"Canada's too cold": A genuine reason or just an excuse?

[ScienceNostalgia101]

In 2016, many Americans promised that they would move to Canada if Donald Trump won.

 

Very few of them followed through on that promise.

 

Among the ones who didn't, a popular claim was the notion that "Canada's too cold;" a phrase that came to mind this week because Lytton, British Columbia, recently surpassed Las Vegas, Nevada as far as record heat goes. I presume, if people believed Las Vegas wasn't hot enough for them, it wouldn't be profitable to air condition those casinos?

 

Or was the idea less that the maximum temperatures aren't hot enough, and more that the minimum temperatures are too cold? If so, what of the fact that Vancouver, also in British Columbia, is above freezing even for most of the winter, which is more than can be said for much of the U.S. midwest?

 

Do people actually have this caricatured version of Canada being incredibly cold, all the time, or is this just fallen back on as an excuse for making promises on which one didn't have a plan to follow through?

[swansont]

1 minute ago, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

In 2016, many Americans promised that they would move to Canada if Donald Trump won.

And these were actual promises and not hyperbole?

1 minute ago, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

 

Very few of them followed through on that promise.

 

Among the ones who didn't, a popular claim was the notion that "Canada's too cold;"

Popular, eh? Then providing citations to several of them should be no problem.

 

1 minute ago, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

a phrase that came to mind this week because Lytton, British Columbia, recently surpassed Las Vegas, Nevada as far as record heat goes. I presume, if people believed Las Vegas wasn't hot enough for them, it wouldn't be profitable to air condition those casinos?

 

Or was the idea less that the maximum temperatures aren't hot enough, and more that the minimum temperatures are too cold? If so, what of the fact that Vancouver, also in British Columbia, is above freezing even for most of the winter, which is more than can be said for much of the U.S. midwest?

 

Do people actually have this caricatured version of Canada being incredibly cold, all the time, or is this just fallen back on as an excuse for making promises on which one didn't have a plan to follow through?

You give one example, which is a coastal city so the overall climate is tempered, and not representative of Canada as a whole.

[Peterkin]

On 7/1/2021 at 6:22 AM, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

Do people actually have this caricatured version of Canada being incredibly cold, all the time, or is this just fallen back on as an excuse for making promises on which one didn't have a plan to follow through?

Yes, many Americans are woefully ignorant about the rest of the world (etc.) and ready to believe any  pithy dismissal that comes around on their social media.

And what with the jet stream getting messed up, Canada is particularly vulnerable to climate change, so, actually it's not much colder than most of the US. This is old news and no secret.

But all that stuff about people "promising" to move here? Obvious hyperbole. It's not that easy to pick up your stuff and move to another country. It is another country - with a border that's still closed afaik, and no easy or instant entry for new immigrants who want to find accommodation and earn a living.

[Endy0816]

5 hours ago, Peterkin said:

Yes, many Americans are woefully ignorant about the rest of the world (etc.) and ready to believe any  pithy dismissal that comes around on their social media.

And what with the jet stream getting messed up, Canada is particularly vulnerable to climate change, so, actually it's not much colder than most of the US. This is old news and no secret.

But all that stuff about people "promising" to move here? Obvious hyperbole. It's not that easy to pick up your stuff and move to another country. It is another country - with a border that's still closed afaik, and no easy or instant entry for new immigrants who want to find accommodation and earn a living.

Did happen when people were draft dodging back in the day. Would be hard for majority but some could definitely manage.

 

On 7/1/2021 at 6:22 AM, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

Do people actually have this caricatured version of Canada being incredibly cold, all the time, or is this just fallen back on as an excuse for making promises on which one didn't have a plan to follow through?

Probably joking, though IMO most here would likely to imagine the Interior regions in Winter, when they think of 'Canadian temperatures'.

[J.C.MacSwell]

We were going to build a wall and make the Americans pay for it...but in our laid back way we never got around to it.

[Peterkin]

2 hours ago, Endy0816 said:

Did happen when people were draft dodging back in the day. Would be hard for majority but some could definitely manage.

Depends on the administration, the economy, the state of cross-border relations, the public mood ... It's not just up to every American to decide where he'll live; it's also up to the country thus honoured whether it wants him.  The Canadian government was no fan of the VietNam war from its inception, and the Trudeau I government was sympathetic to draft evaders, conscientious objectors and later, deserters. Most of those people were educated and progressive; they made a valuable contribution. (I knew several of them personally, and found them valuable people.)  Of course, quite a few went back, once Nixon backed down, but many had established homes and families here by then. 

I'm not sure how many actually relocated because of Trump, but there was a rise in immigration from the US at that time.

