Close Reading

I’m a Canadian nurse and I lived in the US for 10 years during my career. I did it when I was young to gain work experience and travel with friends. It gave me a lot of insight in how it feels to live in both countries. I’ve been a nurse and patient in both counties so I also know how it feels to work, live and be a resident in both. \n\nI cannot articulate enough how it has confirmed to me how fortunate I am to be Canadian. The perks to living in the US were very superficial and frivolous things that matter very little in the broad scheme of things,….which I see as more restaurant chains, cheaper restaurant food, more shopping options, etc. As a young person when I lived there,…those things seemed amazing but matter far less as I get older. \n\nWhen I lived there, I paid a fraction of the income taxes that I paid in Canada but it’s only short term gain for long term pain. The cost of health care, the amounts of gov funded benefits (disability, EI, pension, etc) in the US makes it well worth paying taxes to offset these things as in Canada. I have had cancer 3 times in 5 years and I’ve not paid a cent for treatment, scans, surgery, etc in Canada. My employer held my job for 2 years and I received long term disability of 70% of my yearly wages and my employer paid my full pension and benefits as I was off of work. After 2 years, my cancer returned and was deemed incurable so I will continue to receive this pay and benefits until I’m 65 and can retire as I can no longer work. I have no financial worries as I battle cancer. \n\nTo contrast,…my US employer was a world reknowned hospital that had excellent pay and benefits. Had I been working there when I was diagnosed with cancer, I would only have gotten full pay for 6 weeks until my sick time and vacation time was used up. Then I was eligible for a fraction of my income for 3 months, which would not be enough to live on. I would not have had my pension paid. After that, I’d receive no more pay and my employer would hold my job without pay for 6 months and then I’d be let go. My cancer required nearly 2 years off of work so after 5 months of this minimal pay, I’d have no income, no job and no benefits with a new pre existing condition to ensure that I’d have a snowballs chance in hell of getting future coverage. Meanwhile during that 5 months of some pay, I’d still need to pay huge costs of treatment despite having insurance but that would disappear after I was let go from my job. I’d have to return to work during my treatment just to afford to continue it. I have many US friends that had a similar cancer that worked throughout to cover basic cancer care while I was able to recuperate without working or fearing being unable to pay. There is nothing comparable to this when you are sick. It is everything!\n\nSadly, many of my American friends are very ill informed on how health care works in other countries and don’t see the shortcomings in their own. Ironically though, they are willing to argue it without proper information so I often find that bizarre. While lived there I felt as though I was in a bubble where the only news that I saw was US news. I saw no info or minimal about Canada in my whole time there,…aside from falsehoods about health care to scare people away from seeking change. “Canadians are all dying while waiting”, “they are all coming to the US for care”, “they pay 80% income tax” etc. All propaganda,…some from politicians or those that should know better. It was truthfully mind boggling to me how educated people could know so little about the world. It almost felt as though they heard so much propaganda about how terrible other places were while only having knowledge of the US, that it ensured that things would stay the same without anyone wanting beneficial changes to dysfunctional policies (like health care, cost of meds, lack of gun regulations, etc). It’s very bizarre.

Sorry, but I didn't know 'so many people' were leaving Canada. In fact, my European friends living in Canada, LOVE Canada. Their number one reason? The government is for the people. Their numerous benefits, programs and services (employment Insurance, child benefit, pensions, benefits for housing, student aid, family benefits, grants and funding opportunities, disabilities and their recently implemented dental care plan), says it all. Sure the cost of living is high, but where isn’t? Especially after covid and especially if you want a decent quality of life. Their car insurance and phone plans are also expensive but they're getting better. Stay out of the big cities if you can't afford it. There are other parts of Canada that is affordable. \n\nBtw, the healthcare industry, particularly the long-term care sector is a good place to earn a decent living. They are always looking for RNs, PSWs etc. \n\nIn the end, the positives outweigh the negatives. Besides having free healthcare and the many generous social services and benefits, Canada is also a progressive country with strong social policies, including gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights and environmental sustainability, (we’re drinking out of those gross cardboard straws now. Hello?). Then there is our natural and breathtaking landscapes, our four seasons, our excellent education system, diverse communities, friendly people, our cool festivals (The Calgary Stampede, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Caribana, Toronto International Film Festival, Just for Laughs Montreal, Pride Toronto are a few that come to mind), our great air and water quality, strict gun laws, legal cannabis… I could go on and on.\n\nIf you're able to afford living in Canada, consider yourself fortunate.

