CLEARLY CANADIAN

The trend of conservative politics in the United States is cited as one
reason that a small but steady stream of Americans is leaving the country
for Canada, where they believe a better, more tolerant society awaits them.

Lest anyone think this is a massive emigration, it only involves a few
thousand people a year, if that. In 2001, less than 6,000 Americans left
for Canada, while more than 30,000 Canadians headed south. In fact, every
year since 1977, more Canadians have moved to the U.S. than the other way
around. The only thing that changed the tide was the Vietnam War, when
thousands of young Americans fled to avoid the draft.

The Americans who are leaving say they are attracted by Canada's more
liberal social policies. Recent Canadian initiatives that have made the
news are the decriminalization of marijuana and the legalization of
same-sex marriages. Canada's government pays for a lot more health care
than does the U.S., and the country has tougher gun control laws than
America, too.

Upon hearing of people who oppose conservative politics departing the
United States, some people's comment those leaving might be, "Don't let the
door hit you on the way out." But it should be no surprise that life in
America leaves some people less comfortable than they'd like. There are
close to 300 million people here; there's no way to make everybody happy.
For many Americans, the price of success is high. The nation's success is
fueled by competition. It is a demand that can exact its toll over time.

Canada, in some respects, is different from the United States. Whether it's
better or worse depends on your perspective, but it is surely different.
For starters, there are fewer people. Crime rates reportedly are lower.
There are the differences in some social policies mentioned above. And
Canadians, unlike us, live next door to the world's superpower rather than
in it. That certainly offers a unique perspective on the world.

Yet the question lingers: Is Canada really all that different from the
United States?

Canada has its ethnic issues, just like we do. This is particularly true in
its Quebec province, where descendants of French settlers have long tried
to break away from the rest of the country.

Canada has its regional suspicions, just like we do. Many people who don't
live in Toronto or the capital, Ottawa, think those cities get all the
government's attention at the expense of everyone else.

And Canada has its social problems, just like we do. Its much-praised
medical system, which has elderly Americans who live near the border
getting on chartered buses to go buy prescription drugs in Canada at lower
prices, is in financial trouble.

The point is that while Canada may be "different" from the United States,
people who consider moving there because they don't like it here should not
expect a Utopia free of problems. That place doesn't exist.

Besides, handfuls of Americans have been leaving the country for decades.
The expatriates of the 1920s, who went to places like Paris, included some
of the finest minds of the decade.

For most Americans, however, the better solution is to stay and fight for
what you believe in. The political pendulum has indeed swept to the right
side of the spectrum in recent years, but if history has told us anything,
that pendulum always sweeps back and forth. The country's politics will
eventually change, and keep changing.

America's not perfect. But the sheer number of people from around the world
who are trying to get here, either legally or illegally, speaks volumes
about what the country offers. To many people, America remains the land of
opportunity. This has been true for two centuries or more now, and it
remains true today.