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I lived and worked in Toronto for 6 years from 2012 to 2018. Totally agreed with your obsersvations. It's sad

I have lived in Toronto for over 20 years. I love this city, but I can no longer afford to live here even with a great job and decent salary. When I received a rent increase of 10% for my 1 bedroom apartment on January 1 followed by a 3% annual salary increase shortly after that, the writing was on the wall. That gap is never going to close and things are going downhill fast from here now that I'm at a point where rent eats up more than half of my monthly earnings. The 30% rule is and has been a joke for a very long time. On top of that being mandated back to the office and forced to take the TTC which is a non-stop gong show sealed the deal. I'm leaving. I have decided to move back to Winnipeg to be closer to family, where housing is still affordable and I'll still make a better than living wage. Never thought I would find myself returning to live there, but now I'm actually looking forward to it because the downsides I used to focus on no longer exist when the high possibility of ending up homeless is removed from the equation.

Canada sucks. Lived here my whole life. 34 years near Toronto. Here's a list of other stuff not mentioned.\n1) terrible school system. Basically go private or subject your kids to liberal ideology and creative learning which puts math and literacy scores at a 20 year low.\n2) terrible Healthcare system. You can wait in line for 1 hour at a walk in clinic. 6 hours at emergency. There's hardly any doctors working.\n3) terrible transit. The public transit is outdated. The roads are always busy with 3 year long construction projects. They actively reduce road lanes to add in bicycle lanes, that are only uses half the year because no one rides a bicycle in -10 degree C. But yeah, we'll still plow the bike lane with tax payer $.\n4) increase in crime. More recent development but lets say it started picking up during the lockdowns in 2020. A lot of immigrants that don't give a f about the law. They don't give a f about the police. They get out on bail the next day. They do crime in broad daylight. It's insane. I don't feel safe. Plus, it's hard to own firearms in canada. You can't protect yourself.\n5) no cultural cohesion. The culture sucks. Bland, boring, fake.\n\nHonestly, stay away from Canada. The only thing it had going for it was it polite and safe. But now it's a crime spree out there. Last I heard, 55 car jacking happen everyday.

I’ve been in Canada for over 24 years and I have never seen it like this in my life!\nThe main cause of the majority of issues is the housing crisis.\n\nWhat a lot of you might not be aware of is that we have not been building homes to keep up with the demand for over two decades. That’s why the price for housing has increased astronomically. And then our government decided to basically allow unfettered immigration in order to take advantage of the new immigrants’ money so they can use it to fund the Canadian Pension Plan.\n\nJust an FYI, the way CPP is funded is that the current group of working people are paying for the current group of retired seniors. And due to the lack of childbirths and people living longer, the CPP can no longer afford to take care of all the seniors in its system. Thus, the government devised a plan to have more people coming here so as to milk the money they have. Actually, they’ve even gone to the extent to basically allow seniors to be willingly euthanized… it’s absolutely bonkers.\n\nBut anyway, I digress… so then with housing at astronomical prices, you’re now pushing out the poor people onto the streets, causing homelessness. \n\nAnd when people are homeless, the average person will do drugs to escape reality and commit crimes to survive. Which is why it’s now increasingly dangerous in public spaces. \n\nThen, the transportation also never accounted for such a massive increase in population. At least not in Toronto. Which is also causing major inconvenience to go anywhere. \n\nIt used to be that if you lived in the suburbs, you could drive into Toronto pretty quickly but now, it takes like an hour and a half to two hours, making it extremely difficult to get around. And also, hard to take advantage of the “lower” housing prices in the suburbs.\n\nBut that’s not all. Part of the issue is that the Trudeau government wants to no longer have Canada use our oil and gas overnight, which is causing the increase in gas prices. Many Canadians still rely on gas because electric cars are not efficient in Canadian weather and are simply too expensive for your average person. And yet they cut off our supply of oil and gas which causes the price inflation of transport and anything that requires to be moved such as groceries and supplies.\n\nAnd don’t get me started on how our healthcare system is falling apart… even though we pay some of the highest taxes in the world…

