"Why not stay home and change things there?"

Good point White Rose and Nick Hart for that matter. That's one reason why I havent moved up there even though I have toyed with the idea.

"Canadians care more about one another. Americans are more out for themselves."

See there you go. Demonizing Americans. I guess that's why the majority of Americans support universal free education and healthcare.

Sure we're all a bunch of bigoted trogolodytes here. As if people like that don't exist in Canada. Her basment and undersink are spotless, eh?

Nah, I'll stay here. America's elites, like Mexico's want all of their malcontents to take a hike so as to not be a problem. It would be irresponsible for me not to.

Besides, I wouldn't want to impose y'know? You folks have enough of us coming up there to get free healthcare and drugs. I don't want to break your bank and burden your system.

Thanks for the invite though. Very nice of yas. I know you mean well.

Hand the country to the errorists in this administration on a silver platter. Really good show.

I said from the start of this mess all who have died in this illegal mess died for nothing. Americans will repay them by running, hiding and giving away all they had to be thankful for.

When the veterans come home what a nice surprise the sheep will have waiting for them.

Go ahead run you are not needed here any way. We the few, the free, the least intimidated will prevail in the end with out the assistance of the sheep. And we will regain freedom and a better way of life. You don't want it fine leave. If you stay you may have too many hard choices to make.

Any older Canadian women with a laryngectomy looking for a companion? i'm a young 63yo with a laryngectomy (still run and row) living on a boat in B'ham. And, ah, one other thing - i have terminal cancer. But hey, could be a fun couple of years. This stinking government down here is bad for my health.

I read a book awhile ago-forgot the author-"Regional Economics and Death of the Nation State." Maybe it won't be long before the borders are mere 'check points.' 21st century could well see Corporations renamed States or Nations. I mean the Neo Conmen bastardize everything else don't they?

Burger King is a british company.

My friend from Germany lived in both Canada and the U.S. and concluded that Canada is no better. Anywhere you go there will be fascists and progressives. Che wrote that he would have preferred to be an estadounidense (US citizen in Spanish) in order to fight within the "belly of the beast." You need to bloom where you're planted, or raise hell where you're planted. You know what the fascists love to say: "America: love it or leave it." Why please them? Stay in the belly of the beast and struggle for global justice.

Jan Steinman

She went to Canada and asked for asylum as a practicing muslim. She went through the courts but was denied asylum and within a few weeks she left after living in freedom for 6 years. Its a very sad story. She is now being pressured to get married by her family and finding it difficult to get a job in Turkey because she wears a headscarf. She may be moving to Europe, but will probably face the same pressure to get married there. And she does not know the men they would want her to marry.

She is going to apply to come back to Canada but it will take at least 2 years. If someone thinks they can apply for asylum from within Canada they will have to have a more compelling story than my friend. An application is more successful from different locations. A good immigration lawyer will know which places to apply from and my friend now is working with my lawyer.

A sentence from her last email:
"Thank God i have abilty to paint.if not.for sure i will get crazy.i have to tell you I miss over there so much.my friends,my house,my car.....My freedom"

Now a quote from you:
"Canada is merely "less worse" than the US, and we must remain vigilant. But there's hope in that."

Thats probably true, but Canadians do seem to be vigilant, and that makes all the difference.

colleen wrote: "If considering moving to Canada, consult a canadian lawyer. A friend was just deported after living here for 6 years."

I think that's a US attitude. There are much fewer lawyers (per capita) in Canada than in the US. The laws are generally simpler. Although it is a considerable amount of work, you can complete the application process yourself.

As for your friend, was she legally in Canada as a Permanent Resident? If so, why did she not apply for citizenship after three years? Canada won't deport a citizen.

Doll wrote: "What about the North American Union? The proposed, and underdiscussed merger of the US, Canada and Mexico."

Yea, that's scary. With present trends, I give Canada 20 years, tops, as an independent country. The US wants Canada's natural resources. The only hope for Canada is if energy runs out so fast that the US can no longer impose its will.

zoya wrote: "Actually, I don't know why so many Americans are escaping to Canada. We are facing Anschuss."

