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Home Front: Culture Wars
Some in U.S. finally voting with their feet
2005-02-07
Bon voyage, suckers!
VANCOUVER, British Columbia Christopher Key knows exactly what he would be giving up if he left Bellingham, Washington. "It's the sort of place Norman Rockwell would paint, where everyone watches out for everyone else and we have block parties every year," said Key, a 56-year-old Vietnam War veteran and former magazine editor who lists Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner," among his ancestors.

But leave it he intends to do, and as soon as he can. His house is on the market, and he is busily seeking work across the border in Canada. For him, the re-election of George W. Bush was the last straw. "I love the United States," he said as he stood on the Vancouver waterfront, staring toward the Coastal Range, which was lost in a gray shroud. "I fought for it in Vietnam. It's a wrenching decision to think about leaving. But America is turning into a country very different from the one I grew up believing in."

In the Niagara of liberal angst just after Bush's victory on Nov. 2, the Canadian government's immigration Web site reported a surge in inquiries from the United States, to about 115,000 a day from 20,000.

After three months, memories of the election have begun to recede. There has been an inauguration, even a State of the Union address. Yet immigration lawyers say that Americans are not just making inquiries and that more are pursuing a move above the 49th parallel, fed up with a country they see drifting persistently to the right and abandoning the principles of tolerance, compassion and peaceful idealism they felt once defined the nation.
Nope, nope, no New York Times slant there, nope.
America is in no danger of emptying out. But even a small loss of population, many from a deep sense of political despair, is a significant event in the life of a nation that thinks of itself as a place to escape to. Firm numbers on potential immigrants are elusive.
So it may not be a small loss after all, and less of a loss if they do leave.
"The number of U.S. citizens who are actually submitting Canadian immigration papers and making concrete plans is about three or four times higher than normal," said Linda Mark, an immigration lawyer in Vancouver.

Other immigration lawyers in Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, Nova Scotia, said they had noticed a similar uptick, though most put the rise at closer to threefold. "We're still not talking about a huge movement of people," said David Cohen, an immigration lawyer in Montreal. "In 2003, the last year where full statistics are available, there were something like 6,000 U.S. citizens who received permanent resident status in Canada. So even if we do go up threefold this year, we're only talking about 18,000 people."

Still, that is more than double the population of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. "For every one who reacts to the Bush victory by moving to a new country, how many others are there still in America, feeling similarly disaffected but not quite willing to take such a drastic step?" Cohen asked.
More importantly, who the fuck cares? If Kerry had won, I'd be rather disaffected, but the NYT sure as hell wouldn't be writing a sympathetic article about me.
Melanie Redman, 30, assistant director of the Epilepsy Foundation in Seattle, said she had put her Volvo up for sale and hopes to be living in Toronto by the summer. She and her Canadian boyfriend, a Web site designer for Canadian nonprofit companies, had been planning to move to New York, but after Nov.2, they decided on Canada instead. "I'm doing it," she said. "I don't want to participate in what this administration is doing here and around the world. Under Bush, the U.S. seems to be leading the pack as the world spirals down."
See ya Melanie, and don't bothe coming back.
Redman intends to apply for a conjugal visa, which can be easier to get than the skilled worker visa that most Americans require. To do so, she must prove she and her boyfriend have had a relationship for at least a year, so she has collected supporting paperwork, like love letters, to present to the Canadian government. "I'm originally from a poor, lead-mining town in Missouri, and I know a lot of the people there don't understand why I'm doing this," she said. "Even my family is pretty disappointed. And the fact is, it makes me pretty sad, too. But I just can't bear to pay taxes in the United States right now."

Compared with the other potential immigrants interviewed, Redman was far along in planning. Mike Aves, 40, a financial planner in Palm Beach, Florida, where he has been active in the Young Democrats, said he was finding it almost impossible from that distance to land a job in Canada. "I've told my wife, I'd be willing to take a step down, socioeconomically, to move from white-collar work to a blue-collar job, if it would get us to Canada," he said.

