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.

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.

  • shartedchocolate@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    11 months ago

    Iceland is in their own dumpster fire with housing. You’re better off in continental Europe if you can get a visa. You also have the New Zealand working holiday option, which is a good time. I toyed with Iceland and have close friends there, it’s rough to get housing, cost of living is expensive because everything is shipped in.

    • rab@lemmy.caEnglish
      5·
      11 months ago

      A pint of blueberries in Iceland which was shipped in is cheaper than if I go to the blueberry farm up the road from me and pick them myself

      • grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.worldEnglish
        51·
        11 months ago

        Not sure what you are paying but I checked a retail survey of fresh fruit and berries in Iceland and they are about 21g/$ CAD fresh where the current price of fresh organic blueberries is 36g/$ at my local Edmonton Walmart.

        Iceland has a local blueberry harvest so not sure how that affects pricing but looks cheaper in Canada. Also upick are often priced above market now, its a family experience more than a way to get affordable food like when I was a kid. Just my two cents.

        • rab@lemmy.caEnglish
          2·
          11 months ago

          Good points, not sure where you checked prices though. Icelandic Costco is cheaper than the Costco here in Victoria for majority of items, and Bonus in Iceland is about on par with our grocery chains. Walmart in Canada might be cheaper than Costco in Iceland.

          The funniest one to me was seeing cheaper motor oil in Iceland when we literally drill for that shit here haha

          Meat in Iceland is way cheaper, same with dairy

          Alcohol in Iceland is mad expensive, so is gas. Electronics are about the same. Restaurants in Iceland are like 3 times as expensive but I can’t afford to eat out here anymore either.

          Used cars and service costs are also insane in Iceland and it’s even more car dependant than Canada.

          • grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            11 months ago

            If you are in Victoria, I get it; yikes…

            That’s a very specific economic environment which is different from “the average Canadian” so, yes, you are probably bang on.