HIGH COST OF LIVING AND RENT DRIVING REVERSE MIGRATION IN CANADA

Sun 10 December 2023:

Canada seems to have lost its charm in attracting skilled workers as the escalating cost of living crisis and shortage of rental options is triggering reverse migration, undermining the policies of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.

According to official figures, around 42,000 individuals left Canada in the first six months of 2023, in addition to the 93,818 people who flew out in 2022 and 85,927 exits in 2021.

The highest was in 2019 when it hit the two-decade high, a recent report from the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC), an immigration advocacy group, stated.

Though the numbers ebbed during the COVID-19 lockdown, the trend has picked up pace once again, data by Statistics Canada showed.

Rising emigration

While that is a fraction of the 263,000 who came to the country over the same period, a steady rise in emigration is making some observers wary, reports Reuters news agency.

People who spoke to the Reuters news agency said that the high cost of living is making it difficult for them to sustain in Canada, which has an ageing population and is dependent on migrants to boost the economy.

“I never realised that living in a Western country, you can only afford to rent a room in the basement,” said Cara (name changed), 25, who came to Canada in 2022 as a refugee from Hong Kong.

She pays 650 ($474) Canadian dollars in rent for a single-room basement apartment in Scarborough in eastern Toronto, which is about 30 per cent of her monthly take-home salary.

Unable to afford rent

Cara, who goes to an adult learning school, says she has to work three part-time jobs in order to make a minimum wage of C$16.55 per hour

“I almost use every single penny,” she said, while in Hong Kong she was able to save about a third of her monthly salary.

Adding to their misery is sky-high housing costs, which is driving many away from taking permanent residency in Canada,

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

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