It seems the vast chunk of land north of the 49th parallel is quickly becoming very popular in Blue America.
According to this report on the CBC web site, over 100,000 Americans hit the Citizenship and Immigration Canada web site yesterday to enquire about a bug out route that would involve the Great White North.
Here on dKos, and elsewhere on the blogosphere, I read dythirambic prose about this land of milk and honey, so to speak.
The reality is not so simple. Of course, over 500,000 Americans live north of the border, where they live their lives, minding their own business. They benefit our society and our economy.
But Canada is not perfect, far from it. We have our share of bigots and assorted idiots, unemployment is higher than in the US (7%) at last count, and the GDP per capita is 20% lower than in the US. Wages are lower on average, but the cost of living is generally cheaper. And, you're likely to pay higher taxes and more money than in California for a gallon of gasoline ($2.75 a US gallon is not unexpected in Quebec and Ontario; prices are cheaper in oil-rich Alberta).
We also love constitutional debates, where we sit the Prime minister with his provincial counterparts for a good chat, once in a while. Constitutional conferences are endless, since unanimity is required in most cases, so forget those funny maps where Canada add a couple of southern territories. We'll fuck up the debate by adding clauses on the senate (triple E, for equal, elected and effective), recognition of the obvious (Quebec is different) or spending limits (Ottawa should be allowed to supervise provincial spending on their areas of jurisdiction).
And you might not feel safer here, even if we still have the discretely attired mounties: conceal-carry firearm permits are hard to get, firearms are heavily regulated... and please leave your assault weapons and anti-personnel land mines at home. They are forbidden. We also have a 80,000 strong (weak) military, equiped with 4 fire-prone second-hand submarines, a few dozens 25 year-old first generation F/A 18, surplus Leopard I tanks, dating from our heroic stand on the Fulda Gap, and a few snowmobiles. In substance: if you loved Rambo, you'll hate Canada.
Another problem is our addiction to the US as a trade partner. Over 80% of our exports go directly to the US; while we import 23% of all US imports. If the US economy goes to the crapper because of the a**holes in Washington DC, make no mistake: you're gonna hurt too, whether you join us or not.
Oh, I forgot! we put 12 players on a football field 10 yards longer than yours. And we only give the offense squad 3 downs to get their 10 yards.
On the flip side, we do have universal health care, cheaper drug prices, inexpensive higher education, fair elections and almost every Canadians agree that governemts "has no business in the bedrooms of the nation".
You might also consider stay where you are to continue the fight against the Xtian fundamentalists that took over your government. We are grateful to those with the fortitude to stay and keep on the good fight. We wish we could do more to help you, but it is America's job to fix America's problems.
PS: feel free to come by and visit the place. It's good for the economy. And if you want to stay that's fine too: our federal government likes budget surpluses, and will make sure you pay your taxes. Cheers!