Would a political event incite you to move?

[Amaris]

Florida is awful. Well, was awful. I don't know, I haven't lived there in 30 years.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I knew someone would say that. Yeah I know it is awful in many ways.. I meant the ideal of Florida, the BEACH STATE with the palm trees and the weather and the ocean.. Canada doesn't have one of those. I need them.

I didn't know you'd ever lived in Florida.

 

[STEPhon IT]

When I lived on South Beach, it was too humid, and there were giant cockroaches which can fly. Eewww.

 

[Amaris]

I knew someone would say that. Yeah I know it is awful in many ways.. I meant the ideal of Florida, the BEACH STATE with the palm trees and the weather and the ocean.. Canada doesn't have one of those. I need them.

I didn't know you'd ever lived in Florida.

Yep. We lived there when I was very young. I was born in Ohio, had a number of winters there before we moved to Florida. I remember Christmas being rain and hot instead of snowy and cold, and I hated it. Also, yes, the cockroaches were enormous. "No, son, those are palmetto bugs." Bullshit, those were cockroaches, and the mosquitoes were worse.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I put this on my profile page, and I'll repeat it here:

Why would a Trump presidency make ME move? He's the traitor, not me.

As for Florida: If it's not Marlins or Rays baseball, I don't wanna know from it. Way too hot and humid for my liking. And I'm not a 'beach' vacationer - more of a big city type.

 

[Unicron]

The worst part about Canada is that it has no Florida, there is NO SOUTH to go to with beaches. This would slowly kill me. Yeah I know the west coast is a little balmy, but not forever.

You should check out the recent "alternate" map on xkcd.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I knew someone would say that. Yeah I know it is awful in many ways.. I meant the ideal of Florida, the BEACH STATE with the palm trees and the weather and the ocean.. Canada doesn't have one of those.

If that Turks and Caicos thing ever goes through, though...

(OK, yeah, it's been 99 years since Borden first suggested it. I'm sure it'll happen any day now...)

 

[RJDiogenes]

No, no, RJ! The correct version is, "I talks pretty good."

I always mix up the post participle ablative.

 

[suarezguy]

I'm certainly displeased by the strong showings for Trump, Sanders and Clinton (and lack of support for alternatives) but they can only do so much bad, in fact perhaps less bad than politicians can in other countries and political systems, and might even do a bit of good so I wouldn't move based on one election when other countries have or can easily get similar politicians into power.

Granted, I'm sure there are terrible things that happen in Canada, terrible politics as well, but if you guys have a P.R. department, they're very good, because I rarely see it.

At least in some parts of Canada and even overall there seems to be a lot of hostility to greenhouse gas emission controls, something people on the left side would probably consider among the worst tendencies in the U.S.

Well yeah, if you're a white, straight, Christian male in the United States you have nothing to worry about. If you're not, however, things can go south pretty quickly.

Support for equal rights for GLBT people, women and people of different ethnicities and religions seems to have considerably increased throughout affluent democracies.

 

[Pondwater]

If Trump or any other member of the GOP were elected, it would be an embarrassment and a shame. Yes, I would leave this country for their entire term in office.

Vancouver seems very nice.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I'm certainly displeased by the strong showings for Trump, Sanders and Clinton (and lack of support for alternatives) but they can only do so much bad...

Wow, I can't imagine lumping Trump, Sanders and Clinton together!

Support for equal rights for GLBT people, women and people of different ethnicities and religions seems to have considerably increased throughout affluent democracies.

But unfortunately not in Trump-land.

 

[Timewalker]

... if someone manages to make it into the presidential chair of the USA and you are extremely opposed to them being there, would you consider moving to another country? ... I think the USA is heading towards another disastrous phase. Frankly, if there was a solid opportunity for a job in another country that is reasonably stable, I just might take it. Some places in my mind are Canada, Australia or New Zealand (within choices where English is predominantly spoken, that is)...

How about you? Would you move? If not, how do you plan to cope?

To answer the last paragraph first, if Stephen Harper didn't make me move, I can't think of anything that would.

I've considered the idea of moving away from where I live now, but it's only an occasional "maybe someday" idea. The RL reality is that I'm very likely not going anywhere.

All joking about moving to Canada aside, I could be motivated to move if I feel our government has started to become fascist. Of course, by that point it's often too late to get out. Still, there are circumstances that could be severe enough to make me leave the country. I keep saying Canada, but that's because Canada kind of feels like the best of the U.S., if the U.S. would actually push for its ideals. Granted, I'm sure there are terrible things that happen in Canada, terrible politics as well, but if you guys have a P.R. department, they're very good, because I rarely see it.