What Canada NEEDS is AFFORDABLE Housing for the working poor, OW, ODSP and get the homeless who want housing.\n\nAll Pubic Colleges and Universities should be AUTOMATICALLY adding a housing cost for International Students. This way these foreigners aren't creating housing problems for the local community. So Colleges and Universities should be buying property within REASONABLE DISTANCE from their Campuses that are only for CURRENT STUDENTS actually taking classes. \n\nThe Government needs to be RESPONSIBLE for LOW INCOME housing. More people are finding themselves unable to take care of themselves. Which leads to severe drug abuse and homelessness.\n\nNew Development should be required to be the most effective version and sustainable version of Green. 15% of the apartments should be for low income, OW, ODSP and Elderly. This will help the Government properly plan out Public Housing across each Province and Territories.\n\nThe next question is why are all these East Indians who aren't becoming TRUSTWORTHY doctors, nurses, business owners competing to live in Parkdale, Toronto versus the East Indian Hubs in Ontario.

Are you kidding? Yes, houses are cheaper, but look at the cost of medical care, the murder statistics and the miserable education system.

Yes!!!! I'm an RN who fled Canada due to the insane tax rates and cost of living. I now pay 24% income tax, have a higher quality of life, employer paid benefits, and access to health care within hours / days rather than years. Canadians pay half their income to taxes, then die waiting for basic health care.

Stop the blame game , shame on you blaming immigrants and foreign home owners these are a tiny proportion of the population and homes . Real estate agents are the biggest culprits in the rise of prices. I’ve been there several times as telling me my house is worth hundreds of thousands more or we can say exaggerated by 30% or more then my house is on the market for a year which is nota big deal for an agent they have 40 other listings and access to more moneymakers , I’ve sold my last 2 homes personally within days or weeks which were reasonably priced not overpriced this made everyone happy . Building a home is never a problem buy the land get proper permits and select a quality builder I’ve had steady employment and certainly not rich blue collar salary and never have been refused for a mortgage so if you want to build it’s always available , if you qualify for a mortgage.\nAs for your immigration babble do you like to eat food if the answer is yes you should appreciate immigrants, do you like the care you get in hospitals thanks again to immigrant nurses caregivers therapists, how about the next time you stay at a hotel/resort thank immigrants for cooking and cleaning , \nSure stuff costs more you can put some blame on lifetime pensions for politicians and senators for a few years work , over the top spending on government trips , the Governor General expense on wardrobe, minister of whatever buying new boots or shoes to make an announcement total abuse of taxpayer $ , government projects which get cancelled for who knows why and many projects which are unnecessary which are beneficial only to family and friends giving their private businesses contracts , same old guys club new blood is required with new ideas and purpose . \nCanada is expensive I’ll agree but still top 10 to reside in the world if you like life and freedom , eating regularly, lights on , water from your tap, getting to your job on real roads , getting an abortion , not expecting a hospital bill when you arrive home from heart surgery, the list goes on , whiners are are whiners the rest are makers and make our lives better .as for other post saying things are so much cheaper in the states , I don’t pay 10$ for a carton of eggs this happened last year in Arizona state the facts ,

So let's get this straight...Canada has universal health care, a robust legal system, a growing top ten economy, world class education that is amongst the lowest cost in the world and yet Canadians are unhappy? The real reason is the rot that permeates social media and has driven the rise of populist extremists like we have in the US. There is an army of extremists and foreign state actors that are focused on disrupting democracies for their gains. Stop listening to these sources and you might discover things are going pretty well.

In canada we believe in taking care of our fellow citizen, this cost alot; however, canadians demand this. Interesting

Canadians have their homeless and disabled and elderly to take care of, not foreigners... taxpayers pay for infrastructure, unis get rich and then taxpayers have to dish out billions for immigration.. yes, immigration costs around $20 bln per year, not sure how much those students cost.....

Coast to coast it's the same story: Liberal govt let useless 'paper mill' schools (mostly run by Indian scammers) fill the country with these kids with BS sales promotion of a path to PR status (most don't need or care about becoming citizens lol). The Liberals are toying with granting them PR status, but they know this will likely cost them the election. These kids are creating housing capacity problems, creating overcrowding on transit and in healthcare. Local charities are slammed with extra mouths to feed, and grocery stores are experiencing a spike in shoplifting because these kids did not come with enough money to house and feed themselves. The student visa program has been abused by criminals of course, so there's a spike in gangster activity and even a political assassination in Surrey BC. It's a crap show and the solution is for 500,000 of them to head home ASAP. (Yes, this may create a temporary shortage of fast food workers and delivery people, but I'll take my chances.)

I think Everyone is right and wrong at the same time in all of this. Students are wrong to expect 'rights' in a country of which they are not a citizen of but they are also right in the point that government changed the rules overnight without any prior guidance. This the the same as increasing corporate tax rate in this budget. It came out of nowhere. The employers are also right because more labour = lower wages. These students are willing to work to far less than an average Canadian. If these students don't work for low wages then inflation goes ballistic. If you have to pay higher wage to manufacture a product then that extra cost gets passed on to the consumer. raising price of goods = inflation. Also This would increase taxes. If you pay more for a product, you pay % tax on total price of that item which now has baked in higher wages. If you do bring in more of these cheap labour than social services cant keep up like health care. I cannot believe how thoroughly this government has fked our country.

