Canadians Don't Threaten to Move to US

Hilariously, Americans vowed to head north over health care ruling
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 29, 2012 2:10 PM CDT
Canadians Don't Threaten to Move to US
Threats or no threats, America is still on top in its rivalry with Canada.   (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

A lot of people were upset over yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in favor of health care reform, and BuzzFeed noticed that more than a few were protesting in a pretty hilarious fashion: by threatening to move to Canada. "I'm moving to Canada, the United States is entirely too socialist," read a typical tweet. Pretty ironic, given that Canada has fully socialized health care. But it got Daniel Lametti of Slate wondering: Do Canadians ever threaten to move here?

His conclusion: "Not really. They just move here." Yes, threatening to move to Canada is a recurring meme after political defeats, but far more Canadians wind up decamping to the US than vice versa. Between 2001 and 2006, an average of about 33,000 Canadians moved to the US every year, while only about 9,000 Americans did the reverse. And that number only spiked by about 1,000 the year after George W. Bush was elected for the second time, another major "move to Canada" moment. The one segment of Canadians that does make US-or-bust threats: hockey team owners. Click to find out why. (More Canada stories.)

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