I'm Chilean. My sister moved to London bc of a job opportunity and lived there for 15 years, but after Brexit things started to go sour; my BIL's company offered to move him to Toronto. Off they go... they HATED it; the drab culture, the weather, the prices (higher than London!), the quality of the schools their kids go to, etc. I went there last year and, honestly, besides being obviously safer than Santiago, I found it a very boring city; much more than any other I've been to in the US, Europe and South America. Plus they are constantly complaining about the extreme protectionism, which means some things are hard to come buy or to order online, and explains the high costs of telecoms. Well, they decided it was too bad for them, so they're returning to Chile this year?‍♀️

I'm born in the UK to Serbian parents, but grown up in Norway so I've seen three different cultures in my life all at once. I always liked Canada for being diverse because then I wouldn't have to switch between being English, Serbian or Norwegian, I could be more me because I am basically multicultural. For years I've idealised Canada and it wasn't until just two weeks ago that I got to visit and see for myself what Canada is like. I was in Toronto and also in Vancouver visiting a family that moved there from the UK I hadn't seen since I was a kid. I loved the nature (Especially Vancouver my god!) and the people, but I learned about how extremely expensive housing in Canada is to the point that it would be hard to make ends meet just renting a place let alone buying a house. Also how immigration is out of control and those who do come to Canada are disproportionately from one country being India rather than many different, which is not good for maintaining diversity. This is something I saw having lived most of my two weeks in Mississauga just south of the airport.\n\nI hope you guys finally get someone better in the next election, because I have more hopes for Canada than I do for the UK. Thanks for this informative video!

Toronto was my home town...I am now 73 but have lived in Norwich, England for decades. My relatives have moved out of Toronto to the Muskokas; but they always tell me how expensive the city now is. My cousin was in real estate so he knows whereof he speaks! Another cousin has moved to New Brunswick. I cannot go back any more because I always see more societal decline and it depresses me thoroughly. The Toronto of the Centennial year 1967 I will always remember fondly: a paradise! Problems seemed to be something other cities experienced. And the Leafs won the Stanley Cup!

I grew up in Toronto in the 1980's but have lived in Central Europe since the 90's. Toronto was probably the best place on earth to live at that time. It was big enough, extremely safe and clean, culturally cohesive and yet very cosmopolitan...What the hell happened?

It’s not a “post covid fall out” , it is a ON GOING TRUDEAU FALL OUT! I lived 18 years in Toronto….and don’t retreat to leave on 2022. Was bad then, even worst now. A total shame

You are overreacting. The city has so much to offer and all cities have problems but you live with it. I’ve lived with many cities in America that people knock but yet I love them. It’s all about attitude. I walk past homeless people in New York City, but I still enjoy myself. Toronto is a lot better than many American cities that I love

In January I flew into Toronto for my connecting flight to London but missed it. I was put up in a hotel in Brampton. First time there in 25 years. I didn’t feel like I was in Canada. I felt like a foreigner in my own country. during my 15 hours there I saw only one other non-Indian in the hotel. The restaurants, limousines to and from the airport, the drugstore and on the street - only Indians. Not one of them I spoke to had English mother tongue. One of the limo drivers came to Canada for education and told me once he got here he couldn’t get the program he signed up for and he was now in another program and as soon as he finishes this year he is leaving. He lived in Brampton and he told me he doesn’t feel safe there or in Toronto due to the crime. Interestingly he said a lot of the crime in the Indian community never gets reported to the police.

I remember when Canadian Indian comedian Russell Peters called Brampton his hometown Browntown, and he's right it is a brown town, as you see in this video. I remember visiting my uncle and aunt in Brampton in the 70s when I was young and it was the whitest city I have ever seen. There were no Indians or Pakistanis or Chinese or black people whatsoever living in Brampton at that time it was known as a white suburb. Compared to where I lived at the time in downtown Toronto in Regent Park, which had a very multicultural neighborhood.

