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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.

No it can't. This country needs immigrants but the targets that have been set are way too high. There is not enough affordable housing available and it is driving up rent's so that they are unaffordable for the average Canadian. Many of the new immigrants are older family members and will never contribute to the system and only burden our overtaxed services.

Not enough jobs. Way too many low paying jobs. Companies don’t want to pay people. You cannot afford a house that costs 1 million dollars with a 20 dollar wage

For people blaming Indians. I get it. But it's not Indians. It's the Punjabis precisely. Think of it like this, Imagine 90% of all Montréal population moving to US. And the US says Canadians are way too many in their immigration system. True but not true at the same time.

I am not Muslim but I had a much better life in a Muslim country than in Canada, there are way too many issues here

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

Canadian experience is the way to pay less to immigrants (not too many employers're practicing this). Canadian experience is not unique compared to other developed countries. Backwarded attitude.

You should have gone to the Alexandra hotel, it functions as a hotel as well as a place for cheaper living for the homeless I’ve stayed there as a guest visiting Toronto many times and have heard so many different story’s from the homeless that live there now. The park itself (Alexandra park) next to the hotel has many homeless there too. There was a time I went to stay in Toronto for the weekend and couldn’t find anywhere to stay hotels were booked up or too expensive for my budget and one of the people that were living in Alexandra park overheard me when I tried to check in and offered a tent and food it was very welcoming I stayed with them for a few hours but ended up leaving because my ex had seen my story about not having anywhere to stay for the night and busses were done for the way back to Muskoka and got to stay with her. A lot of the homeless I met at the park weren’t addicts just got dealt a bad hand and had nowhere else to go, this was back in 2020. I’ve recently stayed at the Alexandra hotel this past summer for the exhibition and smashing pumpkins concert and it’s just the same as before. Heartbreaking the stories you hear but a very welcoming hotel and great what they do for the less fortunate.

Many of you are so disrespectful of our amazing country and our democracy. Try working a full week, pay your taxes and be internally happy to be blessed to live here. Many of you will be lining up for Canadian OAS, CPP and disability insurance while working at jobs that don’t require too much effort, education or commitment. I which I could send you all to North Korea, Iran, Russia , India or ,Central America to get a taste of these autocratic countries. Your mostly useless un-Canadian whom we can’t depend onto fight with NATO for our Canadian sovereignty. Do us a favour and go to our Canadian Consulate to send you on a one way ticket to whom would stupid enough to accept you.

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

Liberals might be told what to do (influenced and bossed around) by the IMF, WEF, and UN “agendas” into taking all this very massive overload of the over amount of “unskilled Immigrants” being way, way too many in way too short of a time which should cut-off and stopped immediately. But rather instead “permanent immigration” should be reduced to 250,000 per year for about 90% “highly skilled” Immigrants only. Temporary Foreign Workers should “have to” go home after their work permit expires “and” International Students should “not” be allowed to work in Canada then they “have to” go home after their University Degree is finished.

I hear a lot of the same, too many immigrants, but we've always had immigrants coming in, majority of people in Canada are immigrants ever since 1960s policy changes. The problem with allowing immigrants in NOW is that we don't have jobs and we aren't producing anything to give immigrants real jobs. A lot of companies are folding in Canada or mass layoffs. We aren't creating wealth. And the institutions are solely relying on Immigrants to keep their schools profitable. It's a vicious cycle that was working, but now that the house of cards are falling, there is no way to clean it up, without a complete reform.

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

I am curious to know how many people under 30, who are from Canada, still see their future here? or are planning to move to another country. I am in my 40s, and watch every day as justin gives away everything I have worked for in my life. I will be selling my home soon, most probably to an immigrant family, because the cost of existing here has become way too high. FYI.... as a CANADIAN I dont have another country I call home and can go back to once Canada is completely fucked.

