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I was born and raised in Toronto. The Trudeau government has absolutely destroyed our economy and is now scamming poor developing nations to come here and work as wage slaves while packing 25 dudes into a basement. This is deplorable. This is just the Indian student scam (selling false dreams and a poor education), we also have the migrant labour scam in our fruit/vegetable fields where workers are abused. I honestly don't understand how these new immigrants survive here, even our Canadian-born are having a lot of financial trouble. Thanks for covering this BBC, the world should know about our economic malaise and how are government is deliberately wrecking this country economically and scamming unsuspecting foreigners.

This just popped up in my newsfeed and although I'm not Canadian (my wife is), we live near Washington D.C. as a family of four, and this has been a topic on my mind for the past year as well. I was born here and my family has been here for over 50 years. I often struggle thinking where else to live. Countries/cities I have been considering are Dubai, Riyadh, Casablanca/Marrakech, Turkey, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

You are mostly giving false information about the state of affairs in Canada. This is the worst time in the history of our country. We are being invaded with legal illegal immigration. The federal government is actively replacing the old stock Canadians with non white immigrants essentially changing the tge Canadian culture and value system. Crime and homelessness is rampant in every city and town across the country . There is a very serious housing crisis as i speak. The country is short upto 4 million homes driving up the price of real estate and rental housing. For example where i live in British Columbia a 1 bedroom apartment rents for $2200 per month for a 50 year old apartment. It costs about $100 dollars for a single bag of groceries. It costs about $4000 dollars per month just to exist. All of that and our government has gone the way of socialism and our rights and freedom are being removed at an alarming rate.

Most indian old people ( parents of young people working in Canada or USA) who live there with their children are bereft of any idea to make their individual life any better. I found none with any hobbies. They treat themselves as deadwood and complain they can't do this and that. They can't gossip ? that is their problem. None of them read, write, paint, play music, garden, create any handicraft. They cook, clean the house and wait for their tired children to come home from work and complain They are bored. Just because they hate their own company. I'm 72 and I enjoy my annual long trips to Canada. 24 hours is not enough for me. My 70 years old wife and I remodeled our daughters house on our last trip. Before that was creating a new garden. Our canadian friends wait for us to cook or bake with us. \nI don't understand what these people are complaining about ? May be they miss the filthy Mumbai streets where they can throw anything in the streets and be filled with high decibel noise 24/7. \nI will make the best chicken Tikka masala with canadian ingredients in Canada. You have to be inventive.

Interesting video - as a Canadian who hasn't lived in the country for nearly 2 decades : ) \n\nWhenever i return to my hometown (Burlington) i do notice an increased foreign population. I sometimes wonder how their experience is going for them, particularly for (as just one example) Indians who come from a much warmer and more communal environment (to generalize a bit). \n\nI sometimes worry that the Canada experience might be a bit 'cold' for them - in more ways than one ?

I'm an immigrant and my immigrant friends and I were talking about exactly this just the other day. I'd like to add some context on why so few international students stay: they can't. Schools prey on this very fact. In international recruiting, these schools use the promise of thriving local industries and trot out graduates working locally as major draws to these expensive programs. Then once students are in Canada, many of these schools couldn't care less: they offer little or sometimes no housing support, no immigration advice (or in my case and many of my friends' cases: they give straight-up false immigration advice that can screw you over or even get you in trouble). There absolutely needs to be regulation and accountability for these predatory schools; I think a good starting point would be capping the number of visas they can apply for based on the number of housing units available (either on-campus or via local development subsidy and homestays). Tons of students come to Canada completely unprepared due to false promises made by these schools, and then get spit out into an egregiously inefficient and broken work visa system.\nMy immigrant friends and I are all highly skilled in our specific field. There are only a handful of people in the world (let alone in Canada) who can do what I do at the level I do it, so I would be incredibly difficult to replace if I left Canada. Despite that, and despite being Canadian-educated (Canadian resources invested in me that you'd want to keep in Canada), remaining in Canada has been a massive struggle for me and my friends. We individually spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars every year to apply for permits that have to be renewed annually, but take the government 6+ months to process. Because the government is so backed up, we have to apply for *extra* permits to bridge that gap (more money, and more work added to IRCC's already-long line of applications). I'm in limbo for the majority of the year where I can't switch employers, can't leave the country, etc. It's horrible. \nBut I have it better than most. Of the international students in my year, only I and one other student are still in Canada because the transition to work permits is so needlessly long and difficult. Even a graduate who does manage to get a work permit might have to sit unemployed for 6 months or more before that permit is active. How is a student supposed to survive without work for that long? In order for employers to even apply to sponsor a graduate, they often have to do a lengthy labor market impact assessment, and so these graduates are stuck in a holding pattern, and they're the lucky ones. Immigration is absolutely vital to Canada and I hate how quickly these stories turn to xenophobic rhetoric, but we have to make space in the conversation to take a look at how schools are exploiting students and policy loopholes, and why they're doing it, and address those problems. The current system isn't fair to anyone.