Born and raised in Canada. 45 years old. Trudeau has completely destroyed Canada and had made life for Canadiens impossible! He is to blame with the liberals! the taxes, cost of living, lack of opportunities and lack of housing and everything coming along with it, Ex, backed up services/programs, lack of medical professionals/health care system, schools, congestion, crime, its all Trudeaus doing and I will debate ANYONE who believes otherwise!

Maybe some more knowlegable people can respond, but Canada has a birthrate problem. Our population would technically be shrinking if we did not have imigrants to be the new working force. As for who is imigrating, that may also be related to where people would like to imigrate to and opportunity. ie some would rather to to USA. Maybe if cost of living and raising a child was not so expensive. Canda has made some steps to improving child care costs recently, but it has been bad for a long time. It also does not help that we are now in a society where on average both parents need to work, and people are having children later.

holy crap. Sorry but as a Nova Scotian I have to strongly disagree . Our housing costs both renting or buying has gone crazy in the last three years . We have people living in tents even in the winter. Homelessness is in crisis. I personally have a friend in her 60s and sick and will be homeless in 3 days as she cannot find an apartment much less afford one Prices in everything has gone sky high. While salaries stay low. Every where you look now you see garbage just thrown. Last year we had devestating floods and wildfires. University students get her and cannot find housing. One international student is paying $400 a month to sleep on a hallway floor. I know housing in all our provinces is a problem. Tent cities are everywhere. People poyring in without us having the means to house them has caused terrible sufferring for all. People shoukd not come to NS at this time. Wait until there are places built to house people. Also our healrh care system is in crisis. I love my province but I dont even recognise it anymore. It is so sad what is happening here. People come here from away and some start youtube channels to tell people from their home countries Not to come here.

The description of Canada, high cost of living, monopolies, high cost of housing, declining health care...is exactly the same as Australia...as all those things are also happening in Australia...

Oh that’s an easy one. Health care sucks, everything costs too much, the govt takes too much tax…over 50% of my bonus cmon govt you did nothing to earn it. Quebec has way too much power. Politicians are all corrupt….and so on and so on and so on

28-year-old Female Sydneysider from Australia here. Apologise in advance for the long post and rambling.\n\n\nNot sure if it is just me, so please correct me if I am wrong. Just probably now too overly 'realistically too cynical'. So please take my input with a grain of salt. 

For context’ sake, for most of my adulthood I have always been poor & I am born with special health needs (E.g. disabilities).
\n\n\nSometimes on forums we are often contrasted to Canada, for some reason. Both Canada and Australia have remarkably similar problems with a different coat of paint. Sydney, for instance, has always been high up in the list of the cities with the highest cost of living in the world. Usually within the top 10-20. 

COVID-19 obviously made this issue clearer in some circumstances because we couldn't 'work' at all. Unless you were an essential service worker, to mentally block out personal and local difficulties.\n\n\nWe still have not recovered from that 2–3 years global shutdown. The only reason I was allowed to work for a period was because I work for the animal industry and aid in animal welfare. 

I still lost my job due to COVID-19 regardless and knew I would never get a decent job again. Merely just the last poor sod on the boat to be thrown off. 

Could not become a vet nurse despite working very hard. Just because no one wants to give me '2-years permanent paid experience’ to be taken seriously. 

At the same time, way too many employers will happily take 2+ years of veterinary students volunteering at their vet clinic. With the vague promise of a permanent job.

Which, of course, never happens, then say we are being too demanding or spoilt for politely asking for said job.\n\n\nHow are we supposed to pay off our student debt if any financial service expects us to have a per meant job to pay anything off??

 No, they do not want to train nor help you. They just want free labour, then kick you out once your time is up. All my jobs have been casual, and my animal industry has already become heavily casual based ages ago. Permanent job is like looking for a magical unicorn.\n\n\nSo, even if you and your relatives lived in the way outer suburbs of Sydney for decades, being typically considered roughly lower-middle socio-economic families. 

The younger adults and kids all know and have been aware for years, they have no future at all due to having an inflated cost of living. Sugar-coating it, saying it might go in a positive direction, sounds like a blatant lie. We all know it is a lie.\n\n\nNowadays, in contrast to the late nineties and early 2000s when I was just a tiny naive kid that didn't know any better. There seems to be a more jarring split between the income brackets of what the country assumes who is poor, middle class or rich today. 

