It may give the impression similar to a calm country where not much happens further ice hockey, twisting and beer drinking. But America’s neighbor to the north is showing to be quite the draw for thousands of unhappy Americans.
The figure of U.S. citizens who moved to Canada previous year hit a 30-year high, with a 20 percent boost over the preceding year and approximately double the figure that moved in 2000. In 2006, 10,942 Americans depart to Canada, compared with 9,262 in 2005 and 5,828 in 2000, in accordance with a survey by the Association for Canadian Studies.
Certainly, those numbers are still being more important than by the figure of Canadians going the other way. Yet, that inequity is shrinking. Last year, 23,913 Canadians moved to the United States, a major decrease from 29,930 in 2005.
"There has been a explicit increase in the past five years — the figure hasn't exceeded 10,000 since 1977," says Jack Jedwab, the relations executive director. "During the mid-70s, Canada admitted between 22,000 and 26,000 Americans a year, most of whom were draft dodgers from the Vietnam War."
The present increase appears to be fueled mainly by social and political reasons, says Jedwab, based on anecdotal evidence.
"Those who are coming have the uppermost level of education — these aren't populace who can't obtain a job in the states," he says. "They're coming for the reason that many of them don't like the politics, the Iraq War and the safety situation in the U.S. By comparison, Canada is a tension-free place. People feel safer."
One fresh immigrant is Tom Kertes, a 34-year-old labor manager who moved from Seattle to Toronto in April. Kertes attributes his incentive to President Bush's opposition to same gender marriage, and the tactics engaged during the war on terror since 9/11.
"I wanted a country that valued my human rights and the human rights of others," he says. "We joked about it after Bush won re-election, but it took us at the same time as to go through the application."
Kertes, who moved with his associate, is pleased in his new home. "Canada is a actually nice country. My mother is thinking about it. My stepfather has diabetes and has fitness issues. So, he'd be taken care of for free if he moved up here."
