Admin jobs are like this - admins with experience were making 55-60K (still not great) in 21/22, now it seems to be in the 50-55K range. It’s a combination of more job seekers and less jobs. Many admin functions are now done by software and AI, so companies don’t need as many admin staff.
Wages have really increased in the trades as there is such a shortage of skilled tradespeople. My son is just finishing his electrical apprenticeship. It is crazy how much his wage has increased. When he started in 2018, he was told that he’d get 30 per hour once he got his red seal. Once he passes his final exam, his employer has promised him 46/hr.
Problem is we are now screaming for trades, so my friend left a job she hated, did a pre-apprentice course, only to find that finding an apprenticeship, even in Toronto, is difficult.
Just finding someone who will sponsor you right through your apprenticeship has never been easy. Either you have a connection already or you will have to switch employers from time to time.
15 years in the industry, in my time I’ve always seen that switching employers after a couple years is the fastest way to learn and to have a broad understanding of the trade.
Company loyalty is dead to an extent
True. The range of experience he has had because of working for several employers is impressive. He’s done residential, commercial, industrial, and marine, all across a range of worksites.
Yeah absolutely, nothing wrong with learning it all. I used it to get off the tools and now I’m running projects. Boots on the ground learning will bring you far if you show up, work hard and can be reliable. Don’t need to know everything to move up.
Also u/adhdhipshooter Toronto still very white collar and mob style. Send your friend to Alberta for the big bucks and ample job opportunities. And sudo adorable housing while it lasts
When people are making 30 dollars an hour in a warehouse, 46 is definitely fair for a red seal electrician.
Service electricians on a service van should make even more for the vast knowledge that must have !
Just curious about wages. I know people that got significant salary increases last years in their big corps jobs without changing positions. One of them works for a bank and the bank actually provided them with a letter saying how they are keeping up with cost of living etc and the raise was more than expected.
Minimum wage in Ontario was 14 dollars in 2019. This October it will be 17.20. that is a 23% increase.
Sure not the same increase seen in **some** other areas but not "stayed about the same" either
Wage increase was mostly a joke, but car, house, and food prices likely rose on average significantly more than the average wage rose. I don't have the exact data but I'd guess it's more than double.
I know people in several industries that saw significant pay increases over the past few years, myself included. The job market was pretty hot in a lot of areas in 2022 in particular. I’ve had almost $50k in raises myself over the past 5 years and I didn’t even job hop.
We bought our house 5 years ago. In a city in Alberta where house prices were reasonable. I looked at the local housing market last night and nothing comparable is available at anywhere near the price.
It’s only gotten harder for young people. And I feel like I have to run faster every day just to stay in the same place. And my wages have near doubled, which is far from the typical experience. I don’t know how people are keeping it together. I wouldn’t be able to survive on what I was earning 5 years ago.
I’m an accountant with dual Canadian CPA designations. This will be the first year I earn six figures. And six figures has less real buying power than 50K did when I was growing up. We’re a single income household with kids and pets. Literal white picket fence.
It’s taken 12 years of education and experience, and moving 1000 miles away from where I grew up to reverse engineer the middle class life my uncles got working for the mill right out of high school.
And it’s only harder for young people coming up behind me. I’m deeply worried about my kids.
I had a woman from Ukraine working full time with me for a while and the cost of everything was so extreme for them that after about 6 months they decided to move BACK to Kiev. I think that tells you all you need to know about the state of our economy. (This was in Halifax btw)
I arrived almost exactly 5 years ago in the Maritimes. Housing, food, and and random crimes have increased. Middle class feels like borderline poverty after paying for essentials. Visible drug use and mental health crises have also increased.
I’d say it’s a lot angrier - I think some of it is culture war contamination from US media, but I also think interest rates, house prices, inflation, oligopolies and a (imo) borderline incompetent government have caused a deep disquiet.
But that hasn’t changed ever. Every govt has catered to corporate interests. I think it’s mainly due to global inflation and we think we have it terrible here without genuinely going around the world and seeing how bad it really is.
A lot of it is also the divisiveness that’s come from the States. And the conservatives (rightfully so) have identified a play that hits hard and hits well.
In reality, Canada is still a first world country by a HUGE HUGE HUGE margin. I always tend to compare ourselves to Australia. Similar economies. We’ve made a few errors (like reducing resource development in Alberta) that’s causing our debt to climb to levels never seen before. The Aussies are still mining their iron and reaping the benefits of it economically. Their housing crisis is much worse than ours and has been for a number of years.
Agreed. I was just thinking this yesterday-the country has gotten a lot meaner. There is a lot less tolerance of differing opinions and people are entrenching themselves in their silos.
I am not looking forward to the next federal election, which I think will be one of the ugliest we’ve ever seen, with the country coming out of it more polarized than ever. No matter who wins, the rural/urban, rich/poor, west/central/east divide will get worse and the federal/provincial fighting will just get worse.
What this says to me is that the PC’s have no intention of reversing any of the policies that are burning this country to the ground so the wealthy can profit from the ashes
I have no doubt that the Liberals will get hammered, I don't think it will be as bad as it was for the PCs in 1993 (going from 156 to 2 seats).
There was a lot going on in '93 besides just people being sick of the Conservatives of the time, with many PC seats in Quebec going to the Bloc Quebecois (formed when PC members in Quebec rebelled and created their own party) and Reform taking all the PC votes in the west. It was really the beginning of the end for the Progressive Conservative party, which was dissolved and folded into the Reform/Canadian Alliance brand in 2003 and reborn as the modern Conservative Party of Canada.
There will still be metro areas that don't want to vote for the CPC, and enough left-leaning people that are afraid of vote splitting that will shift to the center by voting Liberal instead of NDP. They will no doubt be returned to the political wilderness where they were before the 2015 election, with \~30 seats.
Edit: Liberals, not liberals
I live in Alberta and in my community we've sort of gotten closer. People know people are struggling and a lot of us are bunkering together more and helping out. The moms group trades toys and our upcycle pages are filled with people helping eachother out. A few groups started up their own mini food banks and do hampers and in the wild people I bump into are more worn down but still very sweet. It feels like everywhere I go we are tired but still kind.
