Comedian Bill Maher has issued a warning to Americans who admire Canada’s “woke” policies on immigration, unemployment and health care: Simply, don’t.
During a Friday segment on Maher’s HBO show Real Time, the 68-year-old host spent nearly 10 minutes positioning Canada as a “cautionary tale” about the impacts of liberalism.
“If you want to save our country, we should follow the advice good liberals have given for decades and learn from other countries, especially those beacons of progressivism like Canada, England and Scandinavia,” Maher started, launching into a rant about qualities and systems the U.S. should avoid.
“At its worst, Canada is what American voters think happens when there’s no one putting a check on extreme wokeness,” he said.
To make his point, Maher cited Canada’s 6.1 per cent unemployment rate, compared with the 3.8 per cent rate in the U.S. The comedian also said of the 15 North American cities with the worst air pollution, 14 are in Canada.
“Canada was where all the treasured goals of liberalism worked perfectly,” he joked of American perception. “Canada was the Statue of Liberty with a low-maintenance haircut and cross-country skis, a giant idealized blue state with single-payer health care, gun control and abortion on polite demand. Canada was where every woke white college kid wearing pyjama pants outdoors who had it up to here with America’s racist patriarchy dreamed of living someday. I mean, besides Gaza.”
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However, Maher said “there’s only one problem with thinking everything is better in Canada: It’s not. Not anymore, anyway.”
Still, Maher said he loves Canada. He clarified, to the sound of applause, that he just hates “zombie lies,” meaning “when things change, but the things people say about them doesn’t.”
Maher cited a Statistics Canada report that said the country added 1.3 million people to its population in 2023 — then Maher equated it to if the U.S. allowed an increase of 11 million “migrants” annually.
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“Now, they’re experiencing a housing crisis even worse than ours — and we’re sleeping in tents,” Maher chided, earning laughter as he showed a photo of a sidewalk encampment. “The median price of a home here is $346,000. In Canada, converted to U.S. dollars, it’s $487,000.”
Maher said that in Canada, Barbie would not be able to afford her dream house in Winnipeg, while Ken would have to work at Tim Hortons.
The comedian also slammed Canada’s health-care system and said despite high spending for free coverage, many Canadians cannot see a doctor.
Maher said the moral of his Canadian “cautionary tale” for the U.S. is “yes, you can move too far left.”
“When you do, you end up pushing the people toward the middle to the right,” he continued.
“They say in politics, liberals are the gas pedals and conservatives are the brakes — and I’m generally with the gas pedal, but not if we’re driving off a cliff.”
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