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You are spot on! (And far too polite/politically correct - sorry to say lol).\n\nToronto is the WORST city to live in. I look forward to leaving. I regret moving here 17 years ago - don't know how I've managed to stay this long. Toronto has changed me... and not for the better. This place will make you bitter, you'll have no friends (or shallow, money-hungry ones) and there's no sense of community. Your workplace will be toxic, you'll work long hours for a boss that treats you like crap and pays you less than you're worth. You'll be underpaid, and not valued or appreciated. You'll wake up in the dark to go to work in the freezing cold and come home in the dark, in the freezing cold. You'll live in an expensive tiny box in the sky with disrespectful neighbours (and their barking dogs). The 'unhoused' and addicts will hang outside of your building, begging you for money and smoking crack/weed. The stench of urine and poop on a hot summer's day (the 3 months of it that there is) will make you want to heave.\n\nAnyone thinking of moving to Toronto should seriously think twice and do LOTS of research. There are so many BETTER cities in the world - choose wisely. Don't choose Canada.

I am a South African and today more than ever, I can say I am a proud South African. \nIt is not always all sunshine and roses. ? Well, actually it is sunshine. At least 300 days of the year.\nI don't live in an Islamic state but in my country we make provision for all religions and cultures. \n1.7% of the population is made up of people of islamic religion. That is more than 1million muslims living here. 78% are Christians. We have Mosques, halaal food in nearly every city and Islamic schools in certain areas where there is a higher populations of muslims.\n\nFor the muslims who prefer to attend a normal school, provision is made for islamic cultural and religious events within these schools.\n We hear the Athaan 5 times a day. In fact we hear it so often that we dont hear it anymore. It has become part of who we are as a nation. We hear the church bells ring. This reminds us of who we are. I live opposite a Jewish cemetery that has a synagogue. With religious events we cant get out of our drive ways because of the congestion if traffic due to this. But we still respect and understand. \nWe have a very diverse culture and most of us respect the diverse cultures.\nI live in Cape Town and would not want to live anywhere else. \nGood luck with your journey and follow your heart.

Inflation has hit worldwide. Prices surged after COVID with no signs of going down and now we are at a point that we've been anchored to these prices. Sometimes I dissuade myself from the occasional treat. I thought Popeye's was halal in Canada. While I now live in a state with 100,000+ Muslim population, I wish there were a lot more halal eatery options. This is a stark contrast from where I was living in Long Island, New York, where there were close to 30 halal eateries in a 3-mile radius. New York City has now permitted the azaan to be broadcasted over loudspeaker for every week jumu'ah and during Ramazan every maghrib as well. Even with all the halal options and large Muslim neighborhoods, NYC has its own challenges. A designated shoes-off place of worship for all faiths in establishments would be nice, be it malls, superstores, or airports.

You want to live in Toronto, the third largest city in North America on average salary? I think that’s an unrealistic expectation when you compare the rent to cities like New York and Miami. I think given its current size and growth trajectory, Toronto is still on the affordable size and it will get much more expensive in the future. I visited Toronto and the GTA area, all you can see is new construction, businesses packed with people. May be Canada bit more than it could chew and the economy has not grown since COVID making inflation pinch even more. My only problem was due to the rapid expansion, the city seemed to lack a soul which comes through organic growth. All I could see was broad highways, residential areas packed with housed and large shopping complexes.

San Francisco north. Lawlessness. Soft on crime. No one helping each other anymore, loss of community. I live north of the city, and shudder every time i have to make my way into it. Its funny in a way, because the people there maintain that the answer is more socialist policies, and keep voting them in, even though it clearly continues to NOT work. make your bed and lie in it , i guess.

Wow I am so amazed how Toronto has changed! I used to live there for 6 years and it was amazing, Toronto has a special place in my heart I had a great time I met wonderful people and learnt a lot, however, the city has changed in a very bad way which is sad to hear at some point I was seriously considering going back but I suppose I will have to let it go.

As someone who has been in Canada my entire life (except the odd travels), I would leave Canada if I could. Unfortunately I have family circumstances that require me to be available for my family in a short timespan (so I've bought a house within one hour drive from my parents with my partner). But if my life circumstances were different (and I can convince my partner) - I'd be out of Canada within a few months, once I find a job overseas. It's quite depressing here and I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. \nNote: I do not live in the Toronto area or the Vancouver area but still a pretty medium/large city.

