The bottom line is that immigrants, students, and workers chose Canada over centuries because we sustained high levels of growth and high standards of living. Canada’s declining affluence over the past decade undermines this pull factor.
Believe it or not, I don’t think Stephen Harper’s immigration minister is worth listening to about anything, ever, in any context. Especially the one who announced the “barbaric cultural practices” hotline.
This is anecdotal, but I’ve known several people who immigrated and then chose to return to their home country. In at least one case, specifically because of the cost of living.
Everyone that I know who moves to Vancouver from abroad and moved back cited Cost of Living as one of the main factors.
When I moved from Vancouver to London(UK) a few years ago I was shocked at how cheap food and basically everything else was, even after exchange rate things like milk and veg were 2-5× cheaper in the UK. The only thing that was markedly more expensive was energy and natural gas.
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