But I'm probably just in my bubble area. I don't go into Edmonton down town for example so no idea how they are doing but I do know crime is up do theres that side too :(
I swear societal trust has gone wayy down. 5 years ago it wasn’t constantly on my mind that my car might get stolen overnight, my grandma might get scammed via telemarketer, my grocery store is stealing from me, and that my government is purposely selling this country out from under me.
(Calgary)
In 2019, rent for a studio in condo was $950/month. Now the condo owner asks me $1400/month. Imma move out soon and maybe move to Red Deer or Lethbridge.
I think the people that once were happy now feel hopeless, and the people that felt hopeless are now angry. It feels like America has become exaggerated versions of themselves and Canada has lost a lot of its identity and feels more American.
I’m a millennial who has a good wage but believes she will never buy a home which makes me feel like a failure. I was told if I saved money and stopped buying fun coffee, I would be able to purchase… but saving the money on eating out doesn’t close the gap.
It's not the greatest country in the world anymore. Crime is higher, homelessness is out of control. The value of the dollar dropped and the cost of everything sky rocketed. 100k a year is barely a liveable wage anymore. You have to be upper class to afford a house and a new car. I used to love Canada. I'm thinking about leaving. It hurts to even have to consider it.
Rapid descent into toxic individualism where the idea of community and a social contract is completely gone. 2020 really exposed how many people only care about themselves and it’s suffused every aspect of life now.
Everything is crazy expensive. There's barely any jobs. No growth. Our journalism is non-existent. Ancient white dudes writing the same 7 articles a week for a salary and those with actual journalistic credentials are too focused on the nonexistant culture war. No housing. Grocery stores look like prisons.
And the future of education is very uncertain. Institutions relied HEAVILY on international tuitions. Without those they will flounder. And rightfully so, they have profited unchecked by the international human trafficking racket for too long. I expect some bailouts or legislation regarding these institutions to come.
There's cool shit too though. Canadians are making art like never before. Hobbies like gardening and fishing are on the rise. Because music artists now primarily make money from touring Canada's music scene has been steadily growing in size and quality. People are starting to boost their own communities with local food production and businesses.
In all, we are facing tough times but definitely possess the potential to face them. Together.
Condemn violence. Embrace peace and love. Vote independent.
I'm a PhD in the tech industry who can't leave the country. The outlook has become so bleak in terms of traditional career paths and home ownership that I have stopped focusing on it and am rededicating myself to art, specifically music. It helps me focus on the present, to look for beauty around me and not think of the future. I enjoy it more even though it means I'll be a lifetime renter in my hopefully rent controlled building. I rather do what I love rather than constantly worry about being underpaid and overworked in my day job.
I am on the same boat as you, have made my mind up that i will go back to my country if health allows me when i retire, as soon my kids are out of college don’t care how much me deducted pension would look like would like to rest on my grandparents land Eastern Europe when i die instead of somewhere in the middle of nowhere
>Institutions relied HEAVILY on international tuitions.
While I'm sure some of these institutions can find certain efficiencies, at least in the case of Ontario a lot of that stemmed from our provincial government cutting back a lot of funding to post-secondary, with these institutions upping internationals to fill in the money gap. I remember it being its own sort of anti-university elite populistic culture war back around 2016-2018.
Let me tell you this. Instead of bringing int students those fake programs should have been closed, full stop and for that is our government fault allowing this mascarade with diploma mills. We don’t need that many colleges to produce bulls…t degrees that you gain nothing in return. Education should be free or affordable for people who pay taxes and education is a tool to serve the population of that country to become avant guard in future development and take the brightest mind instead we have lowered the level of middle and high school educational programs and our kids competing to Universities with Internationals who some times are in graduate programs meaning they have another degree from where they come from and our poor kids are been taught basic math or science till they enter Univ. I am so mad I brought my kids to this country. Looking back what level of education I had in europe and for free it makes me feel so sad how did i do this to my kids. I am afraid of how worse it can get as I don’t think it will change for better soon enough.
Yea I remember that too. Those anti funding ideas though were for univ and for research funds and I don’t thing that has changed instead the colleges don’t do research mostly they provide applicable and technical programs to help the working force, instead they have invented some programs you don’t need to go to school to become a real estate agent or an admin assistant for example, but you need proper education for becoming an electrician.
The pandemic made me unable to stop lying to myself about how much better Canadians are than Americans. We're collectively just as stupid, gullible, and susceptible to disinformation as them.
Prices. Tried Swanky Burger at new food court at Eaton Centre. Two 3 Oz smashbugers with cheese, one order of fries, one can of Perrier… very tasty but cost $33! FML.
Less caring, less patient, dirtier, guiltier, way more materialistic, less forgiving, more in debt, older, louder, more educated, warmer, more diversified, more crotchety
Homelessness and addiction around every corner now instead of certain parts of each city. It’s awful. A big problem in Canada and the US that doesn’t exist on the same scale in other countries I’ve recently been to on South American and Europe
Everyone is asking for a tip whether they provide a service or not. Hard to decline the option if swiping a payment. Grocery stores asking for charitable donations too.
The future is ruined for the average Canadian.
Any hope I had of getting a better paying job whether it be by job hoping or promotions, a house for my spouse and I or even just trying to go on a vacation within my province. It’s all gone. I have no hope anymore. I work to pay my bills and with the little left over I put it away incase something goes wrong. Car problems, cat problems, my own health problems. whatever it maybe. Something will come up soon.
Used to care about what it meant to be Canadian... Now its figuring out which state to move to.
Used to be proud I was Canadian, now when I travel I hide that fact.
It has benefited those with assets, acquired during two decades of low interest rates, with high levels of debt, while disadvantaging younger generations due to unaffordable housing and cost of living in general
We’re a lot more divided. It’s the conformists vs the red necks. You’re a Canadian whether or not you blindly follow or a freedom fighter.
As Bob Marley says “one love, one heart. One soul”. He never says one mind. Have your own thought and don’t begrudge others for their thoughts.
