Close Reading

1) Toronto is poor value. Getting housing of any kind (buying or renting) is stupidly expensive. And the quality you get for the price is lousy. Especially the newer builds, which are just thrown up as quickly as possible and sold to investors. Policy measures generally all seem to serve to just inflate the price of housing further. The occasional lip service given to affordability is amusing, but ultimately sad. There are lots of people who really do not want the housing bubble to pop. They will fight against it with all they have.\n\n2) It has become kind of boring. There is lots to do if you have money, but it’s harder to find entertainment on a budget. Even the free stuff like parks are filling up. Stuff like sporting events, eating out, going out is very costly across the board. Even the “cheaper” stuff is expensive. It seems like a lot of local culture is disappearing. Even the cool neighbourhoods are filling up with the same chains. I think the high commercial rent and bureaucracy is deflating a lot of would-be entrepreneurs. Most landowners seem to just be banking on cashing out their land for condos.\n\n3) Canada overall has a high cost of living compared to salaries. In the US you can find lower cost of living areas that still give you a real city experience. And in Europe you can be poor but still live a decent, if no frills, life. In Canada the basic necessities are all expensive. Phone bills, grocery bills, rent, insurance are through the roof. Domestic travel is expensive. And the dollar sucks if you want to travel abroad. Health care is free but good luck finding a family doctor or waiting 8 hours in the ER these days. It’s expensive to be poor, or even middle class.\n\n4) Most of the Greater Toronto Area, outside the core, is soulless suburbs with awful transit - very “American” except with worse traffic congestion. You will need a car, which is another huge cost. Row upon row of old cookie cutter suburbs with the same crappy houses. Good luck walking anywhere, and if you do you will need to walk down boring, treeless arterial roads with cars zooming past right beside you, and cross giant eight lane intersections that were never built for humans on foot. In a rainstorm or on a fall evening you have to be really careful not to be run over by aggressive drivers.\n\n5) It is hard to raise a family in an apartment here. You can do it but it’s not very easy, and also you are still kind of judged for it. Lots of young people are feeling stuck and are deferring or avoiding starting a family. Buying any type of house, even a basic townhouse, requires pledging your soul to a bank by taking a massive mortgage with eye watering debt in a volatile market. But few apartment buildings have the kind of sensible gentle density, the family unit sizes and the common amenities, like little courtyards with jungle gyms, that you might find in Europe. No one ever contemplated that anyone would ever desire to raise kids in an apartment. It’s just a cultural thing that has worked its way into how things are planned and designed.\n\n6) The transit system is ok by North American standards but awful by international standards. There are only two real subway lines, one stub line, one line that is permanently out of service after a derailment, and another line that was supposed to open a couple years ago but still has no date for opening. The subways go out of service frequently, sometimes for the dumbest reasons, and then it is a zoo of shuttle buses. The streetcars are nice but so slow. The buses are fine if you find yourself dreaming about riding a daily herky jerky rolling tin of sardines. They are building a lot of transit but it will take decades to get done.\n\n7) There is still a lot of cool multiculturalism and opportunities to experience different foods and cultures - one of the best things about Toronto. Increasingly though it seems to be losing the fun vibe of the 90s, when everyone celebrated each other’s backgrounds and was chill. It seems the immigration is not as broad based anymore and also people are importing a lot of their “old country” grievances here. The immigration system also kind of preys on people abroad by selling them a false fairy tale, so they end up dejected when they arrive and see how things really are.\n\n8) This one might be controversial but it’s kind of an ugly city. There’s nothing particularly of historical meaning or value. Some of the older neighbourhoods are kind of nice, but the last 25 years they have only built giant glass skyboxes, one after another. There aren’t the cool “missing middle” walkups like in NY, Chicago or Montreal (or even LA). There are very few buildings with much architectural character. Some of the buildings they deem “heritage” here are an embarrassment.\n\n9) For safety, honestly on this score I think Toronto is not bad. There are not too many real “ghettos” and it’s night and day compared to much of the US. With that said, there is more vagrancy and social issues these days, with tents and such. It’s very sad but the shelters are full, lots of homeless go into the libraries, parks and transit system. It does make it harder to enjoy these public amenities safely. It is nowhere close to Europe where you might let your kids run free around town. Canadian parents still helicopter their kids and the place again is not designed to really be safe for kids, in the same way as Europe.\n\n10) Finally, a bit of a double edged sword. Toronto had a lot of youthful energy - people coming here from all over. It is definitely not as sleepy as many parts of the world. With that said, it is becoming a bit of a transient place (minus the world class experiences like London or NY). If you are from elsewhere you might find it hard making and keeping friends. I’ve seen lots of people struggle because it’s is hard to build a strong social network. We have a very “shallow” culture here - people are extremely polite but not overly warm and hospitable. We treat one another kind of like neighbours - meaning we’d like to have a cordial, drama-free coexistence and otherwise kind of stick to ourselves.