Quote from a friend who has lived in Toronto for the last 10 years : With a five-figure salary I can hope to save 100-150K to buy a house by the age of 70 ( in about 35 years)... and that's just the down payment

Toronto spends 100 % of income on rent? That makes no sense. I'd say it's more like 50-60%, I lived in Toronto for 7 years.

1:53 I think many Canadians would disagree on that. There are enough people around the world who would like to come to Canada that in a relatively short time, native-born Canadians who may have lived in a community their entire life can be quickly overrun when we have numbers like these entering the country. The numbers of people coming from the same country meet up with others from their homeland & find it easier to remain within that clique than to actually shed some of their old lives & Canadianise. Those who do Canadianise are disparaged as selling out by their ethno-cultural community. So we just end up with a multi-tiered society of different people quietly avoiding each other & living in constant distrust. It gets even worse when they bring their Old World prejudices here, as we have seen in places like Toronto & Montreal. It's safe to say that people on both sides of the Israel/Palestine conflict see themselves as Canadians second - at most. They don't look upon people from the other side as fellow Canadians, because they don't see any fellowship in their Canadian citizenship. It's just a stamp on the back of their hand that gets them to this relatively safe country when things get bloody in their homeland.

I lived on the streets of Toronto for over 3 years between 1997 & 2001. I'd always been a bisexual 'loose, wild and crazy girl' as they say, and for me it was a natural progression. When I was 20 my family immigrated here from South Africa but I was way too immature so Quebec City and I didn't get along. I and a girlfriend hitchhiked out to run wild in Toronto. The fun only lasted the summer and then I spent 3 years living on the streets there. Doing 'the job' just to get by becomes a chore for sure. I spent one winter in a tent city near the lake but too many people made it a violent place. My last winter out there I spent in the Don Valley with a small group, moving our encampment every few days. I would likely have ended up dying out there but a guy I scarcely knew at the time drove all the way to T.O. and spent a week looking for me and just by luck found me when I was at my lowest and willing to go home.

Bravo and bless you. I lived in toronto for 45 years and i am completely agrees with you 100%.Borned a malaysian under B. colonial times.

This was a great video, I appreciate your complete unbiased reporting! Lived in Toronto my whole life, in my 20s and yeah, it just gets worse by the day. You should have gone to union station. When I worked in there, there was a suspicious package that evacuated half the whole station, idek how many ODs which is horrible, I couldn’t count how many I saw or how many I reported. An OD I called about, left zipped up on a stretcher, like this is only what I saw on my smoke breaks. How my store had a panic button underneath every single till, one time this guy who had been a problem was choking out a girl in the middle of the station, security on the floor above just doing jack shit to the point myself and a random stranger passing by stepped in as she was turning purple. Like, I can’t put into words how the city is deteriorating every hour…

Quebec #1? You've got to be kidding! Great maybe if you are fluent, and I do mean fluent, in French. Otherwise you're treated like a second class citizen. As a tourist destination it is fabulous. The best food ever throughout the province. Old Quebec City by far the most beautiful in Canada and Montreal for the marvellous shopping experience. All fine for a fumbling in French tourist, but moving there and trying to get on in fractured high school French is a whole new and not so pleasant experience. I lived in the province for just under 2 years so my comments are based on that experience. After travelling the country extensively I settled in Northern Ontario to raise my family. Now retired I live in Canada's largest city Toronto and love it.

Only LOSERs leave AUSTRALIA..........i lived in California, Toronto and almost all cities in Australia; it seems this couple professionally NOT well qualified so couldn't succussed much so feel sorry for them....soon they would regret coz Canada is nothing but American JUNKYARD

I just lived in toronto for 3 months its insane the homelessness

I’m a Canadian who lived in Toronto during and after the pandemic (and now moved abroad). The city is not what it was when I was a kid. Completely run down, escalated crimes, homelessness outside my apartment building. Also many immigrants are given more opportunities to fill company’s quota of diversity. Good journalism on this video, thank you for showing the real Toronto. Many foreigners think Canada is a dream country and it’s simply not. Canadians are struggling in our own country, it’s just sad.

