Americans Moving to Canada

Aside from numerous threats of “I’m moving to Canada if Boy George gets re-elected,” or the constant grumbling by conservatives of “America, love it or leave it,” etc., the fact is more Americans actually are moving to Canada (or so they’re saying). Canada’s immigration website, which usually gets 50,000 hits a day, received 180,000 hits on November 3rd, and has been way above normal ever since then.

Last week more than 300 people attended seminars on Canadian immigration in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. A Canadian immigration lawyer has joked that “Bush has been very good for business.”

But if your politics are of a liberal persuasion, will the grass be greener in Canada? The city of Victoria, B.C. (and there may be other examples) dumps all of its sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Canada has no counterpart to America’s Endangered Species Act. (So, all of you pro-growth anti-environment types, why don’t you just move your anti-American ass up to Canada?)

And there is some anti-Americanism. Most of it is channeled against the U.S. government and not individual Americans, but there have been instances of American tourists being lectured (or worse) by holier-than-though Canadians. And whether Canadians agree or disagree with the U.S. government, they may or may not want Americans moving next door. A Calgary newspaper columnist has written, “I hope I’m not alone in gently suggesting to those considering coming to Canada: stay home, you pathetic whining maggots.”

Still wanna go?

Instead of disgruntled Americans fleeing to Canada, perhaps the reverse would be a better solution. Al Franken has suggested that Canadians could help us by moving here. In the 12/09/04 issue of Rolling Stone, he wrote: “Don’t move to Canada. You’re exactly who we need. In fact we need people from Canada to move here. I don’t know why they would, exactly. But please, Canadians: move to the U.S. For God’s sake, help us!”