[LilBytes]

... are you being serious? I ask this question pragmatically. Perhaps my nuance for sarcasm after spending my entire life in the UK & Australia is more finely tuned than most.

The author went as far as to describe Canada as "a socialist state in North America" and later followed on with:

"(T-Mobile told me I could buy an “all-access high-speed day pass” for $5 on the black market, but I didn’t want to get arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Secret Police.)"

I don't think it's possible to be more overtly tongue in cheek without having to retort to using Reddit's HTML sarcasm tags.

All in all, it seemed quite clear to me that is was in playful jest.

Also, dear author, thank you for the laugh.