I considered that before moving here. But with 10% of the US population, my voice has ten times the impact here. We are fighting SPP/NAU and it's little brother, TILMA. Canadians (if not their elected leaders) are committed to transparency in government, and are getting pretty agitated at the present government's secrecy.

Even if Anschluss comes, the time until then is better for me in Canada than it possibly could have been in the US, considering improved health care alone.

Nishan wrote: "Sure, come North, but don't fool yourself. There is struggle that must be fought here, if you come, you must join. The problems of the US are here as well."

Well put, Nishan! But none of the recent immigrants (and wanna-bees) that I've known are shrinking violets when it comes to politics. Many of them feel frustrated that their voice seemed to make little difference in the south, and are hoping to be *more* active in the north.

I agree, we don't need woe-is-me refugees, we need activists!

Canada is not without its problems:

* There is less competition for services like banking, telecom, etc.. Even credit unions have higher costs and fewer services than for-profit banks do in the US.

* The influence of Big Money in politics is growing. BC now has fixed election cycles -- Big Money's Best Friend. When the Premiere or the Opposition can call an election with four weeks notice, Big Money can't respond quick enough, but with fixed election cycles, politics are spiraling inexorably into the obscene US money pit.

* Multiple parties are REALLY NICE! They prevent polarization, by giving voice to any group who has an issue. But with the present "first past the post" system, third-parties are effectively shut out of anything but protest votes, which lets travesties like Harper's minority government prevail. Canada desperately needs a multi-voting system, like the "Single Transferrable Vote" system that got 58% of the votes in BC -- but Campbell's Fiberals carefully avoided falling into THAT trap by writing the proposal such that it required 60% of the vote, then promising that they would listen to the majority, then doing nothing. PASS MULTI-VOTING NOW!

* Bureaucracy is friendlier here, but in many ways, worse. You can actually crack jokes with the Revenue Canada people. But there are more layers, and more complications. The property tax bureaucrat called me on a Sunday to tell me why my agricultural tax status had been denied -- in the US, I'd get a form letter. But the result is the same: mindless, senseless, numbing bureaucracy, such that if I had plowed an additional 1/4 acre of land by December 31st, my property taxes would have been reduced 80%. SHEESH!

All in all, I'm a happy Canadian immigrant. But if you come north, be realistic -- Canada is merely "less worse" than the US, and we must remain vigilant. But there's hope in that. I had reached the point of hopelessness in the US.

We two USAians "Americans" just drove from Buffalo to Toronto, Canada a few days ago for a day visit. From 10 American flags per block in Buffalo to REAL freedom in Toronto where patriotism is not mindlessly required but actually practiced in free full health care and complete education - both at a higher quality than in the USA. This reality may be unerving for "Americans" - Canadians have more freedom to pursue their happiness rather than worry about medical insurance premiums and denials, and horrendous student loans dragging them down throughout life. We met a beautiful young guitar playing singer on the pier with her fans. Her innocence and artist drive was an excellent example of a free-spirit in search of life. I am sold on Canada. Let the great American Myth that Canada is expensive, keep the evil Americans out of Canada and polluting it with their fear, guns, pollution and arrogant attitudes.

haha

We in Canada do have corrupt governments.

We just dont have the population to have the type of system failures you have in the US. But we have gun nuts and school massacres, we slaughter baby seal pups with clubbed spikes(hard to think of a country that matches that but of civilized barbarity). We help overthrow other governments(Haiti). Our military can torture Afghans as well as the Us and the Uk can.

On the West Coast-Vancouver is a bizarre place where Starbucks and other corporate store fronts dominate the landscape--the floodgates for Asian immigrants were let wide open causing housing prices to go through the roof. As a friend from Seattle opined, its more yuppie than artistic.

Even our film industry is really just a service industry for foreigners.

Canada is a great place to sit around doing nothing, lambasting the US for existing while profiting from the US influence--especially culturally.