As a Canadian I would advise not to move to Cnada right now. Hopefully with a change in government things will get better but for now just say NO.

As an international student from India at a top university with a scholarship, I found it quite odd when I go to the Tim Hortons near McgIll or literally any food shop in Toronto and found talking to the guy/girl taking the order in Hindi. I am like bruh wtf I went from India to mini India, wasnt studying abroad supposed to be a difficult prospect. The senseless immigration that happens through diploma farms, that only increase the population of unskilled immigrants needs to stop. Like Canadian healthcare is on the verge of collapse, cuz u dont have enough doctors yet you want 200,000 more TimHortons workers from Punjab. I do not understand this policy. \n\nI also question the impeccable brain power of the Indians who leave the comfort of their family and home (which imo has massively better healthcare system) to come here and then live a life of hardship due to not having proper education or just not having enough money.

I’d like to think I could watch the whole video but frankly within the first 3 reasons people are “leaving Canada” - not something I’ve notice although in and election season I am not surprised this may be getting blown up In conservative press, you have left out any real context. Yep we pay taxes - but you don’t speak to what services those taxes do our don’t deliver. The complaint that employers want to hire people with experience is as old as time. I’m 70 and when I tried to get jobs as a kid and later as a university grad - it was the same story. Whether the job really requires experience or the employer is just using it to keep entry level wages down - that just goes with the territory and also feels universal. Lastly - you speak of “the Canadian way” without giving any examples. What is “the Canadian way” or is that just your euphemism for racial or cultural prejudice? If it is you should just say what you mean and stop bandying ill defined terms around that let viewers arrive at conclusions you don’t intend. So already being pretty annoyed with your Masters degree opinion piece - I had to stop you and move on. You thoughts here are not very meaningful and feel like they are full of grievances and intended to be asking for audience validation of your grievances which pretty much invalidates your disclaimer at the top of the video.

Good at the end of the day, we don’t need to defund things like police, what we need is to defund school. At this point, it’s a useless system that’s been overdated. It’s does absolutely nothing for the Canadian and the Canadian working class, and just gives international student a free pass to a PR statue. Which doesn’t nothing but take up resources. At fanshew college it’s basically a place with a bunch of immigrants using it as a holding cell till they meet the requirement and what’s funny is that all fanshew Programs and degree only take not even haft of the minimum effort to pass and get a diploma. So now we are recruiting a bunch of immigrant who are gonna rely things like our society infrastructure which ends up taking away resources for people that actually contribute to this country. IMO it’s a bit of both to blame but Canada need to step there foot down and say enough is enough, I got took advantage but not anymore. I not blame the international student as the fault is the government but at some point I gonna be like can you stop abusing the system students.

I understand and agree with you. Everything here is expensive with high taxes that go up just about every year. Europe is much cheaper and there are many countries that are a lot safer. I understand how you feel as Muslims and I have nothing against other religions. You don’t have your calls to and I as a Christian I don’t have the church bells which happen to also be a call to prayer. If I was not 70 years old I would leave. I am not Canadian but I am a citizen, my husband, however, is Canadian, so we stay because leaving would be extremely difficult. You are correct about the government and the ‘woke’ ideology in schools and everywhere we turn it seems which we also do not agree with. I also do not like how MAID is becoming just a part of life here, it is deplorable. I wish you and your family good luck and happiness

What I would like to know myself as a Canadian resident for 60 years where is the financing coming from the students coming in from their perspective countries or is it Canadian financing. The next question please would be would these students actually contribute to Canada's society and not be like the last 20 years of nurses being trained and doctors also guilty of this of leaving the country and laughing at the Canadian taxpayer by not even paying back the student loan which is not forgivable by any means I would really appreciate someone to educate me on this it's just an unknown I feel almost ripped off.

You guys still don't seem to understand the situation here. These students don't come here for education, they come here for PR. Student Visa is just a bypass route for them to get that PR. I know few so called students who cant speak a word in english, how do you expect them to clear their international courses. They are not bright honest students. They are the jobless youth of India, who take loans or sell their lands to come here as students and spoil Canadian markets with cash jobs. My humble submission will be to stop Immigration for 3 years, and stop student visa to India for 5 years. Things will fall in place.

if you earn less money then you don't pay that much tax for health care. I've never paid over 15% of my income for income tax and because I earn so little I don't pay monthly health care premiums they are just free. The reason I earn so little is because I have a 3yo and no options for childcare when his dad is working so I can only work when his dad is not working. As a result I get the maximum canadian childcare benefit (CCB). Although the main reason I haven't left canada yet besides family, is the clean drinking water, relatively clean air (I live in a rural area) and low levels of environmental diseases (malaria, hep B, dengue, zika, cholera, parasites etc). I keep trying to find a country that can offer clean drinking water and clean environment with decent climate and soil for growing food, and decent health care and work opportunities. If anyone has any suggestions for countries like this to research I'd love to hear them.