I cant wait till alberta leaves canada, this country has nothing to offer its citizens and nothing is going to change

These problems are nothing inherant to Toronto..Look around...every major north American city is in the same prediciment.

Nothing works here, the government doesn't even govern anymore they just tax and take money.

I have a different perspective as a Canadian who has lived abroad since 2017. Digital Nomads are a growing force around the world and more and more people are retiring in countries other than where they were born. So this is a global phenomena, not just something happening in isolation in Canada. The world is on the move. In the future I predict this will greatly increase. Nothing will stop the globalization of the world, and I mean that in the truest sense - not restricted just to the economic realm.

People have been using Canada as a gateway to the United States and as a second passport for decades, if not more than a century. This is nothing new.

20 years ago, already a Canadian citizen I came back to my country of birth. The Canadian dream became more of a nightmare. I faced so much bigotry and arrogance from so many Canadians. Behind that smile and political correctness was so much contempt against newcomers. Holding a U of T master’s degree meant nothing as my hands holding it were not as white as the ones who were eventually employed. My accent, considered “nice” as a tourist, became a motive for rejection and disdain when trying to integrate to that society. It’s no surprise that many of us are not willing to stand such scorn.

Indian Visa services are looters. I don't know about other places but in America, Indian embassy is nothing but a thugs nest.

I live in a small rural Northern community, East Indian immigrants have bought out or taken over nearly every business in the community, our car wash, both grocery stores, both Hardware stores, subway, pizza place, two of the three restaurants, only motel, nearly all the rental properties, and they are shifting their investment now to homes, as we can still buy homes up here for reasonable prices, they are buying them, doing some cheap renovations, and trying to flip them for large amounts. All these local small businesses in the community used to employ young people from the community, they used to be places of employment for summer jobs for students and for the elderly people who retire here to have jobs to keep busy. Since the influx of people from India, all of the jobs in these stores that have been bought out by them are now done by Indian people, nearly everyone who used to work these jobs in my community has lost the opportunity to do so because since the businesses were bought out by Indians they only hire their own kind as employees. I know at least 10 people directly that have lost their jobs due to this, and there are certainly more. We allow foreign investment in our business and real estate market, and these people come in, completely take over and dominate these small communities, and fill them with their young people from India and take away all the jobs from the local people living here. Its horrible. My wife and I are planning on moving to Eastern Europe, Canada in another few decades will be nothing more than a province of India.

Congratulations Justin Trudeau, Your voters of new immigrants are not that stupid, Liberals have done nothing but make living in Canada more difficult. The only way to change this situation is to get rid of Trudeau, Join the Sophie movement.

Yay! Theyre already becoming law abiding. They will be a great adition to all those other do nothing for america folks. Yes please biden give them all our tax money. They earned every penny.

Nothing is here all them do is stealing from Peter and give it to Paul, it's real just take a look at what they trying to do they want do steal everything u work to build their infrastructure that they didn't build create for the population of 40 million pple.

Nothing left after rent and groceries ?... eating just 1 meal isn't better than 3. Basic minimum wage is a joke right now.. Think about the Frontline essential workers leaving the country in huge numbers who works for a bare minimum ?

If you think it's pricey now to live in Canada just wait till the rest of the carbon taxes kick in.\nI was going to use buying a house as an example but forget that with the cost of housing right now it's already unattainable. Instead we'll go with groceries. The cost of fuel will go up with the carbon tax. So all the steps in getting your veggies to your plate go up. To offset this the feds say through their newly created bureaucracy they will give some people some money back. This does nothing to help the vast majority of us.\n Basically if you voted for the LIberal/NDP government you voted for these higher prices. Enjoy.

