I recently came back from a 2 week visit to Canada, after living abroad for 14 months. Though this is not my first expat adventure, and I’ve stayed away from Canada for longer periods, this time was definitely the most impactful. During my visit, I spent days each in Ottawa, Toronto and a small town on lake Huron. While I haven't spend much time in Ontario since 2021, I can honestly say Canada feels very different than when I moved away last summer.
The biggest change was undoubtedly the “pulse” of everyone I spoke with. During my visit I met a full cross section of Canadians: family and friends, casual strangers and a cast of many at a family wedding.
While this is purely anecdotal, what I heard was that people feel that life is NOT better today than <<fill in the blank time period>>, immigration is way out of control and that the Liberals are “out of touch” with what they should be focusing on (even by LPC supporters). Again, this is all anecdotal, but I spoke with a wide variety of people across all stages of life and political leanings. DT Toronto was certainly quieter than pre-Covid and the homeless issue was definitely noticeable. It's annoying as hell that TD only opens their vestibules with ATMs during normal operating hours. While I am sort of used to that in DT, finding this at Kilping and Bloor is crazy! St James park wasn’t too crowded with tents (I had heard it was worse), but we saw way too many “heroin zombies” around St. Lawrence. Meanwhile in Ottawa, the Rideau centre seems quieter now than in 2021 and the Market seemed like a set from a bad dystopian movie. First time I had to be buzzed into a retail store that wasn’t high luxury. It’s sad how it’s just a shell of it’s former self. (We went there both on a Saturday and a workday). Ottawa now reminds me a US cities where the DT's are almost abandoned to the burbs! (Okay, maybe that's a little extreme, but in a Canadian context its getting there).
After this trip I am not feeling positive about Canada’s future. Given the focus of our current (and future) Federal governments, I’m not sure that they even have “concepts of a plan” to fix the situation. When I previously lived abroad, I always knew in the back of my mind, that it was an adventure and that I’d always come back “home” Now both my wife and I find ourselves toying with the idea of possibly not moving back to Canada. And that really makes me sad.