Close Reading

I’ve been privileged to actually live and work for long periods of time in USA, Netherlands, and China…and in a variety of locations in each country. Until recently, I’d have chosen Canada without hesitation. Canada has been rocketing into an ideological cesspool rivalling China, but so has USA and the Netherlands. As for the future…if I were middle aged (as opposed to OLD!) I would go to southeast USA Fla or Tx. Not because they are ‘better ‘ right now, but I believe USA still has a chance to sort itself out but Canada is simply too screwed up and corrupt (morally, politically, socially, & financially) to recover at least in my lifetime. I was living in northern China (Harbin) when that idiot Trudeau became PM and hoped he had a chance to improve things in general. But it is clear he (or whoever is pulling his vapid strings) has been a disaster and his current opposition shows signs of being equally awful. I believe US citizens care far more for their constitution and freedoms and more aware of the perilous situation they’re in than Canadians, many of whom still believe we have a functioning health care system. All this is coming to you from a Canadian septuagenerian, highly educated by what was (decades ago) the best educational system in the Western Hemisphere. One who benefited from a wonderful health care system before it got farmed out to private corporations and became a haven for niche specialties while starving out the family physicians who were the front line for proactive family care. Can u tell I’m cranky yet? ?? Might as well laugh about it at this point. P.S. When the history of Canada is written I suspect an unabashed plagiarist will begin with the line, “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”

Americans are divided on almost every issue, this is their biggest problem. \nThey seem to think everyone is a threat to them, making themselves their own worst enemy ?\n\nthey've killed more Americans than all other countries combined.\nthe guns that are for protection dont seem to help protect much.

Canada sucks. Worst third world country. Everything is cheap in usa. In canada you have no money unless you run food business or some business

You're a good guy, Tyler...and very brave to take on such a dicey subject as comparisons between Canada and The United States. We are two distinctly different cultures. Currently, America is more than frightening. The political system has really become a total mess. A two-party system (basically YES or NO) does not cater to the many grey areas of politics. The choice right now seems to be Fascist or Liberal. That's it! It was not like that during most of my professional life. Thanks to my job, I had a Green Card. But, I also could travel with little difficulty...especially in the South and Mid-West. Why? Well, because I had blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin. I never got used to states where everyone was walking around with a gun. It scared the hell out of me. As a commercial film director and writer, (unique services - hence the Green Card) I worked just about everywhere in the US. The North East is the most similar to Canada. But get down south, and people were literally walking around with holsters and revolvers on their hips. I never felt completely safe. But America is also a great country full of opportunities and if you are educated and a professional, the money is also great. All Canadians love their Healthcare and Social Safety Net. Generally, I think Canadians are more socially evolved and better educated. Your educational system is awful. And the Bible Belt States are anything but Christian. It's hate and fear-based. But the past 7 years have been the worst since the Trump Cult era began. Trump and his Mega Cult could destroy what was once a wonderful country.

we lived in the USA for 14 years and actually because citizens before we moved back to Canada, and to this day, maintain dual citizenship. The health care was the biggest difference. Fighting with health care providers to get them to pay their portion of a bill was the WORST. They automatically turn down every claim the first time around so you have to get on the phone and fight with them. In the USA, you can only see doctors within your health care provider, or you have to pay full on to see someone outside it. You also have to pay to see your family doctor even if its for a annual check up. NONE of that happens in Canada. Health care in Canada is provided by the government. Health care in America is a BUSINESS, and they are all fighting for your $$. Being self employed in the USA was an eye opener, with a $1100. a month premium, so that we had a reduced annual deductible. No deductible or monthly premiums in Canada. Americans should NOT HAVE TO DECLARE BANKRUPTCY just because they get sick. Otherwise, we loved living there. Great people, awesome Mexican food (you can't get that in Canada), beautiful beaches and excellent access to them. Amazing highway systems,. At the time we lived there, housing was affordable, food and clothing were cheaper than Canada. None of that is true these days. You guys pay as much as we do for food and shelter.

Even if you paid me, I would never, ever, move to the US. The US has the worst health care system in the world.

I bet the worst part was the requirement by Canadians that immigrants do something meaningful, useful, clean, orderly and beneficial for their society - in silence! ?

