Somebody, somewhere will say it tonight: "So-and-so won; I'm moving to Canada."
Why this relocation spot is never the south of France or some South Pacific island is anyone's guess. No, it's usually Canada.
But how easy is it to emigrate to Canada?
"Canada has one of the most generous and fair immigration systems in the world," says Isabelle Vigneault, who is a spokesman and media relations adviser with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the Canadian governmental department responsible for these matters.
"All applicants who apply to Canada's immigration programs are treated equally no matter where they are from. Americans can emigrate to Canada, provided they meet the qualifications."
There are a number of avenues that applicants for permanent residency can consider in order to emigrate to Canada, Vigneault says.
Vigneault points to the Come to Canada tool available on the department's website at cic.gc.ca as the best way for foreign nationals to determine the programs for which they are eligible.
"Canada's Immigration Levels Plan establishes the number of immigrants expected to be admitted in a year," she says.
Thousands of U.S. citizens apply for permanent residency in Canada each year, according to the department. In 2004, there were 7,542 such applications received by Canadian officials from U.S. citizens. That number jumped to 9,405 in 2008, a presidential election year.
By 2010, the number of applications had fallen to 8,351 but rose to 9,035 in 2011 before falling to 7,977 in 2012, another presidential election year.
In 2014, the last year statistics are available, 7,660 U.S. citizens applied for permanent residency in Canada.
If you head north, there are thousands of Americans already living in Canada. According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada figures, 87,361 Americans became permanent residents of Canada between 2005 and 2014. Many thousands were already there.
The U.S. ranked fifth among all countries supplying permanent residents to Canada during that time period. China was No. 1 with 425,885 people, followed by India with 362,145, the Philippines with 181,435 and Pakistan with 143,185.
-- Shea Stewart
Style on 11/08/2016