That’s a good thing more people leaving Canada ,more people will find accommodation and getting back to a reasonable immigration\nWe have way too many immigrant without skill living on minimum wages,hardly enough to live on , Toronto Vancouver Montreal are place’s impossible to make a living when the pay is so low en compared to the cost of living

Unfortunetly this is what happens when we let too many i n. And they are given WAY more help and funding than our own citizens. Funny how they come here, use our resources, get our education funded by our taxes then once the gravy train ends they take off......start helping our own citizens FIRST

Canada had taken way too many people with no skills filling low wages jobs hardly enough to keep a roof over they heads and food \nHas become so expensive, shortages of affordable house is hard to find , people shouldn’t come to Canada now is not the time

Way too many of you here. I agree, go back home, build your own country.

Everyone knows we accepted way too many students. Their main goal is to get PR. Bring their whole family over and leech benefits off the Canadian tax dollar.

Hallelujah! It's been insane! Many cities don't even look like a Canadian city from even 5 years ago. Places like Toronto etc now all look like New New Delhi. It's sad to see Canadian culture being wiped out. And there is no place to live. The immigration policy in Canada is the most aggressive in world history (about 5x more immigrants per capita than places like US or Britain which also have way too aggressive immigration policies). \n\nIt's odd how we are always told here that people shouldn't marry or have kids for environmental/climate reasons (ugh) and yet Canada is bringing in so many people trying to QUADRUPLE our population by 2100. How insane is that?

5:25 this is absolutely true, and I say this as someone born and raised in Canada. It is even worse than you say, and it affects Canadians too. Many organizations have a culture of meek compliance to rules, which may not make sense. Most Canadians try to avoid standing out, and standing out is likely to be seen by your boss and peers as threatening. No one wants to rock the boat.\n\nThese rules and expectations may differ substantially according to the politics and beliefs of the employer. For instance, overtime may be highly encouraged in one place and discouraged in another. But the veneer of handling things in a highly compliant and pleasant way is always there, with a hidden expectation that you will speak positively about the biases of your boss or owner. In other words, the common factor is that bosses often have fragile egos or are afraid of anything that challenges the status quo. This harms critical thinkers and innovators who often leave to the US or China, but also immigrants who have even larger barriers to working within the status quo. \n\nEven among better bosses I have had, I notice this tendency towards intense discomfort with ideas that come from outside of their direct experience. Though at least with my current boss and one other I had in the past, there is an intellectual curiosity and empathy which helps them gradually open up to unfamiliar things (and they're just awesome people in general). But I still notice this bias sometimes. It's definitely cultural.

Canada is a mess. Way too many immigrants coming here with no money, no skills, totally useless. Housing and rent are impossible, healthcare is exploding under the stress and quality of care has greatly suffered. Crime has exploded in all major cities. There are cheaper and better places to go than Canada.

Canada is receiving way too many economic refugees, immigrants and international students.

I think Canada is still one of the best countries in the world. Some of the countries that have high rankings of happiness have free university, humane incarceration, much better health care,m and everyone has a family doctor, and many amenities to make life more productive and healthy. I’m fine paying more taxes for those societal benefits but many aren’t. Society is what we make it to be honest. Staying put and digging in and contributing to good in your community is a great way to improve city life. I think you are far too concerned with what things cost to do that unfortunately. Thailand is cheap as hell but I could never tolerate the low wages paid to vulnerable, hard workers, and the profound poverty, not to mention sex tourism. Trashing cities and departing isn’t helpful. Good luck!

Cost of living has gone up due to immigration, plain and simple. The increased market demand from immigrants is not being met by the supply, which means the market inflates. This is economy 101. If there is something people want (housing), the more people who want it and the less of it there is, the more it will cost. Immigration is *dircetly* affecting the housing crisis in an objectively negative way. *Acknowledge it.*\n\nIf you *don't* think that bringing *500,000* new people into the country *every year* is going to further inflate the market then you are delusional. There is not only already too many people in this country for the government and market to handle, but the government's solution is to bring in even more! *They are literally exacerbating the problem before our very eyes.*

this country has way too many problems in housing, schools, military and immigration idk how they're going to fix this because we keep feeding them money

Way too many minorities here now. I feel like I'm the only cracker in town.