That's Great News to my ears. All Migrants should leave Our Canada. They just bring Their old life and ways with them! They're not looking for a New Life, they're trying to make Our Canada into one of their Breeding grounds using Our Tax Dollars to Take Over Our Country! Canadians watch their Country being Taken Over, but Do Nothing! Someday they'll ask, Where did Canada Go? ?

I'd definitely leave if they accepted me somewhere where the universal healthcare was nothing more than an overwhelmed and subpar farce.. but there's a reason the Scandinavian countries make long term residency more of a trial

Canada offers nothing but taxes

Politicians are useless. 99% of them do nothing for Canadians, self serving blood suckers. Pensions, benefits for doing nothing. Civil servants are useless, I’ve worked in aviation for over 40 years saving lives, fight forest fires with no gov. pension just what I saved. Thanks to people like Trudeau this country is going broke.

Immigrants are being duped into coming to Canada...Trudeau has turned this country into a woke hell hole and who wants to come to a country where there's a high chance you become homeless because of the ridiculous cost of housing which the government claims it can do nothing about

Not just immigrants, where can people live with this housing mess?! Is this a scheme to be locked up in a country having to live on the streets until they die for some reason? Those who came made a huge financial and emotional sacrifice for almost nothing after realizing the truth and mess, makes sense to leave whenever they want and until all this is fixed! Too many politicians and landlords ripping off good people just trying to have a life!

I am 10th generation Canadian and plan on leaving one day too just not sure when and where to go. Affordability is not good, no special things for the long term generations that their whole family grew up here, nothing with banks, nothing with education, nothing to advance careers for myself or my children, non allied people getting in. I remember when there was stricter immigration laws. I remember when one man could support a whole family. I remember when citizens would walk on one side of the street and allow others to pass on the opposite side walking from the other direction on the streets as well as in the stores, when people had more courtesy. I remember when people could joke and not get offended, when people would stand up for one another. When a community was a community. When you could be Christian and not considered offensive. When it was safe to say bless you and not be told to shove it etc... when you did not have to witness riots on the streets and a people divided and it was not believers and non believers either as the non believers would still be peaceful in the past. It is much more than that now. Now it is you are white and racist, which I am far from but have been accused and am very baffled at that statement because never in my life would I in the past ever be accused of that. I am now like, wow what am I witnessing? I just feel something much greater is going to come, but not knowing when. ONe thing I fear is there will be an all out war and it will be whites or Christians being the target one day.

It’s been 5 years for me here and I honestly can say I have achieved nothing in my life yet. It scares me when I think I can’t return whatever my parents had invested in me. The fact is you’ll never have a good paying job in Canada being an immigrant. When I say this trust me I mean it. Most you’ll get is a minimum wage job which can make you survive the life here. Taxes are high definitely and what I feel is you’re working to make someone else’s life easier. \n(P.S: people who’ve stayed in Canada will understand who I’m implying to)\nNo one wants to be your freind, scope of socializing is zero coz mostly it’s cold round the year so everyone hardly come out, especially in Northern provinces like Yukon, Saskatchewan, Manitoba.\nHealthcare is a joke. If you feel sick and not well and you wanna see a doctor be prepared to wait for hours and hours. I once had stomach infection and I had to wait 5 hours till someone could see me. I asked for painkiller at-least so I could bear the pain but they refused that as well. You might well see someone you love dearly and with whole heart die in-front of you and you could do nothing. (I’ve experienced it myself hence saying)\nYou’re a lone survivor who’ll always keep fighting. \nThe only person who can make money here is businesses and high paid jobs which are reserved to Canadians. That’s how Canada’s job market is. Canadians’ first and if there’s something left they’ll look at you. By the amount of money people invest here they can establish a nice business back in their country itself and earn accordingly on own terms. \nMost importantly you’ll cut yourself from all emotional supports like family, freinds etc.\nI was social person back in India who liked making new freinds and memories but it’s nothing like that here. \nAnd it’s the same life, no different.\nYou wake up, dress, eat, go to work, come back, eat, sleep. No different.\nNo fun and nothing. You actually don’t live in present, you live in an expectation of a better tommorow.\nYou’ll always have a smile when you greet someone but I guarantee you no one’s gonna check on you to if you don’t start a conversation even with a simple “Hi”. Mostly Canadians are nice but again some will systematically judge you and say nothing but you’ll see in their actions, the way they’ll talk in a twisted way etc.\nYes I’m not saying that Canada’s bad or it’s no good but trust me it will take forever to build a life here especially with the number of people moving here from round the world. \nIf you’re well off financially from back home Canada’s a paradise for you. Indeed it’s a beautiful country with lots of beauty and lots to explore but remember everything comes with a cost here. Everything comes with a cost. People need to stop believing in this fake illusion and come only if they got a purpose here. The only reason why they’ll let you in the country is for money and once you’re in you’ll have to keep spending, doesn’t matter if you’re broke or whatever you have to.\nOnce I earn I’ll happily give up my PR status and go back to India as i very well know what the situation is how it’s gonna be in future.\nSo just one piece of advise to every middle class person like me, guys please invest and spend your money wisely coz we know how hard it is to earn and it’s high time Canadians start appreciating what immigrants like us do for them by burning ourselves day and night and start realizing that their past generation once came from some other part of the world as well and settled here. Being white doesn’t make you a nice Canadian, you’re actions defines you more than your words. \n90% of this country is built by immigrants and that’s how it’s gonna develop in future, so if they keep treating us the same way good luck to them ?.\nAlso a plus note to anyone thinking that Asians are stealing your jobs, go get outside and have the balls to face them and take it away from them. Staying home and ranting and abusing us that we’re taking your opportunities and blah blah isn’t gonna work. We are so successful round the world because we are hardworking, honest and respectful to everyone. Even if we’re earning minimum and barely surviving here we always make sure we’re not burden on the government or anyone else and won’t keep crying.\n\nA big shoutout to all you guys who came here in the hope of a better future but are still struggling.\nKeep hustling and you’ll reach there, if not step down and go back and start your life again on your home soil. There’s no shame in experimenting continuously rather than sitting ideally and crying about future. \n\nAll the very best my people and lots of love to you ❣️