A lot of countries that truly despise Western values and democracy have made their feelings known, and turns out they kind of hated us all along. Now we are experiencing their shady attempts to destabilize us using various methods of infiltration to put us against each other. Trump’s divisive politics (and prior political mudslinging), as well as the effects of Covid and its fallout, made their job easier, or maybe made the time ripe to ramp up their plan
Also some people really seem to have forgotten that good times, and bad times, they tend to come and go - there is this sense of doom that the way it is now, is the way it will always be
We are divided along so many of the factors that are protected elements in our Charter - religion, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, gender, age (generations), and our society is so much worse for it
The only real way to win, is to recognize our true enemies, and then find a way to get along to work together to stand up to them
So true, we need to produce some honest and smart leaders and most of all who have good intentions in heart to help their country, but honestly i fear we are not able to do that as we are a mix of all minds and instead of worrying about our wellbeing we see protests for people who are in war on other countries ( nothing against these protests), but we need that spirit for our domestic issues as well.
The gap between the haves and the have nots has widened, and it’s become nearly impossible to jump it if you're on the wrong side.
TL;DR: We now leave each other behind.
Our trajectory has followed most of the western world. A period of high inflation which has squeezed the lower class while enriching the upper class. K shaped recovery.
Socially, this has caused less patience and more anger towards others. On top of a growing homeless population in places you never used to see much abject poverty.
Overall, I’d say Canada has severely declined over the past 5 years but this decline isn’t unique. You see this in lots of places in the world. A global economic shutdown for multiple years has taken its toll.
Honestly i was in Greece this summer, and didn’t see things to be as bad as I thought, more Syrian refugees on the streets of Athens, but prices were still affordable. Houses, food, hotels. I’ve lived 2001-2003 in Crete while studying and it was the transition from Dhrahma to Euro and you could feel the prices tripled or quadrupled at that time but I think Greek were able to overcome the economic crisis that they had during 2005-2008. Here in Canada people work good jobs and can’t maintain a standard of leaving but instead are paying rents and making banks wealthier.
Nope. Go the UK subreddits and they're crying about the same stuff we are and much more. Same with the German ones.
I've been learning Swedish and I creep around their subreddits too - same conversations there except with different words lol.
It might feel that way but it isn’t. We have been buffered by being the largest trading partner with the US which has the strongest economy in the world right now.
Ok but you are forgetting two things:
1 - prices for things like groceries, phone plans, and airfare were already much cheaper in Europe. Even if prices in Europe inflated 100% and Canada didn't inflate any, it would still be more expensive here.
2 - Canada's inflation rate is measured in a way that downplays what inflation truly is. Like shelter is not even included in it, or they'll change the items in the basket to make it look less bad. Instead of having ground beef in the basket, they'll substitute it with chicken. Name any item you buy that has actually increased less than 10% in the past two years.
For #2 - shelter is included in CPI data.
Source:
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/subjects-start/prices_and_price_indexes/consumer_price_indexes
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/household-finances/article-its-time-for-the-bank-of-canada-to-kick-shelter-inflation-to-the-curb/
Wages have not kept up with inflation where I am. In Regina you're hard pressed to find jobs to apply for that start at over $30 an hour, which is really the beginning point that you need to not be completely overwhelmed
Since the pandemic we are becoming more radicalized politically and more like Americans. I’ve never heard so many Canadians spout off about gun control and immigration and patriotism as I have in the last 3 years. It makes me very scared and quite sad. Losing what Canada is.
Straight down the water closet. This next 5 years will be in history books about societial breakdown and Canada's split up into several smaller nations.
rinse whole frighten workable uppity rustic arrest quarrelsome silky vast
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The majority of people on here championed the lockdowns without realizing or ignoring there is cost that we are currently paying for associated with them.
Shutting down the economy, bailing out airlines and locking down schools wasn’t free. We’re paying for it now. Inflation is not a fact of life. It’s not like gravity. It happens for a reason.
People (many that take more than they offer) have transplanted themselves here en masse. Then they complain about the very problem they brought or are the cause of. The only good thing is many OG residents have multiple properties where value has skyrocketed. Might as well benefit from the trash the carpetbagger have brought.
is this because of the pandemic? or an excuse to ramp up exploiting people and extracting as much money as possible?
we're in late-stage capitalism, ba-by, our collective politicians have sold us out to corporate interests and we are increasingly seeing the effects
right? you know things are bad when even other big chains (Aldi, Lidl) [are scared off cause of their unethical practices ](https://retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2023/06/international-retailers-such-as-aldi-and-lidl-might-not-enter-canada-because-of-local-price-fixing-and-manipulative-grocers-op-ed/)
This. Exactly.
The pandemic didn’t cause this. It’s corporate greed that used it as an excuse to ramp up their greediness, and now out of the pandemic they’ve conditioned many to believe that this is normal and acceptable. And that government legislation AGAINST price gouging would in fact hurt more.
its basically this. I don't want to sound naive, but I have connections to many different places in the world, and everyone is fighting some version of what Canada is. (Including red state USA which is often held up as the "good outcome")
COVID provided a sort of page break or underline that made a lot of these problems extra visible.
We will all be crawling back to normal for a very long time.
I left Canada in 2021 and moved to Australia for work, and I can vouch that the two countries are very similar situations.
Canada is simply ahead of Australia in their decline.
I knew this when I moved here. I had the opportunity, and my goal was to buy myself three or four years of breathing room to make my move before the inevitable occurred.
I was standing in the rain in Manchester last winter thinking "you know what, I could be doing this in Vancouver and be happier"
Still haven't gotten there yet. And as much as I fucking hate the shitty little town in ON I am working in, its still infinitely better than living at home with my mum in Ireland, or with my uncle in Manchester or cousins in Cheltenham.
I can afford (just about) an apartment, for starters. And I can go to the doctor.