Yes, they are accepting way too many immigrants. It's making life difficult for everyone. ?

I’m hearing from a lot of immigrants that Trudeau has brought in way too many immigrants. I was lectured by a Sri Lankan at a Pizza Pizza in Toronto that Canada is now a third world country because of all of the immigration. It’s time for Trudeau to go. Seriously, immigrants won’t be voting for Trudeau.

Yes, way too many of them....especially from India .

Way too many, we can’t find a place to live

it shouldn't even be a question. we are accepting way too many. it would not be a problem if we spent the last decade or two focusing on improving health care, expanding transportation and infrastructure, attracting jobs, building homes and so on. unfortunately we didn't do that sufficiently. we haven't even started to see the implications of this yet. in 5-10 years time the situation for everyone is going to be more dire than it has been in the last 1-2 years. we are in for very rough times all because we have an addiction to electing utterly useless governments no matter which side of the ideological aisle they sit on. if you think there's a lack of housing, not enough doctors, overcrowded transit systems etc now, it'll be a shock in years time. even if we started to improve these things now, it is not going to keep up to the demand

Yes. Way too many. Defund the CBC

Way too many! My daughter can't get into classes at university because they are all filled with immigrants with visas. It impacts everything, housing, hospitals, traffic, etc. Take a break will ya!

duhhh, way too many people and high costs for everything

Immigrant here. Way too many students brought in, in a short span of time. Exploited by the government, colleges and greedy landlords. The impact on middle class nieghbourhoods has been horrible, so many more cars, 12 people in a house, coming and going at all hours, reckless driving - NOT wanting to integrate or learn English even. The impact on cities is a huge unmeasured burden to the infrastructure: garbage, parking, roadways, demands on healthcare, insurance premiums etc…. What a complete mess Trudeau has done. Criminally incompetent.

There are way too many. Canada is just one giant diploma mill. Ontario and BC are just states of India now. This is ridiculous.

Not only accepting too many international students but also too many people with zero ability and knowledge to communicate with others. Ton of people who came with work permits basically doing nothing. I know so many of them as soon as they got the work permits, left Canada and got back home. Our education system is not as efficient as before. Too many kids from those family with work permits are joining the schools every day so the number of kids in each class is way more than it should be.There is no idea behind bringing too many immigrants. Stop doing that. Canada is not a great country like before.

Yes, way too many. God love 'em but we need to educate our own students.

Way too many This has to be stopped .Too little too late

WAY TOO MANY!!!!!

Please come here in Indonesia. The largest muslim country in the world ?. Here we have private schools based on religious beliefs. My daughter goes to public school but they have all religions in curriculum. So if the student is muslim, they will learn how to practise shalat and read Quran in school. And you can find place to shalat in any places, like mall or rest area or market. You can find mosque in every street. Halal food is a must. And we only have 2 seasons here, dry and rainy seasons. And we have many tropical beaches and forest too. And the living cost is way cheaper than Singapore or any western country. But if you live in Jakarta, it's a bit pricey i guess. Come to Bali or Yogyakarta or any city in Kalimantan island. You'll live a wonderfull life here, insha Allah ?

Way too many immigrants and the govt is not making sure prices are kept low.

As a Canadian born citizen, I feel horrible and relieved. The relief comes from the fact that there are too many people here, we need a mass exodus, but also horrible because these people were lied to that this is a good place to immigrate to, and had to lesrnt he hard way that it ain't

We, as Canadians are willing to pay for your one way tickets. Please take as many of your kind with you and we’ll pay their tickets too. It’s cold it’s grey it’s expensive but we love our Canada ?? ❤.