Speaking as a Canadian, I thank you for raising awareness of these disturbing trends in Canada, @thegavinbarry - I have lived in downtown Toronto, and am there almost every week - Toronto and Canadians deserve much better governance…

Lived and worked in Canada from 2002-2007, in Toronto from 2004-2007 as an immigrant. I have Canadian citizenship, passport... Returned from Canada to my country of birth in late 2007. Those 5 years in Canada were the worst 5 years of my life, even then, when I was there in Canada - it wasn't as bad as today - today it is much worse (there is now a homeless camp five hundred meters from the block where I lived, it wasn't there then). Here, where I am now, I do not have a permanent job and a stable income, however, I live much better, much easier, with less effort, and most importantly, much healthier and peacefully than in Canada. I never even thought about going back there. Despite the false propaganda (because the Canadian state makes a lot of money from immigration - in order to legally immigrate to Canada, I had to spend 2000-3000 for administrative costs and show $10,000 in cash when entering Canada, plus a $1200 plane ticket) that Canada is one of the best places to live, my experience is that it is one of the worst places to live (and I have lived in both Germany and Cyprus and in my native country which has been devastated by Western sanctions and NATO bombing. Never in the 16 years since I left Canada have I thinking of going back there. I'm sorry, my experience was extremely negative.

Lived and worked in Canada from 2002-2007, in Toronto from 2004-2007 as an immigrant. I have Canadian citizenship, passport... Returned from Canada to my country of birth in late 2007. Those 5 years in Canada were the worst 5 years of my life, even then, when I was there in Canada - it wasn't as bad as today - today it is much worse (there is now a homeless camp five hundred meters from the block where I lived, it wasn't there then). Here, where I am now, I do not have a permanent job and a stable income, however, I live much better, much easier, with less effort, and most importantly, much healthier and peacefully than in Canada. I never even thought about going back there. Despite the false propaganda (because the Canadian state makes a lot of money from immigration - in order to legally immigrate to Canada, I had to spend 2000-3000 for administrative costs and show $10,000 in cash when entering Canada, plus a $1200 plane ticket) that Canada is one of the best places to live, my experience is that it is one of the worst places to live (and I have lived in both Germany and Cyprus and in my native country which has been devastated by Western sanctions and NATO bombing. Never in the 16 years since I left Canada have I thinking of going back there. I'm sorry, my experience was extremely negative.

I lived and worked in downtown Toronto in the 90's and into early 2000. DBFB back in the days of Gerard Kennedy, then Shelter management 60 Richmond and Met United. I can not believe how much worse it's gotten !! I remember skating at the ice rink at the 9:32 mark.

The last few calls I made to Rogers they were Indians here on a student visa. The last women I spoke with is from Brampton . I feel for this man.\n\nThis is what is going on Now in Ottawa and I lived in old Downtown Toronto and Now Downtown Ottawa\n\nThis is what Reporters do ! Not the cbc cushy jobs !

I left Canada 3 years after I got the citizenship, because the cost of living was unbearable. I was living in 1 bedroom condo in Vancouver (Canada), with no cars or investment. In 2020 I found an entry lvl job at Amazon Seattle (US). My pay doubled, tax reduced by 50%. Sold my Canada condo, and bought a single family home and a car in Seattle. Never wanted to come back. \n\nPS: I lived in Toronto for 5 years, and Vancouver for 5 years.

I lived in Canada for 13 years, my two kids were born there\nI was there from 1985 thru '98 a truly wonderful country with remarkably friendly an resilient people.\nI lived in numerous places around Toronto and always got on with the local communities.\nRecently went back on vacation and struggled to recognize the place, change is inevitable but one has to \nwonder if its for the good of the country.\nMy heart will always be with Canadiens and I wish y'all well.

