Canadian Duality - Happy Folks Under Strick Eyes

Canada ranked second-happiest country in the world

If you're not smiling, you are amongst a minority of Canadians.

That's because a well-being survey conducted by Gallup finds Canada to be the second-happiest country in the world. (See entire list)

"This is no great surprise," says University of British Columbia professor of economics John Helliwell who specializes in well-being. "Canada tends to have more of the things that make life better ... some way of getting educated and staying healthy."

He says having someone to rely on in a time of trouble is also important because it means one has a bigger circle of friends. In Canada, 95 per cent of people have at least one person who can help, whereas that number is below 50 per cent in countries lower on the list.

According to the survey, 69 per cent of Canadians rated their lives as "thriving." Sweden ties with Canada for second place, while Denmark tops the list with 72 per cent of people liking life.

"We'll never beat Denmark, they are just a little smarter at running things," says Helliwell, who notes the likelihood of having a lost wallet returned is higher there. "How free you are to make life decisions is higher in Denmark and high in Canada as well."

[link to ca.news.yahoo.com]

----------------------------- Here's The Duality -----------------------------

Canadian Government Forces Citizens to Watch What They Tweet

Canadians need to be careful what they tweet about if they don't want to end up with a fine of $25,000 or five years in jail.

A Canadian law that prohibits citizens from publishing election results before all the polls in the country have closed holds new meaning in today's digital age. The law was initially directed at public radio and created to prevent Eastern voting results from affecting Western voting behavior. But given the rate and frequency at which today's news flows through cyberspace, the law is not only somewhat obsolete but also has significant implications for some channels of information, namely, Twitter.

Section 329 of the Canada Elections Act states: "No person shall transmit the result or purported result of the vote in an electoral district to the public in another electoral district before the close of all of the polling stations in that other electoral district." The Vancouver Sun reports that private emails and Facebook messages are allowed but anything visible to the public--like tweets and wall posts--is forbidden. Elections Canada, a non-partisan agency responsible for conducting federal elections, reminded citizens of the law as it applies to the May 2 parliamentary election.

[link to newsfeed.time.com]

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