Feeling blue in the blue states? Canada rolls out welcome mat

Mr. Appoldt says he loves Portland, the city he has called home for the past15 years. Still, he has reapplied for his Canadian citizenship and hopes to pack up and move to British Columbia in the coming months.

"It's one of the hardest things I've had to do, but I feel I don't really have a choice," Appoldt says. "I just don't understand where 51 percent of this country [who voted for Mr. Bush] is coming from. I feel ostracized - like I don't fit in anymore."

It's possible many others will be following in his footsteps. One day after last month's US presidential election, the Canadian government's immigration website logged 180,000 hits from the US - more than three times its daily average. Even the premier of Manitoba has gotten in the act, traveling to Stanford University in October, appealing to students to emigrate to his province following graduation.

Canada, and especially British Columbia, has long been a destination for disaffected Americans. As many as 125,000 young people fled north to avoid fighting in Vietnam in the 1960s and 70s. Even now, a half-dozen US soldiers are seeking refuge in Canada to avoid the war in Iraq. One of them, Jeremy Hinzman, began his asylum hearing Monday in Toronto. But it's unlikely Mr. Hinzman will find success. From January of 2001 through September of 2003, 550 Americans made refugee claims in Canada, a dramatic increase from the 40 to 80 annual average prior to 2001. Still, the acceptance rate has remained the same: zero.

To be sure, it's too early to say whether the current flight will blossom into a full-fledged trend. There are currently anywhere from 600,000 to a million Americans living in Canada, a country that undoubtedly leans to the left of the United States, with recent moves to legalize gay marriage and decriminalize marijuana.

Stephen Saideman, a US immigrant in Canada who teaches courses in American foreign policy at McGill University in Montreal, says this is merely a blip on the chart.

"I think it's a lot of talk and not a lot of action. In terms of the real numbers, in the end it will be trivial. Most people won't be going anywhere just because of the election," Mr. Saideman predicts. "People think that Canada is just like the US with different weather. It's much harder to immigrate than one would think."

For years, the cross-border flow of immigrants has been much stronger from Canada into the US. Between 1989 and 2002, the number of Canadians emigrating to the US increased from 12,151 to 19,519. The figure tumbled by 40 percent, however, between 2002 and 2003 - a drop that coincided with tougher screening in the post-9/11 era.

For her part, McMaster hopes to turn her attention to forming a new creative group in Nelson. She and her husband plan to build a performing-arts school that will one day be the envy of the world.

"One on level, I feel like my family is the kind of family that should stay and fight for a better America," McMaster says. "But I'm just so excited about my future here. The generosity of spirit is overwhelming."

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