As Trump surged ahead in Tuesday night’s election, Canada’s immigration website crashed, posting a “500 - Internal server error” message.
Lisa Filipps, spokeswoman for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, said that the website had become “temporarily inaccessible to users as a result of a significant increase in the volume of traffic.”
Teams were working to resolve the issue, she said, and by Wednesday morning the site appeared to be up and running again – albeit very slow to load.
There’s no guarantee the two things were related, but given the loud insistence of many Americans, every election cycle, to move north in the event of an unfavorable outcome, it’s not a huge leap to assume that some despondent voters were exploring options.
Twitter reacts
Many were tempted to file this under “you couldn’t make it up.” Actor and comedian Ben Schwartz couldn’t believe he’d been beaten to the punch, tweeting:
“I was gonna write this as a joke but found out it was real. “The Canada Citizenship and Immigration site crashed around 8 PM” #electionnight,” he wrote.
Another user couldn’t see the funny side of it.
“Canada’s Citizenship & Immigration site just crashed. This isn’t a joke. #ElectionNight,” Scott Warner tweeted.
Others pointed to the website’s crashing as part of a wider theme of signs a Trump victory was inevitable.
“Where we stand right now: DOW futures are down 750. The dollar is plummeting. And Canada’s immigration website just crashed,” Nick Biltonwrote.
We’re not sure where Trump supporters planned to go if Clinton had won. But one fan tweeted – in all-caps – “I’M MOVING TO RUSSIA IF TRUMP LOSES.”
As election night wore on, results seemed to show that the odds she would have to learn Russian were decreasing.
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President-elect Donald Trump delivers his acceptance speech at his election night event in New York City on Wednesday, November 9. "Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential," the Republican said. "The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer."
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Trump, on stage with his family, acknowledges the crowd at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel. He was gracious toward his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and called for unity. "We owe (Clinton) a very major debt of gratitude to her for her service to our country," Trump said. "I say it is time for us to come together as one united people."
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Trump supporters cheer election returns in New York.
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A person sits at the Javits Center, the site of Clinton's election night event in New York.
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Trump's victory is projected onto the Empire State Building in New York.
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Clinton supporters react to results at the Javits Center.
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Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, takes the stage to speak at the Javits Center. He told the crowd that Clinton would not be speaking. At the time, Clinton was behind in the Electoral College with several states still too close to call. She later conceded in a phone call to Trump.
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A woman attends a watch party at the rooftop bar 230 Fifth in New York.
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Trump supporters cheer during his election night event in New York.
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A man reacts as he watches voting results at the Javits Center.
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Republicans in Newport Beach, California, erupt in celebration as Trump's victory in Florida is announced.
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Clinton supporters react to election results at the Javits Center.
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Marta Lunez prays at the Javits Center.
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A Trump supporter in New York reacts as Ohio is called for Trump.
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Clinton supporters watch the voting results at the Javits Center.
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Trump supporters cheer during his election night event in New York.
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People watch election results from Manuel's Tavern in Atlanta.
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An emotional Gerardo Ruiz watches the election results from Clinton's headquarters in east Los Angeles.
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Trump supporters cheer during his election night event in New York.
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Clinton supporters watch results from the Javits Center.
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Claire Shea, dressed as Clinton, cheers during an election night party at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Wellesley College is Clinton's alma mater.
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People watch voting results at the Javits Center in New York.
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Buttons decorate a Clinton supporter at the Javits Center.
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Diane LaRaia watches election results at a party for Trump supporters in Braintree, Massachusetts.
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An American flag hangs above the media at the Javits Center.
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Boxes containing mail-in ballots sit waiting to be sorted at the San Francisco City Hall polling location.
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Kathleen Lundy eyes her ballot in Salt Lake City.
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A man in Philadelphia hangs a sign reminding people to vote.
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A man snaps a selfie with his child as he waits to vote in Brooklyn, New York.