Exactly canada supposed to be what we are lacking in our country, i feel scamed I havent been able to work because, I developed a physical conditions in my colum vertevral that liter and. its taking my life quality and incapacitated me, No only the exams takes month or vene more than a year to have but my Specialist Doctor left Canada, and I was left hanging waiting for a new specilist, its been more than two months and nothing and more that 1 year trying to be diagnosed I am really frustrated and tired of this. And the govetrnment wants to brig more people and can even provide services for the ones that are here. This is somenthing they dont tell when they sell their life style to lure more people into coming here. i dont understand how como Canadians dont complain more about health system they seem to be proud of it even if it doesnt work at all. and Its not free they take alot of tax from my paycheck when I was working.

Because we get nothing done here. My mom came to this country in the 70s and she loved how much progress they made every decade. But now we do nothing. We need to get Canada working. Build major projects and be competitive. We cant do that with Trudeau. And to be fair. Im not a liberal or conservative fan boy. It just matters who leads whichever party. And right now liberals DO NOT have a leader.

You need to ask that question? Lack of housing is the biggest issue. And thus it’s nowhere affordable to be here, especially of you start with nothing.

I am not argue with the narrator of this video. It is his preconceived notion of what is good living. But I am living in Manitoba for more than 40 years and I really really love it. I raise my kid here and they were educated here. I have no regret living in Manitoba even if I came from a tropical country. This is home and impact a happy home for us. I visited other province also but nothing I can compared to Manitoba. Manitoba is where my hearts are and will be forever.

They get their citizenship here, their education and then they leave. Unfair barriers have been in effect since immigration began. I remember reading about doctors from foreign countries driving cabs in the 60s. Apparently nothing has changed!

These politicians talk incessantly about those poor refuges living on the streets. They never mention the 500,000 Canadians who are homeless. The government of Canada is ignoring the desperate Canadians who have nowhere to live and nothing to eat. I'm not against immigrants or people of any nation, but we have a serious homeless problem in Canada and it seems senseless to continue to fork out our Tax dollars to those who have contributed nothing and ignoring the needs of it's own citizens. This is a disgrace and completely unacceptable.

I moved to the states. There is nothing here.