Until last year I lived in the Midwest and I both joked and thought seriously about going to Canada. Instead, I moved to San Francisco. Expensive, crowded, but full of natural beauty, culture and optimism ...truly a different country from the rest of the USA. I haven't thought of moving to Canada since coming here, and haven't had to abandon the sinking ship. Find a decent job with benefits here and you can be very happy (though you may never be able to afford a house!)

I have Norwegian citizenship and am thinking hard about going back. My daughter needs to be 18 first or her father won't allow me to take her with - she is now 15. Not sure we'll be able to get out in three years though. I have a question; if Canada, Wal-Martistan and Mexico are to unite in only three years, why is the government building a big wall along the Mexican border?

ijdavis

Yes the US may be developing a serious problem with its economy and that could impact Canada. We will know more I think later this year about how the two economies will do.

You in Canada have the NDP. We have nothing like that in the US. Small parties can not exist in the US system of government, which is set up for a two party system. That may be a fatal flaw. There are large numbers of people who feel they have no representation in the government.

There is no way to explain what it feels like to be told you live in a democracy and yet you rarely hear your point of view from either politicians or in the media. Yet you know of many people who think like you do and you look at polls and see there are many who think as you do, but somehow those voices have been silenced in the mass media. And when alternative views are given they are given weakly to be set up and knocked down with ridicule by people like O'Reilly or Limbaugh or Coulter.

An example of a stupid point of view that is widely accepted in the US. "If you opposed the war in Iraq, you supported Saddam Hussein."

Does that make any sense at all? and yet that is a continuing argument. It is the acceptance of this craziness that is the most upsetting to me because you can not have a good discussion with people who believe such nonsense. They do not hear what is being said.

They are Nationalists and the US is their God. They are fanatics.

Canada's head of government has to stand in front of a robust political Opposition in the House of Commons and defend his policies during Question Period every day Parliament sits. To me this makes him or her totally accountable for all governmental policies and answerable daily to the public.

Imagine Dubya and his cabinet (including Darth Vader) having to explain their policies to citizens on a daily basis under extreme pressure! A more independent media --- sadly a bit less so now after media buy-outs --- will jump at any inconsistencies. Morons like Dubya who cannot string three sentences together without getting lockjaw will not survive 5 minutes in that atmosphere, so privileged families cannot promote their idiot sons like in the U.S.

This is hardly a perfect system because the old cultural and financial elites are very powerful still, and still push regressive (neo-con) policies, but the fact that you have to defend yourself daily and that political rivals, including what Americans would consider outright socialists, have a prominent forum (Parliament) to kick you in the butt helps. And, as mentioned before, the media are more independent, more assertive, and more incisive. The Toronto Star, Canada's biggest circulation newspaper, is generally very progressive left.

Another thing different about Canada is that it is not obsessed by racial difference. Canada's history is, of course, totally different from the US and does not suffer from slavery and its historical repercussions. Canadian blacks are mostly from the Caribbean and have a different mindset. Toronto is an incredibly diverse city with nearly 200 different communities. The white population is now a minority in Toronto although it still exerts undue influence owing to its economic power and political assertiveness. Cross-cultural dating and marriage is common and, more significantly, looked upon positively by everyone. This is more evidence of the gentler, more caring, nature of Canadians that other posts have referred to. Of course, the universal support for universal healthcare is another.

The USA is now rapidly spiralling towards fascism, so it is not surprising that its progressive citizens are wanting out. If Dubya or one of his successors brings in the draft, we are sure to see a stampede north across the border. Ordinary Canadians will welcome progressive Americans with open arms.

i'm a canadian. i would not leave here for anything.