Very good objective video. I grew up in Toronto and had many great experiences in the city as well as commuting from west Toronto into the city for five years of high school (grade 9 to grade13). At an very early age I used to fearlessly ride buses, street cars and the subway system with no concerns of crime or potential violence in my mind. I wouldn't suggest this now for a young person unless you have 2 or 3 marshal arts black belts in your resume! The very same circumstances exist in Vancouver...quite possibly x's 2. My family and I now live a short distance east of Vancouver, but the city has changed about 10,000% since I lived there from the late '70's to the late '90's. I don't mind saying that I believe most of the problems/issues in Toronto, Vancouver and many other cities in Canada have been accentuated by poor policy decisions at all levels of government...municipal, provincial and federal...particularly since 2015 aka the J Trudeau era. I would like to share this video with MP Pierre Poilievre is that is OK with you. JV.

I am not from North America. But I too think Toronto is a fine city. Once upon a time maybe back in the 1970s,80s 90s and early 2000s would have been one of the best cities in the world to live in but these days not anymore. Still looks the same like in the past but it has changed the high cost of living and other changes mean standard of living has dropped in the last 10 years. Still a nice city though but hopefully it will bounce back to how the city was in the distant past 2 decades ago and earlier.

I live in Casper Wyoming & I'm Blessed Thank You Jesus for all the blessings that you have bestowed upon me although Casper is very WINDY it's a very clean ? city & there is no place else I would like to live ?

You explained this so well!! My partner and I moved to Canada 3 years ago just as we got approved for H1B. We had to chose between moving to CA or staying there in an uncertain limbo for 2 decades waiting for a greencard. You did a good job talking about the downsides of moving such as a lower salary and higher home prices. We bought a small townhouse for the price we could have paid in the US for a detached house. Many people I know in similar situations leave CA and move back to the US once they get their Canadian citizenship. However, I do think that there are many reasons to stay such as the political climate. The US has become very regressive banning abortions, making gun laws more lenient and it’s not as accepting when it comes to diversity and inclusion (be it POC community or Lgbtqia+) unless you live in a big city which is expensive. These are the reasons we chose to stay, especially if we have kids as school shootings are getting more and more common there.

I think that a lot of people who seem to hate Canada in this comment section are either from Toronto and Vancouver, the two most expensive cities in the country, but these two cities don't represent Canada as a whole. \n\nPersonally I live in a smaller city in Québec (Saguenay) and life quality is super good, there are a lot of job opportunities and housing is very cheap, and it is an amazing place for outdoor lovers\n\nI saw many comments saying that the US is cheaper than Canada... Those people simply don't compare what's comparable. If you compare Toronto with comparable cities in the US like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, Toronto is in fact MUCH cheaper. If I compare my city with comparable cities in the US, well it turns out that Saguenay is much cheaper\n\nSo before wanting to move to another country, you can simply think about moving within Canada. If however you hate winter, then there's no reason to stay here ?

I am indonesian, but i’ve lived in Japan and the US for study purpose, and i relate to your experience. Eventhough i had a strong moslem community when i was in Japan/US, and halal food was accessible there, i was still feeling uncomfortable that as a moslem i couldn’t express my identity freely. Whenever i wanted to go for a roadtrip or place outside of my city, i need to search if halal food was available in there or not, while in Indonesia i don’t have to worry about halal food, almost all food are halal, the restaurant usually inform us if their are not halal. Another experience is that in non-moslem country, they didn’t provide many prayer rooms or mosques, that’s also sickening for me. I mean i don’t mind to pray in a random parking lot, or in a park, or in an emergency stairs, or in changing room in mall, or any random places; but i really missed my country where prayer room is available anywhere, you can find prayer room in gas station, in a restaurant, in the mall, in airport/bus station/train station, etc. Also mosques are everywhere too. You are easily going to find mosque after walking around 200m, well yeah there is a reason why Indonesia is a country with the most number of mosques in the world. Another thing is islamic class. When i was in Japan, i could only join an islamic class where people gather to listen from syeikh (or we call it as “pengajian”) once in every other months, in the US was better, mosque in mu place held islamic class every other day. However, in Indonesia, islamic classes are everywhere, it’s like every mosque held their own class, until to the point that i am confused what should i follow because there are so many options ?. The last is that, in moslem country or at least in my country, finding moslems outfit is very easy. So yeah, overall, i prefer to live in moslem countries. Alhamdulillah i was born in moslem country, and alhamdulillah my country’s situasion, eventho not perfect, is peacefull.

Assalam w Alaikum! Dear Saleh family... It is an inspiration to see your vlogs and the good work you have been doing .. May Allah be pleased with you... i am glad that you have taken this decision and it is never too late... The reasons you have mentioned, do make sense and I wish you all the best and pray for your next steps that you find a good place to settle soon... I suggest you to consider UAE as your next destination, specifically Abu Dhabi as a city where you and your kids will find it much comfortable to live and practice a good healthy life... you may hear that it is expensive, but trust me it is worth it, especially when it comes to Health, Safety and Environment friendly ... The leadership here are young and have good vision for the development and prosperity of the people. Any support required i'll be more than happy to help in my capacity... inshaAllah ... Peace!