\n\nBy today's standards, my family is no longer even considered close to the very lower end of the middle class if you were reaching hard. We are considered 'poor' just because my parents do not earn roughly $50,000 — $150,000 AUD a year on their own in 2023. When I worked, I usually earned $30,000-$35,000 AUD or less per year before COVID-19 happened.\n\n\n(Source — https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/wealth/middle-class-aussies-were-living-better-in-the-early-2000s-than-they-are-today/news-story/fe173db5bbe2b705a8d05df8c5cb14ee)\n\n\nLife is only comfortable living there if you're a selfish landlord, a nepo baby, new money or old money.\n\n\nI feel like most governments and other systems are only strictly being run by sociopathic narcissists that only want us to stay poor to remain in poor conditions to benefit off of. Wouldn’t want any kid to be born in a world where there are no safe guarantees for their future if their guardian unexpectedly passes away or can longer care for them. 

When something does not change within roughly 5–10 years, it is more than simply just valid for us to feel like we cannot fix what has been broken.

Most of what was reported here is true but the housing market and rents have skyrocketed all over the world since the Chinese government F'd everyone with Covid-19. At first there were supply chain issues with all goods so businesses said we have to increase prices. Once supply issues were back to pre-Covid-19 levels businesses did not & will not lower their prices on goods because , we as a society do not take matters into our own hands and boycott products\\company's etc. Now obviously we cannot boycott all goods & services but the majority we could and that is the only thing that would cause action among companies to lower bank fees, fast food prices, grocery prices, cell plan costs etc.\n\nWith that said, you picked two of the highest and most sought after city's in CAN to rent & or try to buy a home. Although rent & home prices have really jumped all over the world in the past 3-4 years, more affordable (still not cheap) housing, compared to Toronto, Vancouver, can be found all across CAN. My sister & brother in law found an apartment to rent in Winnipeg without any difficulty or waiting. \nThey are immigrants and entered on her student Visa & he is a computer programmer. They are not struggling to eat but they have to follow a tight budget since she cannot work but 20 hours a week as a student and they have 1 kid, a car payment,utilities, cell plan, etc. They have filed for their PR and I suspect they will be approved since his job is in demand and she will graduate from College there in 4 months or so.\n\nOne thing I noticed, when my wife & I went up to get them settled in, is that the government (national & local) taxes you all pay out of the wazzoo on everything! I think the only thing that wasn't taxed was air. ? I know most of this is due to the healthcare system, because the money has to come from somewhere. Don't misunderstand, I like the CAN healthcare system better than the US's, because the insurance companies stick it to us as well, but both have their pluses and minuses.\n\nCAN does have a much easier system for immigration. If my sister & bro in law could have come here we would have been glad for them to stay with us and help them get started but the backlog is just so long to wait (10 + years). I also LOVE CAN because you uphold your laws and DEPORT illegal immigrants instead of letting them pour into the Country, by the millions each year, and the majority eventually trickle into the population illegally, who get jobs & pay no taxes (other than sales tax) no driver's licenses or vehicle insurance and get 100% free medical and hospital care anytime while legal US citizen's pay high premiums, into social security and their income taxes each year.

The housing crisis is unbelievable. Last 5 years house prices went up dramatically. Cost of living; our grocery bills doubled in the last year! Health care system is crippled. We moved to another city and still waiting for 2/3 years to be assigned a family doctor! Safety is becoming more and more issue. People used to keep their doors unlocked. Now? No way josey. It is sad. I m looking for a change. Next election, definitely will vote for the opposition party.

The crazy thing is that some Canadians still have faith in Trudeau's party or just have too much trust in the government that they can turn this around. I want to see this country prosper but every few months I just keep on seeing new policies that the current government makes that just doesn't make sense.\n\nFew things to mention\n- No more investment in more roads by the federal government (I understand they want essentially to have citizens use cars less but they haven't provided a plan on how that money would be invested? I have yet to see trains being invested to connect cities such as High speed rail?)\n- Increased carbon taxes (most premiers were against this but they negged it on)\n- proposal and voting for Increasing taxes on capital gains (impact business that invest in Canada)\n- This is a positive thing but also happened because they polls went to the dump (increased investment in housing) and then decrease foreign student admission for future years ( I think this is where liberals say they have hope, but it's at a point where they messed it up and now are trying to fix it to make it look like they are fixing someone else's mess\n- The government is also just adding more policies we can't afford such as Dental plans for certain incomes, food in schools while the free health care doesn't really feel worth the taxes when the quality is not there. ( This is how they want to be the good guys when the conservatives need to cut costs to help resolve this mess)\n\nThe liberals are kind of like that guy in the family that takes a loan, pockets some money for corruption, then gives money away to charities saying I'm the good guy, and then doesn't know how to pay the loan back so asks for their family to help fund the debt.

The problem isn't always from a federal perspective. British Columbia fools elected a socialist government who have also created hardships with high cost of living, terrible health care, and housing bureaucracy. In fact, being a landlord is so burdensome, many are selling their rental homes because it's the only way to escape the cumbersome challenges of owning them. This is adding to the crisis because renters are being evicted in BC because people like us are getting out of the rental game. It's not worth it anymore.