Regarding the corruption in high office (the Gomery Report) it is worth pointing out that the very existance of that report demonstrates that in Canada there are checks and balances in our political system, that keep our politicians somewhat honest. In that specific case we did have mechanisms in place to independently investigate the financial accounts and at least get to the bottom of the crimes and misdemeanors committed by some members of the liberal party. We the people did subsequently evict the liberal party from office in large part in order to send a clear message that we the people would not tolerate such corruption in high places. Democracy requires that the politicians are answerable to the people, and in the absence of such accountability one cannot claim that one lives in a democracy. Two wrongs don't make a right, but it is possible that a right goes some way to cancelling out the anger one might feel at a wrong. That same government which had millions being passed under tables in envelopes, has my own gratitude for having the courage to say publically that the invasion of Iraq was illegal under international law and that Canada would not participate in it. It may not be cash under tables but 12 billion dollars a month being spent on wars which profits the population of the US not one iota is very likely to bankrupt the US, leaving the US dollar one more failed currency in a long list of failed currencies. As our largest trading partner the US becoming bankrupt would be catastrophic for Canada. As a Canadian that worries me.

I live in Ontario. We are in the middle of organizing against the Security and Prosperity Partnerships, which Harper, Bush and Calderon along with CEOs from all our counties are driving ahead. We have a conservative government. Health care is in the process or being privatized. Indigenous land claims are being ignored and First Nations communities go with out clean water, have high suicide rates, high HIV rates, and less access to education/literacy. We are a part of the safe third country agreement with the US and in the last years we have had 40% less refugees allowed into our country. Peolple fleeing war, oppression and torture are increasingly turned away or, persecuted under our heightened security state. Canada is a part of the war on terror. We are at war in Afghanistan. Our social safety net is less and less of a net and more of trap every year. Sure, come North, but don't fool yourself. There is struggle that must be fought here, if you come, you must join. The problems of the US are here as well.

Actually, I don't know why so many Americans are escaping to Canada. We are facing Anschuss. The US army has prevented Canadian activists from protesting the "Three Amigos" meeting later this month. In other words, we take our orders from the Pentagon. Once NAFTA-on-steroids has been finalized and we--Canada, Mexico, and the US--become the NAU superstate, we'll all be subject to BushLaw. So you folks might just as well stay home.

In the Economist magazine's Democracy Index, Canada is in the top 10 at number 9 and the US is number 17

http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/DEMOCRACY_INDEX_2007_v3.pdf

Canada has a 10 (highest score possible) for civil liberties and the US has an 8.53.

That was for 2006.

When Canada had corruption in its highest office (Gomery Report)the prime minister was removed.

Why is Bush still in office and not being impeached?

By all means, move to Vancouver and join a million Chinese immigrants whom have flooded the city. Pay $1 million dollars for a tiny one bedroom condo. By all means.

I have lived in both places, I can tell you that there is NO difference. Canada is closer to a fascist state than the US. Canada is nothing, if not the best at carefully stage managing it image.

A few banks control finance. A few rich families control all communication, food, energy etc.

In exchange for paying 39-50% fed tax you also get to pay provincial tax, and 14% sales tax on everything you spend. Free healthcare? On what planet? My spouse paid with his life. And guess what? Under this government controlled system we are not allowed to know what happened or seek any recourse.

Then the rich controlling factions throw a few human rights our way to keep all the grunts paying their bills.

By all means, do that!

Even more amazing is how many of you are unaware that the three countries will be integrated into one in 2010. GO NAU!!

Damn, there goes the neighbourhood.

I'm thinking about leaving, but for different reasons; a lame congress, 9/11 was an inside job, military industrial complex, destruction of the constitution, illegal immigration, national ID cards, poor medical coverage, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.

I will not be homesick because you can find a slice of America just about everywhere you go. Wal-Mart in Mexico, Mc Donnalds in India, Starbucks in China, Burgerking in Great Britain and hotdogs in Paris. There's nothing like good old American corporate global saturation.

Canada and Switzerland, terror free nations...

Yeah! nofois....Like we elected this shmeg? Multinational corporations own the US not us citizens! Look at Bush! Like his family is loyal to this country. He probably own a good bit of Canada, Aye? (and every other country)

I agree with sLiMsHaDy (and lillulu). Don't paint
all of us with your schtick. If I was president
(dictator) there'd be lots of changes. Then you
might want to be coming back here.