This country isn't worth moving to. Prepare for the high cost of living they don't tell you about. I'm planning to leave at some point. The country used to be a lot better then what it is now. We have high inflation. I live in the capital and this city is to expensive to live.

I agree, I don't live in any major Canadian cities but I always knew and still do know that if I were to move to a major Canadian city to stay, my only consideration would be Montreal

I'm in Guatemala City right now. I thought of trying to move to Australia or Europe before, but I never realized just how nice and easy things are in developing countries: Just by being a white person who speaks English, I have a well-paying job. An apartment right on the equivalent of Yonge-Dundas square, and I eat out for all meals.\n\nI'm the only gringo living in this part of the city, so I get a lot of attention, it's fun, women throw themselves at me*, and everyone wants to be my friend.\n\nI think I'll just live in Canada in the summer and somewhere warm in the winter, with plenty of summer-only jobs in Canada.\n\nI think I'll just live in Canada in the summer and somewhere warm in the winter.\n*I thought it would just be women who wanted green cards or money, but no, they all have more $$$ than I do, doctors, lawyers, government workers, etc. I'm like a status symbol they can show off to their friends.

I live in NYC, and have been to Canada at least four times, but the last time I was there was quite some time ago. I always had a good thought about Canada, because it seems like some of the problems we have in this city, Canada also has in some way. Right now the city is a complete mess; at post pandemic and with a bit of a recession and a noticeable increase in groceries to basic things like cat food and tissues. That's not the biggest problem, it really is the legislation or lack of for people who not care for themselves. Those homeless people are almost not helpable and I don't feel threatened by them, but other people definitely do. The way the government has handled these undocumented migrants is a complete disaster and couldn't have come at a worse time. We have a serious housing crisis as well, and people can end up paying for high rent, for not the best places, but they want to live in a certain location. The migrants are coming in at about 60k in the last two weeks. You see mothers with little kids or babies selling candy all over the trains and it's becoming too much. Many see it as a form of child abuse or exploitation and we do not respect it at all. I think they feel we are weak and will just pay double for something we don't need. At one station today I must have be approached 3 times and interrupted 2 times while using my phone. It's just too much and we already have a lot of immigrants here, so I'm not sure where these people believe they will find any meaningful employment and the cold is coming. I wasn't born here, but came legally as an infant. I think the border situation is a disaster and it's obvious to a lot of people that the government lets things happen that will definitely effect citizens in the next couple of decades. The city is crowded enough and I do not know where this is all going, people do not want undocumented migrants house a few hundred feet from a childrens school. I just don't understand how they let this happen....I guess this is how Biden does things and all the groups that cheered buses pulling in when it first started are dwindling down....they just want them passed on to someone elses responsibility, but wouldn't want them as neighborhors necessarily. It's a lot of hypocrisy here. Canada seems better in some places, and the same in others.

From a european/spaniard perspective (born in the always-sunny Barcelona city), I would prefer to be dead than to live in a place where 6 months of the year are cloudy, rainy or very cold.\nThat would mean that half of my life would be wasted, thrown to the garbage bin.\nI profoundly hate snow.

You mentioned, Halal, food access, you live in the GTA, which has the greatest amount of Halal food access available. And there’s a fair amount of masks. Think of the people that live in areas where there are no mosques and they have to drive 3040 minutes to get to a Mosque or they have to find a Hello butcher in the city or in the country somewhere because there’s no hello restaurants or groceries where they are. You guys live in a great Muslim area in Canada but I totally understand why you wanna move and have that environment around you 24 seven.

i started to practice islam in 2009 while living in spain. and left it in 2010 and relocated to turkey. would never go back. love spain and keep my best memories of living there. but now i have three kids and need to think about them first. and i think that a muslim should live in a muslim environment. istanbul is like a european city but with adhan and people who wont harass you for your religion.

I live in texas went from a big city but since becoming a mom we moved to a small town. Best decision we ever made my girls play outside and are ssying hi and thank you, learning to live among others with different views or beliefs with respect. My family is a mix of el Salvador and Honduras, my moms family is of Palestine descent who left and went to a small country who was the only one at time that opened their doors due to their religion. Because of that religion and politics stay outside of our home we were all allowed to explore others but respect was always the rule, and i do the same for my girls if they want to learn we research together and teach them respect of all faiths. We do homeschool because in our small town public school is actually thw second choice of how far out we are from the school. We have also still homes in el Salvador and honduras because my family told us from being little this isnt home and to respect the hist country that opens their doors. Blessings to you and your family.

