A viral trend is sweeping the country as Canadians, struggling to afford the basic necessities in life, are breaking down on camera over the crippling cost of living crisis. Rent, food prices, mortgage payments, gas, and electricity costs are all continuing to spiral out of control and Canadians are being pushed to their breaking points.
The viral videos of Canadians in tears over the cost of living have been viewed millions of times on social media because the misery and despair that Canadians are feeling are shared by millions.
Despite this, politicians in Canada continue to remind Canadians that wage growth is outpacing inflation and that Canada’s economy is performing well. Prime Minister Trudeau even told Canadians in March that they were doing better than before. Economists and Real Estate experts have been sounding the alarm on unprecedented immigration as a driver of housing inflation in this country, but the government has no interest in heeding those warnings.
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French authorities are searching for the person responsible for desecrating the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France with graffitied “environmental slogans.”
A spokesperson for Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) said the alleged vandal was “a misguided individual with a cause.”
Veterans Affairs Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor released a statement condemning the act.
“As all Canadians know, this is a sacred place commemorating the sacrifice of the 60,000 Canadians who gave their lives in order to protect the freedoms of the citizens of France and Belgium over 100 years ago during the First World War,” said Petitpas Taylor.
“The memorial bears the names of those who died in France with no known grave and stands as a tribute to all Canadians who served during the First World War. It should inspire us to work toward lasting peace, for which those commemorated here gave their lives.”
The Vimy Foundation, which manages the memorial, said it was “deeply disheartened to learn about the recent act of vandalism.
“Such actions disrespect the memory of the 11,285 Canadians missing in France with no known grave, whose names are listed on the monument,” the foundation wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
A source told Global News the vandalism was environmental in nature and that the slogans were written in French.
Petitpas Taylor confirmed that the Canadian government is working in tandem with French authorities to conduct an investigation into who the vandal might be.
“VAC officials are currently working with colleagues at Public Services and Procurement Canada and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to ensure that the graffiti is removed as soon as possible,” said Petitpas Taylor.
The monument was built to commemorate soldiers who fought and lost their lives at the Battle of Vimy Ridge which lasted for three days in 1917. The battle took the lives of 3,598 Canadian soldiers with another 7,000 being wounded.
Conservative veterans affairs critic Blake Richards and Quebec lieutenant Pierre Paul-Hus also condemned the vandalism.
“Those who committed this appalling act of vandalism should be ashamed of their actions, and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Canada and France must stand together in showing that there will be zero tolerance for these actions,” they wrote in a statement.
On the morning of April 9, 1917, close to 100,000 Canadian soldiers attacked the German barricade at Vimy Ridge and after three consecutive days of fighting, they succeeded in capturing it.
The victory at Vimy Ridge marked a pivotal shift in World War I and is seen as a defining moment of independence in Canada’s history.
In 1922, the French government ceded Vimy Ridge and its surrounding land in Givenchy-en-Gohelle to Canada in appreciation for the over 11,000 Canadians who died in France during the first world war. Prime Ministers visiting France on diplomatic trips will often visit the memorial.
There has been a string of vandalism by environmental activists across Europe in recent months, including at some art museums.
In a recent interview with the Harvard International Review, former Liberal finance minister Bill Morneau admitted that the Liberal government’s pandemic spending went on for too long and contributed to Canada’s current inflationary woes.
Morneau, who oversaw many of the Covid programs as finance minister, said that while many countries engaged in vast spending programs to tackle Covid-19, Canada’s in particular lasted longer than necessary.
“I think the early efforts were appropriate and important. They were, in a number of cases, too large. That was not purely a Canadian issue; there were other countries that had the same problem,” Morneau told the interviewer.
“The bigger issue was they went on for too long, and that meant that we put more money into the economy than we needed to.”
“(This) is, of course, one of the reasons that we find ourselves with demand for goods and services that’s in excess of what the economy (could) support as we came out of COVID. And when demand is in excessive supply, the inevitable result is inflation.”
Morneau is not the only high-level financial decision maker to say that the Canadian government’s decision to extend Covid-19 stimulus was a contributing factor to inflation.
Last year, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem made similar remarks, admitting that the Bank should have tightened interest rates sooner to stamp down on stimulus.
