A U.S. presidential election that featured two particularly unpopular candidates and the surprise victory of Donald Trump has got some Canadians re-evaluating their own political participation.

Compared to the days leading up the election, interest in the search term 鈥渏oin political party鈥� spiked on election night and has climbed even higher since, according to data from Google Trends.

Meanwhile, a number of Canadian Twitter users have stated they鈥檙e planning to join political parties to prevent a candidate like Trump from becoming prime minister.

Several have singled out Dr. Kellie Leitch, who said during Wednesday鈥檚 Conservative leadership debate that she and Trump have 鈥渁 few things in common,鈥� including their approach to screening immigrants.

Jane Hilderman, Executive Director of democracy-promoting group Samara, says the U.S. election was a reminder to Canadians that politics impacts their lives.

鈥淪ometimes we take our democracy and our politics for granted,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he U.S. election, in part how close the race was, said to people your involvement matters (and) joining a party is one way to get more involved.鈥�

Donald Trump won some states by only a tiny margin. For example, in Michigan he got 47.6 per cent of the vote versus Hillary Clinton鈥檚 47.3 per cent and Clinton won the popular vote nationally.

Hilderman said she鈥檚 encouraged to hear that more Canadians might be willing to join parties. Membership has declined dramatically in recent decades. Although no clear numbers exist, estimates are that as few as 1 in 600 Canadians are members.

That鈥檚 despite it being easier than ever to join. Canadians need only click on a party鈥檚 website, fill out a form to share their address, contact information and demographic details, and in some cases pay a fee. The fee to join ranges from free for those joining the Liberal Party to $25 for those joining the New Democrats in Ontario or Nova Scotia. The Conservatives charge $15.

The benefit, Hilderman says, is an opportunity to shape the party鈥檚 policies at annual conventions and to choose who makes it on the ballot to compete both locally and for the prime minister鈥檚 chair.

While Canadians are not always pleased with the options on the ballot on election day, Hilderman says 鈥渢he beautiful thing in a democracy 鈥� is if you aren鈥檛 happy with your options, you can help shape them.鈥�

It鈥檚 a particularly good time to influence the parties. The Conservatives are choosing a successor to Stephen Harper on May 27. The NDP will choose Tom Mulcair鈥檚 replacement no later than Oct. 29.