I wish you the best ?\nWe, (me my husband and my 7 years old girl) live in the UK Kent county BUT for the last year I stayed to think about moving. We are originally from Bulgaria but Turks and came to UK 10 years ago, we just bought our house 3 years ago, basically created everything from scratch. It is bot an easy task to start from the beginning again but I believe that if Allah maid to think about moving that means He will help you.\nAs a hijabi muslim woman in a community that there are not other Muslims around I can say I feel relatively safe BUT some days I notice the look of hatred in n some peoples eyes. The other thing my girl started to question some topics they have been receiving at school and it is a constant battle for me to keep explaining to her the right and wrong. More over she is listening for now but not sure for future and this scares me.\nAs you said praying and being a practicing Muslim is difficult here as well. We are Turks but do not have Turkish nationality but when we go for religious holidays in Istanbul I feel completely different, it just feels like I have to live there near the mosque. My inner me begging me when we are in Istanbul in the old part of the city to stay there forever. \nI really know what you feel and want. I am looking for Muslim countries where possible we can move BUT unfortunately I made the conclusion that there is not a place even in a Muslim land that we can live the way of peaceful practicing and being a Muslim what we want to be. \nJust advise be careful with the Arab world, other than that if you look at Türkiye I would say do your research really well, not in every town there you can live your religion. Azerbaijan is excellent I would say but they are still under the influence of Russia. \nSo really difficult decision, may Allah guide you. Amin

I have lived in Malaysia (5 yrs), Bahrain (7 yrs), Pakistan (born and raised), and now in Canada (4 yrs). Each have had their own pros and cons. \n\nMalaysia has some of the nicest people in the world. Beautiful country, lots of rain, temperatures usually between 28-30C, all year round. Laid back office culture. Lots of work holidays! In the last one decade Pakistani community has grown steadily esp in Kuala Lumpur. English is widely spiken and understood in major cities.\nAs for the cons, very expensive international schools and daycare centers, that would take a huge chunk out of your income. Pakistani food not that easy or cheap to find, but that may have changed since we left. Relatively high cost of living, if you need to live near city centers.\n\nBahrain sees both winter and summer. Not much of other 2 seasons. A large Pakistani, Indian community, so much so that I rarely ever used English to communicate with cab drivers or shop seles reps!. Regular Arabs struggle a bit with English though. Pakistani/ Indian food very easily available n affordable. Again a laid back work culture. Maids and domestic help easily available. \nAs to the cons, you may encounter racism sometimes. Arabs are generally nice ppl but u may sometimes find them condescending in their dealings with you. Probably bc most of Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshi and Nepalis form the labour force (and we all know how worker strata is treated in the Middle East). International schools are again quite expensive (lesser than Malaysia though).

Omg, this is exactly the video I needed! I've lived my whole life in America, but my parents immigrated, so sometimes I feel guilty about wanting to leave. I really want to live in a Muslim country, and being from NYC, I love the city so Dubai is the only option I can think of. But I feel like Dubai has changed, I want a place more Islamic. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to travel and explore right now. But I think your videos about the countries you've considered moving to will be super helpful! You guys are giving me so much hope, thank you!

All people complaining about cost of living are covered in tattoos walk with the latest I phone and probably live in a big city! I own a house have 4 kids and my wife is ft in school! It’s hard but I make a good wage and work 50 + hrs a week starting at 5 in the morning!! People are being lazy

I live in a small city in Saskatchewan. We have an influx of immigrants every year and the housing availability is next to none. Jobs are hard to find, rent is really high, groceries are high. Obviously not as bad as Vancouver or Toronto, but it's not great. I don't see a great future for anyone living here at the moment.

ALina I see you are a jet setter ( going around the world seeing different places which. Is great and educational ) but remember your dear. dad. he. raised you in a good and Loving way and he’s getting older not younger have you ever considered Living close. too him. and working from home ( And I agree Toronto suck’s I trucked 18 wheeler’s in there delivering product’s in the the 1980s for a. while and everything you said is true about Toronto , I also worked. there. about 5 year’s ago on night shift on a union pipeline job, and stayed at Bradford, Ontario about 40 miles or. so north of the city of Toronto , driving a small truck , I don’ t want too sound. negative either but you couldn’t pay me enough. too. Live there, Now. or Never not. my cup of tea / I grew up most of my Life in. Saskatchewan , I’ am about the same age as your Dad or a year younger , / A good Looking Lady Like you would do well in Saskatchewan , and if you didn’ t Like the cold in the winter you could be a snowbird. you and your Dad ( go away for a few month’s too a warmer place) just. saying. there are a lot of good people in Saskatchewan (Ukrainian, German, Norwegian,Finnish, Irish and English and Scottish just. too name a few, I think there is a good future for a young person or person’s in. Saskatchewan for. a future, and Listen too your father , he Looked Like he’s worked hard all his Life on. the farm, I can tell Listening too him , he’s no dummy ,smart man, I still have a neighbour where I had a small acreage 17 acres south of Tisdale, Saskatchewan ( Brent Butt country ) he farmed across the road from me ( still owns the farm ) retired Lives in nearby Melfort, Saskatchewan has an apartment room he’s around your dad’s age , / I. Live in a small town on the edge of town between Toronto. and. Ottawa ( winter are quite damp here , do too all the Lake’s in Ontario )Anyway the best too you and your Dad in the new year if he is still. farming l hope he had a good crop this ( or if the Land is rented l hope the renter got a good crop) also. best too you and your Dad / Bill S. Canada

