~500 seats in a country population of 35m vs. ~5900 seats with US population of 319m. It's almost 4:3 more seats for US. Not significant, but the difference is there.
If that's the definition of competitiveness, that term might not be the right one for the argument. For example, the average GPA of applicants at the University of Toronto is around 3.7 with the acceptance average GPA of 3.9. Students not even close to 3.9 don't even try. I'm saying barely any students with <3.5 's apply. Many Canadian school applicant GPAs range 3.6-3.7.
Of course grading systems are different from school to school, and even faculties and professors. There aren't however enough evidence to say that grading systems as whole countries are different between US and Canada. Schools, faculties and even professors may have their own systems. Generally however, undergrad grading systems follow the average grade of B- (or C+ or B) and one standard deviation equate to one grade up or down. (Sorry I suck at explaining this) So 1 SD above the average would be A- and 1SD below would be C-. B, B+, C+ and C would fall in between, and so on for other grades. Even in absolute grading system, this proportion is somewhat aimed. I am not saying this is strictly followed in every school, but please know this is how many grading systems are set up. A 95% or 80% being A+ might mean something, but it doesn't tell the whole story. Don't forget about the difficulties of the exams! Most instructors have average grades in mind when they write exams.
Aside from the number of seats available, there are other reasons to such high average GPA for Canadian schools. I want to bring up two that I think affects this. One is the difference in the healthcare system between the two countries, where Canadian physicians work publicly. This does cause a little bit of more popularity in dentistry as many of us have strong desire for private practice and money. I didn't check every statistics, but average acceptance GPAs for Canadian medical schools are lower than ones of dental schools, perhaps not a significant difference from US medical schools. To my knowledge, average acceptance GPAs for US medical schools are usually higher than the GPAs of dental schools.
The application process could also affect such GPA for Canadian schools. US dental schools have a very nice system to show to the committees who you really are aside the numbers. Things are different for Canadian schools. There are schools that ask for reference letters, extracurricular activities, etc., GPA and DAT are weighted very strongly. For example, for the University of Alberta, all they look at are GPA, DAT and interview scores. This, I do not agree with the Canadian system, but it's how it is.
This is my understanding to this whole argument. I don't think one is better than the other, but let's all be friends and stop fighting!
