Rudi Kischer wants to help those Americans who have the post-election blues after US President George W. Bush's second-term victory.
The Vancouver, British Columbia, immigration lawyer plans seminars in three US cities -- Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles -- to tell Americans frustrated with Bush's victory that the grass is greener north of the border. And that's not just an allusion to Canada's lenient marijuana laws.
"We started last year getting a lot of calls from Americans dissatisfied with the way the country is going," Kischer says. "Then after the election, it's been crazy up here. The Canadian immigration Web site had 115,000 hits the day after the election -- from the US alone. We usually only get 20,000 hits."
There was so much interest that a Vancouver-based Internet firm, Communicopia, set up a new Web site this month (www.canadianalternative.-com) to suggest Canada as a viable option for its US clients, including anyone concerned about constitutional bans on gay marriage passed in 11 US states this month.
"We invite you to get to know Canada," the site says. "Explore the richness and diversity of our regions. And find out why Canada is the perfect alternative for conscientious, forward-thinking Americans."
Another Web site urges: "Open your heart, and your home. Marry an American. Legions of Canadians have already pledged to sacrifice their singlehood to save our southern neighbors from four more years of cowboy conservatism."
Canada suddenly has utopian appeal for many left-leaning Americans. Its universal health care, gay rights, abortion rights, gun-control laws, drug laws, opposition to the Iraq War, ban on capital punishment and ethnic diversity mirror many values of the American left. Immigrants, including an estimated 1 million Americans, make up nearly 20 percent of Canada's population. The UN named Toronto the world's most multicultural city.
And, as Michael Moore pointed out in Bowling for Columbine -- required viewing for many lefties -- in Canada there's apparently no reason to lock your door.
On the other hand, it's cold. The baseball's not very good. And the taxes are higher, eh? But, as one man who has his bags nearly packed likes to say, at least the taxes go toward good causes.
"I just like their way of life a lot better, and with everything the Bush administration has done -- for the American people to give him their seal of approval, it's basically the last straw," says Ralph Appoldt, a resident of Portland, Oregon, a state that narrowly supported Senator John Kerry for president.
"Canada's basic population is much more intelligent, polite and civilized," Appoldt said. "I like their way of government a lot better. Their tax dollars go to helping those who need it, instead of funneling money back up to the wealthy and feeding this huge military-industrial machine."
Appoldt, 50, a sales manager, and his wife, a nurse, figure that selling their house and getting their immigration approved could take more than a year. But they're moving, they insist. They've already hired Kischer to help them.
Though he may see a good business opportunity following the election, Kischer has no illusions of a mass exodus to Canada. Americans have to follow the same procedures as everyone else -- including the US$500 application fee, the US$975 landing tax and the wait of six months to two years. He only expects about 100 people at his how-to-move-to-Canada seminars.
Nancy Bray, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, said her agency's Web site received 261,000 hits from the US in the two days following the election, but it'll be many months before officials can guess how many of them were serious.
Jason Mogus, Communicopia's chief executive, said that while his company wanted to help interested Americans, moving to Canada should be plan B.
"We strongly encourage Americans to stay and build a culture in line with their values," Mogus said. "In other words, stay and fight."
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS