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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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Just days after George W. Bush won his second presidential mandate almost 500,000 Americans checked online their eligibility for immigration in Canada. That could look like a joke if Toronto property managers hadn't already begun preparing for a wave of "political" immigrants coming from South. No matter how many will come, they claim, this will affect the market in Canada, so the landlords could have free hands in asking for much bigger rent increases than usual. The history of bilateral US-Canada relations had many periods of mass migration in both directions. None of them so far had links to the personality of the US president. It's unlikely that Bush's victory will make a difference in the normal migration flows between the two countries.

It isn't a secret that Canadians in their majority preferred to see John Kerry at white House. Canada is after all everything he stood for: universal health care, freedom to women to make abortions, gay-marriages and many more extra stuff that make the country looks like a liberal paradise. During the presidential campaign the major media corporations in Canada over-presented the Kerry's position, making it appear as the dominant among the American population. So after Kerry was considered a winner long before the Election Day, it was a real shock for the Canadian public opinion to accept the fact that their beloved candidate won't go to the White House.

Since the Election Night thousands of electronic forums began appealing to distressed American liberals to immigrate to Canada and escape the Bush "totalitarianism" that was about to begin with no clear end in sight. Canada, which as we said above could easily be described as liberal paradise, and in addition is the closest country to the United States in terms of geography, economy, culture, language, and architecture, was first in the list of possible destinations for distressed American liberals. The Citizenship and Immigration Canada web site was attacked by extraordinary traffic since the election results began flowing. During the five days after the election almost 500,000 Americans visited the site and made calculations showing their chances to become permanent residents.

It isn't clear how many got encouraging results and how many out of those will decide finally to migrate to Canada. One thing is sure, this unusual activity has sparked interest among the landlords from this side of the border and they have began calculating the probable number of new rich customers expected on the market. Toronto is pointed at as eventual destination of most of the American "political" immigrants. The other possible options Montreal and Vancouver can't compete with the Canadian metropolis because Montreal as part of Quebec requires the applicants to show some particular interest in the French language and culture. As for Vancouver, it's surrounded by thick belt of politically conservative areas. The Atlantic provinces have problems finding jobs for their own population, the Prairies are conservative as the American South. So Toronto remains the best option to move.

The relations between the United States and Canada had their periods of mass migration toward one or another side. After the American revolution more than 100,000 British subjects moved to North. At the end of 19th century thousands of farmers moved from the States to the Canadian Prairies. During the first half of 20th century hundreds of thousands workers moved in the opposite direction toward the big industrial centers of Northeast and Midwest. Finally more than 100,000 Americans escaped the draft during the Vietnam War and settled in Canada. Now hundreds of thousands of Americans and Canadians live in the neighboring country. Annually some 5,000 Americans become Canadians.

All these facts show that migration between the two countries wasn't unusual phenomenon in the past. It won't be unusual in the future, although it seems very unlikely that we'll witness mass migration due to the personality of the American president. After all, he will stay in office no more than 4 years, a time that will hardly be enough to go through all the immigration procedures and successfully settle for new life abroad.

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