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| Canadians do not find this funny for some reason. |
obviously not quite as much.
Also, I wish you all peace, prosperity and many freedoms in the years ahead. Fingers crossed.
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I apologize, dear American readers, but that is my primary response to the American presidential election. Hopefully Canada remains way below the radar as usual. Hopefully Prime Minister Trudeau doesn't embarrass us in any egregious way.
Meanwhile I object to the "I'm moving to Canada" meme. Canada is not a protectorate of the USA. She is an entirely different sovereign country with her own history, with parliamentary democracy, with a monarch and with one heck of an immigration process. Canadians are not just quiet Americans--oh, and by the way, any foreigner who moves to the province of Quebec has to send their children to French-language school. I believe this has come as a shock to visiting American and British academics, but there it is. English-speakers are marginalized in the entire province of Quebec; unless you speak fluent French, you don't want to live there. Meanwhile, house prices in Toronto are shocking.
No-one can "just move to Canada" unless he or she is a Canadian. Everyone else needs a visa. This "I'm moving to Canada" thing reminds me of left-wing, Democrat-voting students in Massachusetts telling me Canada is independent only because the USA allows her to be. If successful in getting visas, such people should leave this attitude south of the border, along with any handguns.
Meanwhile, I object to any peace-time mass migration on principle--I think it is terrible for migrants, their host countries and the poor countries they leave behind--so naturally I object to mass migration of Americans to Canada, too. Controlled, steady migration is fine. My family has migrated back and forth over the border over the centuries; it's worked out nicely for us and, I hope, Canada.
Oh dear. It may be a tough day listening to British people opine on the subject of the USA. On the other hand, my confusing accent may stem the flow. This is Scotland, so nobody is likely to ask me how I voted, but if they do, I will explain that I am Canadian and think the Americans can vote for whomsoever they like, just as long as the new president leaves Canada alone.
And now I shall check Rzeczpospolita to see what Putin is doing.
Hmm . . . I can understand objecting to it, but I think you're reading more into it than the vast majority of Americans would.
ReplyDeleteAs an American, I think the 'I'm moving to Canada' sentiment is almost entirely based on the fact that Canada is close and has a reasonably comfortable standard of living. (And, I suppose, shares more historical and cultural ties with America than Mexico does.) Maybe there are some Americans who see Canada as a protectorate of the US, but I don't think they're actually all that numerous.
And it really is a joke. It may be a bad joke, but there isn't going to be a mass migration to Canada, even with Trump being elected.
Personally, I'm totally blown away by what those students said to you. But as someone from NH, please judge the rest of the US based on the people you met in Massachusetts. We have plenty of faults and failings as a country, but Massachusetts is one of the craziest liberal states in the Union, and has some of the most liberal colleges.
Aggh!! Please *don't* judge us all by the Mass. people.
DeleteOkay, I promise! :-) And it occurs to me that I must add a nice update!
Delete:) Thanks!! I tend to be a sensitive to the issue, being from a once-conservative state that's slowly being eaten up by Mass. people who've decided that they like our taxes and neighborhoods better. :P
DeleteAnd I love the update!! Thank you for the good wishes!! We're going to need them. :P
They even talk about moving to Australia. They seem to forget that Australia has pretty much the toughest immigration laws of anywhere, and that 'I don't like the president' won't get them refugee status.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, it's pretty fun to watch everyone freak out and advocate for an end to democracy.
Exactly what Booklover said... it's a joke, although a bad one, that reflects the historical and cultural ties the U.S. shares with Canada. I think most people would be surprised that it could be taken as imperialistic towards Canada.
ReplyDeleteMost people seem to know they would have to emigrate as unhappy Americans accidentally crashed the Canadian immigration site.
I found Canada's tell American it's great campaign touching during the final days of the election cycle.
PS- many people really love the Queen, which is a great advantage to being Canadian.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe Donald Trump will set out to harm Canada, but his rejection of NAFTA, if he is able to follow through on it, might do so. NAFTA *may* have been injurious to the US, but it has been generally beneficial to Canada, and of course to Mexico most of all.
ReplyDeleteAlias Clio