Canada is a disaster. Trudeau and Sigh are a disaster. Crime is rampant. Home prices are astronomical at one and two million dollars. Florida has brand new nicer homes for 25% of the cost at $350k. Does Trudeau think that home builders are going to build and sell for 25% of current prices? Then all those Canadians that paid $1 and 2 million would all be bankrupt having a mortgage at $1 and 2 million. Immigrants couldn't care less about Canada, and want their neighbourhood to look just like the one they left in the other country. Trudeau and Singh have done a wonderful job of destroying what was a wonderful country before the woke/progressives came to power. A renter on Vancouver Island.

frustrating how the comment section is scapegoating immigrants and not the rich asset owners hoarding, speculating in scarce housing resources\n\nthe developed world's fertility rates aren't high enough\ncombine that with generous welfare promises for boomers like retirement pensions, increasing healthcare costs as population ages, and you see why 'vetted' immigration is essential for every rich country be it a Singapore or Canada\n\nits the immigrant health care professionals who are running the NHS in UK, North America's health care system while also coughing the high taxes that bankroll the wealthier boomers\n\nscapegoating immigrants like they did in the run up to Brexit disaster in UK, results in better fitting immigrants getting turned away by broken system while the bad characters like religious extremists, who'd have 0 qualms over staying illegally will survive even a hostile immigration system\n\nits why I emphasize on a 'vetted' immigration system like Singapore

many people are leaving because of the high cost of living, you could work a full-time job and can't afford the rent, the cheapest house in my city is $500,000, the mortgage is higher than your monthly income, also lack of employment. if you need urgent care then at least 8 hours wait and sometimes 12 hours with 3rd world country treatment.

You say why no one wants to live in Canada while the population in Canada continues to increase. Problems with housing started years before Trudeau was elected and continued to get worse and the Conservatives are just as culpable and are using it as a political tool. I guess you haven’t looked at how much it costs per month to cover a family for health care in the USA and that’s after spending thousands because of deductibles before you even get covered and only if you can afford a policy that covers 100%. Pie in the sky is for suckers.

I moved to Canada as a child with my parents 41 years ago. It isn't just inflation and cost of living that is the problem. It's the dramatically increasing racism and discrimination, even against people who have been living in this country longer than the racists discriminating against them. Seriously? This is not the Canada that I came to as a child, grew up in, or have lived and worked in for many decades. I made the mistake of working around the world for a short time and picking up an accent that wasn't even mine originally. I had a Canadian accent before finishing elementary school. To come back to be asked to go home or 'we don't want your sort here' is not just simple racism, but hatred that makes me regret ever having agreed to taking on Canadian citizenship. My kids and grandchildren have Canadian accents and were Canadians from birth. But should they leave and return to the same crap??? What disgusts me more is that the PM dares to include immigrants with refugees, under the banner that 30% of the population are immigrants. Under the law, refugees are temporary migrants and usually nothing more. To bundle immigrants who came to Canada through legal means of applications, brought hundreds of millions dollars into Canada with them of their own hard-earned money from their own countries, to have it taxed out of them, and their families deliberately put into poverty so Canada can fulfil its 19th century-PM Macdonald immigration policy of, and I quote from a Canadian federal government website, quoting PM Macdonald directly, about breeding out the Indigeneous people, is beyond sick! The refugees get a free ride at the expense of hard-working Canadians, 90% of whom came from immigrant stock! What happens when Trudeau says these deceitful lies about legal immigrants is that the racism and discrimination increases dramatically. I have been left in agony in hospital due to evil racist Canadians who thought that my accent meant that I had just flown in yesterday and what right did I have to be there? Police refused to charge a neighbor whose son was threatening the life of my grandchild because the neighbor works for the CRA! Other people have the same complaints. Democracy? What democracy, oh, and please spare us Mr. Trudeau the claim to be a constitutional monarchy, when most don't want the monarchy as a head of state for Canada! I have been honored to have known, still know, and will know in the future, many good, hard-working, caring and decent Canadians, but Mr. Trudeau, can you explain to me, how many of those were actually of immigrant stock and how many have forgotten where their families came from? Canada used to be a good country, but when a person has to keep explaining where they got their job experience from and if they have any Canadian experience for every time that they look for a job in their lifetime in Canada, something is very wrong with Canada. Most jobs in Canada are blue collar and very few are white collar, yet Canada still continues to deceive the world into believing otherwise. Canada is a great vast and beautiful land, but only a small percentage of it has any infrastructure, roads, or homes sufficient to house what is a decreasing fraction of society. Refugees take preference over immigrants and citizens alike. The lie about the homeless is getting bigger. Most homeless Canadians today are veterans, elderly, disabled, mentally ill, poor, and professionals and trades people, yet Canada brings in countless professionals, claiming that their education and experience will get them into the professions that they are coming from. It's all a scam! Canadian education is not the best and yet people with better educations and job experience are being forced to spend all their money to go back to university or college to get jobs that they rarely will be hired for. Canada is not short of doctors, just short of professionals who hire professionals without using discrimination, hatred and racism for their HR kit! Many taxi drivers are doctors, engineers, and so on. So, please stop lying to the world and tell the truth. And no doubt this entry will be taken down because it offends a Canadian who doesn't want the world to know the truth.