Nothing wrong with immigration of the right kinds of people if it’s sustainable immigration aka immigration that improves as many individuals as possible, newcomers and existing citizens included

Why? Nothing left to take advantage of

Canada has nothing good to offer anymore. Job market is worst here. It's a namesake developed nation but actually it's not. Doomed

when construction workers get paid less and less money there is no incentive to break your body for a meaningless wage and have to use a completely worthless healthcare system. if alberta doesnt leave this protocommunist heap of dung known as canada i will be going to a sane country as soon as possible , im 28 and have gained nothing by living in this disgusting freakshow of a country

Why would anybody stay?\n\nI work my life away here. I make what should be great money, my money is meaningless here. Why am I working so hard for nothing?

But yet our government made sure they all got raises during the Scamdemic! They already make so much more than most Canadians and they also get alot of their expenses paid for. Trudeau made sure money got siphoned off to every Tom, Dick and Harry. Yet nothing is done for Canadians. Lots of our own people are leaving. Nothing but a freak show.

Canadians of convenience, this is nothing new. \nGet the passport is the only objective here.

After obtaining a Canadian passport, which is nothing more than backdoor insurance, foreign immigrants are on their way back to their home countries. The liberals just want more immigrants to vote for them, but it doesn't really work out the way they originally planned.

That’s wonderful too many ungrateful people offering nothing but want the benefits of a great country

I am a very old stock Canadian and I fully understand the immigrant who leaves Canada. The federal government for to long has had its focus on international affairs like global warming and not on internal affairs. Now Canadians health care, housing and economic are a mess. The only thing that keeps the nation afloat is the hydrocarbon industry. An industry that gets nothing but abuse from Ottawa. Canada need change on many fronts but it’s not happening. In a decade I won’t be surprised to see Canada be asked to leave the G7.

It also has a lot to do with main stream media like yourselves now being nothing but propaganda machines.

Most people blame the immigration programmes. But who considers that what are the percentages that should be added to the housing sector to build new houses and also the healthcare sector? \nThe Canadian economy is based on weekdays, and productivity/efficiency is lower than the USA worker. Canadian working hours are lower than US workers. The manufacturing industry is no longer expanding other than the USA. \nIn the meantime, healthcare is a nightmare. Canadians have new technologies but this system accepts fewer patients per day/hour. You can’t just get an appointment even in the banks. I mean what they are doing. Are they printing money inside the banks? No whole country’s productivity lowered day by day. \nWe have to find solutions for these issues other than that we can blame immigration programmes or immigrants but nothing changes.

my family left their country after ww2 and went to canada and buildt a great life....i was born there and 47 years later i went back to their birth place and now i have a better life.....i miss canada and i lost everything moving....but my kids deserve a fair shot at life...canada literally offers NOTHING TO FAMILIES...JUST POLICE CHILDREN'S AID, HIGH TAXES AND TRANS TEACHERS....being a tax payer in canada means nothing now.

Yes, they should never have been fast tracked into my country in the 1st place! Our health care infrastructure, roads, and government services are all dwindling because there is an open cheque written for any immigrant to have access to free money, jobs and housing while ancestral Canadians get nothing!

nothing wrong with canada economy, it's the narcissist in charge that's the issue.

For people that keep their ear close to the ground, this is not even close to a surprise. Canadians could have seen this same problem over a decade ago. Canada is new age communism, there is nothing fun or free about canada and its getting worse. Get out now while they still let you leave.

Positive news is that most of them are leaving and it's the wrong ones we let in that are leaving nothing wrong with letting people into our country it's letting the right ones in the ones that share our beliefs and our backgrounds like from Europe Australia and s*** because it's a fact diversity is not a strength the Liberals love to say it but they can't back it up or prove it but it can definitely be proven that it's not a strength

Too bad, Canada is a beautiful country with beautiful people. When immigrants come here, they want nothing but to belong and be part of this country. unfortunately, the Canadian labour market is not immigrant-friendly. ?

Canada receive WAYYY too many immigrants. There is nothing wrong with immigration when you can actually handle the new immigrants.\nThe housing, school and health system cant handle the constant high influx of new citizens. That's why the housing market is insane right now.

Cause the cost of living has nothing to do with them leaving. What a joke ?

I honestly don’t see how increasing numbers of newcomers and international students could help build more houses in Canada. The point based immigration system has nothing to do with construction or trades workers. You now need to have at least master’s or PhD degree, speak both English and French and have 3 years of skilled experience to be able to qualify for express entry in Ontario. Is that a profile of someone who wants to live here and build houses, seriously?