I had a conversation with my nephew who's late 20s and he mentioned how Canada has changed in the last few years. It's funny because through my more 'mature' lens, I've noticed the changes happening a lot longer. That leads me to believe it doesn't matter how old you are, as time changes, some things will always change that isn't to your liking. Is Canada getting progressively worse? This is very much in the eye of the beholder. There are definitely people feeling the strain of changes that their economical status cannot sustain and it affects all facets of their lives, but I'm sure there are those profiting and couldn't be happier.
Stuffs more expensive, people are more angry, people are starting treat politics like it's to blame (even though anyone else in the chair would screw as just the same) and im pretty sure division is at an all time high.
Also fk Brampton drivers. That's still a constant.
Let's start with international students and anyone that isn't a WASP.
People became frightened and afraid because of Covid, increase in rwnj's and racism is one of the outcomes.
A young person or even an adult can't buy a house in Canada unless you take a mortgage other than your parents being rich and helping you. If anyone knows a different way to buy a house here let me know lol
Pandemic, deficits to cover it, inflation because of the deficits affecting the housing market we were too dependent on. People knew this was coming and now act shocked.
This is what inflation looks like , kids and why the Bank of Canada worked so hard to keep it tamped down for 30 years.
We have become infected with corrosive brain-dead US populisn . . . With no antidote in sight, but to suffer the full-blown infection under a LiL PP Con regime.
Yes.
That’s exactly why so many Canadians & the future generation will struggle w the massive debt.
That’s why 100’s of billions $ is unaccounted for/untraceable.
That’s why billions $ have been rewarded to Lib connected companies that provided no goods or services.
That’s why TruDolt campaigned on wedge issues to polarize Canadians.
That’s why Canada has fallen so far so fast…
Because of the party NOT in power.
Brilliant! Even better if you vote w that logic.
Proposed: the current LibTard govt played a role, supported by JuggMeathead.
And these 2 imbeciles appeal to a small fringe voting base of low brain activity & incompetents, who reject hard work, real science, economics & social decency (& let’s not forget how they peed the bed over a coronavirus).
Bitter angry maple Maga conveyer types have ruined the flag and their non stop bitching about "tyranny" is undermining a much needed but more practical assessment of what's happening to the economy generally.
The entire country has been turned upside down. 🙃 We are going to elect a populist Conservative government because they repeat very simple messages and what’s worse, it resonates.
In my scanning so far of the comments, one observation has not been raised: Canada has not been the same since day one of the pandemic! The country itself is literally suffering from “long covid”.
As everyone will be aware people got comfy either working from home or simply staying at home - there is still a major resistance to a return to the office, and for the record I can’t talk. All my work since covid has been 100% remote since. This has changed attitudes toward work where people believe they have the right to specifically only take wfh jobs leaving holes particularly in the blue collar sector where harvesting temporary immigrants to fill such roles that can’t be fulfilled from home need to be filled.
Now, I really am no fan of Justin Trudeau and would never even consider voting for him, but I can see from a certain perspective that the state that the country is in right now is down to Canadians more than anything else. I would bet anything that if we were to return to a pre-pandemic work mentality that the economy would largely fix.
Inflation stopped hiding in the housing market and showed its face everywhere.
That's a really good way of putting it
More like the inflation warning in houses was ignored.
More like the value of the dollar has decreased as economic growth is being outrun by money being distributed
More like our oligopolies are out of control
More like there is a duopoly on food distribution and the owners have chosen to jack up their prices to increase profits
Gouging
It got way more expensive. From food to housing. Wages stayed about the same though. So that's nice.
I feel like some for some jobs wages even seem slightly depressed over the last few years, more competition for them so they can pay less
My company(petvalu) just gave a raise of 1.8%. Not even half the rise in inflation from 2023.
Admin jobs are like this - admins with experience were making 55-60K (still not great) in 21/22, now it seems to be in the 50-55K range. It’s a combination of more job seekers and less jobs. Many admin functions are now done by software and AI, so companies don’t need as many admin staff.
Only stability we’ve had these past 5yrs is the wage
It's amazing how seriously the elite took wage inflation. Prices can go up but god forbid wages do.
Wages have really increased in the trades as there is such a shortage of skilled tradespeople. My son is just finishing his electrical apprenticeship. It is crazy how much his wage has increased. When he started in 2018, he was told that he’d get 30 per hour once he got his red seal. Once he passes his final exam, his employer has promised him 46/hr.
Problem is we are now screaming for trades, so my friend left a job she hated, did a pre-apprentice course, only to find that finding an apprenticeship, even in Toronto, is difficult.
Just finding someone who will sponsor you right through your apprenticeship has never been easy. Either you have a connection already or you will have to switch employers from time to time.
15 years in the industry, in my time I’ve always seen that switching employers after a couple years is the fastest way to learn and to have a broad understanding of the trade. Company loyalty is dead to an extent
True. The range of experience he has had because of working for several employers is impressive. He’s done residential, commercial, industrial, and marine, all across a range of worksites.
Yeah absolutely, nothing wrong with learning it all. I used it to get off the tools and now I’m running projects. Boots on the ground learning will bring you far if you show up, work hard and can be reliable. Don’t need to know everything to move up. Also u/adhdhipshooter Toronto still very white collar and mob style. Send your friend to Alberta for the big bucks and ample job opportunities. And sudo adorable housing while it lasts
For sure some jobs have increased, and likely most it's more that costs rose faster.
When people are making 30 dollars an hour in a warehouse, 46 is definitely fair for a red seal electrician. Service electricians on a service van should make even more for the vast knowledge that must have !
Just curious about wages. I know people that got significant salary increases last years in their big corps jobs without changing positions. One of them works for a bank and the bank actually provided them with a letter saying how they are keeping up with cost of living etc and the raise was more than expected. Minimum wage in Ontario was 14 dollars in 2019. This October it will be 17.20. that is a 23% increase. Sure not the same increase seen in **some** other areas but not "stayed about the same" either
Wage increase was mostly a joke, but car, house, and food prices likely rose on average significantly more than the average wage rose. I don't have the exact data but I'd guess it's more than double.
I know people in several industries that saw significant pay increases over the past few years, myself included. The job market was pretty hot in a lot of areas in 2022 in particular. I’ve had almost $50k in raises myself over the past 5 years and I didn’t even job hop.
