Yeah, I'm far from an expert on Canada, but from the little I do know it seems that they get a lot right socially that we just can't. From a financial perspective, I have to assume that the disparity between their defense spending and ours explains some of it. If America significantly lessened its military budget there would be a lot left over for things like education, health care, etc. I do think, though, that Canada is afforded that opportunity because America shoulders a lot of the geopolitical burden for them.
I'm shooting from the hip, though. Canadian society just seems more cohesive than American society. I'm sure there's tons of reasons for that, but that cohesion seems to be reflected in their schools.