Canada? Really?

I've lived in seven countries, over a period of twenty years, outside of the United States... including the developed countries of France (2.5 years), Japan (3 years) and Oz (5 years). Nice as each one was, not one of those countries comes close to the US as a desirable place to live.

I haven't lived in Canada, but I have travelled there extensively. That's why I find the Trump haters' declarations of leaving the US for Canada surprising. Canada has 3/4 the standard of living of the US, its cold, and is a woke tyranny where an ordinary citizen can be jailed for misgendering. Talk against the government in Canada, and you'll have your bank account frozen. Canada's cultural zeitgeist still reflects the weak willed, faint-hearted temperament (apologists call it Canada nice) of its original royalist settlers. What can one think of a people who, when traveling overseas, plaster their luggage with maple leaf stickers to loudly broadcast, "I am not an American!"?

To be sure, Yukon Territory and Alberta Province are outliers. Both have huge, productive landscapes and a forward looking, self-reliant population base. As the cultural climate in Yukon and Alberta would be more akin to a US red state, Trump haters moving to those two areas might find themselves jumping from the frying pan into the fire. As an aside, it would be well worth Trump's time to seek a trade for Yukon and Alberta in exchange for, say, blue states Vermont and Maine, each of which share a border with Canada. Meanwhile, I don't begrudge the Trump haters desire to leave the US, but Canada? Were it me, I'd pick Costa Rica with its Iguana filled beaches, abundant supplies of dolphin (fish) and equable climate.