As there have been at other moments of political retrogression. (Not to mention the first lot, in the 1790's)

 

Quote

a graph of citizenship application numbers would show definite spikes in some politically significant years: 2001, when Bush was elected president; 2003, when the US invaded Iraq; and 2007, during the US housing market crash and recession.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/19/americans-move-canada-trump-bush-immigration

3 hours ago, J.C.MacSwell said:

We were going to build a wall and make the Americans pay for it...but in our laid back way we never got around to it.

I'm glad we didn't do it! I'd hate to have missed out on Spider Robinson, William Gibson, John Irving, Ted Gonzales and a whole lot of other smart, talented, good people. 

[TheVat]

The section across Lakes Superior and Huron would have been quite the engineering challenge.   Superior is 1300 feet deep in places.   

Never mind that we clever Americans have developed technology like ropes and ladders.    It took us a while to catch up with the Mesopotamians, but we're very persistent people. 

[MigL]

On 7/23/2021 at 7:33 PM, Peterkin said:

On 7/23/2021 at 4:14 PM, J.C.MacSwell said:

We were going to build a wall and make the Americans pay for it...but in our laid back way we never got around to it.

I'm glad we didn't do it! I'd hate to have missed out on Spider Robinson, William Gibson, John Irving, Ted Gonzales and a whole lot of other smart, talented, good people. 

I just want a wall to keep all the anti-vaxxers, contaminated with the Delta variant, out.

And Canada isn't cold at all.
But ask me again next January/February; I might have changed my mind by then.

[J.C.MacSwell]

48 minutes ago, MigL said:

 

And Canada isn't cold at all.
But ask me again next January/February; I might have changed my mind by then.

You have to take it all with a grain of seasoning...

[iNow]

Lol. I see what you did there. 

[CharonY]

On 7/26/2021 at 2:46 PM, MigL said:

I just want a wall to keep all the anti-vaxxers, contaminated with the Delta variant, out.

 

Uh, I got some bad news for you there, mate (at least with respect to delta).

[Peterkin]

On 7/24/2021 at 12:16 PM, TheVat said:

The section across Lakes Superior and Huron would have been quite the engineering challenge.

You obviously don't know about the Giant Burbot Project. (but i've already said too much....)

[TheVat]

1 hour ago, Peterkin said:

You obviously don't know about the Giant Burbot Project. (but i've already said too much....)

As my nom de forum indicates, I have some knowledge of the giant bourbon project.   Your Canuck spelling is so quaint! 

Joking aside, you did con me into several minutes of dull reading on cold-water aquaculture.  You may believe you've said too much,  but rest assured I remain in the dark as to how an ugly freshwater cod is being deployed for border interdiction.   

[MigL]

Ahh ... bourbon.
I like Woodford Reserve; cheap and good.

Warms you right up during those Canadian winters.
( just to stay on topic )

Edited July 29, 2021 by MigL

[Peterkin]

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

You may believe you've said too much,  but rest assured I remain in the dark as to how an ugly freshwater cod is being deployed for border interdiction. 

Developed, then deployed. Like those Florida alligators in Trump's moat, except we don't need the electrified fence and gun turrets: swim across at your peril. (Or just drive to a border crossing and be polite for five minutes.)

1 hour ago, MigL said:

Ahh ... bourbon.

You sure you're Canayjun? 

[J.C.MacSwell]

1 minute ago, Peterkin said:

Developed, then deployed. Like those Florida alligators in Trump's moat, except we don't need the electrified fence and gun turrets: swim across at your peril. (Or just drive to a border crossing and be polite for five minutes.)

Not so "fast"...

"The two unions representing more than 8,500 Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) employees announced this morning that the majority of their members have given them a strike mandate."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cbsa-strike-vote-border-1.6118764

I'm sure it's totally "coincidence", but they've timed their potential strike with both the opening of the borders after Covid and the middle of summer.

So don't take it personally if you show up at the border and are given the "Canadian cold" shoulder...(politely compelled to wait in a bit of a border line up)

[Peterkin]

I didn't know that!

40 minutes ago, J.C.MacSwell said:

they've timed their potential strike with both the opening of the borders after Covid

Maybe they don't think it's as over as Kenney thinks it is. Speaking of which, US visitors and asylum-seekers, don't count on our infamous socialized health care if you're crossing into Alberta. 

[J.C.MacSwell]

1 minute ago, Peterkin said:

I didn't know that!

Maybe they don't think it's as over as Kenney thinks it is. Speaking of which, US visitors and asylum-seekers, don't count on our infamous socialized health care if you're crossing into Alberta. 

Good point. Not after Covid but after the Covid shutdown/reopening of border.

Or should I say planned reopening of the border?😟

[Bufofrog]

Yes it's genuinely too cold.  But of course 90% of the US is too cold.  

[J.C.MacSwell]

On 7/28/2021 at 11:39 PM, Bufofrog said:

Yes it's genuinely too cold.  But of course 90% of the US is too cold.  

...and pro climate change rears it's ugly head...😜

[MigL]

Apparently it's not too cold ...