I can understand why someone would want us dumbed-down Yanks to stay here instead of going to Canada and contaminating their country. We allowed the Bush-Cheney Crime Syndicate a-holes to take over our country. Who knows, we might do it to their country, too. This country sucks, but I guess we have to take our medicine. I didn't vote for any of the criminals running this country, however.

ROFLMAO @ 'nofois' What a hypocrite! What a jerk.

After serving as US Army Lieutenant in the early 1980s on the German/Czech border, I quickly learned (it was part of my training) the techniques for keeping in check the troops, or what the US sees as the "unwashed masses."

I eventually went beyond domestic concerns and learned how such techniques have been applied, with a vengeance, to El Salvador and Nicaragua (and of course the earier cases of Guatemala and Iran in the 1950s, and of course Chile and Argentina in the 1970s)

So I left the US out of disgust, not out of self interest, back in 1989, well before the recent exodus of self serving yanks deciding that hey, jeez, maybe social democracy is perhaps a tad better then US plutocracy, maybe pops can get a hip job on the cheap in Canada, maybe my kids will have access to higher education without mortgaging their future.

But for three preceding decades, you US deserting yanks have been more than willing to countenance US crimes against humanity with your tax $ and your unquestioning gobbling up of the prolefeed spewed by your mass media. You STILL refuse to lift your silly embargo against Cuba. You STILL are a pariah in the international community with regard to your retrograde penal system, your refusal to agree to international bans on child labour laws, your refusal to back UN resolutions against Isreali misconduct (to put it politely). etc etc
And while I feel for the US workers whose jobs are systematically outsourced,I feel little sympathy for their failure to see beyond individual self-interst (as opposed to social solidarity)

Thank god I am no longer a yank (I have renounced my citizenship long ago)

While I encourage dissenting US soldiers to find refuge in Canada (rather than participate in the illegal and immoral occupation of foreign countries), I will on the other hand do all in my power to keep self-serving yanks from trying to benefit from those rights guarantedd by Canada (and the rest of the civilized world) for which they have never really bothered to fight for in their own sorry country.

Yanks, stay home.
Change things in your own country before you come up here with your loud-mouthed arrogant ways.
You are NOT welcome.

Canada......"a quiet country where not much happens besides ice hockey...." --- What a ridiculous statement. I've been to Canada on vacation several times, and there's plenty to do there. The writer must be getting crime-ridden cities mixed up with excitement......LOL

I'm jealous that I can't move to Canada yet.

bfriesen writes: "Canada is nice but it's too cold. We're heading south."

We're getting a lot warmer -- indeed, "heading south" may end up being suicide.

We in Canada do like having US liberals move north of 49. It gives us better chances at the polls. We still have half of those draft dodgers. They turned out to be better Canadians than the ones born here.

Thanks colleen. You confirmed my thoughts on what makes us different from Canadians.

Colleen - your description of the differences between Canada and U.S. cultures is right on. I am one of the 10,000 immigrants of 2006. I am glad to be here!

I was a sales rep for 7 years and Eastern Canada was my territory, from Ontario to the Maritimes. What struck me the most, when I was spending alot of time up there, was that Canada is kind of like the US in the "good old days", when Labor was strong, PBS and the Arts were well funded, we had the best education, and family values wasn't code for bigotry and manipulation of the masses. In Canada I saw the optimism, the existence of a healthy middle class, respect for the arts and the general politeness and genuine caring for their fellowman (or woman) Of course they all complain about the "special" Canadians, the Quebecois,(who I found to be the warmest most joyful & expressive people on the continent) but at the same time, have incredible pride in their country, you know, kinda like we used to. My husband and I have seriously talked about moving to Canada since Bush took us into Iraq, but it feels like deserting the proverbial drowning ship, just handing the country over to this neo-con junta that started with Reagan and is now reaching a sort of critical mass. And the denial, ignorance and apathy is just heartbreaking. The last election in Canada scared me a bit, with the conservatives getting a firmer hold, but a Canadian conservative is a flaming liberal in America. If things don't change dramatically in November of 2008, we'll be heading that way.

Canada: Looks better every day! Eh?