All of those issues are the same in any OCDE country. \n\nHousing market is shit in Europe too, even worse I would say, but at least they have decent public transports, so you can live outside a city and still go to your work fast. That’s the only real advantage. (Okay maybe construction quality and norms also)\n\nFrom experience, aka a French software engineer now living in Quebec, cost of life is waaaaaaay cheaper here than in Europe. I just don’t buy shitty stuff I don’t need, and eat responsibly. \n\nSure Canada have a lot of issue. Probably due to the current liberal government and the usamerican capitalism, healthcare is in shambles (as any other healthcare system in OCDE), public transport is non existant, etc. \nWherever you go, at some different levels, theses are issues you find in any developed countries because this is just how we made our society and how it’s deteriorating because our model is just bad overall. \n\nI do have gripes with Quebec stuff, which I think it’s one of the worst province in the country, but as far as I’m concerned, as well as most of my immigrant friends, this is still a prime country to immigrate to. \n\nAlso, the Canadians are really welcoming, progressive, kind. (In general, not all of them, don’t get me wrong)\nOne of the best people I’ve encountered and this is very important when you immigrate somewhere.

Excellent video. I am a 29 years old Canadian with high education. I make 125K/year and yet after 2-3 years of looking actively I still can't manage to buy a house near the city as a first time buyer. I made many offers but lost every time. The demand is so high and the offer so low that many people bid way above the asking price even though the prices are sky high. Most of those people sold their previous house for a lot more than they bought it many years ago and therefore, are able to do so. First time buyers like myself don't have this advantage and the ones with lower salaries might never have the chance to have a house except if they move far from the city. Our government does not slow down on immigration because there is a labor shortage due to the older generation retiring but they don't build enough houses and allowed foreign investors for too long which results in the housing crisis we are currently in. My father bought a decent house near the city for the equivalent of 2 years of his gross salary at the time... Now the equivalent is more than 4-5 times my gross salary even though I make more than him at the time (taking inflation into account). Our healthcare and education systems are falling apart as well. Both are currently on strike in the province I live in due to terrible work conditions and salaries from our government. The cost of living has increased considerably in the last few years as well, especially the food even though the companies are making record net profits this year. Yeah... Canada is not doing well right now.

Love all your videos bro.\nBut just a correction. \n1. The Great Punjab Plaza(Job job job) is in Mississauga not Brampton.\n2.Brampton itself is a city and not a suburb of Toronto \n3. The insurance information provided by the other bro is false. I live in Brampton and i pay $450 for 2 cars. Yes insurance depends on your driving history but again its not tht expensive unless you are a new driver

I am a Canadian and I am puzzled by many of the claims you make. First housing price will vary a lot depending if you are in Vancouver, Toronto or Quebec City. Where I live, in the greater Montreal area, it's not difficult to buy a house if you have 2 median salaries. You say healthcare is expensive ?? It's mostly free (paid by our Taxes) and there are a lot of jobs posted. Almost all companies have a very hard time recruiting as there are very few candidates. The only thing I will give you is grocery price which is indeed expensive. Ultimately I agree that Canada is not great but where would I go ??? U.S. , Western Europe or every where I can think of is even worst in most respect.

They show a lot of grocery stores when they talk about monopolies, but it’s in everything. When I was getting my internet set up I found out only one of the two main companies in Canada is provided for my area (they do this on purpose). So I pay over $100 a month just for internet. And literally have no other cheaper option other than living with no internet. (I’m in a small town so there aren’t even any cafes or anything to pop into). And live alone. Another thing, we’ve got a big country, and I live in a rural community, so most of my colleagues drive at least 45 minutes to get to work, one way, because they’d rather live in the city. And this is NB so you can’t take public transportation like trains to get here, you’re driving on the highway to get here. Since the pandemic houses have more than doubled, I did get a raise, but it was I think 4% over the last three years. So cost of living is definitely increasing at a much higher rate. Before the pandemic I could buy a week of groceries for one person for $60, now it’s more than $100 for a week easily, and that’s with looking for bargains and reducing the amount of meat and fresh produce I eat. It can’t keep getting worse, because people already can’t afford it, so something is going to have to change before everything breaks completely.