Speaking as a Toronto resident who rents in the city (and is thinking of moving out soon), I just don’t think you get the value that you pay for by living in Toronto. In addition to the concerning trends that this video mentions, the weather is crappy 8 months of the year, the transit system is one of the worst I’ve seen in a big city, you have to work a lot to sustain a good lifestyle, bars and restaurants here cost a ton of money and compared to other cities I’ve been to, I’ve found Toronto rather generic and not really unique in any way

Khalistan my foot.. Kashmiri pandits plight is the worst in world still they love India all these silly excuses asking for seperate country cannot be tolerated

In my opinion Toronto and Canada has changed for worst and is loosing its so precious identity. The last 15-20 years our leaders have been protecting the speculators, importing indiscriminate cheap labor (who can leave in Canada with $15/h?), down graded the education and social system. All in name of a false justification of multicultural philosophy. I have seen similar situation progressing like that in other parts of the world and unfortunately there will no point of return. Look at Los Angeles and you will see Toronto's future. I feel sorry for Canada that I love and for our brothers that built this country.

I don't like Toronto. Tired of the rude people and too many immigrants and high rent. It is overcrowded. People push you to get on board the train and refuse to wait for the next train. I would rather work remotely and yes it is not worth living in. Transportation is not as reliable and too many people travelling downtown and back uptown especially during rush hour. If GoTransit breaks down, there aren't that many alternative options to travel. There are many issues including Internet service is not stable. Yes the pay is not enough yet to cover the cost for a place. They want to build more housing in Toronto but it is the worst idea and will make it even more unaffordable. Smaller towns and other cities are better. Bramption also is not a recommended place to move to. Immigration should be recommending people to live in less populated places.

Sadly , IT IS TRUE... I came to Toronto 34 years ago, EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED for the WORST. Just like you, I love Toronto , BUT....for new immigrants , families students , refugies ... NOT THE PLACE TO START a new life.

Agreed. We came to Toronto in 1989. It was a clean and safe city. It has turned into Gotham City - dirty, crowded, construction everywhere and worst of all yes, the homelessness has spiked. Winter months are brutal and I cant imagine what they go through. Our government has failed us and now with Olivia Chow as the Mayor, its going to be worse. We live well away in the suburbs but I occasionally have to go downtown for appointments and I detest taking the subway and going down there. We plan on moving out of the entire province in hopefully 10 years from now but until then, who knows what will happen to Toronto and York Region at thus point

You are supposed to move to the worst provinces with no services so you can build these empty places in Canada. You are not supposed to take all the houses, take all the food from the poor and take all our jobs. Move to the Yukon. Stop moving to over populated places, there are too many immigrants and you are ruining our country.

Can't wait to see trudeau drag out worst pm ever in Canada

YEP. DO NOT MOVE TO TORONTO. I think you're beings very kind. It's a mess. No planning has led to a city that is out of control and ugly. The worst part is the water front.... which simply has disappeared. \nYeah, anyone living in Toronto needs to be seeing a therapist...unfortunately you won't be able to afford one!\nI live outside Toronto in an apartment, (I never, ever thought I'd live in an apartment) and I pay $3000. And there is plenty of random violence where I am as well. I had a first hand experience. It's really, really sad \nI would leave this country no problem, but living here through lockdown and stuff has me rather down?

I agree send them back. They want in our space cause we have money and good life. BULL we already have ppl living on the streets and poor. They all get here and our country is going to end up just like what they left. They are bringing in the drugs and gangs. Our country isn't going to be safe with them all being here. I think the worst is some of the ppl in politics wants to do this.

This is the same everywhere Lynn. I know a few kenyans here in Australia came as visitors and told they could easily switch to a resident Visa while on shore unfortunately thats the worst lie ever made by an agent. I’ve looked for this girl I met at the train station and someone said she was taken to the detention centre. PEOPLE DO YOUR RESEARCH INFORMATION IS IN MOST OF THESE COUNTRIES WEBSITES! Cant travel and leave home only to try claim asylum it doesnt work like that. Its really sad ?

Alina have you tried York Region? I agree Downtown Toronto prices are ridiculous. Richmond Hill, Oakridges, Aurora and Newmarket is still considered part of the GTA and the prices are pretty reasonable for now. Hopping on a GO Train downtown is only 40 mins. TTC is the worst.

Right now the best place to live is SEAsia. Cheap except for singapore. I like thailand but the language is difficult and you will never be able to read and write in thai. Too complicated. Europe is also on its downturn a lot. Inflation and taxes is too high. Yes covid destroyed the world and i heard another pandemic is going to happen thatbis worst than covid.

