I'm born and raised in Vancouver.

In the Spring of 1983 I was 16 years old and in Grade 10 and I went on an exchange trip to a small town in Newfoundland, back when the feds helped pay for such things under Trudeau's "Open House Canada" program.

It completely opened my eyes to what some of the 'rest of Canada' means. For the boys in the small town, their career options were moving to Alberta at 17, fishing (now no longer an option), the army, or (hopefully) getting a job in the RCMP or the Newfoundland constabulary. School ended with Grade 11.

(For the girls, their hope was to be married by 18).

My point? It's all fine and dandy to talk about a "choice of vocations" but in many parts of Canada (and the USA for that matter) the army is the only choice. Growing up in Vancouver the world was (and is) my oyster. In Newfoundland? Not so much.