All points are bang on. Too many monopolies inside too many extremely large categories. The taxes are out of control!!!! Everyone says free health care. Not true. What percentage of healthcare is done through company benefits? My guess is a high %. Also, look at some of the salaries people are making who work for the governments! The city I live in, about 150,000. There are dozens of “captains in the fire department as well as dozens of captains in training making 120,000 per year and have the ability to work 24 hour shifts (how much downtime) and I’m not sure how many days total in a month they have to work 6 or 7 shifts a month. We have a LOT of firemen. My property taxes are over $6000 per year now.

I lived and worked in TO in a few areas for several years. I left in 2016. I am glad I left before it got bad. I started witnessing more racist comments on subway and platforms were becoming too crowded. After 30 plus years I moved to live in a rural area before moving to live in a similar setting to where I grew up in Oakville. I do love TO and it has so much to offer. I worked downtown and just could not keep up. I spent my spare time walking along the beaches especially Scarborough Bluffs and skating at Harbourfront on a weekday. These are fond memories that I will cherish.\n\n I heard that the shelters were over crowded and unhealthy places. I met a nice man in my building who was successful, lived on street for 13 years before successfully integrating into low-income housing. I learned the most from his stories and met some of the most fabulous people in the worst buildings. I had to leave for safety and mental health reasons. I could not see myself remaining in TO without support. \n\n I made the right move in the right time. Not everyone can afford city living. My quality of life and mental health are better but I cherish the friendships I made in TO. My Grandfather was a Mcleod and I am amazed how much you look like my mother when she was younger. She modeled for Ford and volunteered for a local Vet and hospital. I wish you well. I appreciate your honesty. Since I left, I have driven by TO on 407 a few times. I just didn't have the right mix of education and work to survive in the city any more.

Nice and well thought out video. Even though I don't agree with everything, you said it in a considerate way and shared your honest experience. It was just unfortunate that you did not get enough time to settle down. Moving to any new place is extremely tough and especially when you are moving to a completely new city. I live in Germany and I love it here. My wife and I came here to study, but my wife came first and she had a really bad first 6 months in winter. Things got much better later. We Indians miss house help so much in early days, but the fact is you have so much free time here and things are well organized. You don't waste time in traffic, you don't have to go 10 times to a government office to get work done, you don't have to sit with kids everyday to do homework, kids can come and go to school on their own, there is little dust so houses don't get dirty every day, everything is planned and no one is visiting your house suddenly. So in reality, doing the house chores aren't such a big deal because you have a lot of time.

I stopped visiting Canada 40 years ago because of insane or corrupt border control policies. I traveled to Canada from California to record an album for a popular rock star. My crew number 4 people and we had reserves a month for basic tracking in a studio there. We bought our own reels of 3 inch wide recording tape because the studio wanted twice the rate as normal and since my studio was a distributor for the mastering tapes we brought from my own inventory. Each reel of tape was 3 lbs and brought 30 reels. We got to customs and they said we owed money for importing the tape. Normally a reel would have been $180, and customs wanted $38,000 x 20, and would not let us retrieve it to take it back to the US side of the border. How can a tape worth $180 suddenly have duty of $38,000?\nIt was explained to me as the Potential Value of the tape which meant AFTER a hit song was recording in it. Most recordings are total losses and the tape cant used on a new project even if properly bulk-erased. They expected me to pay on the spot $760,000 in duties. I gave up and left the tape with them. I called the artist and said we could not do the project in Canada and we went back to California. The artist came to us a few months later and the result was a minor hit, and probably barely made its production cost since the label only distributed it in Canada. I talked to an international trade lawyer about what happened and he said customs officials were wrong in Canada but they are given full latitude with no appeal so his advice was never take anything over the border that I did not mind being confiscated. Sometimes they would let it in because it was going back out in a month, but likely they sold it off and pocketed the money. The US is corrupt on a federal level but Canada is corrupt on the local level. I moved out of the US 24 years ago have a much higher quality of life than is even possible in the US, and live very cheaply. Total cost of living with a very active social and cultural life impossible to duplicate in the US which as some of the least options for culture. And my cost of living is $1500 a month, less than utilities alone for one house in California, and that is for 2 people. Last month for example I attended world class opera, ballet and symphonies 9 times, and went out to dinner, in jazz clubs or dance clubs, visited12 top museums, and it was still under $1500 for the month. A pair of tickets to the MET in NYC for lower grade performance, sets, orchestra ad theater, was $1800!! $600 for tickets to drama for 2. Here there 237 drama theaters within walking distance of my city center home, and can walk anywhere at any time of day and be safe due to VERY low crime rates. Free medical is good. I am not citizen but still I had an operation and 10 days in a vip single room for $5300 and despite my insurance I had been paying back in California $824.month, it was going to cost me out o pocket $500,000 and one day in a recovery 12 bed room, and require paid nursing attendant for 30 days. The results were great and was treated like king.\nCanadians have lost control of their government but Americas are screwed regardless, with lower than international standards for everything, with crime, corruption in Washington, extreme cost of living, no access to culture, few if any safe parks. My adopted city is not only far more beautiful than any US city, my GF can walk, alone, anywhere in a city of 7mil at any time of day through any of the 600 beautiful parks open 24/7..at 3am. There are no homeless, and 80% of those over 20yo own their home clear of debt. No college debt despite twice the % of people having degrees. The rest of the world caught up and has surpassed the US and Europe in quality of life. \n\nI have only been back to the US 5 times in 24 years and each time I am shocked by how much the entire society has declined while most of the world outside of Europe, Canada, US, UK or Australia have dramatically improved.\nEvery year since 2008 more Americans leave the US to live elsewhere than legal immigrants arrive.