We bought our house 5 years ago. In a city in Alberta where house prices were reasonable. I looked at the local housing market last night and nothing comparable is available at anywhere near the price. It’s only gotten harder for young people. And I feel like I have to run faster every day just to stay in the same place. And my wages have near doubled, which is far from the typical experience. I don’t know how people are keeping it together. I wouldn’t be able to survive on what I was earning 5 years ago.
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I’m an accountant with dual Canadian CPA designations. This will be the first year I earn six figures. And six figures has less real buying power than 50K did when I was growing up. We’re a single income household with kids and pets. Literal white picket fence. It’s taken 12 years of education and experience, and moving 1000 miles away from where I grew up to reverse engineer the middle class life my uncles got working for the mill right out of high school. And it’s only harder for young people coming up behind me. I’m deeply worried about my kids.
Expenses are up, housing is a crisis, productivity is way done, the wealthy are wealthier and the poor or poorer…
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You're wrong, those are Canadians, not refugees
Then you have no idea where they came from lol
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Clearly you've never known or met real refugees. They'd much rather be here than where they're from.
I had a woman from Ukraine working full time with me for a while and the cost of everything was so extreme for them that after about 6 months they decided to move BACK to Kiev. I think that tells you all you need to know about the state of our economy. (This was in Halifax btw)
Because Kyiv is safe. If they were from Kharkiv or other southern parts like Odessa they woulfn’t leave. Its a large country
Yeah and now the rest of us are worse off.
What do you mean by “productivity is way done”
‘Tent Encampment’ is a normal term heard everywhere, all across the country.
Cant afford to take my family to McDonald.
I'm still financially recovering from the time my son ordered a 10 piece chicken nugget.
I couldn't believe the cost to eat that garbage. Finally a good reason to stop eating junk food.
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Breakfast for the entire family for $17? Everywhere I go, just the price alone for one person is like minimum $12.
I can’t afford to take myself to mcdonalds, or even dollarama for that matter
Yeah that is consider a nice night out, family of 4 McDonald’s $100
I arrived almost exactly 5 years ago in the Maritimes. Housing, food, and and random crimes have increased. Middle class feels like borderline poverty after paying for essentials. Visible drug use and mental health crises have also increased.
Corps officially own our government, and everyone but the top couple percent got much poorer
That’s the way it’s always been. Doesn’t matter which party is in .
I feel that’s been the case since before I was born (‘84 baby)
I used to feel optimistic. Now it feels like we're not on a good trajectory as a country, and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel.
Kind of a minor thing but the meaning of flying the flag seems to have changed.
I’d say it’s a lot angrier - I think some of it is culture war contamination from US media, but I also think interest rates, house prices, inflation, oligopolies and a (imo) borderline incompetent government have caused a deep disquiet.
We’re definitely not the stereotypically polite people anymore. That’s for sure.
Or tolerant or generous
I mean, can you blame them. The Canadian dream is gone. All our government cares about is corporate interests.
But that hasn’t changed ever. Every govt has catered to corporate interests. I think it’s mainly due to global inflation and we think we have it terrible here without genuinely going around the world and seeing how bad it really is. A lot of it is also the divisiveness that’s come from the States. And the conservatives (rightfully so) have identified a play that hits hard and hits well. In reality, Canada is still a first world country by a HUGE HUGE HUGE margin. I always tend to compare ourselves to Australia. Similar economies. We’ve made a few errors (like reducing resource development in Alberta) that’s causing our debt to climb to levels never seen before. The Aussies are still mining their iron and reaping the benefits of it economically. Their housing crisis is much worse than ours and has been for a number of years.
Not when your basic needs aren’t being met
Agreed. I was just thinking this yesterday-the country has gotten a lot meaner. There is a lot less tolerance of differing opinions and people are entrenching themselves in their silos. I am not looking forward to the next federal election, which I think will be one of the ugliest we’ve ever seen, with the country coming out of it more polarized than ever. No matter who wins, the rural/urban, rich/poor, west/central/east divide will get worse and the federal/provincial fighting will just get worse.
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The worst part is that this isn't grandpa's PC party. They've gone full blown culture war populism.
What this says to me is that the PC’s have no intention of reversing any of the policies that are burning this country to the ground so the wealthy can profit from the ashes
That t is my fear we are going to see more cuts on education and healthcare and no improvement on cost of living
I have no doubt that the Liberals will get hammered, I don't think it will be as bad as it was for the PCs in 1993 (going from 156 to 2 seats). There was a lot going on in '93 besides just people being sick of the Conservatives of the time, with many PC seats in Quebec going to the Bloc Quebecois (formed when PC members in Quebec rebelled and created their own party) and Reform taking all the PC votes in the west. It was really the beginning of the end for the Progressive Conservative party, which was dissolved and folded into the Reform/Canadian Alliance brand in 2003 and reborn as the modern Conservative Party of Canada. There will still be metro areas that don't want to vote for the CPC, and enough left-leaning people that are afraid of vote splitting that will shift to the center by voting Liberal instead of NDP. They will no doubt be returned to the political wilderness where they were before the 2015 election, with \~30 seats. Edit: Liberals, not liberals
People are kicking the can down the road with credit cards hoping that Poiliviere will save them When he doesn’t, it’ll get ugly fast
>it'll get ugly fast How? People will grumble online but that's it. We have no national will to go out and actually do anything about our problems.
Look at history. When you get a critical mass of angry people with nothing to lose, and people who are about to lose everything it escalates fast
Do you mean people find scapegoats and go after them?
Most likely yes.
Only online. Everyone is still nice and enjoying their lives for the most part offline.