“If we knew everything a year ago that we knew today, yes I think we should have started tightening interest rates sooner to withdraw the stimulus,” said Macklem.
“(If) there would have been less stimulus in the economy, there would have been less demand, (inflation) would have been less.”
Additionally, despite spending vast amounts of taxpayer money, a Fraser Institute report found that Canada achieved some of the worst results when compared with other developed nations.
“While governments across Canada, particularly the federal government, increased spending markedly during COVID, it’s now clear we didn’t get much bang for our buck,” said Lakehead University economics professor and author of the report, Livio Di Matteo.
“It’s important for governments in Canada to understand the effects of their pandemic responses so they don’t repeat the same ineffective and costly policies in the future.”
Immigration Minister Marc Miller hinted recently that he may soon announce an increase in Canada’s immigration targets. The usually outspoken Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre seemingly has nothing to say about that.
“Whether we revise them upwards or not is something that I have to look at,” Miller said earlier this month. “But certainly, I don’t think we’re in any position of wanting to lower them by any stretch of the imagination.”
Officially, Canada plans to bring in 465,000 permanent residents this year, 485,000 next year, and 500,000 by 2025.
But don’t be fooled: we also invite in hundreds of thousands of additional residents every year, such as temporary foreign workers and international students, so our population actually grew by 1.05 million in 2022 even though we have a below-replacement fertility rate of 1.40 births per Canadian woman.
Canada’s exorbitantly high immigration numbers are straining the housing supply, the healthcare system, and social services such as food banks.
Many journalists, myself included, have been asking Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre what his immigration targets would look like if he becomes prime minister.
In a July press conference for ethnic media, blogger Darshan Maharaja asked Poilievre whether reducing immigration targets could help relieve the demand side of Canada’s housing crunch.
“In order for housing to become affordable at current rates of immigration we need to build six million homes by 2030,” Poilievre answered. “Right now we’re on track to build about 1.4 million homes. So we have to choose, either we’re going to build more homes or we’re going to have a big problem.”
“We gotta build, we gotta build now,” Poilievre said.
When I asked Poilievre’s office whether he would keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s immigration targets, and what he thinks about immigration minister Marc Miller possibly increasing the targets this fall, I received no answers to my questions and was instead sent a link to a CPAC video.
“My common sense policy on immigration will be driven by the number of vacancies that private sector employers want to fill, the number of charities that want to sponsor refugees, and the families that want to reunite quickly with loved ones,” Poilievre stated in the video during a stop in Ottawa.
“What’s wrong with the 500,000 target in your mind?” another journalist asks Poilievre.
“I think what’s wrong is Justin Trudeau’s incompetence… I’ll make sure we have housing and healthcare so that when people come here they have a roof overhead and care when they need it.”
People who would have been hesitant to say it out loud even a year ago are now admitting it: our high immigration levels make it more difficult for Canadians to house themselves.
Even individuals with full-time employment can’t keep up with the average rent of $2,000 per month ($3,000 in Vancouver), and end up living out of their vehicles at highway rest stops.
Immigration is now becoming a ballot issue for voters who historically may have only ever expressed support for our system. According to a poll commissioned by Bloomberg News, 68% of Canadians believe Trudeau’s immigration targets negatively impact the housing market.
So, yes, Poilievre should be offering up a quantitative figure to let us know where he really stands on the matter, instead of always deflecting with calls to ‘build, build, build.’
Until he does, we can only conclude that the Conservative party does, in fact, agree with Trudeau’s immigration targets.
With no opposition or critique of Trudeau’s immigration levels from any political party in the House of Commons, there will be no acknowledgment that Canada’s immigration plan actually does not work to counteract an aging population and workforce. Because immigrants themselves age and most come with dependents, parents, and grandparents, immigration does not ultimately address the problem of replacing retirees.
Deeper questions arise once you know these facts: do our high immigration targets exist solely so that banks have an endless supply of debtors, landlords an endless supply of renters, and corporations an endless supply of workers who are less aware or assertive of their rights?
There’s a new viral trend on popular social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube where Canadians who are struggling to make ends meet vent their frustrations about the cost of living.
Canadians from all walks of life are raising the alarm with one common message – how Canada feels broken.
Whether it’s affording to pay bills on time, high cost of rent and gas or grocery prices, people are looking for answers.
