Canada has always been a beautiful and peaceful country, but for the average Canadian, the so-called Canadian Dream of a relatively easy, high-quality life is turning into a glossy marketing lie.
The housing trap
The biggest lie Canadians tell themselves is that homeownership is stable and affordable. In decades past, landing a steady middle-class job meant you could eventually own a house with a white picket fence and a backyard.
Today, Canada has some of the highest housing prices in the world when adjusted to actual earnings. It’s not unusual to pay a million dollars for a minuscule, older condo in major cities like Toronto or Vancouver.
The dream has died for many as millennials and immigrants find themselves in a rent trap. Spending over 50% of your income on rent means you’ll never be able to save for retirement, start your own business, or otherwise invest in your future.
The healthcare mirage
Canada boasts free taxpayer-funded healthcare. When you leave the hospital, you won’t get a $50,000 bill. But that doesn’t mean the system is functioning well. Just because you have healthcare doesn’t mean you can see a doctor when you are sick.
Millions of Canadians right now don’t have a family physician and are waiting 6-24 months for a specialist or surgery that could save their life.
The safety net still exists, but it’s so full of holes that citizens are falling through. Private clinics are popping up to allow people who can afford it to pay extra and skip the wait.
High prices and stagnant pay
Canadian culture is run by huge corporations that control nearly every industry, from groceries to cellphone plans. Without outside competition from international competitors, Canadians pay some of the highest prices in the world just to live.
The price of bread and gasoline only goes up, yet the average Canadian’s pay has remained stagnant for decades. Canada used to attract some of the world’s best workers with top-paying salaries. Now those doctors, programmers, and engineers are looking south at the US or even Europe and realizing they can make twice as much with a cheaper cost of living almost anywhere else.
The burden of hidden costs
One thing you never hear about from the pretty Canadian tourism commercials is how expensive it is to live in a northern climate. Canada is vast and cold. No matter where you live, heating your home during a six-month winter is going to cost you.
If you don’t live in a major metropolitan area with public transit that actually works, then you are required to own a car.
Unlike America, where you can get away with driving a crappy used car, cars in Canada are absurdly expensive. You need a car to get to work, and that’s assuming you can afford car insurance and gas to fill up each month.
And who could forget all of the government green initiatives like the Carbon Tax that only serve to squeeze more money out of Canadian families who are already stressed about affording eggs and milk at the grocery store? The middle class is slowly turning into a country club.
The social and mental toll
Canada prides itself on being polite. In reality, for newcomers and even long-time residents, it’s hard to meet new people and make genuine relationships or even break into the local job market. Many Canadians are working multiple jobs or horrible amounts of overtime just to make ends meet.
They don’t have time to spend in nature, enjoy hobbies, or meet the people next door, like Canada claims to encourage. Canada has a loneliness epidemic on its hands, and it’s only getting worse. The stress of making ends meet is destroying the mental health of an entire generation. This once opportunity-rich country is beginning to feel like a struggle-to-survive country.
Conclusion
As a whole, Canada is still a wonderful place to live. But the idea that Canada is an easy place to build a high-quality life is no longer the reality for the average person. Canada’s housing market and healthcare needs serious reform before the beautiful Canadian Dream stops being a glossy marketing myth.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.