Many recent immigrants I have known have left Canada because the cost of living is too high. From my experience they work very hard, usually working 60+ hours a week. After some time they crunch the numbers and realize no matter how hard they try they will not get anywhere so they leave. For those born in Canada we find ourselves being chased out of our hometowns because it is too expensive to live there. For myself it was either stay in Vancouver, surrendering more than half of your income to rent or move out of the city to buy an apartment. In the major cities there is a mass exodus of young people and the strategy has been to replace that exodus with immigration. The problem is that is not sustainable as now new immigrants, seeking a better life are not finding it in major Canadian cities. For those who already own property in the lower mainland the selfish mentality is to do whatever you can to deny construction, thus maintaining the scarcity and value of what little land/housing there is in desirable areas. Zoning laws are beginning to change but progress is slow and municipalities have failed to keep up with infrastructure so the growing pains is going to be immense. It's beautiful here now doubt but if I had no ties and a solid financial footing I would have left long ago. Generations ago you could show up to Canada with no money and thrive if you were willing to work hard. Now hard work won't get you anything.

I'm Canadian too, born and raised, and I have to say this is accurate. Shit health care, insane taxes, low pay, impossible cost of living.... I live in a rural town now (used to live in a city!!) and even here it's becoming unbearable. Genuinely thinking of changing countries in the next 5 years once I get my act together.\n\nThe video also didn't address the political problem. Only 3 serious parties (the rest are niche and don't address Canada properly as a whole), and two of them partnered so you effectively have two parties. One of them has ramped up the deficit and deflected all housing problems, and the other is hellbent on private healthcare, ignoring environmentalism, and helping their rich friends. Impossible to vote for real representation.

I'm Canadian and unfortunately everything in this video is accurately portrayed. The province in which I reside doesn't have it as bad as the ones mentionned in this video, and I can confirm that housing is still somewhat very affordable in a lot of areas if you don't mind a long-ish commute to the city when you have business there.\n\nStaying in a more rural area is fortunately a very valid option for tons of people as a lot of employers adopted telework permanently following the pandemic, but yeah essentially if you wanna live in an urban centre, good luck!

100%. We live in Windsor, our university and college are all international students from India. Now, my wife and I have to pay a lot more money for our kids to go to college and university outside of our city. That is absolute bullshit, and needs to be fixed. Spread these international students across the whole province. Send them up to northern Ontario , Thunderbay post secondary schools are really short for students.

Not true. I did an inter office transfer.i am senior. ;-D. I bought my house in the first 2 months! But yes 2 months after lockdown. I guess I was lucky. Yeah my home has gone up 30% at least. I am in Quebec. I love it here so far. Love my neighborhood. Also I live outside of the city. Nah, my neighbours are fantastic! I am invited to dinner, they help me out when I fractured my knees. People stopped me and talks to me and I am pretty much the only Asia around the area. I wish I speak more French. Totally disagree with you. You were from Germany? Honestly don’t they have a law on Sunday to not make noise?

Born in South Vietnam and raised in Toronto for almost 44 years now I'm still here and Toronto sucks!!! It has become a ghetto! City Toronto leftists' politicians have made it into a shithole! Bike lanes are everywhere and there are not much bikers during the Winter months (something like 8 to 9 months) and summer months I saw few here and there. Rents are totally beyond many peoples affordability. Foods prices are freaking crazy. Reason why this is happening? You have to thank the current idiotic-leftard government under Trutard leadership in Canada. This is thanks to his carbon taxes BS initiative causing high cost in fuel and resulting in major inflations in high food prices, rentals, etc. How can you help refugees and immigrants while Canadians can't even afford to live in Toronto, etc. You need to take care of Canadian first and foremost. Taking in 500 thousands new immigrants and refugees each year isn't going to be help Canada to get this mess we are in. Lower number like 150-200 thousands of new immigrants | refugees is feasible but NOT 500 thousands new immigrants and refugees.