TLDR; I am an person from a wartorn, oppressive country, and I unfortunately do not have many options to choose from other than Canada to have a chance for a better life.\n\nLet me tell you from the perspective of a person whose dream is to come to Canada: I know all this already, I know things are going terribly and the cost of living has gone up significantly. But the unfortunate thing is, the country I am from, is currently in turmoil. I do not fit in there as a person and hate the culture. Its incredibly corrupt with no growth. I am more western, and open minded, and my original country is a strict Islamic country. I do not fit there at all.\n\nI know Canada has all these problems, but its my only choice for a better future, I dont want to go to US because I dont wanna die, also, EU wont accept me unless I am from EU myself or speak their language which is a catch 22. Australia is also becoming a shithole. That leaves Canada and NZ. NZ doesnt have that good of job prospects and limited scope and I love Canada, always have. The weather and everything that comes with it.\n\nYes its not perfect, but I think its more about knowing that I can go back to a place, that is not dangerous for me and my future family, where I will get good care if I am stable job wise. Once I am in Canada, I will probably buy my own land and use that to have a trailer home there since they are still cheap, save my money, and probably retire in Philippines. \n\nI dont believe everyone else should do that and yes I know trailer's costs depreciates with time, unlike a house, but I dont care about that. I dont think of houses as investment and I never will nor I will participate in that practice. Everyone has a right for home.

This guy is spreading misinformation about Canada, we have a free health care here. Why the hell you said our health care cost more than in Europe? Can you explain.

Immigration helps oligarchs and the immigrants. \nIt devalues the working poor, middle class wages and inflates the cost of rent, housing, cost of living. \nIt is clearly unpopular, 'liberal democracy' refuses to relent on this issue because it benefits oligarchical interests. \nThe oligarchs and their paid for agents don't care about consent of the governed and instead pathologize dissent as an abstract hatred.

Healthcare costs spending in Euro counties isn’t a fair comparison because it ignores the nature of the geography. Canada is the 2nd largest country on earth by land area and much of the country is made of smaller, remote regions where it is beyond expensive to render heath care services onto the population. There isn’t a single Euro country with a population as spread out as Canada. I wish more people would move closer to urban centres so that it is cheaper to render services to them, but the fact is, you won’t find a single Euro country that deals with providing care to these extremely remote towns that make up so much of Canada. We have entire provinces that are mostly comprised of remote, hard to access towns. It’s just an unfortunate fact of the nature of where we live.

Nice video. I watched it as I like to learn from other perspectives.\n\nI was born in Toronto, and I must say, this “no time for life and fun” is a new thing. This lack of access to health care is a new thing. I agree with your assessment. It now seems lonelier in Toronto. \n\nCanada used to be different because anyone with a good job could afford at least a condo, but life became unaffordable not just for immigrants, but for everyone unless you are in your 50s-60s and own a home. \n\nI have friends working double jobs supporting family back home in other countries, but for some of them the family back home sound like they are doing better than them and own a home. It’s like they are sacrificing their life to be in poverty or full of hardships and their families get to go out for dinners and drinks with friends. Not them. Not true for everyone, but for some yes and I worry about their own retirement because retirement in Canada without lots of savings means you might be homeless or forced to live with family even if it’s not your preference. \n\n without investments and savings, it will be hard to beat inflation. Getting into debt and getting bad credit can mean not getting an apartment. \n\nThe birth rate is going down because it is expensive to have kids and income isn’t enough to match with living costs. Getting help from government is really not something everyone gets access too. One person might get housing support, 10 others may get nothing. Different governments offer different things. Programs end and change often. \n\nIn Canada definitely bargain and shop around for good phone plans. one idea is to get a pay as you go until “Black Friday” then every year or two when your good offer expires there will be many others. It’s the time with the best deals saving almost half. For instance, I have 50 gigs for $25 for two years from a large provider. Telephone companies are the one place where people must bargain and even ask for better deals as a must.\n\nThe people you see living in big houses, will have kids that can’t afford the same. This is because prices keep rising. The system protects the very rich, but will also drain the middle class often within 1-2 generations. Do not link your business to your personal finance, or creditors can take your home. Some not knowing this lose everything and rich people know better. \n\nPeople live until they are very old, so inheritance is pretty much meaningless to rely on, so no matter what your parents have you must hustle in life. \n\nI do think Canada can become what we want over time. Citizens need to fight the trend of great community spaces, restaurants and bars going out of business and dumb corporations move in with bad boring restaurants. Like a McDonald’s where maybe a popular cultural hang out was. \n\nPart of the problem is a lack of mixed income housing areas, so it’s hard to stay living where you grew up. Artists and musicians help make a city great, but many cannot afford to live here.\n\nFamilies and communities staying together means more support for those with young kids and older relatives when they need help. Yet how is this possible in a city that is always pushing out lower income people when wealthier people desire the area. \n\nIn Toronto, every time you move you have to take what is available and that might mean moving an hour away from everyone you know. This weakens communities. Plus, if you live too far from your work you will have no time to socialize for most the week due to travel time. \n\nI think those who grew up in Toronto do have a certain culture of acceptance with others from many cultures, because your friends at school were from all over. But with new migrants sometimes it isn’t until the second generation that their social circles get diverse. This can be isolating and it’s even isolating as those from Toronto eventually leave dreaming of staying in one spot and not forced to move constantly when a landlord investor sells every house you move into. \n\n\nToronto really needs to protect affordability of housing for at least some housing in every section so that people can save money if they live in the city, and not have to leave their communities and be far from their friends and family. \n\notherwise eventually people get sick of the hustle and it’s too tiring to travel 1+ hrs each way to visit someone during Monday to Friday. \n\n20 years ago any professional could at least buy a condo. Not today. There is too much competition now and investors are allowed to buy up all the most affordable housing that once was a pathway to owning a home. \n\nRich policy makers got greedy and destroyed canada and hopefully diversity in leadership will help make Canada better. But they perhaps people knew to Canada can reject this lonely structure and help us rebuild Toronto into an amazing place. \n\nWe need to make sure everyone can afford housing with 30% of their income. I think that will help

