The Baboon Congress, Travel

Welcome to Canada

62 Comments
Header photo: By Wing-Chi Poon (Port of Piegan Border Station, Montana, USA) [CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons

Today’s post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale

There is a Canadian island in the province of Nova Scotia that is hoping that Donald You-know-who becomes President of these United States. It is the island of Cape Breton, and although this all started as something of a joke by DJ Rob Calabrese, it turns out “People are showing a serious interest in moving here. … Get your affairs in order. That way, the day after the election you’ve got everything all settled.”

Cape Breton is looking for more residents to help shore up a depressed economy. There is affordable housing, sometimes right on the water, with gorgeous views. There is high demand in the medical field and technology, and opportunities for entrepreneurs. Canada is colder, true, but there are perks if you manage to get through all the red tape: “government-funded health care, education and investment incentive schemes”.

According to an article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal:            “Americans have a history of pledging to move to Canada during fierce elections. But the phenomenon has hit a fever pitch thanks to GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. …There was similar buzz when George W. Bush started his second term in 2005. But there’s little evidence that many Americans actually followed through.”

This year could be different. Here is an article that gives you the nuts and bolts of what the requirements look like if you get serious about fleeing north, complete with their approximate costs.

And for a few of the differences between the U.S. and Canada (as perceived by a Canadian, at any rate), this one from Glossy News is enlightening.

 

What would it take for you to get serious about moving to another country?

62 thoughts on “Welcome to Canada”

  1. McGill University In Montreal has an interesting Math/Physics Honours program.

    That’s all I have to say about that right now.

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  2. Retro-post as I just finished reading the latest posts from the previous topic:

    I’ve been listening to a lengthy biography of FDR, long on the political, short on the personal which is not usually what I like.

    I don’t recall even being taught about all the maneuvering around party nominations that until fairly recently were customary. Also how truly precarious life was when my grandparents were a young couple with a mortgage on their new farm which they ran with an assortment of men sent out from the Cities by the government to be hired hands, even though they had zero farming experience.

    This gives me a (possibly misguided) belief that we will be ok if we don’t give up. It’s worked so far.

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      1. I believe Jim gets the credit for that choice. I have the book from the library, but haven’t started it yet. However, I stopped at Aldi after picking up that book and the cashier got excited when she saw it. “I’ve heard that’s a really good book!”

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    2. A new series (I think on CNN) called “Race to the White House” reveals or reminds my of the struggle and the politics of every president since Lincoln. It’s fascinating

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  5. I know a draft dodger who moved to Canada in the 60s. Would we call a person who moves to Canada if Trump becomes President a Trump dodger? I suppose I might move to Canada to avoid going to prison. If Trump is elected I might be looked upon by the people he would bring into government as an undesirable person who should be locked up in jail.

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      1. my year was the year they stopped. I went in to get my c.o. paperwork and the guy behind the desk looking like a lifer told me not to go through the trouble. just fill it in and if they call you then you can do it, they won’t call. he was right.

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    2. The Canadians produced a spoof on video showing several Canadian men hauling cinder blocks to create a wall protecting their country from Americans illegally entering their country.

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  6. I have a graduate school friend from Cap Breton. We were there a couple of years ago with our son and daughter in law for a vacation. Beautiful county and wonderful sea food. The people are very friendly.

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  7. I’m a bit rooted here with animals…but have always had a fondness for Canada…I often think about people who left home, family and community such as during the Nazi years…but how wise they were to do so.

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  8. When we were in Cape Breton, son left his camera in a little restaurant on the west part of the island. Our hotel was on the east coast in Sydney. We phoned the restaurant and yes, they had the camera. We didn’the have enough time to drive back to get it, so they offered to mail it to son. The desk clerk at the hotel even offered to have her neice, who was going to drive to the west coast the next day, pick it up for him.

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  10. it would be great to live in canada as a citizen. i like canada but i cant imagine the canadians would just roll over and let the amereican refugees come on in.

    “Give me your tired, your poor,

    Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

    The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

    Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

    I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

    —Emma Lazarus, 1883

    good old emma will not be hired by trumps crew. i doubt if hillary would either. bernie….. sounds like his kinda gal.

    if all of americas huddled masses headed to the north i think the teal party would celebrate.
    mexico shut off to the south. canada opened up to the north. ill bet if you set up some islands to the east and west you could create new untea party refugee countries there too. lots of construction dollars and a chance to recolonize with the essence of the american dream.

    maybe canada but maybe honduras, belize, switzerland nowrway sweden iceland austrailia or newfoundland.
    heck in the world today its not that big a stretch. internet to where ever in the business world. i used to say if i could sit on my porch and do business i would. maybe its time. lets see… what do i want to look at off the porch.

