Why living in Canada has become Impossible

Canada is worse than you think. Just two years ago, a simple two bedroom apartment in Toronto cost on average $2,400. Today, that's $3,300.

An average increase of 25% per year. And that's not an outlier. In most Canadian cities, you would need to earn at least double the minimum wage to afford a one bedroom apartment, and you could forget about buying.

In major cities like Toronto and Vancouver. like Toronto and Vancouver. The minimum income that's required to qualify for a mortgage is double or triple the median household income.

This makes buying even unattainable for the top 10% of earners. There is a housing crisis, a cost of living crisis, and now even an immigration crisis. This is a real change from the Canada I know and admire.

What has happened. This is how living in Canada became impossible. .

. with Hindsight. Justin Trudeau was first elected in 2015 with a message of positivity.

He built his campaign on hope, and the media often drew comparisons with Obama in the United States. On his first day in office, he entered a Montreal Metro station to take selfies with commuters. The exchange went viral.

The atmosphere was exuberant. There was a feeling of hope and positivity. Trudeau had the second highest approval rating of any new prime minister in Canada's history.

To understand how his approval ratings have turned around so dramatically. What Canada is in a housing crisis, a cost of living crisis, and most surprisingly, is now struggling with immigration. We need to go back in history.

Canada is a nation of immigrants. In the mid 1800s, the population of Canada was almost entirely concentrated on the East coast, along the Saint Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. To its west and north lay a vast and sparsely populated area that they wanted to populate.

They used immigration as a tool to build their country. They attracted new people with a comprehensive marketing campaign. Build your nest in Western Canada, was the message, calling it the new El Dorado.

Boatloads of prospective migrants arrived in Canada and were vetted by migration officers. They were particularly eager to attract talented farmers. They could help Canada's westward expansion by settling uninhabited areas.

They built villages and turned them into cities, attracting commerce and industry. Over time, strengthening Canada's grip on the West. By 1920, population centers had emerged all along Canada's southern border.

They grew from 3 million inhabitants to 9 million. These immigrants were selected on merit, but also on race. Canada wanted to maintain the status of a white man's country.

But after World War Two, these discriminatory practices came under scrutiny. Canada started to build its modern immigration system. This was based on a points system.

Prospective immigrants were scored based on their age, education, training, and language skills. The basic philosophy is that immigrants are selected based on their merit and what they can contribute to the country. This system is still in place in Canada today, making it the oldest immigration system of any country in the OECD.

An early challenge was that an increasingly large percentage of newcomers were family members. In 1971, economic migrants made up 73% and family members 21%. But a decade later, this had turned around.

Family members were seen as unproductive consumers of welfare benefits, and this prompted the government to make entry requirements stricter. By 1995, the percentage had dropped to 36%. Canada vested a lot of power in the federal executive branch of government, which makes it possible to respond quickly to unwanted flows of migrants.

They kept identifying weak spots and making improvements. And by the early 2000s, the system was hailed around the world as one of the best. Even Donald Trump had good things to say about it.

But what was most impressive were Canada's exceptionally high levels of public acceptance. Immigration, until recently, wasn't a controversial issue. In 2018, two thirds of Canadians believe that immigration was a good thing for the country.

The highest level of any country in the OECD. But that wouldn't last. Public opinion on immigration has shifted dramatically during the last years, from people feeling overwhelmingly supportive to most people feeling concern.

During the first four years under Trudeau. The population grew at a record pace, mostly because of immigration, and it slowed during the pandemic. And that's where the problem started.

Canada was facing a host of challenges. One of them was a shortage of workers. There are difficulties in all major sectors, from construction to health care.

Companies were just unable to find the people with the right skills. This was the new Minister of Immigration. Fraser, like many before him, saw immigration as a tool to fix specific issues.

The worker shortage, but also demographics. All across the Western world the population is aging and that is an issue. But in Canada, it is extreme.

In 1971, there were seven people of working age for each senior. In 2012, this was down to four. The projection is that there will only be two workers for every retiree by 2036.

The number of Canadians that are over the age of 75 will double over the next two decades, while fewer people are entering the workforce. This inspired a radical new immigration plan. In 2022, Canada has had a record population growth, and they announced to welcome 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024, and 500,000 in 2025.

They saw immigration as a race for global talent, and they had every intent on winning. Their target was to have economic migrants make up 60% of newcomers. An ambitious goal.

And they particularly targeted workers in sectors with the highest demand like health care, skilled trades, manufacturing and technology. But when these plans were announced, immigration officers were already 2 million residents applications behind on their work, and there was already a shortage of housing. But Trudeau and his cabinet members saw immigration as the solution, not the problem.

And in 2023, Canada's population grew with the fastest rate in almost 70 years. This was the fastest growing population of any country in the OECD. More extreme voices like the Century Initiative lobby to grow Canada's population to 100 million by the end of the century.

The plan was endorsed by a former prime minister, and lobbyists included several advisers to Justin Trudeau and his cabinet members. Public opinion was shifting. Whereas in 2022, 27% of people believed that there was too much migration to Canada.

In 2023, this was up to 51%, and in 2024 and in 2024 to 58%. In July 2024. There were protests.

This was an unusual sight in Canada. In 2025, there are federal elections in Canada, and Trudeau might lose his seat. The government likes to publish figures that show how the economy is growing.

This is technically true, but the growth is primarily fueled by a growing population per capita growth is down, along with individual living standards. There is a clear mismatch between how fast Canada's population is growing and how long they need to supply housing and service infrastructures like health care and schools. This affects all layers of society, but this is most acutely visible in the cost of housing.

The most vulnerable people are people with little to spare, like students. A story broke about 25 students that were living in one basement in Brampton, and it went viral. The mayor of the city responded that they've seen cases like these on a regular basis.

The number of temporary residents, which includes temporary workers but also international students, have increased dramatically. In 2022, they numbered 1. 4 million, and in 2024 this had doubled to 2.

8 million. Public opinion had now turned against Canadian immigration policies, and for the first time it had become a controversial topic. Trudeau, with elections coming up, needed to act.

He put Sean Fraser, former Minister of Immigration, in charge of housing. These decisions were vilified in a comment section on YouTube. It's crazy that people believe the guy that got us into this mess is the guy that's going to get us out.

Too little, too late. You cannot be the solution to the problem you created. Fraser is in an awkward position.

Perhaps letting in 9 million new Canadians before homes were built for them had a little to do with this problem. A majority of people now disagreed with immigration policies. They were angry and frustrated by the cost of living crisis, and immigrants felt that they were unfairly portrayed as the cause of the problem.

Trudeau's approval rating dropped in September 2024 to just 33%, and only 26% favored him as the Prime minister. He had to turn this around. Trudeau announced that they'll change course the lower the number of new arrivals to slow population growth.

He admitted he was wrong. When he took office, there was already a three decade long lack of investment in affordable housing. There were building challenges and supply chain issues.

But as PM, he bears the burden of responsibility. It was his choice to allow entry to such large numbers of immigrants, growing the population and adding pressure to the housing market. The affordability of housing and the cost of living in general are very visible signs of a deteriorating living standards.

In 2019 19% of Canadians felt that Canada was extremely unequal. That is now up to 38%. To the question whether the cost of living is now worse, the number rose from 66% in 2019 to 84% in 2024.

And I'm still just scratching the surface. Canada, this was a real change. I hope that you learned something or found this video entertaining.

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