I live in the U.S. but am a Canadian citizen and visit back in Nova Scotia each year. It was not mentioned in the article that the main reason that three times as many Canadians come to the U.S. is age related. There are hundreds of thousands of Canadian seniors living in Florida and Arizona for the simple reason that it is much warmer there. But the Americans going to Canada are by and large young people. It gives a skewed view of reality when age related issues are not factored into demographic information in newspaper articles.

We've considered it since 2001, and extremely seriously since 11/3/2004. Am afraid our ages will work against us though as we are 60+. I know that Canada has its problems but am so tired of banging my head against the ignorance wall here in my little corner of the states. Am fearful that we'll be stuck here in this dictatorial country and have no where to go...

carolinec: I bought around the same time as you and agree completely that it was the right thing to do. I started hunting around just after the first stolen election. Two stolen elections later I'm feeling better about my hunch every year. I wish you the best.

What about the North American Union? The proposed, and underdiscussed merger of the US, Canada and Mexico.

the guy in this story is an idiot. why would you miss the US on the fourth of july? that is just a reaction because the stupid holidays here have been so ingrained to make people feel patriotic. fireworks are violent. the sound is only reminiscent of cannons and war. why miss the forth of july? hot dogs will kill you and so will fireworks. i wouldn't miss that holiday if you payed me.

Canada is not "too cold." Try Victoria, where a few species of palm tree grow. Victoria's rainfall is much lower than Vancouver's and Seattle's are.

There is a labor shortage at all levels skill and education.

Head north before the homes get too expensive. You can still get a 5 bedroom 3 bath house for about half a million in Victoria's best neighborhood (Oak Bay). You can easily get a condo downtown for under $300K.

Buy now, move later. (I bought in 2001, and couldn't be happier with the decision.)

Was thinking Canada, or anywhere esle- but like the post above claims: it's sh!tty everywhere. Best bet- look for a place- ANYWHERE- where you can still afford a piece of fertile ground- it's disappearing fast folks, as savvy baby boomers retire and snap up everything in sight.

Well said bcoop

The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence! We in Canada are fighting the same forces of injustice as every one else. If you do come north, please join the struggle for social justice here; if you stay in the south, please join the struggle for social justice there. Whatever you do, don't sit on your butt.

Thank you Jefferson's Guardian. That is very kind of you :)
Peace to you also.

The article is a little misleading. Canadians may still be moving south at a little more than twice the number of Americans going the other way, but the Rate they are coming south is much higher. Because of their smaller population, a Canadian is around 25X as likely to move here as the other way around. They must be coming for a reason, maybe the cold.

If considering moving to Canada, consult a canadian lawyer. A friend was just deported after living here for 6 years. Don't count on asylum or refugee status. You may not get it.

Its possible to continue to push for change in the US while still living sometimes in Canada.

Its true imo that Canada is at risk from the same forces that have been causing damage in the US. My hope is that the Canadians are aware of what has gone wrong in the US and will avoid those mistakes.

Americans have been turned against one another. Canadians do not attack one another the way Americans attack one another.

Colleen, I liked your post comparing the two countries.

I find, as a nation (the U.S.A), we've lost much of our civility and courteousness toward one another in the last twenty-five, or so, years. Common manners and etiquette have been replaced with ruthlessness and a "do-as-you-please" attitude. We've, for the most part, really become a nation of slovenly, inconsiderate, oafs.

Fortunately, our neighbors to the north seemingly haven't been bitten by this rabid plague of aloofness, inconsideration, and cynicism that seems to be found everywhere you go. I know that I've grown cynical over the years, as our nation has deteriorated into a swamp of fascination with pop culture, capitalistic-gone-wild materialism, and immediate gratification. We've certainly lost our way as a people. It's a sad commentary about a country that used to mean so much more.

Peace to you, and may your "almost adopted country" always provide you with comfort during these very contentious times.

I'll be helping my brother and his partner move their stuff up to Toronto this fall.

The "skilled worker" immigration program makes it fairly easy, but you do lose a lot of points when you turn 50, so I probably waited too long myself.