WAY too many people moving to Canada since 2020 has made it almost unlivable both for people who are from here and the newcomers alike. Canada, as we knew it and as you probably thought it was has been all but destroyed. This isnt the country you read/heard about anymore.

This is my 13th year in Canada, I am so sad to see the change, I really hope it will become a better country again with Trudeau stepping down. But we also have to be fair that there are not many countries become better since COVID. Many of you leaving or planning to leave Canada are more like rich country retirees taking advantage of the wage and currency differences between rich and poor countries. So let’s put it this way, if many of you have not worked your whole life here in Canada, will you still have a quality of life in your home countries, such as Southeast Asia or South America? I doubt majority of the population there is make a good money and having great work life balance, and everyone there could afford a decent retirement life. what is more close to nowadays reality is people coming here and hoping they could have a better paid job and settle down here, but most of them found out they are struggling to even maintain their normal life in this country, so they left. For those who came years ago, they made a saving which may not be enough to support a good retirement life here, but is more than enough in other countries, they also choose to flee. Then those successful immigrants will stay here with the option to travel anywhere they want. My son's classmate's grandfather immigrated to Canada long time ago who later become a well known cardiologist and was rewarded as one of the top 25 immigrants Award, all three daughters are now specialists too. I really hope Canada could rise again!

I appreciate the way you present the reality. One way to cope with salaries and taxes is to open you own enterprise. This is the canadian way of growing fron a wealth point of view. As a person leaving from a salary, it is still possible to grow depending on your skills. But beggining your own business to exploit your skills will make you 'fly' to the next level, which is the actual way of growing. It took me a lot of years to realice this. Just think about it, provinces allow medecins to incorporate what means that they will pay less taxes and become richer sooner. This is just my thought, other people may think in a different way, I just try to give positive ideas.\n\nSecondly, Canada is still a country to live in a bit better than other countries considering many things happening around the world. Crime and economics is worst everywhere also. But, it all depends on what criteria counts for you. About society, it's not easy to make real friends except other inmigrants that need it too. Climate is not attractive specially for older people. Etc.\n\nHope you find my comments interesting and that you find your place soon.

As a Canadian, born and raised, I am much more proud to be a Canadian than if I were to be a U.S. or U.K. citizen, given the way they are regarded in most of the word. I have travelled Europe extensively, Central America, as well as parts of SE Asia. \n\nCanada is indeed expensive and has become moreso because we too easily accept the rising prices, just so we can feel good being a Canadian. Tipping culture is ridiculous, even for bad service, many feel the need to tip 15% because of fear of being regarded as a cheapskate or avoiding offending the service provider. Companies should be paying their staff a better wage where 20%+ tips are not expected for every restaurant, cafe or delivery service. We're helping corporations make more profit by subsidizing their staffing expense. This isn't the case in most of the world. \n\nMy eyes were opened when I saw how you can live an equally good life at a third or less of the cost and I have grown open to the idea of living elsewhere once I have enough money to retire early (I'm talking around 55) and enjoy life without feeling cash-strapped. World class private medical care can be found for prices that are unbelievable and without the multiple appointments and wait times.\n\nI will always be a Canadian first, but there is room for a second citizenship or a backup plan should living in Canada become an impossible place to live or retire, unless you begin with a financial advantage. By no means am I poor, either. I got lucky with both real estate and stocks. Yet, I feel like I am working to just get by, while being taxed well beyond what I am getting in return.

Toronto has become a big injection center for drug addicts, that's one of the reasons I left Canada. It was so depressing to see that everyday downtown Toronto or pretending not to see them but the fact is, it was way too depressing and I didn't want to see them anymore. Also, places such as Moss Park have become a shooting place at night for no reason so taking a walk in the park' without taking big risk wasn't an option anymore. Not to mention the cost of living for such a bad quality of life, barely being able to afford buying some basic products such as milk or vegetables. Canada has become so bad. So glad I left and I don't regret it for one minute. There are so many better and friendlier countries out there.