More Americans are searching online about moving to Canada. But will they?

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/more-americans-are-searching-online-about-moving-to-canada-but-will-they-come-here-1.6967953

by passwordoops • 2 years ago

10 27 2 years ago

montreal.ctvnews.ca

passwordoops• 2 years ago

The usual uptick when it looks like Republicans will win the election. However, as a Canadian, i can tell you the US is still looking much more attractive these days (the article does touch on southbound migration)

richrichie• 2 years ago

Not one celebrity moved to Canada or UK or New Zealand as they promised before 2016 election.

XorNot• 2 years ago

Which celebrities promised to do this?

sfmz2• 2 years ago

Celebrities not moving to Canada: Snoop Dogg, Lena Dunham, Chelsea Handler, Ne-Yo, Neve Campbell, Raven-Symoné, Bryan Cranston and Barbra Streisand

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/22/move-to-canada...

egberts1• 2 years ago

Proves the America is still the bestest place to live.

idiotsecant• 2 years ago

If facisim ever really gains hold in the US a little thing like an international border with pur neighboor to the north isn't going to stop it from spreading.

jewayne3• 2 years ago

I mean, you're right, in that it hasn't.

rootusrootus• 2 years ago

I get it. When I visit BC I'm always struck by how similar it is to the US culturally (well, at least the PNW). But they have single payer. That can seem tempting if you ignore all the details. Of course the grass is always greener.

And besides, it's not like Canada is just going to let anybody immigrate. It's a pipe dream, something to make you feel better when you know your guy is going to lose and you despair for the future.

jewayne3• 2 years ago

As the article addresses, Canada doesn't exactly roll out the red carpet for Americans wishing to move north. If there is a flood of Americans, they will necessarily mostly be illegal immigrants.

TMWNN3• 2 years ago

Further, they're wrong on the basic premise of Canadian politics being fundamentally different.

Americans on either side of the aisle think that Canada is full of super-leftists (and there is no shortage). But were Canada a part of the US in 2016, Trump would have won AB, SK, and quite possibly enough of the GTA (the parts that loved Rob Ford, and as "Ford Country" has repeatedly won the province for Doug Ford) to win ON, the province most resembling MI/WI/PA, the three states that Trump unexpectedly won the election with.

At the end of the day, Canada is a smaller, colder, poorer, more expensive version of the US.

PS - The article repeats the myth that the Canada immigration site crashed in 2016 because of a flood of Americans visiting it. There was a technical upgrade that day

Hitton• 2 years ago

Canada is bigger than USA.

jfengel• 2 years ago

The politics isn't all that different, but the small variances make an enormous difference.

The US has a number of factors that give Trump's faction a substantial leg up. He has never won the popular vote. There is a very good chance that he will win this November the same way.

Republicans have one a grand total of 1 popular vote this century, and yet have won half of the elections. More than half, until recently, and likely to be more than half again.

The US Supreme Court has also been captured for coming decades by Trump's party. Those are lifetime appointments -- and their decisions guide who will replace them.

Culturally, Americans are not radically different from Canadians. Perhaps a tinge to the left. But American politics is very tipped to the right.

American left-wingers may not in fact find Canada any better for them. As you say, it's certainly not a left-winger utopia. But the US has become extremely ugly, and it's hard to choke down that ugliness when you know the power structures are tipped against you, and show every sign of becoming monotonically more so.

twiddling• 2 years ago

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/03/57/17/979934/4/ratio3x2_960.we...

Comes up everytime...

readthenotes1• 2 years ago

38% is about the right number to move Canadaward.

Among other things, it will help reduce the housing crisis.

https://poll.qu.edu/images/polling/us/us03072022_ujca44.pdf

m463• 2 years ago

The grass is always greener. But it attracts mooses too.

anticorporate• 2 years ago

What a silly question.

I know several people who have seriously researched moving to Canada. Most did not. Some did. Why do we treat this question differently than people who research any other thing that is a major life change? Americans are also likely researching quitting their jobs, going to grad school, and the cost of having children. I would suspect that "number of people who do a hard, complicated thing" is less correlated with "number of people who do an online search for a thing" and moreso with "how hard or life impacting is that thing."

etrautmann• 2 years ago

Obviously the subtext here is about the changing circumstances of life in one’s home nation, which is a big question. If there are trends in how many people are reconsidering their country of residence, this is an interesting indicator to discuss.

IncreasePosts• 2 years ago

Because, every run up to a presidential election, we get (mostly democrat) people declaring "if Republican wins, I'm moving to Canada!"

nathanaldensr• 2 years ago

It's just virtue-signaling. It's no more complicated than that.

fernly• 2 years ago

Those looking at Canada need to get serious and do better research. The options are much wider, even if you restrict your search to English-speaking lands. I know this because after the previous Trump victory I gave very serious thought to leaving the USA. That I eventually did not was down to two factors: a spouse who was firmly against the idea; and my discovery of what I call the retirement barrier.

That barrier is simply this: emigration as a retired person is much more difficult than for a person in their active working years. If you are active in any of a variety of occupations, nations are much more likely to give you residence. Every nation has a list of occupations they'd like to have more bodies working in; and the strongest recommendation is to have an local employer willing to hire you. Retired people are seen as potential burdens on all social services and generally have to meet higher requirements.

That said, if you are young or in mid-life, think about it. If you are even modestly wealthy, look first at nations offering a "golden visa"[1], a residence permit given in return for your investment in local real-estate or business.

And for pete's sake look beyond Canada and New Zealand. The best prospect I found for a US emigrée was Uruguay! If you have any Spanish, give it a careful look[2,3].

[1] https://visaguide.world/golden-visa/

[2] https://immiguides.com/immigration-guides/uruguay/

[3] https://expatra.com/guides/uruguay/living-in-uruguay/

vinner_roy• 2 years ago

Can I swap place with one of them?

beej71• 2 years ago

People I know are waiting to see what happens, but they want to know what the options are if things really start going downhill. It wouldn't surprise me if the spike were just research. Right now most people in my circles aren't really bullish on the future of the US. Hopeful, but not confident. They're looking for hedges just in case.

I only know one person who obtained dual citizenship and they did it through family lines.

More Americans are searching online about moving to Canada. But will they?

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