Grew up in Toronto in the 70s. It was lush with trees and flowers. Tons of rabbits, foxes, raccoons and squirrels roamed the streets. It was safe, quiet, clean, friendly, and when I went to uni, I lived in a 4 bedroom Georgian house I shared with 4 friends. I left in the 90s, and recently returned. Horrible! Little greenery, tons of ugly condo high rises everywhere. No one talks to anyone anymore. So sad.

Lived here since 1966. It’s not “ Toronto the Good”. I’m lucky I got into the market in the 70s. I wouldn’t recommend moving here for all the reasons you say. Taxes are high, rents are high, crime and homelessness are high. Not a place I’d recommend for someone starting out to move here. I’ll stay here because I live in a lovely neighbourhood and know all my neighbours. It’s home.

I was born and raised in Toronto and lived 57 years there. 6 months ago, I moved to Saskatchewan having never visited before. I'm ashamed of Toronto. It's not what it was. I outgrew it and although I have good memories of what it once was, it no longer is. And I will forever tell everyone it's not even worth the visit.

I lived in Canada for over 20 long suffering cold years. My rent in 1982 in Kamloops for a large two bedroom appartment was 105 bucks a month. Then when I moved back to Toronto and got an apartment right on Young at Grosvenor our rent shot up to a tough 620 bucks a month (all utilities included) but I was making a lot of money so it seemed like the good life. I wonder how expensive that luxury high rise is today? Probably about $4500 per month would be my guess. Canadians don't like to talk of the negatives in Toronto, but I feel really sorry for some of my family still there. My mother in law broke her back. All they could do is give her pain killers for the four months before she could get penciled in for surgery. And that was before it all went to hell. It's nice to see so many shots of places that were once so much a part of my life, but in all honesty moving to the States was the best thing I ever did. It was in fact like an escape from madness. Now similar crazyness is here, even on the South East coast of the US. Time to look for another escape. Any suggestions?\nOh, and my friends cousin got murdered in the Jane and Finch area years ago. Just a guy with a gun that nobody is supposed to have - shot him in the chin.

I said Good Bye to Toronto in 2019. Never ever went to see it again. We knew something was coming. We were running. That something was the fake virus plus migrants. We are very happy living in small small town. I was born in a capital, always lived in cities. That will not happen again during my life time but also during my children’s. The children may have to enter, note enter and leave. But none of us will ever again live in a zoo.

I lived in Etobicoke from 2002-2020. Year over year, I noticed that the city is changing in bad way. I had to move out because I just couldn’t be there anymore.\n\nEven if I am offered a free residency, I would never ever come back To Toronto.

Ive been in around Toronto since 1973 and lived downtown 20 years ago, I owned a condo, and let me tell you the city was so much better 20 years ago its not even funny. It was also way better in the 80’s, in fact the entire country was better in the 80’s . Today the city is a ?show mostly due to the cost of living and I hope to leave soon to Niagara or Cambridge.

I lived in Toronto during 2 different periods. 1988-1991 (Leaside and Yonge/Davisville) and then in early 2011 to late 2013 (east Scarborough and then Bayview/Sheppard). Yes, the city has changed dramatically. Even from my 2013 move from there. Grossly overbuilt. the hockey team should be called the Toronto Condo Leafs. Services strained. Poor funding. Poor political leadership. And I won't even touch the hot button issues. I noticed changes in 2012-3 and the start of polarization. Toronto has immense wealth and also immense poverty as we see now. Then again, big cities all over North America have the same issue.

I lived here since 1961. The biggest negative changes have occurred over the last 25 years. Yes a million condos bringing tons of new city tax revenue (wasted) but so unreasonably expensive, as so many new immigrants naturally flock to Toronto and need housing. Which\nmeans traffic sucks, too many downtown roads closed, unused bike lanes steal car travel lanes. Toronto is generally dirtier and meaner than in 60s, 70s, 80s, even 90s. People are less friendly, less polite, less caring, and reside in self contained cultural enclaves. I used to ride the subway daily till 1990s, but i was shocked by my recent ride, with delays, so overcrowded slow service and bummy looking passengers now, scary. Quite a negative unwelcoming transformation!?

