Quote:
Originally Posted by ArchAficionado
Canada is trying to prop up our stagnating economy by trucking in low-wage / low-skill workers and consumers. The problem with this is it's causing increasingly dire long-run issues (ballooning deficits, deficient infrastructure, increasing crime and violence) and throwing gasoline on the fire of the gap between the rich and the poor. Bringing in all these people effectively stimulates the corporate bottom line but hurts the average citizen who now faces fiercer competition for jobs, housing, healthcare, hell even just for a spot for their kids in a school that isn't dysfunctionally overcrowded. All so that we can "increase the GDP" (note - GDP *per capita* is plummeting, which in my view is a recession)
This being said, I see little indication that the likely forthcoming change in PM leadership will meaningfully change this issue.
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It's absolutely brutal. I spend a lot of time in the US and the divergence in just the past 10 years is truly striking. The median US household has FAR more disposable income and enjoys a better quality of life than the corresponding household in Canada (risk of gun violence aside?). And before people bring up healthcare, most people in the US enjoy much better access to equal or superior care than most Canadians. And they still have more money after taxes, insurance and others costs. Unless you're literally quite poor (bottom 10%), most people are far better off financially at least in the US.
What matters to most people is their own quality of life. While imperfect, GDP per capita is somewhat of a proxy. Canada is near 2014 levels and plummeting! Only G7 country still below pre-pandemic levels. Worst projected growth in the OECD over the next 10, 20, 30, and 40 years. Canada is now a poor "rich country" and trying to leave the club entirely. Truly shameful and a lot of people are only now starting to wake up to the fact things have gone badly wrong, even if they can't quite articulate it in economic terms.
It's beyond me why our leadership would choose to deliberately destroy our quality of life, but here we are.