Twice you have made that derogatory comment and twice you have not issued any proof other than stating it. What is your proof? I live in the US, yes, but I have never been a victim of crime nor has anyone in my family been a victim of crime and we live in NY, NJ, Las Vegas, Florida, VA, PA, Mississippi and California. Nor has any of my friends and/or relatives been victims of crime and they live in many states of the Union. Whereas I have Canadian relatives that have been victims of crimes, for example, home invasion in the 'burbs of Ottawa, car theft in Montreal, car vandalism in BC, house robbery in Halifax.

Progress? one way of putting it. However I believe that the impact of narcotics linked with the the gang related culture that it embodies is more to blame, particularly in the GTA. In most of the shootings there (other than domestics etc) are drugs related...and an off shoot of the 'need for drugs' adds fuel to the spiralling theft, robbery and burglary crimes. A vicious circle with one common denominator...drugs!! The curse of city life these days...the world over.

......And certainly not contained to Vancouver/Montreal/Toronoto/etc sized places.....seems the *insert screw up of choice*- [grow-op, crack fiend, meth cook-up] mentality is everywhere even in the little quiet backwaters ? We were a little surprised as we thought BC would be the dope smoking laid back place some people portray it to be, but add a mix of gangs, crime, crack, meth and heroin, add a spice of reality and you get something less palatable and more of a potential nightmare than cool laid back hippy drippy folklore.

Stories of schoolkids bugged up on on all sorts, parents in a right mess, all pretty grim. I guess it's about the only thing that worries us, choosing the wrong neighbourhood, that kind of thing. I know that most of the time it's not 'visible' to the average citizen, but that's not the solution to the problem and not a very realistic approach.

Rich.