As election night results revealed a frighteningly close race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, nervous Americans considering an exit strategy apparently crashed Canada’s immigration website.
The site has been working intermittently throughout the night with high levels of traffic.
The Huffington Post wasn’t able to reach a representative from Citizenship and Immigration Canada for comment.
The online Canadian Immigration eligibility tool is down!????
Too many ppl freaking out about the American #Elections. ???????????? #MovingToCanada pic.twitter.com/R61lfAwPFp— Duchess???? (@DuchessJJ) November 9, 2016
The Canadian Immigration site is down. Sorry, Americans #ElectionNight— Meena Nowrattan (@meenanow) November 9, 2016
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau entertained the idea of welcoming Americans fleeing a Trump presidency in March, during a global town hall hosted by HuffPost Canada.
“Cape Breton is lovely, all times of the year,” he said with a smile, referring to a viral website that has encouraged Americans to seek refuge on the small island off Canada’s Atlantic coast should Trump win the election.
Canadians, however, are not keen on the idea. A poll released Tuesday shows the overwhelming majority of the nation is opposed to easing immigration policies in the event of a Trump victory. The poll, conducted by Mainstreet Research and Postmedia Network Inc., also reveals that most Canadians would support Clinton for U. S. president.
“This election has been quite divisive south of the border and many Canadians are anxious about the outcome on Tuesday,” said Quito Maggi, president of Mainstreet Research.
The Globe and Mail, a major Canadian newspaper, published a pleading editorial last week titled “Dear America: Please don’t vote for Donald Trump.”
“At first, we thought the Trump thing was just a phase you were going through,” it began. “This U.S. election, unlike any since the Second World War, is white knuckle time for the rest of the world. Foreign governments don’t want to interfere in your democracy, so they can’t say what they really think about Trump. But we can. We’re terrified.”
We feel you, Canada.
Looking to ease your election anxiety? Check out these Canadian meditation exercises.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
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