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the ever increasing number of high-school drop outs

[Citation Needed]

Both in Canada and the US, it looks like drop out rates have reduced rather substantially in recently years.

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2007/dropout05/NationalEventDropout.asp
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/71-222-x/2008001/sectionf/f-dropout-abandon-eng.htm

There are a lot of cases where couples live together for a period of time - then they get married and the shit hits the fan. the marriage doesn't last as long as the shacking-up.

But while there are laws/taxes/etc. preferring marriage to living single, this will continue on indefinitely

So move to Quebec. Absolutely no difference in the tax treatment for people shacked up as opposed to married. Same thing with child support and custody. The majority of Quebeckers now don't bother getting married when they decide to start a family - marriage is pretty much on the way out as a lifestyle. And single people living alone get an additional tax break to "even things up" a bit.

Marriage rates on the decline in Canada - and particularly in Quebec

The crude marriage rate was highest in Prince Edward Island in 2003, where it was 6.0 marriages for every 1,000 population. It was followed by Alberta (5.6) and Newfoundland and Labrador (5.5). The lowest rates in the country were in Quebec with 2.8 marriages for every 1,000 population, and Nunavut (2.3 per 1,000).

Quebec's low crude marriage rate is due partly to the high proportion of cohabitation in this province. Data from the 2001 Census indicate that in Quebec, 29.8% of all couples lived common-law, compared to 11.7% in the rest of Canada.

In 2003, Canada's crude marriage rate at 4.7 marriages per 1,000 population was lower than that of its neighbour, the United States, where the rate was 7.5. However, it was practically the same as that of several European countries, notably France, Austria and Germany, which had a rate of 4.6 in 2003.

Canada's rate is lower than the US by 2/3, and Quebec's is lower by a factor of 2.6 to 1.

Ask Guy Laliberte why he didn't get married (search for "guy laliberte alimony" - unless you're in Canada, in which case it's supposed to be a secret ... not that it wasn't hard to figure out even without a search - there aren't that many billionaires in Quebec who had kids with a woman born in Brazil). For more details, search for "quebec billionaire alimony".

The end result, at least in Quebec, is that if you're not married and have kids, you still have to share in the cost of supporting your kids, but no alimony for either party. Each person is responsible for themselves as an adult.

Nice try, but claiming you don't need a citation doesn't mean you don't need a citation. I found several reports (none of which compensated for all the factors you mentioned), which all put women's pay at 60% to 80% of men's (for example: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/studies-etudes/75-001/archive/2002/5018624-eng.pdf). Your claim has no validity unless you present some evidence.

15 seconds with Google says you're wrong. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-401-x/2006000/t/4064400-eng.htm

The caffeine levels in Coke or Pepsi are very low compared to coffee; approximately 10%.

Canada Health recommends no more than 400 mg of caffeine a day. To exceed this, you'd have to drink 12 L of Coke. On the other hand, only two extra large Double Doubles will bring you to that limit.

18% of all Canadian aged 31 through 50 exceed this limit, and it's not from drinking cola. The typical Canadian coffee drinker aged 31 through 50 averages over 600 mg a day.[1]

As an American going to McGill, you need to understand one thing. Quebec is notorious for having brutal infrastructure, as Quebec seems to prefer to spend their tax money on other things (like suppressing the English language). The roads in Quebec are among the worst in North America. On road trips from NB to Ontario, the first indicator that you were close to home, was the roads became drivable. And please notice, there are bridges all over the country, but they only seem to fall apart in Montreal.

Oh, and I don't know where you got your drop out rates from, the figure appears to be about 9% nationally, with a regional high of about 20% in NL.