My Take | The reasons why people are leaving Canada in droves
- Enticed by the country’s global image, many immigrants - including some Hongkongers - are finding realities on the ground very different
“The coming period of recession will … accelerate the decline in living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations,” said the heavily redacted report, which was obtained by a law professor through a freedom of information filing. However bad it is now, it warns Canada’s situation is likely to deteriorate in the next five years.
“Law enforcement should expect continuing social and political polarisation fuelled by misinformation campaigns and an increasing mistrust for all democratic institutions,” it added.
Time to leave? More people are indeed leaving. In the first six months of last year, 42,000 people left Canada. For the full year of 2022 and 2021, the respective numbers were 93,818 and 85,927. Canada has an annual immigrant acceptance of roughly half a million, but not all of them show up. So in recent years, for almost every five people coming in, one leaves.
Canada has long prided itself on its welcoming immigration policy. For such a huge country with a small population, it has been making a virtue out of necessity. But its once-famed social safety net and reputation for easy comfortable living are fraying.
Like other immigrants, many from Hong Kong have been enticed by that global Canadian image to emigrate. They are finding realities on the ground are very different.
Canada ranked 15th out of 170 countries in the 2024 social progress index provided by the Washington-based Social Progress Imperative, 6th in the 2021 index and 10th in 2022.