Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Immigrating to Alberta, Canada

Edmonton Skyline
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Photo by Darren Kirby
Lately it seems that Canada has been working overtime trying to attract expats. I've written about Canada's Skilled Trade Immigration Program and now I see that Alberta, Canada, has an entire section of their Web site dedicated to how to immigrate to Alberta.


Canada doesn't have the appeal to Americans the way Europe does, but it should. While some Americans (er, Fox News fans) think that Canada is some socialist quagmire complete with death panels, the reality is that Canada is the fifth most economically free country on the planet (the US comes in at a paltry 18th). Also, when the US economy collapsed at the end of the Bush administration, Canada was just fine because, unlike the US, they forbid their financial institutions from engaging in the same dodgy behavior that destroyed large parts of the US financial industry.


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And to add insult to injury, thanks to declining earnings for the majority of Americans, the average Canadian is now wealthier than the average American. Ouch. Maybe Canada's worth another look.
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1 comment:

  1. someofpartsJanuary 16, 2013 at 5:35 PM

    Considering the things you point out about the tax complications expats can encounter, I figured Canada has the advantage of being close to the U.S. If tax complications were to arise, it might help to be close enough to drive back into the U.S. to deal with it.

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