadians.

It is true Canadians have some rights we do not. It’s also worth noting that Canadians acquire the right to drink at age 19.

In point of fact, however, Canadians cannot enjoy many of the really important liberties we take for granted.

How about a woman’s right to choose? Not in Canada.ÿ Canadian women have to come here for that liberty.

Actually, many freedoms we enjoy here are curtailed or made unavailable in Canada because of the influence exerted by religious leaders.

How about freedom to learn the science of biological evolution in school? Not in the parts of Canada where the Catholic Church has a strong hold on the voice of the people. In fact, if you want to escape religious dogma and the influence of the clergy, you’d do well to avoid much of Canada. It is still very much a land of small houses and big churches.

The Canadian government represents another major limit on freedoms. How about freedom of speech? You can stand up in virtually any public venue you want in the United States and spout hatred of whites, blacks or anyone else. The most you’ll get here is a punch in the nose or someone yelling back. But the Canadian Criminal Code gives prison time for that. Same goes for printed matter. Even though some Canadian judges have been reluctant to find people guilty of the crime (due to the influence of the freedom of speech clause of the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms), the Canadian Supreme Court as recently as 1996 sent a man to prison for hate speech.

Moreover, much of Canada’s TV and radio content, particularly its news, goes through a single broadcast network. There is only one national network in Canada, and it is run by the federal government. How’s that for freedom of speech? Do you think that that one network, CBC, criticizes the government as it warrants? I’d rather have the right to be able to listen to Rush Limbaugh or Michael Moore any day (and then turn them off) than be denied the right to hear them at all. The only way you’d be able to hear Limbaugh or Moore in Canada is if you listened to an American station. The CBC, which I happen to like very much due to its PBS-ish kind of charm, nevertheless is quite limited in what it provides. So what’s a Canadian to do if he or she wants to watch a more violent or sexually-suggestive program? Buy a dish and receiver capable of receiving U.S. satellite signals, that’s what. The only problem is that the Canadian government prohibits Canadians from installing and using dishes capable of receiving signals from U.S. companies unregistered with the Canadian government, which is to say, most of them. The result of this is that thousands of Canadians brave possible prosecution every day just to watch Comedy Central.

In an interesting coincidence, the pro-Canada editorial published in The Spectator appeared on Veterans’ Day, during which ABC broadcasted “Saving Private Ryan” uncut. While this showing brought about some small controversy here, it is inconceivable the film could have appeared on Canadian TV uncut.

If you ran a radio or TV station in Canada, could you put what you and your audience wanted to hear on the air? No. You’d have to abide by a set of laws that provide that a certain large percentage of what you broadcast be of Canadian origin. Imagine running a pop station and being forced by law to play Alanis Morissette and Avril Lavigne.

Or, how about economic freedom? Let’s say your job sucks and you want to start your own business. In many places in Canada, many industries are governed by “marketing boards” whose members consist of representatives of the businesses already in the industry. They have to vote to agree to let you start your own business.

What do you think your chances are, seeing that you will be regarded as a new competitor?

Moreover, big business is concentrated in far fewer hands in Canada than in the United States. Do you think those big corporations have an outsized influence on how the government runs its affairs?

Let me put this last question another way: Consider the freedom to spend the money you earn as you wish. You have much less of that particular freedom in Canada because of the outrageous taxation there. The income and sales taxes also are much higher. Sure, some of that money goes to social programs – many of which are worthwhile – but a truly dizzying amount goes to a system of extensive corporate welfare.

Stay here. Make the place what you want of it. It’ll be worth the effort.