I'm still thinking about maybe Ireland - the biggest hurdle being finding an employer to stay comitted to to hiring you through the year-long application process.

I'm an American who has lived in Costa Rica for the past 7 years. Yes, this country has its drawbacks, but one thing it doesn't have is a military. As long as we live here, my son will never be drafted or suckered into fighting a bogus war. More Americans are moving here all the time, and personally, though we have considered moving to Canada, we have absolutely no desire to go back to the U.S. of A.

Blame Canada?
Blame yourself!

Anybody who makes it across the border may claim refugee status in Canada.

Why not stay home and change things there?

If six million German Jews had picked up a rifle, Prescott Bush and Adolf Hitler would never have had their dirty stinking war.

Although Canada is presently saddled with a Right Wing Corporate Agenda government and a right wing cultural elite the majority of Canadians are opposed to them. Canada also has the same problems with megacorporate ownership of the media as the USA does. Canadian press reflects the values of the owners of the press not the public values. As in the USA Canadian press is used to influence not to inform.

Beyond all that is there anything that Canadians can do to help? It's tough watching your neighbor slide into the grip of such a monstrous regime.

Eh?

"Isn't it north of Wal-Martistan?" Hi Raymundo, I'm currently working on getting my Canadian residency and nearly there. If all goes well, my landing date will be July 31 of next year, just in time before the 2008 elections are stolen. Unfortunately, I've seen Wal-Marts in BC and Nova Scotia. Maybe they're unionized. I haven't looked into it. It would require me having to do something unethical like go inside which I can't seem to bring myself to do yet.

The Vancouver area gets almost no snow and has a very mild climate. There are some areas in Canada that have winters similar to the winters found in the NE of the US. And with the climate change that is occuring Canada might be a very nice place to live. Canada may be one of the rare places that will benefit from the weather changes.

Don't leave. Stay and fight!

My best friend is Canadian. He runs a successful business in my town and is constantly needling me about Canadians superiority to "dumb americans". When I asked him if he would ever move his business up to Canada, he replied " are you f---ing kidding? I'd be taxed right out of existence, I'd have to write contracts in both english and french, and I'd freeze my ass off." Whenever I kid HIM about Canada and being a subject of the Queen, he tells me "careful, or we'll fire up our F-16".

AND they have no NUCLEAR WEAPONS policy! (If you discount cooperation with US missile defense).

For me the litmus test for national sanity is whether a place has nukes, or NO NUKES. Any regime that posesses nuclear arms is categorically sociopathic, fundamentally MAD and no place to live nor pay rent to.

America is indeed the beautiful, but the USA SUCKS!

I am one of the Americans who is living both in Canada and in the US.

I go back and forth over the border and I am doing that because I am unhappy with the US under the Bush administration

The difference I see between the two nations is more than a political difference. Americans are too punitive. Whenever there is a problem Americans (inclusing liberals or progressives) want to solve it by punishing someone.

My own point of view is to stop the bad behavior and limit its effect and work on decreasing it and stop it from occuring again in others.

For whatever reason, Americans want to put people into jail, even though the jails are overflowing, and many Americans want to keep the death penalty, even though they recognize that an innocent person could be convicted and killed.

This kind of aggressive and punitive thinking led to a war against Saddam Hussein. If you ask many Americans they know of no other way to stop a rogue nation than with a war, even though the USSR was contained and defeated without war.

But up here in Canada the average Canadian is so much more aware of the rest of the world and all the possible ways to make changes.

And on the news when Canadian reporters interview American politicians, they ask the tough questions that are never asked on US tv.

Its subtle but there is a culture change between the two nations, with an overlap of some values.

Canadians care more about one another. Americans are more out for themselves.

I was a mere weeks from submitting my immigration paperwork last year. But I have an ailing mother to attend to amongst other family obligations so in the USA I must stay. Thankfully, however, I have good friends all over Canada (I write for one of their best progressive websites, rabble.ca) so if and when we have that false flag operation so many of us fear, I have a place to send my draft age son.

zazmo, you're on the right track. What we really need, though, are publicly financed elections, such as Maine & Arizona have tried on a statewide basis. I firmly believe that if we can get corporate $$$ out of politics, we might actually get our democracy back, complete with elected officials who actually SERVE THE PEOPLE. What a concept.

