According to one recent Morning Consult/Vox poll, 28 percent of Americans would “likely” consider moving to another country if Trump wins the US Presidential elections in November. Google said the search “how can I move to Canada?” surged 350 percent on March 1 when Trump won seven Republican state elections.
Money makers on both sides of the border have turned the hype into a savvy marketing tool. “Leaving the country if TRUMP is elected PRESIDENT? Give me a call and LET’S GET YOUR HOME SOLD!!” advertised one US realtor.
A millennial entrepreneur in Texas set up dating site Maple Match promising to help Americans “find the ideal Canadian partner to save them from the unfathomable horror of a Trump presidency.” The site is the brainchild of 25-year-old Joe Goldman, who always wanted to set up a dating site but used the Trump bandwagon to drive publicity.
While actual introductions and dates are a way off, Goldman says that more than 30,000 people hungry for love have already signed up. “The Donald Trump campaign for president has provided us with an opportunity to make something positive,” he told AFP. “But ultimately Maple Match itself is not political. It’s about bringing Americans and Canadians together.”
After Cape Breton Island, off the tip of Nova Scotia, offered a refuge to Trump-hating Americans earlier this year, visitors to its tourism site exploded from 65,000 last year to 600,000, says tourist chief Mary Tulle.
Canada has tightened immigration procedures for many categories of people, although it has been liberal in accepting Syrian refugees. Americans opposed to Trump hardly meet the UN definition of a refugee, Katz warned. “It is a tough argument to make that you are being politically persecuted in the US,” said Katz, president at Apex Capital Partners Corp.