You wouldn't have liked Canada under Stephen Harper, and thank goodness we were able to kick him out. For some people the last straw that made them decide to change party allegiance was the "Barbaric Cultural Practices" tip line that he was planning to implement, in which everyone would have been encouraged to report their neighbors if they did anything "barbaric." It was said to be about protecting Muslim women and girls from abuse, "honor killings", and so forth, but we already have ways to do that. Encouraging citizens to spy on their neighbors is not somewhere we wanted this country to go.

I didn't move away during the Harper years, so no, I don't imagine any single PM would cause me to leave.

That being said... if a certain Republican candidate does manage to get into the White House, I'm sure the effects would be felt all over the globe, so I'm not sure all the Americans joking about moving to Canada would be that much better off here. I hear Mars is nice, though.

Did you hear what Trudeau said during the state visit when somebody mentioned Americans moving to Canada? The gist of his remarks were that while a lot of them say they'll move if Politician X gets into power, few actually go through with it. If everyone moved here who said they would, we'd be the country with the bigger population.

As the saying goes, there isn't always someone you want to vote for, but there's usually someone you want to vote against.

That's been a fact of Canadian politics at both provincial and federal levels for a long time. It's not as much voting for someone as voting against who you don't want. We refer to it as "holding your nose and voting _____ (fill in the party's name), or "strategic voting."

It was very much on peoples' minds this past election, since we really wanted Harper out, but a lot of people (me included) were uncertain whether to support the Liberals or NDP. In the end my candidate didn't win in my riding (no surprise there; you could run a mosquito here under the Conservative banner and it would win), and neither did the party I support, but I'm not unhappy with how things turned out.

The next election should be interesting, since one of the Liberal campaign promises was to change the voting system to something else - either proportional representation or ranked ballots.

Btw, Canada looks like it has a rather refreshing new Prime Minister. Kind of reminds me of Obama's good qualities, and also his weakest (which was experience).

It's been amazing. It's been nearly 10 years since we had a Prime Minister who took unscripted questions from reporters, who allowed ordinary citizens to approach and greet him, and allowed his cabinet ministers and other government employees to speak to the media without needing permission. With the exception of the Conservative supporters (who still haven't gotten over the fact that their side lost the last election), we were rather proud of how our new PM handled this state visit. No shameful temper tantrums or belligerent attitudes from this one!

The refugee flow going on in Europe is scary... I feel bad for those displaced people, but on the other end of it, their large exodus is causing so many difficulties in the nations where they're fleeing to. Never seems to be a clear solution to such problems.

Canada managed to avoid a lot of problems by just accepting families. Of course that means different problems: How do you find adequate and affordable housing for a family of 13 people? There isn't anyplace big enough. Even families of 4-6 people (2 adults and 2-4 kids) are having trouble in some areas, because of the very low vacancy rates and high rents.

The worst part about Canada is that it has no Florida, there is NO SOUTH to go to with beaches. This would slowly kill me. Yeah I know the west coast is a little balmy, but not forever.

We already have enough mosquitoes, thank you. We don't need more. As for beaches, if you want a decent beach in Canada, you go to a lake, not the ocean. There are beaches by the ocean and I've been there twice in my life, but I'd never think of swimming or even wading.

I knew someone would say that. Yeah I know it is awful in many ways.. I meant the ideal of Florida, the BEACH STATE with the palm trees and the weather and the ocean.. Canada doesn't have one of those. I need them.

I assure you that we do indeed have weather.

If that Turks and Caicos thing ever goes through, though...

(OK, yeah, it's been 99 years since Borden first suggested it. I'm sure it'll happen any day now...)

In the meantime, there's still Cuba.

If Trump or any other member of the GOP were elected, it would be an embarrassment and a shame. Yes, I would leave this country for their entire term in office.

Vancouver seems very nice.

Vancouver is also very expensive.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Vancouver seems very nice.

Vancouver's lovely... but the cost of housing there is *insane*.

Did you hear what Trudeau said during the state visit when somebody mentioned Americans moving to Canada? The gist of his remarks were that while a lot of them say they'll move if Politician X gets into power, few actually go through with it. If everyone moved here who said they would, we'd be the country with the bigger population.

I didn't hear it, but it makes sense. I don't recall a huge influx of Americans moving here after George W. Bush won his second term, but they certainly talked about it.

And of course, moving to a different country is difficult. It's not just a matter of what the individual *wants* to do... the destination country has to allow them to move there, and the process can be involved.

The next election should be interesting, since one of the Liberal campaign promises was to change the voting system to something else - either proportional representation or ranked ballots.