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  11. The cab driver who picked us up at the Halifax airport was very chatty and wanted to know what on earth was happening to the US (this was after the Newtown shootings). We’re we all going crazy? He lamented that Winnipeg was getting a bad reputation for violence, too. Canadians are terribly troubled by violence.

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    2. Well, the US had 33,600 gun deaths last year. Canada had 158. Granted, our population is almost ten times bigger, but comparing the numbers, they’d still have less than half what we do.

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  12. If I had gotten drafted back in 1974 I would have seriously considered moving to Canada. My lottery number was in the top third (about 110) so if they hadn’t stopped the draft in 1973 ( I believe) I might be a fugitive. As it turned out, I applied for Conscientious Objector status and “won!” Possibly the most important letter I’ve ever written, because the outcome of that application could have irrevocably changed my life.

    Canada would be my first choice to move because the country is absolutely gorgeous in so many ways and in so many places. Plus, every Canadian I’ve ever met has been extremely friendly and welcoming. The culture shock of moving there would be minimal as opposed to even Australia or New Zealand. But I’d give those two countries a shot too. Switzerland is also on my short list mainly because they are the only country in the world that truly minds its own business.

    Wherever I moved, I’d certainly want to be in close proximity to wine and wine culture. 🙂 Wine makes everything seem a little bit better.

    Chris in Owatonna

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    1. My number was 249 and they inducted the first 100. That put me in the 1-H (Holding) status so I never got my requested CO. I was determined to accept prison time if necessary despite living very near Canada.

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      3. Maybe we’d have run into each other in Winnipeg or Thunder Bay or wherever I’d have gone first. With hindsight, I’d be firmly ensconced in either Toronto, Banff, Vancouver, or anywhere else in BC

        Chris in O-town

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    2. Congratulations, Chris, for your winning CO letter. It must have been good. When I taught writing (for six years when I was a grad student) my students sometimes said writing was too difficult and that they preferred other ways of sharing their thoughts. I tried to convince them there are moments when written communication is the only option. At such times it can be crucially important to be able to express yourself well.

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      1. Plus they have a wonderful new Prime Minister. He and Obama hit it off big time. He’s the son of a previous Prime Minister – I can’t spell his name – and seems to be a flaming progressive.

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  13. We’ve contemplated climate friendly moves-me for health-husband for golf. Canada would not be on his list ‘tho I’d be fascinated by a move to Cape Breton!
    Meanwhile I’ll stay rooted ignoring the daily doom reports…I find simply laughable and sadly..unbelievably simple. I’ll feed off all nature’s positive energy…willing for good. And I’ll do my best to find joy…in spite of injustices.

    Then…maybe I will move come Novemember…

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    1. Yep, the more I explore, the better it looks! Total population of island around 135,000; 75% of that is in one area called Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM). There’s a large Scottish population… and it’s known for its traditional fiddle music: “Performers who have received significant recognition outside of Cape Breton include Bruce Guthro, Buddy MacMaster, Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac, The Rankin Family, Aselin Debison, Lee Cremo, and the Barra MacNeils.” (from Wikipedia)…

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      1. I got this video from my son, who could, with some finagling, immigrate to Canada more easily than others, as he was born there.

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  16. I sympathize with those who feel driven to disown their nation when its politics lurch in a deplorable direction. When GW Bush was in power, my erstwife (now living in Belgium) began identifying herself as a Canadian to avoid embarrassing discussions with Europeans. She acknowledged being American during Obama’s administration but now contemplates pretending she is Canadian again.

    Fleeing the country I love would feel like abandoning a marriage the first time things no longer seem fun. If Trump rises to power, this nation will need voices of moderation. I would try to be one of those voices, doing what I could to limit the damage he would bring.

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  17. OT (but true) story: George Mason University just created a new law school, the Antonin Scalia School of Law. Just before announcing this they renamed the school in a panic because someone figured out what the acronym would be.

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      1. i was thinking the mantra could be that when the graduating class went out into the world they could consider themselves as represetatives of the antion scalia school whole. as in the whole offering he offered as his legacy
        im a contributor as part of the a.s.s. whole

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  18. Honestly, not much. Just to make sure that my folks and my siblings are taken care of well and I wouldn’t mind Canada, the UK, France…

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  22. I turned eighteen in 1976, when Reagan was making a go at the nomination the first time. My friends and I all agreed we were going to move to Canada if he was elected. Four years later he won the election. We all had jobs and apartments by then and had put down roots. So we stayed. If Trump were to become President I think the people most likely to leave the country would be the very young.

    No that there’s much chance of that happening.

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