"Bush Refugees" have been making noises about moving to Canada because you-know-who has been re-elected. Now's the time to move beyond empty rhetoric. "The Canadian Option" is an immigration seminar being offered this week in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles by a law firm that's expert in the field. The Seattle confab is on Saturday, Dec. 4; more details in the second of the two links above.
I'd especially like to see a lot of folks from Seattle move to Canada. It's where so many of them really belong. But first, they'd better read this guest op-ed in the Seattle Times by a resident of Canada who with her husband moved to the U.S., Jennifer Meeks.
My husband and I left Canada six years ago to start a new life in the United States. Tens of thousands of university-educated, middle-class Canadians leave Canada for the U.S. every year. The Canadian government even has a name for us — "The Brain Drain."Why do we leave?...Fifty percent of the Canadian paycheck goes to taxes....The Canadian middle class has almost been taxed out of existence. Official bilingualism..is what most of the taxes pay for.....
If you are English-speaking in Canada, it's difficult to find a job....it is the norm for Canadian schools to have at least 40 kids per class — that is, if the teachers are not on strike. Speaking of strikes. There are a lot of unhappy workers in Canada. I remember one summer when the bus drivers, postal workers, movie projectionists and government workers were all on strike.
....every Canadian has experienced or knows of a family member who has a nightmare health-care story. It may be free but that doesn't mean it's good. Hospitals are miserable. There are long waiting lists for the most basic treatments and operations....the elite or government bureaucrats...go to the U.S. and pay for decent health care.
Political oppression — Imagine an American president and one political party in power for over 10 years. That's what's happened in Canada. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's regime has been in control for more than a decade and the average Canadian is fed up and glad to see him go. Even then, it was his decision to allow an election. Hopefully, Canada will be able to make amends and repair its relationship with the U.S.
Living in Canada made me feel like a barn animal in George Orwell's "Animal Farm." My only worry is that someday the United States will resemble Canada. Sort of like one giant Seattle. That would be my nightmare.
So, "Bush Refugees" eyeing Canada, beware. Eh?
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at November 30, 2004 12:15 PM
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» The New Separatist Movement: Time to Put Up from The Write Wing Conspiracy
An appropriate time for the Seattle left to put up or shut up, I agree. [Read More]
Tracked on December 1, 2004 09:14 AM
» The New Separatist Movement: Time to Put Up from The Write Wing Conspiracy
An appropriate time for the Seattle left to put up or shut up, I agree. [Read More]
Tracked on December 1, 2004 09:16 AM
James Taranto stated it well in "Best of the Web Today" on Nov. 4 --
The election seems to have transformed the Angry Left into the Dejected Left--and we must admit, we like them better this way. Reuters actually published a dispatch from Ottawa reporting that "Canadian officials made clear on Wednesday that any U.S. citizens so fed up with Bush that they want to make a fresh start up north would have to stand in line like any other would-be immigrants--a wait that can take up to a year."
The "news" service notes that "recent statistics show a gradual decline in U.S. citizens coming to work in Canada, which has a creaking publicly funded healthcare system and relatively high levels of personal taxation." It's one thing to advocate such policies, quite another actually to live under them.
Posted by: Micajah at November 30, 2004 09:14 PMMy message to those leaving for Canada, who will inevitably not be able to take all their worldly possessions:
"Yeah, yeah, I'll miss you. Can I have your stuff?"
Posted by: Jeff at December 2, 2004 10:08 AMJeff, my friend: If you want their Ani DeFranco and Ben Harper CDs, hemp scarves and tea tree oil....well then, go for it, big guy. Or are you imagining "Bush refugees" - if they actually leave, which may be quite doubtful - would leave behind better stuff than that?
Posted by: Matt R. at December 2, 2004 11:19 AM