I completely agree w this man. Ive worked my ass off for 30 yrs already & even w my private health insurance thru my FT job Its still gonna cost me between 12& 15 grand to get my teeth fixed. Its life threatening & caused by a bone disease that I have no control over but the Gov't wont help pay a damn cent. (Btw I drive 2hrs a day & sometimes sleep in my car overnight & shower at work cuz I cant afford the cost of gas to drive home every day.) \n@ 45 Ive been forced 2 deplete my retirement savings & move in w my Godparents cuz I can't afford rent anymore.\nI drive an 06 Honda Odyssey which is hangin by a thread & Im grateful AF for it.\nBoth my parents served in the military. A combined 30 yrs in the infantry. I did 7 yrs in Army Cadets & was going 2 join the army after high school but I was diagnosed w a bone disease & couldn't pass the health & fitness screening.\nMy point is that Im a hard working, tax paying, polite & damn good citizen. I take care of my neighbours. I come from a family where we were taught 2 be of service 2 my country BUT WTF HAS MY COUNTRY DONE FOR ME?\nThey let in millions of people who cant/dont/wont contribute a damn thing 2 this country & the gov't gives them special PRIVILEGES that CANADIAN CITIZENS will NEVER GET!!\nIt's infuriating & only fuels racism. It's not the fault of the refugees but its gotta stop. \nIts fucking bullsh*t!

Country were you pay tons of taxes, but you don’t get good medical care, they make you wait and don’t have enough medical staff to help people.\n\nYou get underpaid, the salaries don’t keep up with cost of living.\n\nA country where you don’t elect your prime minister. It is just the clown that happens to be the leader of the party that gets more seats in the parliament.\n\nAlso you need to ask for government permission even for doing stuff in your own property. It’s a scam for sure I’ll be planning my escape from Canada before I get too old and break a bone in the winter because I slipped on ice I didn’t see because the city didn’t clean the sidewalk properly.

No its not health care sucks , high cost of living and libtard goverment taxing your heat to change the earths climate

A lot of immigrants to Canada have no intention of making Canada their home. They want the passport and citizenship status to have as a status in their own country. Often these people speak of how lame they find Canada to be and how little they could care about what Canada is as a country and a nation. Our Government doesn't care about making the qualifications to becoming Canadian a more profound commitment. The Federal government leaves the cost and the burden of assimilation on the Canadian tax payers so they don't care. The government makes their money.

Just to give Americans a little context, while we pay taxes to cover doctor or hospital visits and associated costs, we do pay for prescription drugs, dental and vison costs directly. Like in America, many employers offer insurance plans to cover at least some of those expenses. On the other hand, Canada has a serious shortage of medical professionals, largely due to the fact that privatized health care is more lucrative.

In my opinion, those who are against decriminalization just do not understand the real goal and intention behind the policy in the first place. It's not decriminalization itself that caused the problem- it was decriminalization without other adequate programs or policies that supported it. For example, decriminalization keeps more people out of prisons because the prison and legal systems are a complete and total mess. But along with that, they didn't really focus on specialized programs to help treat and care for those addicted. So, people are being kept out of jail but they don't have any affordable housing to go to instead so they end up on the streets. Therefore, decriminalization (which I support) must be done in collaboration with other policy like better regulating (and capping) housing and food costs, healthcare and immigration policy, adequate shelter and social programs as well as extensive treatment (harm reduction or abstenince since both have their place). Otherwise we get what is currently happening in this video.