Really looking forward to see what they come up with. In the past, this idea always gets floated by opposition parties, but when the system actually gets them in power, there's a lot less incentive for them to change it. But if anyone's going to follow through on this, I could see it being Trudeau.

It's been amazing. It's been nearly 10 years since we had a Prime Minister who took unscripted questions from reporters, who allowed ordinary citizens to approach and greet him, and allowed his cabinet ministers and other government employees to speak to the media without needing permission. With the exception of the Conservative supporters (who still haven't gotten over the fact that their side lost the last election), we were rather proud of how our new PM handled this state visit. No shameful temper tantrums or belligerent attitudes from this one!

So refreshing, isn't it? Almost forgot what real democracy was like!

I assure you that we do indeed have weather.

I assume she meant *good* weather... (J/K, summers around here can certainly be nice.)

In the meantime, there's still Cuba.

Well, sure, but you can always vacation in another country. The benefit of the Turks and Caicos thing would be that we would have a tropical destination that was actually Canadian soil. I'm not sure I really hold out much hope of it actually happening, but the media sure likes to trot out the idea every February!

 

[Timewalker]

Vancouver's lovely... but the cost of housing there is *insane*.

Agreed. I'd say more, but that discussion would veer off-topic pretty fast, I think.

Really looking forward to see what they come up with. In the past, this idea always gets floated by opposition parties, but when the system actually gets them in power, there's a lot less incentive for them to change it. But if anyone's going to follow through on this, I could see it being Trudeau.

Electoral reform was part of his platform, and people are going to feel betrayed if he doesn't follow through. I've been a voter for over 30 years, and this past election was the messiest one I've ever seen. It was the first time I ever thought that I might not get to vote, since I'm in one of those demographics targeted by the UnFair Elections Act. The Returning Officer for my riding sure made it a convoluted process. What should have taken all of 5 minutes to arrange ended up taking weeks.

I assume she meant *good* weather... (J/K, summers around here can certainly be nice.)

Well, nice weather is in the eye of the beholder. As I said on CBC.ca on the issue of Daylight Saving Time, this part of the country doesn't need extra daylight. We need extra snow, since we didn't get anywhere near what we needed this winter. They've already officially declared forest fire season and opened at least some of the golf courses.

Well, sure, but you can always vacation in another country. The benefit of the Turks and Caicos thing would be that we would have a tropical destination that was actually Canadian soil. I'm not sure I really hold out much hope of it actually happening, but the media sure likes to trot out the idea every February!

Being a fall/winter person, tropical vacations aren't my cup of tea.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Being a fall/winter person, tropical vacations aren't my cup of tea.

I'm definitely a summer person, but I've never actually taken a tropical vacation either, just because I could never afford to.

 

[DimesDan]

Why would a Trump presidency make ME move? He's the traitor, not me.

How is he a traitor and why would moving to a different country because you do not agree with the leadership in your own country make you a traitor?

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Trump is a traitor because he opposes American ideals. I wouldn't characterize someone who moves to a different country for political reasons a traitor, but it's certainly more admirable to stay and stand up for what you believe in.

The next election should be interesting, since one of the Liberal campaign promises was to change the voting system to something else - either proportional representation or ranked ballots.

I hope they're successful with ranked ballots, because that may get people her to take the idea more seriously. I've been advocating that idea for decades.

 

[Timewalker]

I hope they're successful with ranked ballots, because that may get people her to take the idea more seriously. I've been advocating that idea for decades.

The problem with that is that in 9 out of 10 provinces and in all 3 territories, we have FOUR main political parties. The province of Quebec has five main parties. The ranked system still won't do much good for the people who support the Greens.

Whereas if we had proportional representation, there would actually be more than one Green Member of Parliament now. And some people (like me) would finally have more MPs representing our views. The useless twit currently occupying a backbench seat for my riding cares nothing for constituents who don't support the Conservatives. And it was pretty obvious during the election itself that the Conservative Deputy Returning Officers were determined to make life miserable for anyone they even suspected of harboring Liberal thoughts.

Anyone here who followed the CBC coverage would recall how a couple of polling stations forbade people to wear a Canadian flag lapel pin, and one even insisted on removing the Canadian flag from the pole outside... because it's red and white, and red is the official color of the Liberal party. There was a report of a polling station where a red-haired scrutineer was kicked out.

 

[Karzak]

 

[Avro Arrow]

Whereas if we had proportional representation, there would actually be more than one Green Member of Parliament now.

I voted in favour of adopting mixed member proportional representation in Ontario when we held that referendum back in... oh, my, Wikipedia says 2007. Sadly, the existing system won the vote quite handily. It still surprises me that the majority of people seemed to prefer first-past-the-post.