Healthcare is worst in Canada, housing prices and rentals have gone through roof.... You can not survive only seeing the clean environment and fresh air.... Delhi NCR population is more than of Canada, australia, denmark, sweden, norway... If population is less than they are bound to have fresh air and cleanines

Montreal has drastically changed since the pandemic for the worst. I know its not as bad as Vancouver and Toronto, but it’s facing similar issues. I’m ready to leave the city (montreal) and move in the country side.

You mentioned lots of things but I think all countries have better than Toronto. Whoever come Canada those not important for them example you mentioned Highpark .Our country has 1000 parks better than High park. I moved here when Stepen Harbert priminister that time.He is the man made very better Canada .After this party come power all of them go down. Now you can see worst and worst scenario going on

I guess because Toronto is so huge and because I stayed in the main touristy areas I only noticed a few homeless people during my trip. They were more noticeable to me in Calgary in the spring. But the worst I've seen is Portland, Oregon and Seattle, WA and in 2021 Washington DC was pretty bad off...though the encampments I saw then had been cleared out by DC when I returned in 2023.\n\nI really really enjoyed my stay in Toronto over Labor Day weekend, my first time ever to visit. But just looking around me I got the same sense I did in NYC...it's a beautiful place to visit but living here would be ungodly expensive. The luxury apartments across the street from my hotel seemed to have rather low occupancy, from what I could see from my hotel room window at night. A lot of rental real-estate are speculative investments and any thought of addressing housing needs, keeping occupancy rates high, etc. are purely secondary concerns...zombie buildings with unaffordable rents that remain sparsely occupied while the need(s) are so dire is morally offensive and government should step in with rent controls and occupancy requirements and tax those owners more heavily who have occupancy below a minimum threshold. The increase in crime is a completely expected outcome of economic desperation. The US answer is usually more police & harsher penalties but I hope Canada is more rational and humane in addressing these societal ills.

We indians have mentality & habutal of living in crowded artificial & cosmetic & polluted social environments in India, they missing all such things in Canada, otherwise friendly nature open minded quality councious clean living people definitely love to live in Canada...India a highly flooded population country where above 50% population living like in hell, roads are heavily crowded with huge traffics & highly risky , crome is worst , same corruption is everywhere, so if any body go in to deepth of painful condition of India only than anyone can judge benefits of living in Canada.

Torontois no good.crime is worst and is very dirty.I grow up Toronto i use too love city.\nBut iam not toronto still feel like iam living in a third world country.

I am from Toronto and it's really changed for the worst as of my recent visit, my family all wish they could move , I currently live in Halifax due to work for the past 5 years and it's also bad with similar issues . Canada ?? has really changed for the bad .

BC is the worst province(horrible political, health, and legal management). Quebec, Ontario, is also bad...same reason. Canada has become a hidden dictatorship. DON'T COME HERE.... IF YOU MUST, CHOOSE ALBERTA OR NEW BRUNSWICK... AT LEAST THEY HAVE DECENT PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS THAT CARE ABOUT AND ACTUALLY SERVE THE PEOPLE..

worst part is these gangsters and extremist have strong lobbying in canada govt through jagmeet singh party.india govt tired of requesting expedtion requests to canada govt. justin trudeau supporting them for votes. canadians stop voting jagmeet singh party otherwise canada turn into mexico ,pakisthan\nanother worst and sad part is justin trudeau and jagmeet singh ,pannu trying to projecting this like india vs sikhs, sikhs vs hindus its completely false. candians should understand this all sikhs are not khalisthan extremists. and also all sikhs in canada not indian orgin some of them from pakisthan. a very tiny number of sikhs supports khalisthan. now khalisthan terriost getting strong finacial support from pak isi.this also one reason govt taking it very serious

You have to gain over 100k to afford a living here… Infrastructure is very bad with long commuting hours and transit worst in Canada. It’s very widespread and there is nothing to see in the city itself expect if you love skyscrapers… The only reason people move here is due to job and salary if you are really an indispensable professional with a career, more welcoming and open to immigrants and apart from that nothing to do there… very crowded.. unsafe.. and you don’t really experience the vibe of the city like maybe Montreal that has its own downsides as well!! But its worth a try if you have that desire for some change in your life considering those caveats above.