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Harvey Erwin, a 94-year-old World War II veteran, votes with his 3-year old great-granddaughter in Joplin, Missouri. Fellow voters applauded Erwin as he walked to the front of the voting line. "People turned and started clapping all the way to the front of line and saying 'Thank you for your service,' " his daughter, Janine Erwin Johnson, told CNN. "It made tears stream down my face because of the recognition to my sweet dad."
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A man votes in the bakery department of an Austin, Texas, grocery store.
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"I voted" stickers are placed at the gravesite of Susan B. Anthony in Rochester, New York. Anthony, a social reformer who died in 1906, played a major role in the women's suffrage movement.
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Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, greet supporters after voting in Chappaqua, New York.
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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump looks at his wife, Melania, as they cast their votes in New York.
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Voters cast their ballots at a Chicago laundromat on November 8.
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Penn State students stand in line inside the Student Union, called The Hub, waiting to cast their ballots in State College, Pennsylvania.
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John and Colleen Kramer vote at the Caplinger Mills Trading Post in Caplinger Mills, Missouri.
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Voters fill out ballots at the Mount Vernon Center in Alexandria, Virginia.
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A hand-painted message appears on a billboard in Columbiana County, Ohio.
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People cast their votes at the Echo Park Pool in Los Angeles.
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A legal observer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada stands at the entrance of a polling location in North Las Vegas.
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A tourist takes her "misfortune" slip from The All-Seeing Trump, a machine set up across the street from the New York Hilton Midtown Manhattan Hotel.
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Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, votes in Indianapolis.
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Clinton's running mate, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, votes with his wife, Anne Holton, in Richmond, Virginia.
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Denise Richardson votes at the Chua Phat To Gotama Temple in Long Beach, California.
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U.S. Sen. John McCain and his wife, Cindy, arrive at a polling place to cast their votes in Phoenix.
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People line up to cast their ballots at an elementary school in Chesterfield, Virginia.
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Democratic polling judge John Ramirez is reflected in a mirror as he helps a voter at a beauty salon in Chicago.
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With sitar players performing next to him, Efrem Harkham meditates after voting at the Luxe Hotel polling station in Los Angeles.
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Voters cast their ballots in a polling location inside Mike's TV and Appliance November 8, 2016 in State College, Pennsylvania.
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A woman reads over a ballot while waiting to vote in Brooklyn.
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A voter drops his ballot into a voting box in Sutherlin, Oregon.
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People vote at the Los Angeles Lifeguard station in Venice Beach, California.
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Trump's son Eric signs in to vote at the 53rd Street Library in New York.
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A voter casts a ballot inside the Halloran Skating Rink in Cleveland.
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A line stretches down the street in New York as voters wait for a polling site to open.
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Voters look at a sample ballot at a polling location in Independence, Missouri.
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Voters in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, cast their ballots shortly after midnight. The small town south of the Canadian border continued its tradition of voting early, with Clinton winning four votes to Trump's two. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson picked up one vote, while Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee, received a surprise write-in vote.
Looking northward
Jittery Democrats – and maybe some Republicans – have eyed the northern border throughout the election cycle.
In August, CNN reported on a radio DJ who created a website called Cape Breton if Donald Trump Wins, welcoming Americans to the sleepy Maritime island in Nova Scotia.
As the story spread on CNN and other international networks, American interest grew.
The phenomenon goes right back to the primaries. Searches for “how can I move to Canada” spiked 350% as Trump swept Super Tuesday in March, according to Simon Rogers, a data editor at Google, at the time.
Celebrities including Bryan Cranston, Amy Schumer, Cher and Barbra Streisand have all declared their plans to flee under a Trump presidency.
Indeed, the famed Canadian niceness would certainly provide a welcome respite to the relentless nastiness of the 2016 presidential election.
As the Cape Breton website assures would-be American refugees: “The truth is, we welcome all, no matter who you support, be it Democrat, Republican or Donald Trump.”
The same thing happened when George W. Bush won his second term in 2004. But there’s little evidence that many Americans followed through with their threat.
That few actually migrate north is probably at least in part because it’s not easy to make the move.
It is possible though. A job offer, a winning ticket in a citizenship lottery or hyper-wealth helps.
But for most, the first step is logging on to a functional Canadian immigration website.