Many of those interviewed said the idea of moving to Canada had been simmering in the backs of their minds for years, partly as a reaction to what they saw as a rightward drift in the United States and partly as a desire to live in a place they see as more tolerant, pacific and, yes, liberal. But for all, the re-election of Bush was decisive. "Not everybody is prepared to live their political values, but these are people who are," said Jason Mogus, an Internet entrepreneur in Vancouver whose communicopia.net offers marketing services for progressive companies and nonprofit groups, and whose canadianalternative.com is often the first stop for Americans eager to learn about moving north.

"Immigration to Canada is not like packing your family in a car and moving across the state line," Mogus said. "It's a long process. It can take 18 months or even longer sometimes. And if you hire a lawyer to help you, it can cost thousands of dollars."

So Mogus said the response to the Web site, from all over the United States, had amazed him. Some are drawn by Canada's more tolerant attitude toward same-sex unions, he said, and there are a surprising number of middle-aged professionals. "My wife and I have talked for a long time about perhaps retiring to a condo in downtown Vancouver," said Frederick Newmeyer, 61, a professor of linguistics at the University of Washington in Seattle. "But the election was the tipping point."
Posted by:Steve White

#27  Repost - this was here a while back.

1) His "War veteran" status is in question

2) His ancestry is in question likewise.

But the main thing is for all these people:

Who cares?

If they are such moral cowards as to cut and run when things don't go their way, and so lazy that they will not put forth the effort to workand change things, then we not only don't need that type, we dont WANT that type.

Let Canada have these complacent cowardly lazy losers.
Posted by: OldSpook   2005-02-07 1:06:30 AM  

#26  Repost - this was here a while back.

1) His "War veteran" status is in question

2) His ancestry is in question likewise.

But the main thing is for all these people:

Who cares?

If they are such moral cowards as to cut and run when things don't go their way, and so lazy that they will not put forth the effort to workand change things, then we not only don't need that type, we dont WANT that type.

Let Canada have these complacent cowardly lazy losers.
Posted by: OldSpook   2005-02-07 1:06:30 AM  

#25  For yew, eL, lol!
Posted by: .com   2005-02-07 11:54:35 PM  

#24  The Yukon will round out the shape of Alaska. Only trouble we will have to deal with the moonbat bureaucrats that that moved to Whitehorse from the Soouth....
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2005-02-07 11:52:10 PM  

#23  
Hit the road, Jack
And don't you come back
no mo' no mo' no mo' no mo'
Hit the road, Jack
and don't you come back no mo....
Posted by: eLarson   2005-02-07 11:46:22 PM  

#22  Hey, it's a big country. At any given time you'll find a few people considering moving to Canada. Some of them might even be feeling alienated because of their political views. Who cares?
Posted by: Classical_Liberal   2005-02-07 11:29:04 PM  

#21  Be nice to Canada, they may become part of the US someday.

Alberta - maybe, Ontario or Quebec- HELL NO
Posted by: DMFD   2005-02-07 9:18:22 PM  

#20  Be nice to Canada, they may become part of the US someday.

I can probably live with that.

Mexico, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter....
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-02-07 6:50:51 PM  

#19  Wait till she gets her Canadian tax bill.

Doubt it. With dual citizenships (or permanent resident status), they will opt to pay the lower US taxes instead...and probably stay in touch with their doctor in the US, y'know, just in case they have to wait a year for a medical procedure.
Posted by: Rafael   2005-02-07 6:07:27 PM  

#18  #5 Ed - sign me up! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2005-02-07 4:21:22 PM  

#17  "Face it they don't have the American spirit! Americans learn to adapt and overcome setbacks, not run and hide."

-Damn right brother Sarge, damn right.

"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pear Harbor?"
-Germans? Don't stop him, he's on a roll.
Posted by: Jarhead   2005-02-07 3:35:42 PM  

#16  Not only the passport, are they going full bore and paying the highre tax rate the Canadian are obliged. I also believe there is way too much ink and bandwidth wasted on these sore losers. Face it they don't have the American spirit! Americans learn to adapt and overcome setbacks, not run and hide. "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pear Harbor?" (From Animal House) Enjoy Canada losers.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2005-02-07 3:29:19 PM  

#15  I think Jarhead hits the nail on the head with the passport issue. Do these folks intend to have dual US/Canadian citizenship, so that they can come back when they have a tough time in Canda or if the US political scene becomes more to their liking (e.g., the emergence of the Communist Party as a major factor in US politics)? Or do they really intend to stand by their principles?

