Talk of emigration and immigration have taken on heightened immediacy for my wife and I. We live half of each year in Mexico and half in Canada. We’re not immigrants, not even fully ex-pats, we simply stay in Mexico for as long as the country allows. The next step seems to be permanent residency. Many of our American and Canadian friends here have taken that step; many more are expected to join them following the 2024 election in the United States and the 2025 election in Canada. Our city in Mexico could overflow with self-imposed political exiles.
My immigration story was quite intentional. The night that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, I made the decision to leave the US. I had 2 requirements: that the country I moved to spoke English and that it wasn't too far from my birth family in California. That spelled Canada, of course, a country I knew next to nothing about, but for a Canadian co-worker in an insurance company. I liked her, and she represented, for me, all Canadians. When another co-worker started grumbling about "socialism" over Medicare, this Canadian representative responded, "Don't be so American!" I was so impressed.
I'm pleased to report that I'm now a very happy Canadian. And however destructive a conservative government might be, I can't imagine that it would be a government that refuses to leave office if voted out — or is there something I don't know? :-)
My immigration story was quite intentional. The night that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, I made the decision to leave the US. I had 2 requirements: that the country I moved to spoke English and that it wasn't too far from my birth family in California. That spelled Canada, of course, a country I knew next to nothing about, but for a Canadian co-worker in an insurance company. I liked her, and she represented, for me, all Canadians. When another co-worker started grumbling about "socialism" over Medicare, this Canadian representative responded, "Don't be so American!" I was so impressed.
I'm pleased to report that I'm now a very happy Canadian. And however destructive a conservative government might be, I can't imagine that it would be a government that refuses to leave office if voted out — or is there something I don't know? :-)