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Just another reason to remove all customs arrangements between the US and Canada... An EU style border would help revitalize the North American economy...
I absolutely agree with you on that one. A lot of other people on both sides of the line would also agree with you.
The problem is too many people might have too much to lose, in a sense. Some of those same people are sometimes powerful, hence why we don't have an "open" border.
It's excruciatingly frustrating sometimes, because the answer is right there, and governments are shooting themselves in the foot right now.
Much of Canada is not really inhabitable in the most common sense, ie be able to grow crops, raise animals, make a living from it etc. A lot of the wild is wild for good reason. You can still homestead in Canada but there are few takers because the land available for HS is not good for much of anything but to look at.
Much of Canada is not really inhabitable in the most common sense, ie be able to grow crops, raise animals, make a living from it etc. A lot of the wild is wild for good reason. You can still homestead in Canada but there are few takers because the land available for HS is not good for much of anything but to look at.
Some of the islands in British Columbia might be worth taking a look at. Imagine. Your very own very rainy island!
I didn't realise free land and homesteading still existed in the world! I found a couple of interesting articles on homesteading:
This one from 1970 stating land is available in Canada but not in USA
Because for a Brit, as of today, it is MUCH easier to move to Canada than the US... All things being equal I'm sure the numbers wouldn't be so skewed.
I used to have ideas about emigrating. My choices were Canada/NZ (jointly) and then Australia. I never considered living in America simply because there'd be too much I'd be uncomfortable with or wouldn't agree with. When I've talked with people who've been thinking about leaving who don't necessarily know anything about immigration procedures Canada does still come up much more often than the US. Though saying all that, I couldn't put up with living somewhere that far away from where the main population centres already are because I'd hate the prospect of 5/6 months of freezing weather as opposed to a more bearable 3 or 4, plus the isolation.
Because for a Brit, as of today, it is MUCH easier to move to Canada than the US... All things being equal I'm sure the numbers wouldn't be so skewed.
You are presuming quite a lot. As I am actually here in the UK speaking to people, the reasons I hear (not the ones I am taking a stab at) are clean air, wide open spaces, good property prices, a strong economy and a national healthcare system and gun laws similar to Britain's. In fact when I hear people here say "It has always been my dream to move to Canada" I suggest they check out the immigration policy as it is quite easy to get in and most don't realise it! Ease of immigration is quite obviously therefore NOT the reason for the dream. The other two countries Brits seem to dream of are NZ and Oz. The USA is seen as the land of opportunity - Canada is seen as the land of the free. Not sure either is entirely accurate, but there you have it from a firsthand point of view.
You are presuming quite a lot. As I am actually here in the UK speaking to people, the reasons I hear (not the ones I am taking a stab at) are clean air, wide open spaces, good property prices, a strong economy and a national healthcare system and gun laws similar to Britain's. In fact when I hear people here say "It has always been my dream to move to Canada" I suggest they check out the immigration policy as it is quite easy to get in and most don't realise it! Ease of immigration is quite obviously therefore NOT the reason for the dream. The other two countries Brits seem to dream of are NZ and Oz. The USA is seen as the land of opportunity - Canada is seen as the land of the free. Not sure either is entirely accurate, but there you have it from a firsthand point of view.
For what it's worth, some of the main reasons I considered going to Canada were the wide open spaces, cheaper properties, clean environment, English-speaking, good economy, proper four-season climate, ideas about social issues (welfare state, justice system, national healthcare, work/life balance etc) similar to what I already know. America offers a lot of those things I was looking for but not as many as Canada.
I can make excuses and rationales but instead I'll quote Anthony Trollope - an Englishman traveling through the US & Canada in 1861:
I must confess that, in going from the States into Canada, an Englishman is struck by the feeling that he is going from a richer country into one that is poorer, and from a greater country into one that is less.... but nevertheless, with all this, I could not enter Canada without seeing, and hearing, and feeling that there was less of enterprise around me there than in the States, less of general movement, and less of commercial success. To say why this is so would require a long and very difficult discussion, and one which I am not prepared to hold. It may be that a dependent country, let the feeling of dependence be ever so much modified by powers of self-governance, cannot hold its own against countries which are in all respects their own masters. Few, I believe, would now maintain that the Northern States of America would have risen in commerce as they have risen, had they still remained attached to England as colonies.
n the mean time, I return to my assertion, that in entering Canada from the States one clearly comes from a richer to a poorer country. When I have said so, I have heard no Canadian absolutely deny it; though in refraining from denying it, they have usually expressed a general conviction, that in settling himself for life it is better for a man to set up his staff in Canada than in the States. "I do not know that we are richer," a Canadian says, "but on the whole we are doing better and are happier."
and...
From Ottawa we went by rail to Prescott, which is surely one of the most wretched little places to be found in any country. Immediately opposite to it, on the other side of the St. Lawrence, is the thriving town of Ogdensburg. But Ogdensburg is in the United States.
I can make excuses and rationales but instead I'll quote Anthony Trollope - an Englishman traveling through the US & Canada in 1861:
I must confess that, in going from the States into Canada, an Englishman is struck by the feeling that he is going from a richer country into one that is poorer, and from a greater country into one that is less.... but nevertheless, with all this, I could not enter Canada without seeing, and hearing, and feeling that there was less of enterprise around me there than in the States, less of general movement, and less of commercial success. To say why this is so would require a long and very difficult discussion, and one which I am not prepared to hold. It may be that a dependent country, let the feeling of dependence be ever so much modified by powers of self-governance, cannot hold its own against countries which are in all respects their own masters. Few, I believe, would now maintain that the Northern States of America would have risen in commerce as they have risen, had they still remained attached to England as colonies. n the mean time, I return to my assertion, that in entering Canada from the States one clearly comes from a richer to a poorer country. When I have said so, I have heard no Canadian absolutely deny it; though in refraining from denying it, they have usually expressed a general conviction, that in settling himself for life it is better for a man to set up his staff in Canada than in the States. "I do not know that we are richer," a Canadian says, "but on the whole we are doing better and are happier."
and...
From Ottawa we went by rail to Prescott, which is surely one of the most wretched little places to be found in any country. Immediately opposite to it, on the other side of the St. Lawrence, is the thriving town of Ogdensburg. But Ogdensburg is in the United States.
That's a brilliant comment!!! Every word is SO TRUE.
From Ottawa we went by rail to Prescott, which is surely one of the most wretched little places to be found in any country. Immediately opposite to it, on the other side of the St. Lawrence, is the thriving town of Ogdensburg. But Ogdensburg is in the United States.
To be honest I've heard dozens of exactly opposite comments about the Niagara Falls area in the past 10-15 years.
Possibly, but if the US said "come on down" would the lack of a Canadian health care style system be enough to hold people back? I think not, for the most part....
At least for a few years, agreed... Many people like to eventually move back to where they grew up... Canadians as well have a very high regard for the "slow small town llife" and many aspire to it, so they might move back eventually...
Question though is, how many Americans would move to Canada? I think we'd be surprised my the amount.
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Imagine. Your very own very rainy island!