In either event, buh-bye at least for now. Mind the door.
Posted by: Matt   2005-02-07 2:35:39 PM  

#14  Be nice to Canada, they may become part of the US someday.

I imagine the homoginization of the EU will cause many French and English to emmigrate and I'm not sure fragile Canada has a chance. If Canada splits I think it's likely that some provinces will join up with the US. I'd be happy to have them even if that shifted our political spectrum leftwards.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2005-02-07 12:47:51 PM  

#13  These people bore me. Good bye, good luck. Please turn out the lights and leave your passport on the dresser when you leave.
Posted by: Jarhead   2005-02-07 12:09:29 PM  

#12  You know, I feel a duty as a conservative to display more principle than what the left does, and so normally I wouldn't want to celebrate this kind of thing, but I'd love to wave these guys off. They hate this country that much, then they can go. No one's keeping them here. And at least they're going somewhere else instead of continuing to make life difficult for the rest of us.
Posted by: The Doctor   2005-02-07 11:40:54 AM  

#11  "I love the United States," he said as he stood on the Vancouver waterfront, staring toward the Coastal Range, which was lost in a gray shroud.

A lie.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-02-07 11:35:26 AM  

#10  Mojo, it's over a 3-1 exchange in favor of the U.S. Seems more of our Northern cousins would rather live in this "hellhole of a nation" than Americans that like the idea of heading north.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2005-02-07 11:09:33 AM  

#9  "The number of U.S. citizens who are actually submitting Canadian immigration papers and making concrete plans is about three or four times higher than normal," said Linda Mark, an immigration lawyer in Vancouver.

And the number of Canadians moving south is?...
Posted by: mojo   2005-02-07 10:51:40 AM  

#8  talk's cheap. Interviews should be held only after they actually move (if ever)
Posted by: Frank G   2005-02-07 9:48:42 AM  

#7  Small loss. Any chance we can get them banned from returning. BTW: Where's Robert Redford? Didn't he promise to move out too?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2005-02-07 9:38:35 AM  

#6  Seems like ol' Melanie was busy eating the dirt in her "poor lead-mining town in Missouri". Wait till she gets her Canadian tax bill.
Posted by: Desert Blondie   2005-02-07 9:08:50 AM  

#5  Maybe we start a charity like Save the Moonbats where we can sponsor them to move to foreign countries. For only 39¢ a day, you too can sponsor an Ethnic Studies professor in Botswana.
Posted by: ed   2005-02-07 8:48:29 AM  

#4  Canada, where disapproval of homosexuality is banned hate speech even when there's no hate involved.
Posted by: Korora   2005-02-07 8:36:10 AM  

#3  Yeah, compassionate Canada, where the Premier of British Columbia (equivalent to State Governor) laughed during his mugshot snapping, after being arrested for DUI in Hawaii.
http://www.nupge.ca/news_2004/n05ja04a.htm
And where 6 blue pigs (AKA: cops) were convicted for taking 3 street persons to a secluded park and beating them to a pulp, with batons.
http://www.provincialcourt.bc.ca/judgments/pc/2004/00/p04_0001.htm
I would rather live in Alabama, circa 1961, as a negro.
Posted by: Lemony Smuggity   2005-02-07 3:29:42 AM  

#2  This will amount to .00000001% of the population. Most of them will return when they find out they will work much harder for much less in Canada. What ever skills they take with them will be quickly replaced. For those that take this route good luck. The US gains population from Canada every year at a much higher rate. I for one will not miss you.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2005-02-07 1:20:40 AM  

#1  Repost - this was here a while back.

1) His "War veteran" status is in question

2) His ancestry is in question likewise.

But the main thing is for all these people:

Who cares?

If they are such moral cowards as to cut and run when things don't go their way, and so lazy that they will not put forth the effort to workand change things, then we not only don't need that type, we dont WANT that type.

Let Canada have these complacent cowardly lazy losers.
Posted by: OldSpook   2005-02-07 1:06:30 AM  

00:00