[ Coming from a student ] - Nobody is to Blame beside THE GOVERNMENT! They mislead many international students to come here without even checking if the Colleges exist! They just kept giving visas to many students and when students reach here then they realize they made a big mistake especially after looking at the present bad economy and giving the tuition money to these money grabbers (GOVERNMENT AND COLLEGES). And to make it worse you have to pay 10k to the banks before coming which is now 20k and then the students pay 3 times the money compared to Canadian students, Which to pay-off, a lot of these students do all kind of jobs for so many hours a weeks just to pay the fees and their living bills. Hence, the reason for them not able to focus on their studies properly, less work for other folks and every other things which is effected. As a Student I was financially fine which was the main reason for my pretty much smooth journey here but not everyone has the same backups. I feel really bad for the students and hope this money grabbing madness stops and the immigration for at least 3- 4 years.....

You guys still don't seem to understand the situation here. These students don't come here for education, they come here for PR. Student Visa is just a bypass route for them to get that PR. I know few so called students who cant speak a word in english, how do you expect them to clear their international courses. They are not bright honest students. They are the jobless youth of India, who take loans or sell their lands to come here as students and spoil Canadian markets with cash jobs. My humble submission will be to stop Immigration for 3 years, and stop student visa to India for 5 years. Things will fall in place.

I totally agree that this country will break your spine and test your ultimate willpower. Me and my wife came here 5 years back and we decided that we will shut ourselves like a tortoise. Forget about savings and forget about everything else. Only and only one goal we had in mind is that we will live in the basement and earn top dollars. Just to give you a perspective. My first pay was 19 dollar per hour and my current pay is 87 per hour. My wife started with 16.5 per hour and now earning 69 per hour. Even though our income grew substantially, we never raised our expenses. Answer to all problems in Canada is income. Now after 5 years we bought house worth of 1.4 M. We moved out of basement and felt immense pride. We paid 37% down payment and 3 banks approved our mortgages in a heartbeat. No debt at all. We paid up our car in full. Just a regular new suv nothing fancy. \nEveryone is different, we all are unique and I believe you took a right decision. Each and every word you said in the video is true. \nWe cried , we fought , we felt that our life is ruined but we both thought that ek bar to Canada ko harana hai. Itni income generate karenge ki sala CRA shock ho jaye progress dekh ke. We literally cried when we saw our YTD on Dec 31,2023. We crossed 300k and lately to be honest we got a kick in living in basement. People around us thought of us as a regular poor couple but from inside we knew that we are earning in top 3% of Canadian population. \nI would highly recommend that understand the job market of Canada. Work on your soft skills. Power on the language is MUST. It is even more important than your technical knowledge. Make meaningful connections. Stay away from negative people. Once you understand your inner strength then now body can stop you.\n\nThanks for this amazing video. Love the narration and information.

I think it will be much, much more better for you and your family to live in a Muslim majority country being a Muslim. Islam is just not really compatible with Canadian culture or Western culture as a whole. I wish you luck on your journey.

I also feel that your decision is the right one. When people move to another country they are expected to adapt to the general culture of that place. And Islam is not really compatible with Canadian values. For the sake of your children it will be better to raise them in an Islamic country. As an aside: the Canadian government does not support the war itself in Gaza, they just are against the gruesome massacre of October 7 (a true genocide by classic definition), and consider the fact that the war was forcibly brought upon Gaza by that event.

I wish you and your children the best. I hope you're safe, healthy and as happy as one can be these days given the environments we live in. Just as a matter of curiosity, are all of you Canadian passport holders and if yes, are you going to renounce citizenship at any time, or wait till your children have grown up so they can choose too? Good luck whatever you do.

This is a good example of what differentiates a Canadian from a person who holds Canadian citizenship. Not that you're wrong about the state of our morally bankrupt secular culture and government, but that's something that I'm going to fight against. I'm not going to run away, because this is my country that my ancestors spilled their blood for, and it's still worth fighting for, at least to me. I and every other Canadian have no other home to flee to. As far as Canada not being Muslim-friendly enough, why should it be. This is a Christian country founded on Christian morality and Christian-based law. I'm not an islamophobe, but I do believe that our cultures and people should remain separate, as they are quite alien to one another in many ways and there's no getting around that. I don't want my country becoming more Islamic just as you don't want your home country becoming more Christian.

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.

People have to stop using rental prices in cities like Toronto and Vancouver. That's like Americans using rental costs in Bel-Air California or Manhattan as an example of what rent costs in America. It's not a realistic portrayal of rental costs. \nHere in Quebec the the annual tax rate is between 26.53% and 53.31%, depending on income. Then you have to consider all the socialist programs that you are forced to pay into, which also sucks up a significant amount on your weekly salary. After that, you must consider that you pay 15% sales tax on almost everything. It's safe to say that half of your yearly earnings, give or take, are taken in taxes and socialized programs. As for salaries, less than 20% of the Canadian population make a 6 figure salary. We're not talking about household income. I am talking about individual income. You're not going to become rich here in Canada! The majority of people who do become rich leave Canada to avoid taxation. Canadians live a life of debt. You will live just balancing your debt to make sure it doesn't get out of control Few Canadians have money in savings without debt. The ones who do have money saved, most of them have debts on top of their savings which is counterproductive in my opinion.

