How to Move to Canada

How to Move to Canada - by Andre Du Broc

The 2016 United States presidential race will likely go down in history as a black eye for the country.  Never has the country seemed more divided.  More people, it seems, are voting AGAINST their least preferred candidate as opposed to voting FOR a particular person.  These sentiments, of course, bring out the worst in some people, and we’ve all heard those with temperaments of a 16-year-old spoiled brat spat things such as “If (candidate I hate) becomes President, then I’M moving to Canada!”  Well, if you happen to be one of those pessimistic grouches that want to trade the stars and stripes for the red and white maple leaf, author Andre Dubroc has just the book for you.

This book is meant to be a joke (i.e. you’ll find it in the ‘Humor’ section of your local bookstore).  It is, at times, hilarious.  I found myself literally laughing out loud many times.  Beneath all of this humor, however, is actually a very practical guide.  The first couple of chapters of this book, for example, really educates the uninformed novice exactly how to move to Canada.  It’s not exactly an easy thing to do.  It ain’t like moving across town (if you’ve ever actually moved across town, you know that THAT is not actually easy either.  Remember all of the forms you had to sign in the realtor’s office?), and for every real step that one must take to accomplish their relocation, Dubroc manages to add wit and humor within his actual instructions. 

After Dubroc teaches us all of the steps that are actually involved in relocating to another country (and there are quite a few), he then teaches us about Canadian food, nomenclature, habits, and overall attitudes.  We learn that, just like in the United States, people in Canada are diverse, and stereotypes are applied to those indigenous to their particular province. Again, this is a humor book, and these descriptions are probably somewhat true, if probably not a bit broad.  We’re guilty of this in the U.S. as well. We’re likely to characterize a truck driver from Mississippi much differently than a professor that lives in Vermont.   I should also point out that the author seems to have something against Quebec.  Hopefully, most Quebeccians (???) have a sense of humor. 

With a French name like “Andre Dubroc” you might think that the author is actually from Canada, or has some roots there, but he’s actually from Louisiana.

Although this book is peppered with a few swear words, it’s a far cry from the vitriolic diatribes of such hate filled mongers such as a George Carlin or a Bill Maher.  This book is also mainly apolitical.  Yes, the author takes some shots at the political extreme, but he seems to hit both sides with equal aim.  He seems to realize that humor is at its best when it’s not so hate-filled.

This book is designed to be, and is, a quick read.  Like a lot of humor books, it contains some page filler such as coloring pages to color your favorite Canadians and “word searches” where you can complete a puzzle at the end of the chapter reviewing the new words that you’ve just learned.  I found the author to be quite gifted, however, and being that this is his first book, I would love to see more by him.  I’m willing to bet that if he had a nice chunk of time to work with, he could actually produce a much more detailed body of work.  Since, as mentioned, this book actually contains real tips, I wouldn’t limit this author’s potential to only humor.  This guy has some real talent with the written word.

If you happen to come across this book and the 2016 election Presidential contest has already come and gone, don’t fret and think that this book is no longer relevant.  I’m sure in the days to come, we’ll have plenty of other elections and episodes of grumpiness that will cause many to shout that they will soon change their place of residence.  So a book like this will always come in handy.