I wonder how many Americans are moving to other countries as well. What is the total number broken down by country?

Canada is nice but it's too cold. We're heading south.

Canada is one of the few countries that implements campaign spending limits. Their re-election rate is 83%, compared to America's ridiculous 99%.

Using campaign spending limits to get America better poltiicians is the only way to solve America's problems enough.

Sorry, but I liked that Wal-Martistan bit. Still laughing....

Canada...Canada...yes I've heard rumors of this place. Isn't it north of Wal-Martistan?

You know, I was 23 when I became a political organizer. I worked in the 2004 and 2006 elections. 20 hours (at the very least) a day, 7 days a week and 100 hours (at the very least), respectively. I gave up a large chunk of my life and my sanity to try to make a change...and I am disgusted.

The REAL issue at hand is that as a nation, we have been molded into the most complacent of consumers. We have taken out third and fourth mortgages, giddily signed up for Visa cards extending credit limits that deep down we know we can never pay back. It is the luck few that can waste this illegitimate collateral totally purchasing gilded bobbles and hi-def happiness. For the rest (a majority which is growing all the time), those seemingly generous allowances are essential to survival when a job is lost (can we say "outsourcing")...or someone gets sick and has no insurance (or they do, and are promptly told, no dice)...or their mortgage rates go through the roof...or *insert atrocity here*. I do not blame people for spending money that they are handed, whether by choice or by necessity. This is what we have been told is the path to personal satisfaction. I do take issue, however, with the perpetual inability to see that even though all of this easy credit sits at one's disposal, the bills will eventually come due, in ways that few can seem to grasp.

We are tied to the tracks, and the train is always on time. I have long since stopped opening the paper to the political news, in favor or the business section. Those who can see a "bear market" coming, do a disservice to the gravity of the situation. Even people who will take the leap and admit that we may very well be heading into another Depression often do not take the situation in context. The Great Depression of the 1930's was not only felt in the US, rather it was a global depression. As outstanding as I consider Roosevelt's New Deal initiatives, it was only World War II that spurred our economy, and helped us emerge from such dire straights. That option no longer exists, in the respect that we are now a global economy. If, in the present, the dollar were to plummet, the effects would surely be felt outside of our borders. However, the free market assures that no one nation will lift, or more importantly, all tides. China and India are poised to make up any slack that a currency adjustment in the dollar may induce. China itself holds so much of the US economy in its hands, in the form of economic assistance given to prop up our economy and the ever widening trade deficit, that such devaluation would be a boon for their bourgeoning world status. A murmur has recently emerged regarding the conscious and successful efforts of China to keep their currency artificially undervalued. While this is an issue, to be sure, a looming disaster lies within the framework of the weakness of the dollar. One of the most telling signs is the ongoing discussion within OPEC to switch trading from dollars to euros, as this is one of the most essential factors to keeping the dollar strong. We are poised for a big tumble, and I don't know that we will ever get back up.

I wish I could find an answer to what should be done, but I can't. I dream that our people, my people, would stand back and recognize that our policies (political, social and economic) are more of a danger than any ideological extremist could ever pose. At 27, I see those of my generation who shun personal responsibility in favor of easy answers. I wish that something could be said to make them see. But there isn't. I have fought the good fight, but I want to be anywhere else when the house of cards folds.

I'm a New Yorker seriously considering moving north to Canada, or maybe Europe. As the son of a Greek immigrant, by Greek law, that makes me a Greek citizen and by extension, an EU citizen. I still have to fill in all the paperwork to make it official though.

I truly am sick of this country. It seems we are sliding more and more into fascism every day. Unlike the average American seeking refuge in Canada, I have no college diploma, little job experience and few skills, but I am still young so I have time to "start fresh" over there. I want to live in a country I can be proud of.

Even if I end up a homeless bum in Canada, I might be better off than being gainfully employed in the U.S.