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.

I hope it worked out for you man… as a Canadian, I can say that as much as Canadians love to pretend like we’re super open and welcoming, that’s largely not the case. I’ve witnessed some really disgusting treatment of immigrants first hand, and I have a lot of friends/ coworkers who are immigrants from Latin America and the Middle East, and I’ve heard a lot from them about the micro aggressions that they get from Canadians everyday, the dirty looks they get when speaking their native languages in public, and the immense pressure to assimilate. What you were saying about feeling like you’re always reminded that you’re an outsider in Australia, I also hear that a lot from immigrants here in Canada… I hope that Canada can be a better place for you, and you can feel more at home here, but the u fortunate truth is that the idea that Canadians just welcome immigrants with open arms and that everyone is welcome here is largely a myth… a lot of Canadians unfortunately are just xenophobic, racist, nationalistic dickheads and they’re not shy about it

I am non Muslim also living in the Okanagan Valley and I agree with you on all these points. Being third generation Canadian I am also considering leaving Canada. I remember as a young boy the Okanagan has been very discriminating to others who just did not fit in to their normal.

Yeah job security is an important factor I think those of us who are in IT and have been 'sacked' as someone here in another comment mentioned feel the brunt when you know that Canadian companies are looking elsewhere for cheaper labor. I think it's after something like this happens when you really think about things such as Unions and the seemingly open door to qualified immigrants who would take a lower paid job just to get a foot in the door. Hey, it happened to me many years ago so why would it be different. Interesting times indeed.

This is a very thoughtful and balanced review. As a retired Canadian who had a good job for most of my life, I'm saddened by the decline in almost all areas of life, lifestyle and and people's aspirations in this country. This decline actually seems quite rapid, I would say from 2015 onwards. Housing in major centres was expensive, but it has skyrocketed in the past decade. There has been a decline in many institutions: 1. health-care, especially noticeable since the pandemic that coincided with many boomer medical staff retiring, but also by our sclerotic institutions refusing to enable foreign-trained doctors to work here. Many foreign-trained doctors in the Vancouver area are doing jobs way below their qualifications while many people cannot even get a family doctor. Crazy. Econonically, there seems to have been no plan at all from the government as we exited the pandemic. At least the US had a plan, to 'build back better'. Our government just floats along as if everything is fine, when the decline is very visible especially to older Canadians. We have admitted 1/2 a million people a year from overseas, so our economy should reflect this and show an upswing. But no, we're in a 'technical recession' as of December and probably a real recession as of last week. I have never voted Conservative in my life, but Trudeau is a flaky dimwit with a famous name who has no clue what he is doing. A fool, in fact. He's mismanaged our foreign relations beyond belief, and nothing has improved domestically. When Pierre Poilievre says 'Canada is broken', I believe it. We deserve much better leadership; in Canada's case, the rot does come from the top. Justin the entitled idiot is much more like his mother than his father.\n\nLong rant. Anyway, I just wanted to praise your balance, and your decision to stay for now. Moving from one country to another is a huge life-change and you have worked hard to be here. I only hope conditions improve for you and your husband in the near future. Will look out for your future videos.

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.

wtf is the canadian way really?\nbecause anyone working in IT as software developers follow the same standards and procedures. i would imagine so with healthcare and a lot of other industries.\n\nthis is such bullshit because work is standardized for the most part. i would argue most of IT work actually goes to asia and they are far more experienced than your average western country if not for immigration.\n\nmeanwhile, they let anyone in culturally. they gave a full house to an afghan terrorist. diwali has more fireworks than new years. christmas was hushed down because of those weird-ass pro palestianian protestors that should be protesting in israel rather than anywhere else.\n\nit's all clearly just a scammy way of luring people in when canada has barely any productive value. they stifled their own gas and lumber industries because muh carbon. they got no IT game. their healthcare infrastructure is weak. all they have is land and real estate runs out fast if you don't develop your country.\nwhy do you think only 2 of their cities are populated and overly expensive. it's because nowhere else is livable by the rest of the world's stanards.\nand even with all of this. a country with barely any productivity. their currency is somehow still valued far more than countries that do produce massive amounts of value like japan or even the leading south east asian countries.\nyou can thank the IMF and world bank for that. those are institutions established to maintain white countries wealth.