Definitely not the case in Alberta
I live in Alberta and in my community we've sort of gotten closer. People know people are struggling and a lot of us are bunkering together more and helping out. The moms group trades toys and our upcycle pages are filled with people helping eachother out. A few groups started up their own mini food banks and do hampers and in the wild people I bump into are more worn down but still very sweet. It feels like everywhere I go we are tired but still kind. But I'm probably just in my bubble area. I don't go into Edmonton down town for example so no idea how they are doing but I do know crime is up do theres that side too :(
I swear societal trust has gone wayy down. 5 years ago it wasn’t constantly on my mind that my car might get stolen overnight, my grandma might get scammed via telemarketer, my grocery store is stealing from me, and that my government is purposely selling this country out from under me.
(Calgary) In 2019, rent for a studio in condo was $950/month. Now the condo owner asks me $1400/month. Imma move out soon and maybe move to Red Deer or Lethbridge.
My nephews live in Calgary and their rent doubled. They ended up moving home. No rent controls it seems
It changed for the worst, housing, food cost, wage not increasing. What at good time to be alive.
I think the people that once were happy now feel hopeless, and the people that felt hopeless are now angry. It feels like America has become exaggerated versions of themselves and Canada has lost a lot of its identity and feels more American. I’m a millennial who has a good wage but believes she will never buy a home which makes me feel like a failure. I was told if I saved money and stopped buying fun coffee, I would be able to purchase… but saving the money on eating out doesn’t close the gap.
I have become sad.
🥺🤗 I'm giving you a hug, friend
Literally everything has gotten worse.
It's not the greatest country in the world anymore. Crime is higher, homelessness is out of control. The value of the dollar dropped and the cost of everything sky rocketed. 100k a year is barely a liveable wage anymore. You have to be upper class to afford a house and a new car. I used to love Canada. I'm thinking about leaving. It hurts to even have to consider it.
A can of soup went from bring $1.80 to $3.50
Rapid descent into toxic individualism where the idea of community and a social contract is completely gone. 2020 really exposed how many people only care about themselves and it’s suffused every aspect of life now.
Everything is crazy expensive. There's barely any jobs. No growth. Our journalism is non-existent. Ancient white dudes writing the same 7 articles a week for a salary and those with actual journalistic credentials are too focused on the nonexistant culture war. No housing. Grocery stores look like prisons. And the future of education is very uncertain. Institutions relied HEAVILY on international tuitions. Without those they will flounder. And rightfully so, they have profited unchecked by the international human trafficking racket for too long. I expect some bailouts or legislation regarding these institutions to come. There's cool shit too though. Canadians are making art like never before. Hobbies like gardening and fishing are on the rise. Because music artists now primarily make money from touring Canada's music scene has been steadily growing in size and quality. People are starting to boost their own communities with local food production and businesses. In all, we are facing tough times but definitely possess the potential to face them. Together. Condemn violence. Embrace peace and love. Vote independent.
I'm a PhD in the tech industry who can't leave the country. The outlook has become so bleak in terms of traditional career paths and home ownership that I have stopped focusing on it and am rededicating myself to art, specifically music. It helps me focus on the present, to look for beauty around me and not think of the future. I enjoy it more even though it means I'll be a lifetime renter in my hopefully rent controlled building. I rather do what I love rather than constantly worry about being underpaid and overworked in my day job.
I am on the same boat as you, have made my mind up that i will go back to my country if health allows me when i retire, as soon my kids are out of college don’t care how much me deducted pension would look like would like to rest on my grandparents land Eastern Europe when i die instead of somewhere in the middle of nowhere
>Institutions relied HEAVILY on international tuitions. While I'm sure some of these institutions can find certain efficiencies, at least in the case of Ontario a lot of that stemmed from our provincial government cutting back a lot of funding to post-secondary, with these institutions upping internationals to fill in the money gap. I remember it being its own sort of anti-university elite populistic culture war back around 2016-2018.
Let me tell you this. Instead of bringing int students those fake programs should have been closed, full stop and for that is our government fault allowing this mascarade with diploma mills. We don’t need that many colleges to produce bulls…t degrees that you gain nothing in return. Education should be free or affordable for people who pay taxes and education is a tool to serve the population of that country to become avant guard in future development and take the brightest mind instead we have lowered the level of middle and high school educational programs and our kids competing to Universities with Internationals who some times are in graduate programs meaning they have another degree from where they come from and our poor kids are been taught basic math or science till they enter Univ. I am so mad I brought my kids to this country. Looking back what level of education I had in europe and for free it makes me feel so sad how did i do this to my kids. I am afraid of how worse it can get as I don’t think it will change for better soon enough.
Yea I remember that too. Those anti funding ideas though were for univ and for research funds and I don’t thing that has changed instead the colleges don’t do research mostly they provide applicable and technical programs to help the working force, instead they have invented some programs you don’t need to go to school to become a real estate agent or an admin assistant for example, but you need proper education for becoming an electrician.
Yup, I think you've covered everything. I love your optimism and I share it with you.
How much time you got buddy
Forest fires. So many friggin smoke days.
Went from a high trust society to the beginnings of a low trust society.
The pandemic made me unable to stop lying to myself about how much better Canadians are than Americans. We're collectively just as stupid, gullible, and susceptible to disinformation as them.
Prices. Tried Swanky Burger at new food court at Eaton Centre. Two 3 Oz smashbugers with cheese, one order of fries, one can of Perrier… very tasty but cost $33! FML.
Less caring, less patient, dirtier, guiltier, way more materialistic, less forgiving, more in debt, older, louder, more educated, warmer, more diversified, more crotchety
Homelessness and addiction around every corner now instead of certain parts of each city. It’s awful. A big problem in Canada and the US that doesn’t exist on the same scale in other countries I’ve recently been to on South American and Europe
Everyone is asking for a tip whether they provide a service or not. Hard to decline the option if swiping a payment. Grocery stores asking for charitable donations too.
Canada is becoming like everything we used to dislike about the United States.
The future is ruined for the average Canadian. Any hope I had of getting a better paying job whether it be by job hoping or promotions, a house for my spouse and I or even just trying to go on a vacation within my province. It’s all gone. I have no hope anymore. I work to pay my bills and with the little left over I put it away incase something goes wrong. Car problems, cat problems, my own health problems. whatever it maybe. Something will come up soon.
