It was an extremely weird place. tons of indigents happily living off the government but Food and real estate was outrageously expensive for what it was--- pint of ben jerry ice cream ( talk about socialistsLOL) was $8.00-- crazy sh9t like that--- Plus very limited choices for dining, etc--- There were zero thug types but tons of crazy mental patients yelling crap and doing weird stuff--- it took me awhile to get use to it.
Happy to be out of there!
The strong housing market in Canada suggests that you haven't really thought this out very well. Perhaps there are some people in the world who like low crime rates, good public schools, a decent social safety net, and a diversified population that respects each other as fellow human beings ( not by race/skin colour, political affiliation, or even income bracket ). So much drama in the US, so much violent crime, so much acrimony. Sure, there are more quality business opportunities in the US, and lower tax rates ( although the latter disparity has shrunk ). That trade off is starting to lose some shine, I see far fewer Canadians now then in the 1970s and 1980s who consider moving to the US as an upgrade.
It's obvious that many Americans know very little about Canada. Things are not so great in the US these days. The fact that everyone feels the need to be armed is not a good thing. But trying to criticize Canada in order to make you feel better about this is stupid. Canada is a better place to live then the US on several levels, and not as good on other levels. There are trade offs, the US chose their path. In reality, Canada has become more American the last 20 years but retained a good deal of what it means to be Canadian. Americans however seems very insular and arrogant in nature, rather then borrow good things from other nations, like Canada's superior health care system, you'd rather pretend you have it better and put the blinders on.
So let's keep it real here. Ottawa isn't packed with mental patients, you must have been hanging around a building where they live. There is nothing "weird" about Ottawa,it's boring if anything there, a large suburbia more then a city as most Americans relate to. It's federal buildings, schools, shopping malls, cinemas, and sports facilities. Plenty of park land and very short drive to huge parks.
So you didn't like it there, so what. It's not my favorite spot either, and I'm Canadian. But I'm sure many family oriented civil servants think it's great there.