I lived in Toronto for almost 25 years but moved to Berlin, Germany, a few months ago. I found the last few years to be really sad and also scary. There is such a huge mental health crisis. The TTC is not very safe feeling. I have friends there who travel with dog or bear spray in their purses. The cost of rent is definitely a huge issue. A lot of friends can never move into a new place and I don't know anyone there who can afford to actually buy a home.\nThe positives are the food options (groceries and restaurants - some of the best in the world), the nice social life, so many things to see and do around the city, and the various beaches and islands.\nThe city is definitely looking uglier and uglier, though, with all of these boxy, glassy condo towers and now with Ford doing things like turning public space into a foreign-owned inaccessible spa.

I definitely understand where you’re coming from I was born in Toronto and lived on Jane and finch but unfortunately my cousin got shot and killed so my mom decided to move to Montreal

I'm 75, was born in Toronto, lived in Vancouver, New York City, but moved back to Toronto in 1985. Toronto was/ is a great city from May to late October. Today the developers own the politicians. Toronto, is now all terrible condos, ugly steel with glass walls. So sad what has happened to my Toronto, the Toronto I used to know.

I visited Toronto in 1986 and I've had friends from that city. The whole world is changing and facing the issues you mentioned in your video. I had lived in Seattle before its decline. I'm in Pittsburgh temporarily and I had lived recently in Erie, PA. They all seem to be facing the same situation--housing crisis, homelessness, and crime. And in Pittsburgh, limited social services.\n\nHowever, I'm sad to see a socialist country such as Canada suffer with these ills. If a socialist country can't take care of its people, there's little home for a capitalist country like the US.

the shots of the tent city in allan gardens park are heartbreaking. I lived in toronto for a few months back in 2018, and that was my favourite place to hang out. I visited again for the first time in 5 years this summer and decided to go on a walk there. i was shocked to see how drastically it had changed.

I lived in Toronto for 37 years and left 5 years ago. I am not convinced I want to stay where I am forever, but I cannot see myself moving back there specifically.

I lived in Toronto for 13 years, but I can't afford it now.Great city to do things but the people are rude.

Born and raised in Toronto in the 60s-70s. Lived abroad and out west and Canada’s north. I now live about an hour and a half north east of the city. All I can say is that you reap what you sow. The WEF is wreaking this kind of havoc all across the western world. It’s party time folks…

I lived in Toronto from 2017 to 2023 and you could watch the decline in real time. Crazy housing crisis, homelessness and drug addiction epidemic, rampant random violent crime, the city became extremely dirty, increases in taxes, a public transit system and healthcare that’s falling apart. Not to mention the crazy inflation and greedflation and city becoming soulless, family businesses (art studios, bars, restaurants, fitness centers) being replaced by McDonalds’s, Dollarama, Shoppers Drug Mart. Meanwhile the government’s main concern is censoring news and importing foreign wage slaves.

I've lived in and around Toronto for a lot of my life and unfortunately I agree with you, but more particularly for the cost of living, which has truly become ridiculous.\n\nToronto has seen an uptick in crime in recent years, but it's still safe even by the standards of other Canadian cities, as Toronto generally has been. The crime is not in itself a reason to avoid Toronto.

Prior to Canada (Toronto) where I moved last year, I lived my life pretty evenly split between USA (many big cities), China and Serbia. Canada is by far the worst place of any of these and I'll gladly move back to either of them, or to a new place. I have no idea who likes it in Canada and what exactly, but I can't find ONE thing better here than what I had before. And worst of all, the people. Omg, they're horrid! ?

Your own canadian government is like communist state. toronto doctors are allowed to give people an injection to end their life. This way they are no longer a burden to society / government. I have cousin inlaws that live in markham a suburb and they have a house and when I visited them I had to squeeze my car in the driveway to park overnight. You're not allowed to park a car on the street or else you get a ticket? I know of no place that does this in suburb in america. I'm in nYC, been to PA, lived in jersey, nyc, have family in long island etc..