Posted on 11/05/2004 11:13:01 AM PST by xtremepoison61
OTTAWA (Reuters) - The number of U.S. citizens visiting Canada's main immigration Web site has shot up six-fold as Americans flirt with the idea of abandoning their homeland after President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s election win this week.
"When we looked at the first day after the election, November 3, our Web site hit a new high, almost double the previous record high," immigration ministry spokeswoman Maria Iadinardi said on Friday.
On an average day some 20,000 people in the United States log onto the Web site, www.cic.gc.ca -- a figure which rocketed to 115,016 on Wednesday. The number of U.S. visits settled down to 65,803 on Thursday, still well above the norm.
Bush's victory sparked speculation that disconsolate Democrats and others might decide to start a new life in Canada, a land that tilts more to the left than the United States.
Would-be immigrants to Canada can apply to become permanent resident, a process that often takes a year. The other main way to move north on a long-term basis is to find a job, which requires a work permit.
But please spare the sob stories.
Asked whether an applicant would be looked upon more sympathetically if they claimed to be a sad Democrat seeking to escape four more years of Bush, Iadinardi replied: "There would be no weight given to statements of feelings."
Canada is one of the few major nations with an large-scale immigration policy. Ottawa is seeking to attract between 220,000 and 240,000 newcomers next year.
"Let's face it, we have a population of a little over 32 million and we definitely need permanent residents to come to Canada," said Iadinardi. "If we could meet (the 2005) target and go above it, the more the merrier."
But right now it is too early to say whether the increased interest will result in more applications.
"There is no unusual activity occurring at our visa missions (in the United States). Having someone who intends to come to Canada is not the same as someone actually putting in an application," said Iadinardi.
"We'll only find out whether there has been an increase in applications in six months."
The waiting time to become a citizen is shorter for people married to Canadians, which prompted the birth of a satirical Web site called www.marryanamerican.ca.
The idea of increased immigration by unhappy Americans is triggering some amusement in Canada. Commentator Thane Burnett of the Ottawa Sun newspaper wrote a tongue-in-cheek guide to would-be new citizens on Friday.
"As Canadians, you'll have to learn to embrace and use all the products and culture of Americans, while bad-mouthing their way of life," he said.
Great. Make Canada even more liberal than it already is. That's what America really needs north of the border.
Convince progressives to join the Green Party – Divide and conquer.
Hope they have a lot of psychiatrist and psychologist up north to accomadate all of these thumb-sucking bedwetters!
Metropolitan Ottawa has about 750,000 people, I think. It might be hard to accommodate 220,000 newcomers in one year. It would be great for the construction industry.
Wait until they find out how cold it gets in Canada.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
We don't want your lefties, it's going to be hard enough to reclaim this country back for the Conservatives as it is...
wait till you get your tax bill, between the feds, the province and esp your municipal property taxes, I think we pay more taxes in total than anywhere else in the world and check out our roads and hospitals and schools, wonder where all that money is going I do.....
yeah don't come to my town, there is a waiting list of 10,000 people waiting to get a GP (the total population is 90,000)
my mother just called me - the local hospital must have lost its radiologists because it will now take a year to get a mammogram if it is a routine checkup ( last year it only took 4 weeks)
my brother was in emerg for 10 hours last weekend and they gave him nothing for his pain until almost the end of that 10 hours
my uncle was in last night and one of our best surgeons was cursing, saying he has just about had it, oh no, we can't afford to lose yet another specialisty, because there was no anathesiologist on call and my uncle required it, they gave him a local instead, not kosher.......
however if you lefties you wish to go to Quebec go ahead, the Conservatives will never make inroads there - hey, it's like France only with a rougher accent.......just brush up on your French, they don't like Anglos there.....eh!
We ought to make them cross the border at Niagara Falls. By boat.
Michael Moore mentality headed North. (How many short busses are you going to need?)
And sure, we'll encourage 'em to emigrate to Quebec!
Democrats... Don't like the USA any more... Click here for your salvation. Marry a Canadian!
LOL
I didn't know just how many Canadians we had on this site until the last few days -- all saying the same thing: "We don't WANT the American Leftist scum!"
I bet a lot of the hits are simply out of curiosity. I looked at that very site, because I wanted to know the requirements too...so I could tell all of my liberal friends.
2. SF Bay Area liberals: please leave, pretty please!
3. After all the liberals leave here, housing prices may come back to normal!
Maybe some enterprising Freeper will start a "Marry an American" service to help Our kind of Canadians move down here.
What you're leaving? We're very sorry...you didn't get the heck out sooner!! Just go & take your liberal ideas with you.
On the other hand I doubt there are many liberal houses other than Martha Stewarts that are habitable.
All they need is a few Home Depot parking lots with Greyhound capabilities.
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