l can confirm that every single word of this article is, sadly, true (currently living in Calgary, Canada). Canada now is an embodiment of socialist state and I know what socialist looks like as I came from back then Soviet Union.
I came to Canada 19 years ago through legal immigration. My parents had to grind for 4 years just to get the permanent resident status (both ate engineers). Then, I myself had to grind to get where I am now (finance on a buy side now).
Immigration system in Canada is a joke. Over 7% of population are non-permanent residents. Like wtf. These fake immigrants get more subsidies than Canadian citizens including indigenous people and senior citizens.
7% unemployment and 14% youth and we need temporary foreign workers? Lol.
I can confirm the quality of Tim Hortons sandwiches went down considerably, they can't even wrap the breakfast wrap properly. Not the best and brightest.
Anyways, better move to Dubai, Texas or even Msocow.
Hey BowTied Viking, I am also in Calgary. It's nice to meet you on here. Fully agree with what you have said. The country has gone downhill quickly since 2015.
This situation recently played out in my hometown: international students, who are woefully unprepared for the cost of living now make up over 80% of food bank visitors, with local long term residents (who truly need assistance) facing the consequences.
Another thing not mentioned is taxes. Canada recently upped its capital gains tax rates which faced harsh criticisms by the entrepreneurial community. Imagine working all your life, building a business, and then when selling it you find out 66% of your gain can get taxed. And on w2 incomes it isn’t uncommon to see tax rates of 45-50%, even on incomes not considered to be ‘high’ by North American standards.
Decided to vote with my feet and move to a sunny southern US state with no state incomes taxes. Don’t think I’ll ever go back.
Can further confirm these trends. I live in small(ish) town in Ontario where there is a satellite campus for Conestoga (referenced by Stack), and prior to 2018, we barely saw any foreign students in town. Now, every single fast food worker is a TFW. Can't comment on Tim Hortons coffee because it's probably as good as ash (and their donuts/baked goods are flash frozen) but can confirm that the local NPCs all complain about quality.
I come from an immigrant background myself and it took my parents' generation a few decades to build a reputation, but it only took the TFWs and foreign students, a few years to disintegrate it.
My dad mistimed a real estate investment during the peak of the market but we ended up renting it to foreign students, which mitigates the monthly loss a bit until prices recover a bit more. But needless to say that even in our small town, the student ghetto persists and they comfortably and willingly to choose to live with 2+ people per room.
Our town tends to get a lot of investment from the bigger cities and prior to interest rates going up, Greater Toronto Area residents would line up the day before whenever a builder would release a new site, and existing homes always sold substantially higher than the list price. In terms of trends, agree with everything Stack said.
I work at a university and it relied heavily on foreign students but with the new measures in place, the faculties are losing their minds as they can't rely on foreign students to balance their budgets anymore. To my understanding, because public colleges are generating such massive surpluses from foreign students, the provincial government doesn't have to fund them as much. All in all, I think the universities and "diploma mills" will be impacted but public colleges are going to continue seeing record levels of foreign students.
Lived in Vancouver for 30 years, and still go back often. The vast majority of housing appreciation was through Chinese investment. First from Hong Kong, then Taiwan then Mainland China. Add to that tons of money laundering through the casinos there. Today the average citizen in Vancouver will never own a house in the city. Best they can hope for is a condo, or move 45 mins to an hour away for a house. Children whose parents owned homes lucked out, inheriting property worth $1m to $2m each even in blue collar areas. There was stories of fifty something year olds not really working, living in their parents’ former house, smoking weed. As such, in my opinion it has destroyed the fabric of society in the city.
Great analysis and is spot on of our current reality
Live in downtown Toronto, the immigration here has gotten insane feels like India.
Canada is going to shit & in my opinion is a sinking ship it wont change (personally going to move to the US - I understand grass is never greener on the other side but I see no future here)
The more centralized and socialist an economy is, the smaller the margin for policy errors (look at how much damage Trudeau has done).
In a leading free-market economy like the U.S., the system is resilient enough that a guy with dementia can run it and the overall structure remains stable.
The key role of leadership is recognizing talent, placing it strategically, and allowing people the freedom to do their jobs.
With that being said, the internet is the great equalizer and you have no restrictions on starting a wifi business in Canada.
Australia is the same and now the government has a co-ownership scheme where the govt. will assist in buying you a house in exchange for a % of the ownership
Thanks for this Stack & Bull. Would love to see something similar on the Australian housing market too.
l can confirm that every single word of this article is, sadly, true (currently living in Calgary, Canada). Canada now is an embodiment of socialist state and I know what socialist looks like as I came from back then Soviet Union.
