This is a reason to move to Canada.
Sure, I agree. But I guess I’m a bit of an idealist, and the OP seems to be one to some extent as well. And I really don’t see anything wrong with that. I understand what you say about these things being only a small part of one’s life. But it’s the intangible feeling of freedom that’s important to me. Hey, I’m young, so humor me a bit. I’ll probably grow out of it.
BTW, the FCC thing here definitely bothers me, but I take consolation in the fact that FCC rulings only have an effect over those media regulated by the FCC, and I’m not opposed to the idea that media that make use of a limited frequency spectrum should be regulated. It’s just the manner of regulation that bothers me. I guess what I’m saying about the hate speech thing is that I like the way the US has the right to free speech enshrined in our Constitution, and while our legislators often make bad laws that violate that right, our courts are empowered to rule on the validity of those laws in light of the First Amendment. Bashere explained the differences in laws and ethos between our two countries better than I could.
And yeah, I agree that the Canadian hate speech laws, AFAIK, only apply to nutjobs. But I don’t care, because I LIKE the fact that my country allows those nutjobs to speak their minds freely, because I believe in a free exchange of ideas. It’s not all that important in my daily life, but it’s the principle of the thing.
Same with monarchy. While I’m well aware that the Queen’s powers are in reality only a rubber stamp, I still don’t like the idea of living somewhere where rulership by virtue of blood is enshrined in law, even for ceremonial purposes.
As for what MrFantsyPants said, yeah, I guess moving to Canada isn’t an admission of defeat. After all, one’s own quality of life should take precedence. And it’s not like I’m rushing to move from ultra-blue Rhode Island to the swing states so I can sway the next election, either. But all the same, I guess I’m just too proud to let the bastards win.
Let’s face it. Hockey really isn’t that good.
Okay, Hockey is that good.
How about this? Do you really want to move to the country that gave birth to Alan Thicke?
Paul Gross is Canadian.
Hey. That’s as good a reason as any. 
(Seriously, if you want to go, go. My memories of my brief visits Canada are all pleasant. I’m sure it’ll be very nice for you there. I have no interest in disuading you in leaving.)
Kids in the Hall isn’t that much better than Saturday Night Live…
No wait, it is. 
Interesting quote, but certainly not something I’ve seen in practice. Crime has never seemed to be much of a problem here, either for me, or for friends that actually live in the big city.
I wonder if the definition of “crime” is being applied differently by the two different sources. Anyone else got info, anecdotal or statistical?
Well, we certainly have our share of hollywood comedians, considering we have [sup]1[/sup]/[sub]10[/sub]th the population.
According to the Statistics Canada site, the “Crime rate” there includes victimless crimes like drug offences and prostitution. I do not believe the cited U.S. crime rate includes such crimes. According to this site, the FBI’s “Crime rate” doesn’t include all crimes, and specifically does not seem to include drug offenses or prostitution.
Going into this in detail, the problem seems to be that Canadian statistics have a much broader definition of violent crime: we include attempted murder (!), sexual assault (which has a broader definition than forcible rape), other sexual offences, a much wider range of assaults, and other violent crimes. I note that you are at a much lower risk of being the victim of a homicide or robbery in Canada than in the US.
US “murder and nonnegligent manslaughter”: 5,6 per 100k.
Canada “homicide”: 1,7 per 100k.
Canada “attempted murder”: 2,2 per 100k. (US has no line comparable to this.)
US “forcible rape”: 33,0 per 100k.
Canada “sexual assault”: 74,1 per 100k.
Canada “other sexual offences”: 8,0 per 100k.
US “aggravated assault”: 310,1 per 100k.
Canada “assault, levels 1 to 3”: 746,5 per 100k.
US “robbery”: 145,9 per 100k.
Canada “robbery”: 89,6 per 100k.
Canada “other crimes of violence” (Includes unlawfully causing bodily harm, discharging firearms with intent, abductions, assaults against police officers, assaults against other peace or public officers and other assaults): 40,7 per 100k.
Sources:
http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/legal04a.htm – Canada 2003.
http://bjsdata.ojp.usdoj.gov/dataonline/Search/Crime/State/statebystaterun.cfm?stateid=52 – US 2002.
I won’t try to convince you of anything. If you’re not happy where you live, by all means, go somewhere else.
But PERSECUTED???
Get a grip.
Cold… so very cold…
Moving to Canada because of a presidential election is just silly. Do you really think Kerry’s policies would have been so dramatically different (had he won)? Does it really affect your personal life that much?
It’s not always that easy to move to Canada and become a citizen – I think you get points for having relatives here, money, skills, a job, youth and fluency in French and English (among other things). You’ll be here at least three years.
Course, we’d always welcome a Doper. Canadians have the smugness that comes with identity crisis and we like it when Americans move here. And we’ve got some things going for us. I’ve found prices here generally cheaper than the US; taxes are more, but not much more, and you get what you pay for.
Thanks for doing the leg work Matt. I’m far too lazy to do that kind of digging.
I just wanted to pop in here and add something:
Depending on where you go, it’s not that cold!
Yes, ha ha, it’s funny to make jokes, I get it… but I had warmer summers in New Brunswick than I did in Boston, or here in Seattle. And it didn’t rain much this year in Seattle!
New Brunswick - that’s right above Maine. We have beaches. We go there. We tan. We jump in the cold ocean water to cool the heck off in the summer heat.
No, it’s not paradise, but it’s not as cold as all that. December, January, February and a little into March are snowy months. Me mom and dad just sent pictures of recent snowfall because it was so odd that they got it in November. It’s usually brisk, with some morning frost and occasional miniscule flurries in November.
So if you’re worried about cold, just do a little research ahead of time. Some people enjoy snow in the wintertime. My Christmases feel very weird without it
Man, I was letting it go for the first couple people because I figured they were just not reading my post. But apparetnly most of you are. I said the election has made my feelings stronger. I’ve been disheartened with the turn this country is taking for quite some time. Please, give me the tiniest amount of credit.
To all those people who say moving to Canada constitutes “running away”: since you don’t have to give up your U.S. citizenship, you still get to vote, so it really does become the best of both worlds.
You get to influence the United States, without having to live there and be subject to social conservatism that has reached the point where the phrase “freeze the balls of a brass monkey” is considered objectionable content on the nightly news.
What I don’t understand is people (not the OP) who are going “I’d like to move to Canada, I really feel persecuted and afraid in the US, I’d like to have some rights before I die and I’m afraid of being assaulted (etc. etc. etc.) … but it’s TOO COLD!”
Christ, if it were that important to me, I’d put on a fucking sweater!
You should not move to Canada because you will soon have to participate in the invasion of the US since the Canadians are obviously massing on the border preparing to attack.
Oh heck, we’ve been massing on the border for 200 years now. I’m not saying that we aren’t preparing to attack, just that forecasting the attack’s immanence is chancy.
One reason alone:
Tim Horton’s.
Which are now available stateside in limited areas! HUZZAH!
A sweater won’t save you in Edmonton.
I don’t see what’s wrong about basing your decision to live somewhere based on the weather. It’s something you have to deal with every single day, unlike almost any political issue.
I wouldn’t want to live in Ireland, in no small part due to the fact that the weather is dreary. And Phoenix is just too damned hot.