
Ask HN: How many of you are truly considering moving to Canada? - cprecioso
With so many people saying that they&#x27;ll move to Canada if Trump wins, I&#x27;m wondering who is really considering (or already decided) doing it; and the conclusions they have come to. What are your reasons? What are the trade-offs? Why are they worth it &#x2F; not worth it?
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candu
Already moved back, though not for this particular reason - it was more out of
a desire to escape the insane work-life imbalance, endemic tech bro-ism, and
skyrocketing cost of living in the Bay Area. (I'm a Canadian citizen by birth,
so this makes the move _much_ easier.)

Now in Toronto. Couldn't be happier: yes, you earn less and pay higher taxes,
but those taxes go a long way - functioning public transit (i.e. "I can get
just about anywhere inside the city core 24/7"); rapidly improving cycling
infrastructure; nationalized health care; several months parental leave _paid
for by provincial and federal governments_ ; fantastic grant and tax credit
programs for young founders (under age 35), digital media / tech companies,
and a slew of other relevant categories; and so on.

People are polite and reasonable; staff at government offices are
understanding and helpful (which goes a long way when you're moving, believe
me); the tech scene here has a vibrant community feel to it, and is fed by
several nearby universities. If you're moving from the US right now, the
current exchange rate is an added bonus.

Don't get me wrong: the beautiful scenery of the Bay Area is nearly
unparalleled, and there is an optimistic / entrepreneurial attitude parts of
which I admire - but SF is fast losing its monopoly on the latter to other
tech hubs.

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chris_7
I have always been interested in somewhere like Copenhagen for the sane
transportation policy - I'm tired of violent drivers in NYC running people on
the sidewalks and crosswalks down with "no criminality suspected", tired of
the government being completely unable to create a proper bus lane (to say
nothing of a tram), tired of no one seeming to know that bollards are a thing
you can install. I'm also tired of American-standard 50+ hour weeks with 2
weeks of vacation. I would be fine with a pay cut, money isn't that important.

Canada seems _easier_ since they speak English and I speak okay French, but
I'm not sure it would be the place I would want to stay (really only
considering Vancouver strongly).

So this is just another trigger to look closer at moving.

Also, I'm told that everyone wears black in Scandinavia. Bonus.

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ap3
What I told my kids: regardless of who wins - you have more influence over
your personal future than the president in DC.

Your education, effort and day-to-day actions will affect you more than who
lives in the white house

~~~
hausjam
Spot on. Regardless of who sits in the White House, the world will spin on. We
will do exactly today, what we did yesterday.

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komaromy
I thought about it over a few hours last night and decided against it.

In the worst scenarios, it won't matter what country I'm in as long as it's
still on this planet.

In the merely really-bad scenarios, people that look like me won't be the ones
in trouble and I feel obliged to stay and help those that are.

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akud
Well, we could see a cultural revolution style event where elites are
persecuted. I don't think that's likely with trump, given that his rhetoric
focuses on immigrants, but if there is another trump after him, it could
happen. The problems for the white working class aren't going away. Trump is
going to make them worse, and they will be even angrier at the next go around.

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sharemywin
If he fulfills his campaign rhetoric on protectionism and trade wars, the
effect will be global.

If he fires all the generals, and only keeps the yes men we're probably all
screwed again.

Pulls out of Paris Climate agreement and rolls back climate change that's more
of a world problem too.

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mcrider
I did when bush was in office. Not regretting that move today.

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JohnDiggs
If you live in California or NY, considered the tech hubs of U.S., there's not
much worry. Those states are so liberal, a conservative House+Senate+Prez
isn't going to make a difference. Republicans are usually for leaving laws to
the state as well.

So if you dislike the outcomes of the election, move to a very blue state.

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GFK_of_xmaspast
> isn't going to make a difference

Maybe if you're white and male and doing ok financially.

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tzs
Most things would not make me seriously consider leaving the US. The one thing
that could do it would be if the GOP totally screwed up healthcare.

Unfortunately, it looks like that may be the direction they are going. Both
the plan that the House put forward a few months ago and Trump say that pre-
existing conditions should not stop people from being covered, nor should
those people pay more. Both seem to want it to stay insurance based.

...and both do not seem to have any way to get people who are healthy to
actually get insurance.

That does not work. It was tried, unintentionally, in the state of Washington
in the '90s. In 1993, the state passed a healthcare law that required insurers
to cover those with pre-existing conditions, capped premiums, made premiums
similar for young and the old, and had a phase in over time of mandates for
individuals and employers to purchase insurance.

Then the control of the legislature changed hands, and much of it was
repealed. However, the requirement to cover pre-existing was kept because the
legislature knew that repealing that would be quick political suicide.

Of course, people quickly figured out that they could cut way back on
insurance until they actually needed it. For example, a woman might go without
any insurance that covers pregnancy and related costs until she actually got
pregnant, and then she would get that insurance.

The result? Within a few years, not a single major insurance provider offered
individual health insurance in Washington. For most residents, if you wanted
health insurance you needed to find an employer that provided it as a benefit.

Later they made more changes that allowed for higher rates, and while still
requiring coverage of pre-existing conditions allowed insurance companies to
impose a nine month wait before coverage starts. That got insurers to come
back, but individual insurance was no longer very affordable.

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tptacek
Isn't this the reason that the new plans all have a continuous coverage
requirement?

Old: guaranteed issue, individual mandate

New: guaranteed issue conditional on continuous coverage, high risk pools for
people without continuous coverage.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of other stuff not to like about proposed
replacements --- the elimination of annual coverage caps, for instance, or the
"buy across state lines" requirement.

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partisan
Is Canada even the place to go? I would ask: Where would you go if you are
having such thoughts.

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HiroshiSan
Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal?

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partisan
Right. It's the "obvious" choice. I was asking for other ideas. Here's mine:
Sight unseen so with a grain of salt, Portugal.

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HiroshiSan
ah, I misread your statement. I thought you meant where in Canada would you
go.

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synicalx
I'm an Australian seriously considering moving to America, does that count?

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werber
I moved to Canada when Bush was in Office, and would consider doing it again.
Albeit, I'm a bit older than I was then

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mcphage
I'm not, although it's sorely tempting. But I don't want to uproot my family.
And luckily, we live close enough (20 minutes to the border) that if there was
ever an emergency, we should be able to get across quickly.

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SolaceQuantum
I already have a canadian dual citizenship so I'll just get a move on up to
Canada if things downswing.

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savethefuture
Please move, I'll even pay for your ticket.

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miguelrochefort
It's just a meme. Nobody is really considering that option.

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mi100hael
If anyone's seriously considering moving out of the US due to the results of
an election: do it. Get the fuck out so real patriots can focus on fixing
things without all the bitching.

