By Christopher Sung ’17

Panic has gripped Canada as thousands of young Americans prepare to begin a mass exodus to illegally enter the northern country. The looming immigration of millions of Americans follows the recent primary victories of Donald Trump, a stunning result that many Canadian pundits have blamed for the impending migratory crisis.

“They’re going to come in mass droves and steal our jobs,” stated former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, pointing out a recent surge in “how do I move to Canada” searches on Google. “Listen carefully folks, I’ve dealt with a lot of these millennial Americans, and they are going to destroy our nation’s Conservative foundation. It’s all because of Donald J. Trump who is giving us America’s liberals! Those lazy, pot-smoking liberals! We already have enough of them here!” Despite a 2014 drug scandal in which the former mayor confessed to using crack cocaine while in public office, Ford’s comments have gained him a large following among disgruntled Canadians.

In Canada, a country that has generally been stereotyped as a nation superior to the United States for its liberal values, many Canadians have already voiced anger and discontent with the imminent flood of Americans.

“These Americans are going to impose their repulsive English language on Quebec,” said a French-speaking business owner and member of Canada’s Parti Quebecois. “Their inferior language and culture have no place here; we will need to control our borders and deport every last one of these illegals. Vive le Quebec!”

The same angry sentiment shared by a growing number of panicked Canadians has also been reflected in Canada’s recent parliamentary debates. For example, last Wednesday, while debating in a contentious session of Parliament, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was inappropriately named a “basket case” by interim opposition leader Rona Ambrose. After further exchanges between Conservative and Liberal MPs, Ambrose was then subsequently labeled the “Sarah Palin of Canadian politics” for her “weak” insult. The debate closed with a vote that passed Prime Minister Trudeau’s plan of giving American immigrants refugee status in the case of a migration crisis; however, Conservative and Parti Quebecois MPs walked out of the Parliament in protest and made pledges to repeal the “new amnesty program.”

With increasing anger and partisanship in government, Canadian politics has also been rocked by a surge in the number of right-wing political pundits whose policy proposals include radical plans to build a “huge wall” between Canada and the United States.

When questioned about the originality of these new proposals, many of these extreme pundits stated candidly, “Yeah, we got some of these ideas from Trump. So what? We’ll take whatever ideas we want.”

Although Trump has made no comments regarding the adoption of his campaign rhetoric by right-wing Canadians, the likely Republican nominee suggested that, as president, he would subject any American migrant caught attempting to flee to Canada to forced labor.

“We need more people to build our wall along Mexico, and I’m going to do what the Chinese did with the Great Wall—only much, much better,” stated Trump.