I came to Canada 19 years ago through legal immigration. My parents had to grind for 4 years just to get the permanent resident status (both ate engineers). Then, I myself had to grind to get where I am now (finance on a buy side now).
Immigration system in Canada is a joke. Over 7% of population are non-permanent residents. Like wtf. These fake immigrants get more subsidies than Canadian citizens including indigenous people and senior citizens.
7% unemployment and 14% youth and we need temporary foreign workers? Lol.
I can confirm the quality of Tim Hortons sandwiches went down considerably, they can't even wrap the breakfast wrap properly. Not the best and brightest.
Anyways, better move to Dubai, Texas or even Msocow.
Hey BowTied Viking, I am also in Calgary. It's nice to meet you on here. Fully agree with what you have said. The country has gone downhill quickly since 2015.
Good to meet you too, AG. Small world.
Hello brothers, I too am in Calgary
Best in the west, but still getting fucked around by a socialist liberal fed
Unfortunately all true.
This situation recently played out in my hometown: international students, who are woefully unprepared for the cost of living now make up over 80% of food bank visitors, with local long term residents (who truly need assistance) facing the consequences.
Another thing not mentioned is taxes. Canada recently upped its capital gains tax rates which faced harsh criticisms by the entrepreneurial community. Imagine working all your life, building a business, and then when selling it you find out 66% of your gain can get taxed. And on w2 incomes it isn’t uncommon to see tax rates of 45-50%, even on incomes not considered to be ‘high’ by North American standards.
Decided to vote with my feet and move to a sunny southern US state with no state incomes taxes. Don’t think I’ll ever go back.
Can further confirm these trends. I live in small(ish) town in Ontario where there is a satellite campus for Conestoga (referenced by Stack), and prior to 2018, we barely saw any foreign students in town. Now, every single fast food worker is a TFW. Can't comment on Tim Hortons coffee because it's probably as good as ash (and their donuts/baked goods are flash frozen) but can confirm that the local NPCs all complain about quality.
I come from an immigrant background myself and it took my parents' generation a few decades to build a reputation, but it only took the TFWs and foreign students, a few years to disintegrate it.
My dad mistimed a real estate investment during the peak of the market but we ended up renting it to foreign students, which mitigates the monthly loss a bit until prices recover a bit more. But needless to say that even in our small town, the student ghetto persists and they comfortably and willingly to choose to live with 2+ people per room.
Our town tends to get a lot of investment from the bigger cities and prior to interest rates going up, Greater Toronto Area residents would line up the day before whenever a builder would release a new site, and existing homes always sold substantially higher than the list price. In terms of trends, agree with everything Stack said.
I work at a university and it relied heavily on foreign students but with the new measures in place, the faculties are losing their minds as they can't rely on foreign students to balance their budgets anymore. To my understanding, because public colleges are generating such massive surpluses from foreign students, the provincial government doesn't have to fund them as much. All in all, I think the universities and "diploma mills" will be impacted but public colleges are going to continue seeing record levels of foreign students.
https://higheredstrategy.com/the-eighth-wonder-of-the-world-ontario-college-finances-to-2023-24/#:~:text=In%202017%2D18%2C%20the%20system,24%20colleges%20posted%20a%20surplus.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontarios-publicly-funded-colleges-posted-significant-operating/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-nearly-balanced-budget-1.7328085
Lived in Vancouver for 30 years, and still go back often. The vast majority of housing appreciation was through Chinese investment. First from Hong Kong, then Taiwan then Mainland China. Add to that tons of money laundering through the casinos there. Today the average citizen in Vancouver will never own a house in the city. Best they can hope for is a condo, or move 45 mins to an hour away for a house. Children whose parents owned homes lucked out, inheriting property worth $1m to $2m each even in blue collar areas. There was stories of fifty something year olds not really working, living in their parents’ former house, smoking weed. As such, in my opinion it has destroyed the fabric of society in the city.
Great analysis and is spot on of our current reality
Live in downtown Toronto, the immigration here has gotten insane feels like India.
Canada is going to shit & in my opinion is a sinking ship it wont change (personally going to move to the US - I understand grass is never greener on the other side but I see no future here)
The more centralized and socialist an economy is, the smaller the margin for policy errors (look at how much damage Trudeau has done).
In a leading free-market economy like the U.S., the system is resilient enough that a guy with dementia can run it and the overall structure remains stable.
The key role of leadership is recognizing talent, placing it strategically, and allowing people the freedom to do their jobs.
With that being said, the internet is the great equalizer and you have no restrictions on starting a wifi business in Canada.
Australia is the same and now the government has a co-ownership scheme where the govt. will assist in buying you a house in exchange for a % of the ownership
Superb post. Unfortunately as a Canadian, this post is very true.