Canada's surging cost of living fuels reverse immigration

MicroWave@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 167 points –
Canada's surging cost of living fuels reverse immigration
reuters.com

The dream of making it big in Canada is turning into a battle for survival for many immigrants due to the high cost of living and rental shortages, as rising emigration numbers hints to newcomers being forced to turn their back on a country that they chose to make their adopted home.

Trudeau has made immigration his main weapon to blunt Canada's big challenge of an aging and slowing population, and it has also helped fuel economic growth. That drove Canada's population up at its fastest clip in more than six decades this year, Statistics Canada said.

But now a reversal of that trend is gradually taking hold. In the first six months of 2023 some 42,000 individuals departed Canada, adding to 93,818 people who left in 2022 and 85,927 exits in 2021, official data show.

The rate of immigrants leaving Canada hit a two-decade high in 2019, according to a recent report from the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC), an immigration advocacy group. While the numbers went down during pandemic lockdowns, Statistics Canada data shows it is once again rising.

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... Emigration?

I thought that too, but emigration would probably be Canadians leaving. Reverse immigration would probably be immigrants leaving.

...or Canadians emigrating to the places that immigrants to Canada normally come from? Lol

I guess there's a whole truth table of migration

Yeah, it seems like reverse immigration is being used to talk about new immigrants from other countries going back to their home country. But, the top result for the term is this article so I'm not sure if this is a standardized usage yet.

Or just migration

You can migrate within your own country, it's not the same.

Liberals have been pushing "migration" over "immigration" because they tacitly believe immigration is a dirty word.

reverse immigration

So... like... emigration?

Do journalists even complete high school these days?

I think the point is that it’s recent immigrants leaving. Emigration describes all people leaving.

The data doesn't seem to support the title of the article.

Am I misreading the data they are sharing in the article?

It shows data that suggests that number of immigrants leaving now is similar to how it's been for the last decade. And the overall rate now is lower than it's been most of the last decade, it's only increased slightly this year for the first time in 4ish years.

Who knows how many people were waiting for the virus to be over and this is the backlog.

Why anyone would leave Canada is not something I get. Every time I visit I am basically of the opinion that this is about as close as utopia that anyone with this cold of a climate is going to get.

Lack of healthcare availablity, lack of good transit connectivity outside of like 3 cities, insane housing cost, low wages - especially compared to the US... The list is long.

I love it here, but it's not even close to utopia depending on your circumstances. I personally know 2 recent immigrant families (I'm an immigrant too, so I run into a lot of them in community events etc) who went back to their home countries within 2 years of immigration because they were diagnosed with medical conditions that needed attention which the healthcare system here could not give.

Yeah but you don't got bankrupt over a medical problem. Also the same only have a few cities with good mass transit, high housing, wages are only high if you are in a wall street scumbag or the ever diminishing super skilled workers. My 15 years in engineering and degree makes me me much closer to the salary of a Walmart associate than it does to the C suite of Goldman Sachs.

but you don't got bankrupt over a medical problem

That seems to be a US centric comment. People who came to Canada from other countries are fine even after moving back due to health reasons. And, even otherwise, I'm sure that I'd be happy to be alive and broke than dead and not-broke.

only have a few cities with good mass transit, high housing, wages are only high if you are in a wall street scumbag

Again, a US centric comment. People can move to Germany/UK/France etc. A lot of "third world countries" have decent enough infrastructure too. So people may choose to just move back to where they originally came from rather than be stuck here - which is the point of the article we're commenting on.

"Living fuels" as opposed to fossil fuels?

Yeah not the best headline.

Fuel, as a verb in the "stimulates" sense. Synonyms:

  • Drive
  • Trigger
  • Instigate
  • Ignite
  • Incite

Fuels is being used as a verb here. The title could also be reworked to say "Canada's surging cost of living is fueling reverse immigration"
or
"Canada's surging cost of living exacerbates reverse immigration"

I read that and thought that it was a weird way to say food prices.

I think they house-heating fuels, but I'm not even sure.

As an American it is tempting to push the easy button. This would mean cash out and move to some tropical 3rd world country where the dollar is strong and retire early. This would probably involve some compromises that I'm not seeing but any direction in life has some downsides.

I know this is not the same as younger Canadians leaving because wages have not kept up but it is my version of that. I haven't done it yet, but that day may come.

I wonder if/when governments will start doing something about it.

I could do that now but I don't think I would enjoy it. Have money saved up and my wife's family owns enough farm land there that neither of us would ever have to work again. Combine this with some consulting gigs if I get bored.

Last time I was there I hit up an Irish pub full of people who did that. Remember being disgusted with them. This is what they wanted? To be 40 years old and do nothing all day but consume, surrounded by people who actually work and struggle.

One does need to have the metaphysical questions answered for themselves before doing something like that.

I do think it would be hard to say if I would like to be idle and rich. But you always have other options if you're rich.

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Trudeau has made immigration his main weapon to blunt Canada's big challenge of an aging and slowing population, and it has also helped fuel economic growth.

Cara works three part-time jobs, making Ontario's minimum wage of C$16.55 per hour, and goes to an adult learning school to earn university credits.

While the numbers are small now, lawyers and immigration consultants warn that a pick-up could cast a shroud over Canada's appeal as the one of the favoured destinations for newcomers.

On average in Canada about 60% of household income would be needed to cover home ownership costs, a figure that rises to about 98% for Vancouver and 80% for Toronto, RBC said in a September report.

Myo Maung, 55, migrated to Canada from Myanmar over three decades ago and made a successful career as a real estate agent and a restaurateur.

Stankus, who pays C$2,000, including utilities, for a one-bedroom apartment, said increasing living expenses has made it difficult to afford basic necessities.


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