I am living in Europe now, but my application to move to Canada was approved last year after a three-year wait. But my cousin, who is currently living in Albany, upstate New York, told me not to make the move. He said it is a bad time to move to North America right now, be it the US or Canada.\n\nLiberal governments had destroyed both countries, he said, and the current Canada is no longer the Canada that I made the application to move to.\n\nBut the life in Europe now is quite depressing as well, cost-wise. Things are so expensive that I have to spend 40% monthly more to maintain the usual lifestyle than I had 3 years ago. I guess it is almost the same everywhere, except that homelessness is not such a huge problem in Europe since most European countries still have proper social system.\n\nWorse comes to worst, I'll just pack my stuff and head back to Malaysia, my wife's home country where I used to live for 8 years in the mid-2000s.

Canada is better bro . Europe is worst but real African hustlers will make it . Courage to all my travellers Preparing .

This is what happens when you elect a hapless president in name only president Joey Biden with the worst administration in our history. This is an evasion of our country by illegal aliens and stop calling them migrants, they are invaders.

india only copying and doing what the cia been doing for decades in other peoples countries...get used to it. saudi arabia was way worst...they tortured their targeted guy and then dismembered him...maybe while he was still alive wow. at least india agents make it quick and relatively painless.

And the worst part about the government is doing nothing to fix the housing crisis, except allow more trailer parks and allowing people to rent a trailer on their property in town instead of building more houses and apartments they are changing policy to allow people to live in a trailer in town. My best goal to live comfortably would be save enough money to buy a trailer and live in a trailer park because rent will probably be cheaper there than any other one bedroom room.

In Nigeria sef e worst

*Man I hope all the ones in New York City see this....everyone is complaining? but internally I'm like man the new immigrants are in for a world if shit for at least the next six years. They will be paid the lowest and treated the worst*

Trudeau is making homelessness the worst canada has ever seen as he lives like a king and destroyed affordability with his bad policies and high taxes. Trudeaus carbon taxes are destroying affordability in everything

So tired of this… this could be the destruction of the US… all for the purpose of ensuring votes for the next generation … watch over this year and for years to come the push to allow all these illegals to be able to vote. I was in Brownsville, TX almost 2 years ago and the illegal traffic was bad then. Biden will go down as the worst President in the History of the US. … and we’ll have a supposed 80 million voters to point to. The USA is a joke around the world right now as leader. Biden = pathetic joke.

That was the worst photo shop of the guy. He might have been just a protestor

Canada is now a heaven for terrorists, murderers,thieves and ganglords.....may canada suffer the worst to come

Canadian security acency is worst... i think Indian police have more brain and intelligence when compared to canada's secret service

Canada forgot the Kanishka Bombing where 220+ canadians were killed including 80+ children. It was the worst attack on Canadian soil and trudeau's dad botched up the investigation. India had sent every possible evidence to put the mastermind behind the bars 3 years before the bombing took place but Canada did not act just like Canada is doing now. Same old story. Someone has to make sure that the same incidents don't repeat if Canada acts like a spineless nation.

If the struggle is real then dont fight for it anymore, head home, \nThere are people had worst situation than u and u keep on complaining somehow u have a roof to live on, youre that kind of people but cant prove anything, i work 3 jobs 7 days a week and still i feel so blessed looking at my kids knowing that they have place to live on

Couldn't agree with you more! After spending almost 20 years working in Asia/Pacific, I returned to Toronto in 2021, thinking that I would settle back. I was shocked at how much the city had changed for the worst (although I had been visiting every year). Drugs on the street, young people struggling with mental health issues and city that doesn't spend enough in social services to help the marginalized in society. I left in 6 months. Now live in Istanbul, a vibrant city steeped in history and culture that predates Christ.

More and more crime in TTC and you may notice there are a lot more people start to cycling everyday due to this. Not because people like cycling, only because TTC is honestly the worst forever system in the same scale cities around the world. By the way, the city doesn’t provide with good biking infrastructure. People are just risking their lives daily for commuting in the city

Worst Canadian city

Every city in the world is changing/has changed. We are in a major recession right now and we still have not seen the worst of it.

not just toronto the entire country has chaned for the worst . Canada really feels like a third wolrd country .when i moved back from france ,depression hit me hard . Canada is a thing of the past unfortunately and whats sad is that canadians are so brainwashed , they have no idea how bad things are compared to the rest of the world .

I've always thought Toronoto was a Sh****le. You forgot to mention how everything is woke with LGBT (alphabet soup), homelessness is a big issue and one thing that hasn't let up is the crime and drugs. In T-dot, you'll either find the friendliest of the friendly or the worst impolite scum and it seem divided 50/50