Canada immigration site crashes amid US poll results

Canadian immigration website crashed repeatedly on Wednesday amid Donald Trump's rising prospects for winning the US presidency, prompting many on social media to relate the two developments.

As election night in the US wore on, with Trump posting big gains in key battleground states, Canada's immigration website crashed, media reports said. "There's no guarantee the two things are related, but given the loud insistence of many Americans, every election cycle, to move north in the event of an unfavourable election outcome, it's not a huge leap to assume that many despondent voters are exploring options," CNN said.

Data from Google Trends also suggested searches for 'move to Canada' spiked significantly during the night as Trump victories unfolded in key battle states such as Florida and Ohio.

The two developments widely trended on social media. Countless jokes about people fleeing the country over the election results circulated on social media.

Actor and comedian Ben Schwartz could not believe he had been beaten to the punch. "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.

Others pointed to the website's crashing as part of a wider theme of signs that Trump's victory was inevitable. "Where we stand right now: DOW futures are down 750. The dollar is plummeting. And Canada's immigration website just crashed," a netizen said.

On a serious note, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is one of several world leaders who have criticised Trump in the past. One of the biggest differences between Trump and Trudeau are their views on the refugee crisis in Syria.