As forth generation Canadian I left years ago and never ever want to return .\nGrowing up Canada was the greatest place to live but with years of Canada being flooded with a million new bodies a year it’s become a horror show .\nSure many coming are great people but they won’t stick around once they see with their own eyes the realities there .\nSo anyone loving to come to Canada are obviously from third world hell holes and are coming for the free stuff .\nCanada has new migrants from the worst countries in the world countries you would never ever dream of visiting but now those people live next door.\nI watched a YouTube stream from Toronto on New Year’s Eve and did not recognize my old Toronto the good anymore .\nRight at Yonge and Dundas the main intersection in Canada 95 % of the people were South Asian and 80% were male .\nThere was no Christmas decorations in Toronto just one sad looking tree they call a remembrance tree .\nDon’t know what we are supposed to remember what Toronto use to be when they celebrated Christmas and it was a White Christian country ?\nIf you can believe it Toronto doesn’t even have a New Year’s party concert celebration anymore ,just lame fireworks over Lake Ontario.\nMontreal doesn’t even have fireworks anymore lol \nTake my advice get the heck out of Canada move to Thailand where housing is cheap ,food cheap and people are nice .\nYou only live once don’t waste it in miserable Canada

I’m a local Canadian and I very much agree with you. I’m planning on leaving as well and never moving back here. Canada used to be nice but now it’s just extremely expensive, residents are RIDICULOUSLY overtaxed, we’re not getting back the value of what we were taxed for, large cities like Toronto are overpopulated and thus the culture is highly diluted, left wing government, not to mention the cold wet and dark winters these days :(

I think your reading of the situation is slight from the wrong end of scope. \n\n1> the job of the Canadian gov is to look after Canadians. (Yes they allow immigrants but that is for the benefit of Canadians and not the other way around. \n\nThe house prices are intentionally kept high. The reason is because it makes existing citizens richer. (Year on year) these people vote and the gov would like their vote) . Creating huge supply of housing is going to crash the market and that will end up people feeling poor. (Values will drop : demand and supply) . Falling values mean people will feel poor and then less likely to vote for the current administration.\n\nI am based in UK which is experiencing record amount of immigration. \n\nTaxes here are high.(I don’t mind high taxes as long as there are good public services to show for them) \n\nGood roads \nHigh speed internet \nGood infrastructure \nHospitals \n\nSo the job of the gov (in western hemisphere) generally is to keep the voting public happy. \n\nThat involves \n\n1>Good public services (most are social states and people accept high taxation as a trade off for good public services) \n\n2> rising house prices. (Voting public wants to feel richer and owning your home is like your retirement and pension pot. Most of the wealth in uk is stored in property. (I guess same in Canada to some extent ) \n\n3> control of immigration. People want immigration but want good immigration l. People who will come and contribute to society. Too much of it can be an issue for existing citizens and also immigrants themselves selves.\n\n\nOn a separate note. People deciding where to settle always remember. Long term the proximity to the world matters . Europe is still the centre of the world. Cross east to Asia and west to Canada and USA etc. living in Canada (west coast specially is like the edge of the world just like living in NZ ) \n\nPopulation matters. \nThe Canadian population and Australian population is less than of Uk (as far as I know ) and the land mass is huge. It is not a big market compared to some of the countries compared to Europe. \n\nMore people = more demand = more big companies want to compete =lower prices for consumers and less inflation .\n\nJust some thoughts on this last day of 2023z happy new years all .

I am Pakistani and married to a Saudi-Canadian, but he is just Muslim by name and not practicing Islam. We have two boys and I am concerned about their future. I want to give them Islamic education. I want my boys to be close to their religion and culture. I want to move as well, but my husband does not want to relocate.

As a born and raised Canadian of immigrant parents, i have definitely noticed the increasing influx of people leaving this country in recent months. This issue has popping up more in the news, just around this year. Canada needs immigrants, thats true for the long term it will benefit the country, but right now its more of the drawbacks that are manifesting. Accepting More immigrants means that more resources are needed, that means and so many tax paid social services and benefits like housing, healthcare, welfare, citizenship applications, waitlists, wait times, lineups, everything is getting longer and pushed back. I get what everyone feels.

As a native Canadian I totally understand your stand on winter and inflation. As a native Canadian I think we don't inform immigrants and outsiders that winter climate does to alot of people. There is a seasonal affective disorder (very prevelent) in my father's family and even my mother unfailing optimism get's like you fatigue at the very least. Kids love winter but yes as a adult or even a teen many people retreat and feel isolated. As for inflation, I do hope you find a country where the gouvernement(s) aren't denying the insanity that is going on. To be honest, after centuries of being a Quebec native, I have fantasized very heavily about moving myself because even with a good salary things each year since Covid-19 have become just terribly expensive and it affect primarily basic shelter and food needs. It's absurd! Good luck on your way settling where ever you will!

Salam aleikum, I am European who twenty years ago accepted Islam alhamdulillah. I was a student at university when I first met practicing Muslims and during my year abroad in Canada I got to experience the Muslim community and made the decision to accept the truth. It actually makes me sad to see that Canada goes down the way you described. I like the Canadian people and have beautiful memories from the time I spent there. \n\nAs a European Muslim I also started considering hijra. But my case is a bit complicated: I am the caregiver of my two parents who suffer from ALS and dementia ? As they are totally dependent on my presence, practically I cannot leave....but I also feel the negative things as you described them for Canada. With maybe one exception: our winters are milder and I enjoy our summer. When I travelled to Saudi ,Turkey and Morocco: I liked all of them, but the weather was just too much for me ?

