Canadian isle woos those vowing to move if Trump elected
MONTREAL The prospect of a Donald Trump presidency has sparked a flood of interest in a Nova Scotia island where a local booster is beckoning American Trump haters to live if the Donald is elected.
Since “Cape Breton if Donald Trump Wins” went up Feb. 16, the website has attracted 650,000 unique visitors and floods of emails asking for information on job opportunities, how to apply for work visas — even the law about bringing a horse. The website’s creator, Rob Calabrese, who hosts a local radio show, said he first thought of setting up the site years ago after seeing tweets by Americans who had threatened to move to Canada if Barack Obama was elected president. Now that many Americans are decrying Trump’s candidacy, he decided to launch it at his wife’s urging.
“I showed it to a couple of people who had a chuckle,” Calabrese told USA TODAY. “I wasn’t going to do anything and then my wife said, ‘Hey that Donald Trump website, you should launch that.’ ”
The site touts Cape Breton’s lifestyle attractions. Like the rest of Canada, its social policies may appeal more to Democrats than to Republicans who oppose Oba- macare and gun control: Canada has socialized medicine and stringent gun control. Even so, he said, “we just thought: ‘Hey, we have a severe population problem. Let’s get out in front and say if you’re going to move to Canada, look at this beautiful little option.’ ”
The response was so great that the Destination Cape Breton Association, a non-governmental tourism board, partnered with Calabrese. “There’s no question there’s an interest piqued,” said the board’s CEO, Mary Tulle.
The interest could not come at a better time for an island that has seen its coal mining and steel industries shrink. The full-time population is just under 150,000, about 30,000 fewer than 50 years ago. Many have left to seek jobs in the oil fields of western Canada.
“Our population decline is so severe right now, the graduating class in our school system is double the size of the kindergarten class,” Calabrese said.