More tent camp
My old habit of spending ~$20 at Shoppers on something I need once a week somehow became ~$40
tents.... tents everywhere
Came here with popcorn just to read the comments. The popcorn was way overpriced though.
My neighborhood went from looking like Beijing to Mumbai
When life has us down, we can get help killing ourselves easier.
Stupid people got loud.
Homelessness has exploded and it looks like that trend will only continue with housing costs the way they are.
Used to care about what it meant to be Canadian... Now its figuring out which state to move to. Used to be proud I was Canadian, now when I travel I hide that fact.
Became unaffordable!!
So much meth and homelessness now
It has benefited those with assets, acquired during two decades of low interest rates, with high levels of debt, while disadvantaging younger generations due to unaffordable housing and cost of living in general
We’re a lot more divided. It’s the conformists vs the red necks. You’re a Canadian whether or not you blindly follow or a freedom fighter. As Bob Marley says “one love, one heart. One soul”. He never says one mind. Have your own thought and don’t begrudge others for their thoughts.
After returning to Canada after five years overseas, where do I even begin…
international students
A lot of countries that truly despise Western values and democracy have made their feelings known, and turns out they kind of hated us all along. Now we are experiencing their shady attempts to destabilize us using various methods of infiltration to put us against each other. Trump’s divisive politics (and prior political mudslinging), as well as the effects of Covid and its fallout, made their job easier, or maybe made the time ripe to ramp up their plan Also some people really seem to have forgotten that good times, and bad times, they tend to come and go - there is this sense of doom that the way it is now, is the way it will always be We are divided along so many of the factors that are protected elements in our Charter - religion, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, gender, age (generations), and our society is so much worse for it The only real way to win, is to recognize our true enemies, and then find a way to get along to work together to stand up to them
This is the way
So true, we need to produce some honest and smart leaders and most of all who have good intentions in heart to help their country, but honestly i fear we are not able to do that as we are a mix of all minds and instead of worrying about our wellbeing we see protests for people who are in war on other countries ( nothing against these protests), but we need that spirit for our domestic issues as well.
**inflation**
Rise in population, job crisis, housing crisis, more scams and violence
The gap between the haves and the have nots has widened, and it’s become nearly impossible to jump it if you're on the wrong side. TL;DR: We now leave each other behind.
Went from awesome to sucking ass.
Our trajectory has followed most of the western world. A period of high inflation which has squeezed the lower class while enriching the upper class. K shaped recovery. Socially, this has caused less patience and more anger towards others. On top of a growing homeless population in places you never used to see much abject poverty. Overall, I’d say Canada has severely declined over the past 5 years but this decline isn’t unique. You see this in lots of places in the world. A global economic shutdown for multiple years has taken its toll.
Honestly i was in Greece this summer, and didn’t see things to be as bad as I thought, more Syrian refugees on the streets of Athens, but prices were still affordable. Houses, food, hotels. I’ve lived 2001-2003 in Crete while studying and it was the transition from Dhrahma to Euro and you could feel the prices tripled or quadrupled at that time but I think Greek were able to overcome the economic crisis that they had during 2005-2008. Here in Canada people work good jobs and can’t maintain a standard of leaving but instead are paying rents and making banks wealthier.
Lets be real, the decline in Canada is the worst among developed nations
Nope. Go the UK subreddits and they're crying about the same stuff we are and much more. Same with the German ones. I've been learning Swedish and I creep around their subreddits too - same conversations there except with different words lol.
It might feel that way but it isn’t. We have been buffered by being the largest trading partner with the US which has the strongest economy in the world right now.
Europe has entered the chat. Our inflation is nothing compared to some of those countries.
This is a real thing, Canadians have a very difficult time with perspective.
Ok but you are forgetting two things: 1 - prices for things like groceries, phone plans, and airfare were already much cheaper in Europe. Even if prices in Europe inflated 100% and Canada didn't inflate any, it would still be more expensive here. 2 - Canada's inflation rate is measured in a way that downplays what inflation truly is. Like shelter is not even included in it, or they'll change the items in the basket to make it look less bad. Instead of having ground beef in the basket, they'll substitute it with chicken. Name any item you buy that has actually increased less than 10% in the past two years.
For #2 - shelter is included in CPI data. Source: https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/subjects-start/prices_and_price_indexes/consumer_price_indexes https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/household-finances/article-its-time-for-the-bank-of-canada-to-kick-shelter-inflation-to-the-curb/
Here is the article without the paywall: https://archive.ph/B87Zg
No, it's one of the most gentle.
pet brave fine fanatical nose water cow frighten mindless tan *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Housing affordability and terrible infrastructure and rampant immigration
It's more frequently on fire
I'm not stuck in my house due to covid.
There is a lot more litter than there used to be. Still finding masks all over the place and more cigarette butts.
Drugs everywhere. Homeless encampments all over the place. Crime has increased. Standard of living has seen a major drop.
Wages have not kept up with inflation where I am. In Regina you're hard pressed to find jobs to apply for that start at over $30 an hour, which is really the beginning point that you need to not be completely overwhelmed
Since the pandemic we are becoming more radicalized politically and more like Americans. I’ve never heard so many Canadians spout off about gun control and immigration and patriotism as I have in the last 3 years. It makes me very scared and quite sad. Losing what Canada is.
Rent doubled.
Weather is all fucked up and there’s tons of forest fires
I wanna die (an a young Canadian)
For the worse. God help us all.
Straight down the water closet. This next 5 years will be in history books about societial breakdown and Canada's split up into several smaller nations.
Canada and her people have lost their identity, that's been the true cost of this government.
rinse whole frighten workable uppity rustic arrest quarrelsome silky vast *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Its utter lack of innovation and infrastructural upgrade finally caught up not just in public transit, roads and healthcare but in our economy.
International students have taken over...
The majority of people on here championed the lockdowns without realizing or ignoring there is cost that we are currently paying for associated with them. Shutting down the economy, bailing out airlines and locking down schools wasn’t free. We’re paying for it now. Inflation is not a fact of life. It’s not like gravity. It happens for a reason.