Sorry guys, all of the reasons that you mentioned except maybe the inflation (which I think is temporary and happening around the world), are the reasons that you SHOULD STAY in Canada. If you leave then you are giving up challenges and trying to find an easy way out. Please remember nothing comes easy and if you leave Canada then you are not going to be part of the struggle to change the mindsets of Canadian society that Muslims can be also accepted in Canada as they are, which may not come during your or your children's lifetime but it will come eventually maybe during your grandchildren or great grandchildren's lifetime and you need plant the seed for that now otherwise there will be no fruitful outcome. It needs lots of patience and initial suffering for a group of minority or downtrodden people to be accepted within the mainstream societly. If the Muslim people start leaving Canada just like you guys then there will be fewer Muslims for this struggle to bring changes in Canadian society. I think you are escapign the struggle and suffering and you guys can affford that but you are leaving many of them behind who cannod afford to leave Canada and it will make their lives even worse and the future generation. You need to look at the bigger picture and and the future. Anyway, this is my personal openion, which you or your audiences may not agree.

As a Canadian, I would proudly walk around with you while you wear your hijab. I pity the person who gives you a weird look or says anything. I don’t stand for that nonsense. You belong here just as much as I do

It's so sad, because it is such a huge, beautiful country. And you know, in the USA, we grew up watching things, and reading things, etc that weren't even Amercian, but Canadian, and mostly not knowing it. So many beloved things from Canada. We did also feel like they were happier, and more pleasant than we were. But I have many friends up there, from all Provinces, and they all have the same complaints. Thing is, they are the same complaints about the USA also, but just things like crime in the USA is notably worse....I used to live in the UK also, and that was better, but still not brilliant. The west as a whole is falling apart, and there are reasons for that, reasons that are being mostly ignored, so it will only get worse I'm afraid, unless we start demanding that they know longer be countries that cater to only the rich. Where only the rich can thrive.

As a *ONCE PROUD* older Canadian I would *STRONGLY URGE ALL PEOPLE* looking to immigrate to look elsewhere. Everything that was the wonderful free, secure, safe, affordable-ish, fun country I grew up in, *IS TOTALLY GONE starting in 2015* and rapidly getting frighteningly worse every year after. If my entire history, children and grandchildren were not all here I would move in a HEARTBEAT. This is just not a country I would otherwise want to be stuck in should the worst happen and this government continue to rule or be re elected, some *VERY VERY FRIGHTENING THINGS ARE COMING AND CANADIANS HAVE NEXT TO NO POWER TO STOP THEM OR PROTECT THEMSELVES* Please consider all other options before deciding to come here, this is said from sorrow and the bottom of my heart.

Canadian employers and often hiring managers are very very conservatives and risk adverse. Both as someone who grew up here, worked abroad and came back, the whole process for getting a job (as well as seeing how my colleagues behave as hiring managers / HR), it feels we are decades behind most countries in how we hire. \n\nIf not for my previous Canadian experience before going abroad, it would've been much harder for me to get any employment here. Moreover hiring managers are insanely close minded relatively, I've had countless discussions with people who would rather go with a worse candidate that they know from previous or referral than someone who's obviously more qualified / knowledgeable. It's also possible that the hiring managers have no confidence in their own ability to gauge skills (long LONG rant in this regard...), so they always prefer to go the safest route (for themselves) rather than take any risk on someone who's more skilled.\n\nCanada is (well.. used to, 10 years+ ago) great to live but it's horrendous to make a living.\n\nwith everything going to a shitshow over last decade... we can't even have the first half of that sentence anymore. I now fully expect my kids to leave the country when they look for work and it's probably best for their careers / entrepeneurships (ANOTHER part canada is just hostile to SMBs).\n\nTransportation... yeah, anyone who's lived abroad will consider Canada public transport to be very very low tier. however, you tell that to life time Canadians and they'll be super offended, aggressively defensive how great it is, etc.

lol...I left Canada 12 years ago...Canada is not moving forward, very little industries to choose, very little roles and positions to offer, the work culture is slow, lazy and dumb in general. Cost of living and tax is high. The government is not open to welcoming more outside investment or allow more companies into Canada. \nAnd having Trudeau as the PM makes everything just worse... \n\nThe only reasons I would go back to Canada, for a vist only, is because of the fresh air and trees and quietness. And maybe some food that I like...and to see my family. But that's all.....I moved back to Hong Kong, and then explored opportunities in mainland China as well. Honestly, after my experience back in Hong Kong it felt like Canada is at least 20 years behind. And after exploring mainland China, it feels like Canada is 40 years behind. \n\nSo yea, no plans to move back to Canada.....because even elderly homes in China now provides really high quality service compare to the ones offered in Canada, you would feel like the Canadian elderly homes are a prison for old people.

