Now, Canada's map will have to be redrawn to reflect the changes of what Canadian people want. The map below is before the election. No post-election map, yet. Let's compare Canada's map to the United States.
The blue and red state political map consisting of Democrat and Republican strongholds? Canada has a similar one except there are 4 different political leanings throughout on the Canada map.
Source:
The colors are different in Canada where the colors are opposite than that of the United States. That is, blue is red, red is blue when it comes to Liberals/Democrats and Conservatives/Republicans in Canada in relation to the United States political map makeup. The orange colors are the NDP folks equivalent to "pinko socialists" in American terms. Now, look at the New England area or the "blue" people that sits next to Quebec. The color is neither "blue" nor "red", but French Blue (light blue color on the Canadian map). This is probably due to the historical and political connection they had ever since America was discovered.
Quebec politics--even radical independentism--is marked by liberal social democracy rooted originally in Christian humanity and social justice. As one historian observed recently, "The apple has not fallen far from the tree."However, in and around the city of Vancouver, you can see a small patch of red in Canada and blue in the USA. Once you cross the Fraser River through Vancouver, things turn Canadian Blue (American Red - Conservative/Republican values). Once you get beyond that point it's all blue in Canada (American red).
Now, do you notice the seemingly seemless border connections between the two countries in terms of political similarities? From looking at the two maps we can actually see the physical connections with our Canadian political kin such as between Minnesota and Washington states with our northern Conservative friends seen as blue (or the equivalent of the American red for us) and the American blue with Canada's red around the Great Lakes area. Also, beyond that there seem to be a thin connection between NY and Ontario and one between Detroit and Windsor where the a thin connection seems to exist via bridges.
So, in terms of influencing our neighbors with our ideology, borders do not stop the flow of ideas and political persuasions. There's a strong tie between the two countries based on our historical and political connections. But this time, Canadians had enough of the Liberals and voted for a Conservative Prime Minister this time. Deja Vu! It's 2000 all over again. Only this time it's in Canada. They even already started to cut taxes, too. Hmm, I wonder why? On January 21, 2006, two days BEFORE Canada's national election, President Bush did his Radio Address to the United States where he talked about his efforts on cutting taxes and how the U.S. economy grew because of it. Perhaps, Canadians heard President Bush' speech about cutting taxes did they decide to let the Tory have the chance to run the government for a change? And one day after the successful Canadian election, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil Karl Rove talked about the successful results of cutting taxes, too, in his speech to the RNC on January 24, 2006, one day AFTER the successful Canadian election, with the topic "Our Ideas Will Prevail."
Indeed. Canadians must have heard President Bush' speech? Clever.
Ok. For those who foreswore to move to Canada (more like "threaten to move") if President Bush won the 2nd re-election. Especially among the most visable, vocal and prominent Liberal celebrities.
Luckily, the countless celebrities who threatened to leave the country should Bush be reelected should have no trouble finding the money to relocate. Kim Basigner, Robert Redford, and even Larry Flynt were among those publicly stated that they would only stay in the country if Election Day went their way. Billionaire George Soros even went as far as to say he would enter a monastery should Bush prove victorious. Yet while the number of hits on the immigration website has increased, chances are there won't be a large increase in the number of Americans who immigrate to Canada, especially among celebrities.
These empty threats are nothing new- there were many celebrities who said they planned to move after the 2000 election but never made good on their promise. Perhaps the most infamous among them was Alec Baldwin, who quickly recanted after Gore's loss and publicly stated that he had never actually stated he would move, but rather only that if Bush won it would be a 'good time to leave the country.' He was far from the only celebrity to fail to keep his word. In fact, the only public figure to actually leave after the 2000 election was the now deceased Pierre Salinger, White House press secretary during the Kennedy administration. Before the 2000 election, Salinger said: ‘'If Bush wins, I'm going to leave the country and spend the rest of my life in France.'' He did just that, but he was not part of a mass exodus.
Maybe next time these celebrities will do better to promise to hold the breath until blue in the face unless the votes are recanted? Now, where are they going to move now? Mexico?
Hat tip on the map: Conservative Harry from British Columbia, Canada.
UPDATE: Welcome The Anchoress readers.
|