The homeless problem has become way worse over the years. Canada has become way too expensive to live with the outrageous prices in rent, heat, hydro, food, property taxes it’s bloody outrageous. Ppl loose their jobs and find they can’t afford to pay their rents and mortgages along with all the other bills if they can’t find another job right away. And companies are to hire minority over white ppl. A white male in Ontario, forget about it. White ppl have become minority now in the work force. Absolutely the cost of living has caused the homeless problem to sky rocket. As far as the system it’s true that the system takes care of foreigners first over Canadians. I remember many years ago I tried to get student assistance to take courses and I was rejected because I lived with a parent, the person on the other end of the phone told me strait out if I was a foreigner I’d of gotten the assistance, and this was way before Trudeau was in the picture!!!

I would disagree with the cost of groceries. I still think it's quite reasonable here. House is outrageous though. I wouldn't say that health care is bad but it's not great. You'll have to wait for chronic issue but for immediate help we do oretty well. I'd ask to look at the life expectancy and death rate to prove otherwise. A big problem is a lack of good paying jobs.

It was said now that Health Care system is great in Canada, which is WRONG. You have to wait for Hours even in the Emergency. Further you do not get appointment with Doctors due to lack of Doctors. Further as the State/Canada has to bear the Cost of Tests, the Doctors do not ORDER any TEST.

Most European countries have free health care provided by the government (tax money), including Russia. The tax and cost of living in non NATO countries in comparison to North America, you can happily live on €1800 per month family of 4

Actually it is really simple, the main reason that educational institutes (businesses in reality) and the country have been bringing in international students (whether India or elsewhere) is that *the international students pay 4-5x more in tuition* and so *educational institutes and the country wants to bring them in as cash cows, to milk them for the money!* *They have been using them as cash cows and milking them* There are so many institutes where there is such an imbalance, where 80-90% are international students and the local minority, the reason again is, $$. \n From international students and imgs there is a boost in the economy because of the high tuition they pay and the tax that is collected from that tuition, they spend on rent (crazy expensive as you know) transport, basic cost of living like food etc, entertainment etc, so the economy did benefit from immigrants and international students, but I completely agree that there is way too much influx. It is not good for them nor for the country, as everything has become so expensive, rent and housing affordability is gone crazy, due to crazy demand and low supply. \n So the problem is greed! I totally agree with True North's the Timz example, and the other places mentioned, and I really think that the government should work on affordability, the housing crisis, health care, sustainability, and fair and equal employment.

If cost of living wasn’t so insanely high , we would have more kids , bigger families .\nThat would take care of the job gaps .\nBut they rather do this instead , to keep wages to the minimum .

We have to also include costs on our health care and education programs for all of these immigrants. Is this perhaps the reason both of these programs have deteriorated significantly in the Trudeau years.

Only Shortage is in health care and the Shortage in health care systems is not going to be fixed anytime soon. The family doctor shortage isn't going to be fixed. Because the government isn't paying the doctors enough and forcing them to do stuff. The vaccine mandate caused a lots of doctors and nurses to leave Canada to US. And the family doctors are getting payed around 40$ per patient and they have to cover their expenses and cost of running their clinics with that. Alsobthey have to fill up a lot of paper work. They are not getting paid enough to continue this. The system is a failure in Canada

TBH the points that the US wins are worth it way more than the others.\n\nJobs, salaries and cost of living, that’s what people care most about and the US wins at that by a mile. The US is much better if you are single and young.

I have lived in Quebec, Canada for more than 10 years. It is true that Canada is no longer as livable as it used to be. I feel that in addition to the increase in the cost of living in recent years, the overall social fragmentation has become greater, and many social conflicts have intensified. In short, you should be careful when immigrating to Canada.

Do not come to Canada. It’s a disaster under the Trudeau Government and is suffering from a collapsing health care system, no housing and high inflation and costs.

12 year wait for a doctor, three months for a blood test cannot walk into a clinic since covid, have to book online, but can't book online without a doctor, check every day for an appt space- none avail. Literally NO access to medical care and in the ER after seven hours wait they misdiagnose you and fail. Surgery wait is years, and they wont give you a day or time for an appointment, they say they will call you months later to book a time and then never do. There is no longer health care in Canada. Then there is the cost of housing. Then there is Trudeau making news reporting and websites he doesnt like illegal and pushing through laws to let the govt jail you for speech they dont like using anonymous accusers.

They leave that to the West and the un , why should they take care of their own people? It cost money. The have a lot of money for them self