I visited Canada with my dad back in 2012 and thought it was amazing so after I finished my degree and got some work experience I moved to Canada from Europe with my fiancé as a fully qualified lawyer in March of this year, after just 6 months we moved back, Canada was pretty an awful experience tbh, overpriced, very hard to find accommodation, dangerous, filled with zombie like figures on every street corner, had a random women attempt to attack my wife while riding the tram in Calgary and without my interference it could’ve ended badly… gotta say I’ve got a lotta love for the Canadian people for the most part very nice, hard working people

Canada has the same problem as the United States: wrong kind of politicians elected. Like the U.S., most Canadians consider themselves compassionate liberals and thus feel obligated to vote for said, compassionate liberal politicians. The problem is, for Canada and the U.S., these compassionate liberal politicians don't know how to run the nation's economy except to run it further into the ground. And when the problems get really bad, the solution is always, raise taxes because liberal politicians are either Marxist Socialist and believe the citizenry are obligated to pay higher and higher taxes for more government intervention, meaning, interference, in most cases.\n Whenever Canada does get around to voting in a conservative prime minister and government, the Canadian mass media immediately goes on a years-long negative campaign of deliberately undermining the government in the eyes of the Canadian People, demeaning them as inept and uncompassionate and comparing them to fascists. Eventually the Canadian People get so distressed they have to vote back in the liberal party. And then the same happens again.\n I'm just glad our Canadian brothers are not blaming the U.S. government or the CIA, but instead are clear-headed and courageous enough to blame their own government and past legislations and laws that do the exact opposite of what is supposed to happen, level the playing field for all Canadians.\n I'm reading about the outrageous pricing of Canadian housing and am astonished. But one YouTuber explained this about his Canada. Everyone in Canada wants to squeeze into the few, concentrated urban areas that concentrate business, finance, manufacturing, job opportunities, et al. As it happens, these areas are too few and far between. So what ends up happening is geographical overpopulation, despite Canada having a total population of around 32 million souls. People in California can certainly understand this phenomenon. You can purchase a 3-bedroom house out in California City, which is near the Mojave Desert, for $176,000, but there's nothing out there to make it worthwhile living there. Conversely, a tiny, 3-bedroom home in Torrance, Los Angeles, was selling for $800,000 in 2018. \n As realtors put it this way all the time, location, location, location!\n I'm going to pass on commenting on Canada's National Health Care. I've read criticisms from native Canadians on the Internet. As Canadians, they're entitled to say whatever they want about their country. If I, a Yank, open my big mouth, I'm going to get trolled by a hundred angry Canadians defending their National Health Care as the world's greatest socialized medical care. Health Care is already expensive enough in the U.S. Most people get it through their employer, which pays a part of it. But employees' monthly deductions for health insurance have been growing steadily over the past 30 years to where it's now a huge chunk out of one's monthly paycheck.

as a Canadian who is highly educated and, your list is totally on point. I was born and raised here, and at 40yo I would say that leaving has been on my mind for the past 5+ years and will be the likely scenario for me once my grandparents are no longer around. If it weren't for them, I would have left years ago. The two primary drivers for me are job opportunities and the government. One thing I will correct is the wages you presented. The vast majority of Canadians, regardless of whether they were born here or not, do NOT make 6 figures and even the high 5 figures is not as common as people like to think. I have been turned down for work because of being over-qualified more times than not and now struggle on less than 50K/yr with 2 jobs. Just trying to get a part time gig to supplement is a problem despite my decades of experience. As someone who is single, one income just does not cut it here no matter how frugal or minimalist your life is. I can't imagine what its like for those with families. Plain and simple, this country, like many, is failing.

I am a foreigner who lives in Canada now. I am not Canadian or East Indian. However, I am 100% SURE that if Canada did not import those useless, disgusting, and rude things, India would have been bankrupt 100% already. Unfortunately, Canada is still importing tons of those things again and again and Canada is about bankruptcy now. The Canadian GDP rate is proving that. Really useless and rude. \nAnd, yes, I also was thinking about PR, but I will leave this country pretty soon. One of the big reasons is the large population of East India in this country who are useless and just causing problems such as lack of health care or inflation.

My family came to Canada 5 years ago. The main reason was because my dad had been busy setting up a branch of his European company here for two years. He wanted to launch this new branch and then retire early. Canada as he knew it was a good option for him to do this. We even had a house long before we came to Canada. And we now live on the west coast of Canada. \n \nFor us, the transition to feeling at home here wasn't particularly difficult. We also had enough experience of what it was like to live in other countries. Canada actually turned out to be a very easy country to quickly settle in. \n \nI've heard that Canadians can be reserved, but my personal experience is completely different. \n \nNevertheless, I got to know fellow immigrants who didn't find it easy to get started in Canada. In my experience, they were not very or only rudimentarily informed about what to expect in Canada. Their expectations were very high and they failed because of the reality of everyday Canadian life. \n \nOthers had similar experiences, but they persevered and ultimately arrived in Canada. Some of my fellow students are international students who are also considering leaving the country because Canada doesn't offer what they were hoping for as a better life here. \n \nThe reasons are really too individual in nature to really generalize. I think there should be a lot more help given to people who are struggling with their fate in Canada, because there are enough programs that they could take advantage of but that they never hear about. \n \nUltimately, it may help if someone just listens to them and perhaps has some advice, no matter how vague it may be. Those who finally arrive in Canada after years of a long odyssey and find this country something like home are, in my opinion, those who never gave up.