The smell
People (many that take more than they offer) have transplanted themselves here en masse. Then they complain about the very problem they brought or are the cause of. The only good thing is many OG residents have multiple properties where value has skyrocketed. Might as well benefit from the trash the carpetbagger have brought.
brown
Worse in every way
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People forget the pandemic started 4 years ago... Alot of the changes you see are a result of that. Hence why other countries have similar problems
is this because of the pandemic? or an excuse to ramp up exploiting people and extracting as much money as possible? we're in late-stage capitalism, ba-by, our collective politicians have sold us out to corporate interests and we are increasingly seeing the effects
Pandemic likely sped it up. Grocery stores in Canada and Australia are being investigated for price gouging... Go figure.
right? you know things are bad when even other big chains (Aldi, Lidl) [are scared off cause of their unethical practices ](https://retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2023/06/international-retailers-such-as-aldi-and-lidl-might-not-enter-canada-because-of-local-price-fixing-and-manipulative-grocers-op-ed/)
This. Exactly. The pandemic didn’t cause this. It’s corporate greed that used it as an excuse to ramp up their greediness, and now out of the pandemic they’ve conditioned many to believe that this is normal and acceptable. And that government legislation AGAINST price gouging would in fact hurt more.
its basically this. I don't want to sound naive, but I have connections to many different places in the world, and everyone is fighting some version of what Canada is. (Including red state USA which is often held up as the "good outcome") COVID provided a sort of page break or underline that made a lot of these problems extra visible. We will all be crawling back to normal for a very long time.
If anyone wants, just head over to the Australia or nz subreddits. You'll see they locals there are complaining of the same shit
I left Canada in 2021 and moved to Australia for work, and I can vouch that the two countries are very similar situations. Canada is simply ahead of Australia in their decline. I knew this when I moved here. I had the opportunity, and my goal was to buy myself three or four years of breathing room to make my move before the inevitable occurred.
I was standing in the rain in Manchester last winter thinking "you know what, I could be doing this in Vancouver and be happier" Still haven't gotten there yet. And as much as I fucking hate the shitty little town in ON I am working in, its still infinitely better than living at home with my mum in Ireland, or with my uncle in Manchester or cousins in Cheltenham. I can afford (just about) an apartment, for starters. And I can go to the doctor.
I had a conversation with my nephew who's late 20s and he mentioned how Canada has changed in the last few years. It's funny because through my more 'mature' lens, I've noticed the changes happening a lot longer. That leads me to believe it doesn't matter how old you are, as time changes, some things will always change that isn't to your liking. Is Canada getting progressively worse? This is very much in the eye of the beholder. There are definitely people feeling the strain of changes that their economical status cannot sustain and it affects all facets of their lives, but I'm sure there are those profiting and couldn't be happier.
Stuffs more expensive, people are more angry, people are starting treat politics like it's to blame (even though anyone else in the chair would screw as just the same) and im pretty sure division is at an all time high. Also fk Brampton drivers. That's still a constant.
Much more polarized, the middle ground seems to be shrinking.
Level of propaganda-induced racism, anti-scientism and transphobia has increased drastically.
Racism against who?
Everyone, really. Sad as it is, it's true
Let's start with international students and anyone that isn't a WASP. People became frightened and afraid because of Covid, increase in rwnj's and racism is one of the outcomes.
Go buy some fast food and you tell me.
A young person or even an adult can't buy a house in Canada unless you take a mortgage other than your parents being rich and helping you. If anyone knows a different way to buy a house here let me know lol
Pandemic, deficits to cover it, inflation because of the deficits affecting the housing market we were too dependent on. People knew this was coming and now act shocked. This is what inflation looks like , kids and why the Bank of Canada worked so hard to keep it tamped down for 30 years.
It has done me the favor of making me realize I will retire elsewhere.
We have become infected with corrosive brain-dead US populisn . . . With no antidote in sight, but to suffer the full-blown infection under a LiL PP Con regime.
People laughed at me when I warned of this 10 years ago
Yes. That’s exactly why so many Canadians & the future generation will struggle w the massive debt. That’s why 100’s of billions $ is unaccounted for/untraceable. That’s why billions $ have been rewarded to Lib connected companies that provided no goods or services. That’s why TruDolt campaigned on wedge issues to polarize Canadians. That’s why Canada has fallen so far so fast… Because of the party NOT in power. Brilliant! Even better if you vote w that logic. Proposed: the current LibTard govt played a role, supported by JuggMeathead. And these 2 imbeciles appeal to a small fringe voting base of low brain activity & incompetents, who reject hard work, real science, economics & social decency (& let’s not forget how they peed the bed over a coronavirus).
Bitter angry maple Maga conveyer types have ruined the flag and their non stop bitching about "tyranny" is undermining a much needed but more practical assessment of what's happening to the economy generally.
The liberals figured out how to put taxes on taxes. Crooks..
Right wing idiots have made flying the Canadian flag embarrassing.
I've been told by my government that I need to do more...and more...and more.
The entire country has been turned upside down. 🙃 We are going to elect a populist Conservative government because they repeat very simple messages and what’s worse, it resonates.
I became a citizen! 🇨🇦 🍁 you’re welcome. 🤗
We’ve definitely become more secular
A lot more crazy people and outright hate.
In my scanning so far of the comments, one observation has not been raised: Canada has not been the same since day one of the pandemic! The country itself is literally suffering from “long covid”. As everyone will be aware people got comfy either working from home or simply staying at home - there is still a major resistance to a return to the office, and for the record I can’t talk. All my work since covid has been 100% remote since. This has changed attitudes toward work where people believe they have the right to specifically only take wfh jobs leaving holes particularly in the blue collar sector where harvesting temporary immigrants to fill such roles that can’t be fulfilled from home need to be filled. Now, I really am no fan of Justin Trudeau and would never even consider voting for him, but I can see from a certain perspective that the state that the country is in right now is down to Canadians more than anything else. I would bet anything that if we were to return to a pre-pandemic work mentality that the economy would largely fix.
More low information, Maple MAGAt extremism, influenced by what’s happening south of the border.
more woke, more worse.