A few weekends ago, I took my family to Montana for a brief vacation and found a bunch of things Montana does which, if we did likewise, would make Canada a better place to live..First, there are three different speed limits on the highways. There are day and night time speed limits for cars and a lower speed limit for transport trucks. Also, the daytime speed limit works out to approximately 130 km/hr, instead of the 110 km/hr limit on some Canadian highways. However, most Canadian highways are at 100 km/h. .Just let us drive faster. The argument that a lower speed limit helps stop accidents is no longer relevant with the increase in safety features on modern vehicles.. Montana Mountain Driving .Second, this is probably my biggest pet peeve about Canada: Paper straws! Let’s switch back to plastic straws. They don’t turn into wet paper and make finishing a drink impossible without a second paper straw. .We switched to paper straws because one turtle got a straw stuck in its nose. Parents have been pulling straws out of their toddlers’ noses since plastic straws were invented and we never switched to paper straws. Switch back to plastic straws. I’m sure the turtle is fine after going to the turtle therapist to recover from the trauma caused by that straw in his nose..Third, I moved to Saskatchewan about six months ago from Ontario. The first gift Saskatchewan gave me was a photo radar speeding ticket for being 19 km over the limit. In Ontario, being 19 km over the limit doesn’t even get the police lights flashed at you to slow down. Montana banned both photo radar and red light cameras across the state in 2009, restricting any local government from using them. .Fourth, when you go to Montana stores they give you a plastic bag. This was normal until the big corporations realized how much money they could save if they got rid of plastic bags. Of course, the big corporations eliminated bags to help with 'climate change.' That’s complete crap, they save millions by not giving out bags anymore. It has nothing to do with climate change. If it did, why did I get a bag at Walmart in Montana, but not in Regina? If Walmart truly cared about 'climate change,' they wouldn’t have plastic bags available at any store.. Montana Proposal .Fifth, Montana has a mix of private and public healthcare. As someone who used both American private healthcare and Canadian public healthcare, it’s a completely different experience. Canada’s public healthcare system is dying a slow and painful death for the people using the system. .Let’s keep a basic public healthcare system available to everyone and allow a separate private system to operate for people who want to pay for it, or as an employee benefit. .Last week, I had to deal with the public healthcare system to get a genetic test done. The lab refused to do the test without a doctor’s order. It had nothing to do with my doctor and I offered to pay. The lab said no. This is a complete waste of healthcare resources. I took up a doctor’s appointment time for no reason and healthcare paid for it. Had I been able to just pay for it, the healthcare system would still have the money paid to the doctor and lab, plus someone else could have had that doctor’s appointment. .The Canadian healthcare system is an embarrassment and colossal waste of taxpayers' money..And here's my other great reason to like Montana: My girlfriend and I rode horses to the top of a mountain and there she became my fiancée!