I immigrated to Canada in 2010, and here are my experiences inside and outside Canada. I am grateful for a good education; having a Canadian passport opened up many opportunities in other countries to build a higher-level career. However, if I had known the amount of stress, health, and financial damage that I had to endure, I wouldn't have chosen to come to Canada. I would have remained in the US or EU countries where I could achieve even more without suffering to the level I did here. \n\nMisleading immigration promotion: The government-sponsored Canadian immigration program oversells what Canada can offer. It withholds information on the cost of living, chicken-and-egg problems like Canadian work experience is required to get a job at the same level as you are in, Canadian credit history is required to rent a proper apartment, Canadian education is required to secure a high-level job, etc. \n\nHiring process: I knew the Canadian system was not ideal for immigrants over a decade ago, but it got so bad now that even the born citizens are unable to survive. The Canadian government and employers lack a basic understanding that ambitious, high-achieving people immigrate to other countries for high-level positions using proper channels. It's ridiculous to see that Canada uses a point-based system to choose highly qualified personnel to enter their country yet expects them to pursue low-paying entry-level or labor jobs just because they have brown/black skin. At first, I thought having a Canadian degree and experience might help me get high-level jobs, and I didn't think how I spoke or looked would matter when I had high credentials to show off. So, I got my masters & Ph.D. from the Univesity of Toronto, which consistently ranks #1 in Canada. I have a bachelor's from a prestigious university in Asia and had a high-competitive, well-paid federal government job in another country. Still, none of that was recognized in Canada, and I had to volunteer for over 6 months, 10 to 12 hours/day, in a research lab that led to a funded PhD program. I worked even harder during my Ph.D. with many accomplishments, like 40+ research and leadership awards, internationally recognized scientific discoveries, and innovative technologies. I checked all the above and beyond in various domains (research, teaching, leadership, business, engineering consulting, collaborations, etc.). Yet, employers couldn't see past my race, gender, age, etc., and refused to give me the opportunity at the level of my qualifications. Luckily, I managed to secure short-term work in the UK & the US, and it changed even how I see myself. I was highly respected for my credentials, given higher positions than I applied for, and paid 3-4 times more salary and benefits. Of course, bias is an integral part of every society, but my race, gender, age, etc., were not as big of an issue to begin my career at the mid-career stage in these countries as opposed to Canada. \n\nHealthcare: Access to healthcare was another big challenge for me. When I moved to Canada in 2010, due to extremely low temperatures, I developed hives all over my body, my eyes got red, and I coughed for many months. The doctor said there was nothing wrong with me and refused to give me any medication. It took us years to get a family doctor, and we got one through my personal network. In 2015/2016, I developed an autoimmune disease, and my eyeballs popped out. As of today, I did not get to see an eye specialist as they have only 1 specialist in the area, and the waiting time is for years for the first consultation. Every time the family doctor told me that I had iron deficiency, even when I insisted that they should run additional tests and they cleared, they were flagged. The doctor never diagnosed my autoimmune condition. Luckily, during my short-term work in the UK, I saw competent interns who completed my care. NHS is poorer than the medical system in Canada... they are understaffed, don't have hospital beds after surgery, or don't have stock of paper gowns, yet the staff are highly competent and caring. Within 1-2 years, they did complete diagnosis by sending me to various specialists, completed eye surgery, and even found a lifelong condition that was preventing me from realizing my full potential. Following, in the US, the doctors confirmed the diagnosis of all the conditions within 1-2 months and put me on two small pills for life. It has dramatically changed my life, and I have even more admiration for the medical profession. While in Canada, I suffered for over a decade, and every time, I was treated as a hypochondriac and never given a single prescription. \n\nQuality of life: Big cities like Toronto are mainly affected by high crime rates, overpopulation, cost of living, low employment, low salaries, etc. A few months back, there was a huge auto theft, and one of my contacts lost their Lexus car within minutes of parking. Despite being a scientist, I have no faith in politicians or individuals fixing these problems. The salaries are not increasing, but the taxes and cost of living are on the exponential growth curve. The ridiculous part is that Canada expects you to pay taxes even when you are not employed or living in Canada! I lived in London and Boston, and they offer a much higher quality of life and pay. \n\nGrowth potential: No wonder Canada, being a G7 country, falls at the bottom of the list in innovation, equal opportunities, economic growth, etc. It has a decent education system but, due to its inherent bias in the hiring process and monopoly of certain businesses, loses talented immigrants and highly qualified Canadians to the US, the UK, and EU markets. Unless there is a dramatic shift in policies, Canadians, especially new immigrants, cannot expect any positive experience in Canada except for being discriminated against and losing valuable time and money by being there.

Conservative propaganda just ranked 2nd best country in the world to live. As a Canadian I love this country. Always can improve. Just propoganda!!!