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.

Thank you for posting this! I feel much the same.\nI was born in Toronto but my family moved to another city in Southwestern On. when I was 10. I pledged to move back and did in 2004 to become a student. I loved the freedom and vibrancy of the city, met many friends and had a wonderful time. Even as a student, working part time, I was able to afford a shared accommodation downtown and still have a bit of disposable income. \nAfter graduating college, I found full time employment and was able to live comfortably alone in my own 2 bd apartment in mid-town for many years. In 2012, I met my partner and we continued to live in North York in a 3bd rent-controlled unit. We could see the decline in the city over the next several years. We decided we would never be able to achieve what we wanted to by staying where we were so in 2018 we took the plunge and bought a home in Windsor and have never looked back (though Windsor also has many social/affordability issues) .\nIn all, I miss the Toronto I once knew and loved but the decline of the city is pretty shocking.

I am a Toronto Native, a nurse that used to work in Critical Care at Sunnybrook, but moved to Dubai as my husband received a job offer. That was more than 10yrs ago. I must say that every time I visit home, things are definitely worse. I notice that ppl are very negative and also rude. It's quite startling. I also see how much the demographics have changed as well. The city is also dirtier and not as pretty. I can say that if I ever returned, I would consider Vancouver, somewhere outside of the city, or on the island, but for now, I can say that I will never return to live in Toronto., We will go someplace else like Mexico where it's close enough for family to visit and it's close to home. Btw, Toronto is NOT the most diverse city in the world, it's Dubai, and UAE as a whole, where 85% of the population is born outside of the country.

... And here is why:\n1. Insanely expensive housing with next to none disposable income left in the pocket. \n2. Inability to get into the real estate market unless $$$ was brought in as an investment. This will leave locals and people who were born in Canada left out for good even further. \n3. Extremely competitive job market. Newcomers will have to suffer for a long time to break-in. \n4. Depression and drug addiction is everywhere. It's more deadly than covid but the government can't address the problem because they lose control for good. \n5. Canada is far away from many other places, which makes things worse as you feel trapped in a workcamp with no place to escape. \n6. The cost of living is getting much faster with the salaries significantly behind year after year. \n7. Canada became the country of failed government, failed multiculturalism, too tolerant as a result. \n8. Retirement in Canada will be impossible for 95% unless you agree to live in the middle of the nowhere until depression kills you. \n9. Many who came to Canada 25+ years ago and still around felt trapped. Canada's source of immigration will likely be the poorest communities who will agree to put up with everything listed above just to get out of where they live right now. \n10. Sad, but true. I have seen a steady decline in Canada since 1998. Things get worse every year.\nAmen to that. I'll be visiting Lviv in 2025 for the first time since 2000 to check on my apartment in the city centre, not far from my Alma Mater LPI. I THANK GOD every day I didn't sell it and so I have a place for retirement!

We left Toronto in 2019 after having lived there for almost 20 yrs (separately and as a couple). The city seems to decline a little bit more every time that we come back to the city to visit friends or for entertainment. It's truly saddening to see the state of things, since I remember first moving to the city in 1998 when it was a very bohemian and vibrant place to live. A room cost me around $350/mth, and I was able to live quite comfortably as a student. That's definitely not the case now, with mega-corporations ruling the rental market and charging a small fortune for much needed housing, as well as the constant mismanagement found in city hall. I'm glad that we left all of that behind for a small town on Ontario's west coast

I hate to tell you this but Canadians have always moved around to other countries for opportunities. Given the number of Canadians living in Los Angeles makes it Canada’s 4th largest city. Quebecers flocked to New England ages ago. The is quite long if you read a bit of history. Ever heard of Max Aitken? Better known as Lord Beaverbrook. There’s just more people here now so more move around or push off. If you’re looking to move, maybe New Zealand is a refuge in this crazy world we live in. A but like the John Wyndham book The Chrysalids.

I’m first generation Canadian and went to live abroad in 2015, met my spouse, brought him back to Canada with me once I found a job in 2019but it took me a while and I had to go on welfare. It was tough going for 2 years and my partner only found a decent job that paid him fairly and has benefits after 4 years of working crappy jobs. We bought a house away from the city for cheap in 2020 before things got crazy and we’re very fortunate and happy with the services we have access to in the small towns around us. My only regret is starting our family a bit late but better late than never. Canada is a tough place to live but it was even tougher when I was abroad and I learned to appreciate Canada more. But Trudeau has got to go. We need conservatives in power again.