True North has compiled some of the most widely shared content about Canada’s cost of living crisis.
Young woman says Canada is “going downhill”
A TikTok video by user heyitstaystew exploded after she filmed herself venting about how expensive gas and the price of real estate is in Canada.
“I gotta be honest, Canada is so disappointing now. It’s a completely different place,” she said.
“I’ve made a lot of observations of just how it continues to keep going downhill.”
I’ve been seeing TikTok videos daily from young people complaining about Canada.
Justin Trudeau telling Canadians that they’re “doing better than ever” will not work. That messaging paired with their out of touch graph sharing will lose them the next election. pic.twitter.com/Ihz6gqmN8s
Mother says she can’t afford to keep gas in her car while earning $34 per hour
Mother Melanie Ann posted a gut-wrenching video where she explains how she can no longer afford to keep gas in her car and has to eat peanut butter sandwiches all week despite earning $34 per hour at her job.
“I can’t function anymore financially. I don’t understand how I make $34 an hour and I can’t function. I can’t pay my bills. I can’t even literally keep gas in my car to get to work 3 days a week because I can’t afford it,” she explains.
“I get paid and it goes to (my) car, mortgage, a couple little bills and then maybe $80 in food for the week.”
This is raw and real, it's the middle class that's getting hit hard.
This lady makes $34/hr and can't even survive in Canada … 🚨🚨🚨
Canadian back from vacation shocked at how crime-ridden and dirty Toronto is
Canadian TikTok user truttheboi went on a six month vacation to Europe and Mexico and upon returning was shocked to see the state of Toronto when compared to other international cities.
“The cost of living is actually insane and I came back and I won’t lie things look a bit different like maybe it’s just the contrast but again cities in Eastern Europe were just like a lot cleaner. I came back here and things looked a lot dirtier in downtown Toronto,” he said.
“Things are a lot less safe. In Eastern, Central Europe I did not see a single petty crime and no joke the moment I came back to Toronto I went to a Shoppers Drug Mart and somebody got caught shoplifting, there were shootings that weekend.”
WATCH: Guy goes on a vacation to Eastern Europe and explains how shocked he was to see how much cleaner and less crime-ridden other cities were compared to Toronto
"I felt a lot more safe closer to the Ukrainian war than I did back in Toronto"
24-year-old Ontario resident Carolina posted on TikTok her frustrations about not being able to afford living in Canada and considering moving out of the country to get ahead.
“I need someone to tell me the pros and cons of living in America because at this point living in Canada ain’t it,” she said.
“The cost of living, it’s too much. The wages are staying the same. I can’t afford to move out.”
Canadian woman is considering leaving because life is not affordable in Ontario.
She is asking "What are the pros & cons of living in America?" 🚨🚨🚨
At a press conference in Prince Edward Island on Wednesday, a reporter asked Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre if he’s trying to “court the far-right vote,” citing unnamed “experts” who say he is.
Plus, the Trudeau government is now saying its “two billion trees” program never actually aimed to fund the planting of two billion trees, but is instead a part of other government initiatives aimed at meeting the tree planting goal.
And data analyzed by a think tank found the number of Canadian patients who died while awaiting surgery has increased by 49% year-over-year.
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Economists from commercial banks and academics have been warning the Trudeau government that Canada needs to slow down on immigration in order to close the housing gap, but the Trudeau government remains firm in hitting their targets.
In July, TD Bank released a report warning that, “continuing with a high-growth immigration strategy could widen the housing shortfall by about a half-million units within just two years.”
The report was co-authored by Beata Caranci, TD’s chief economist. “A ramp-up in skilled-based immigration offered a solution. Government policies have delivered, but now the question is whether the sudden swing in population has gone too far, too fast,” the report said.
Further, a recent report from Scotiabank Economist Derek Holt warned that the record targets are negatively impacting the Canadian economy in several ways.
“Alas, no one will win a Nobel Prize in Economics for observing that when you add a massive surge of immigration into a market with no supply, rents and house prices will push higher,” wrote Holt.
Despite this, Immigration Minister Marc Miller told the Canadian Press that, “Looking at the (immigration) levels that we have recently approved as a cabinet (and) as a government, we can’t afford currently to reduce those numbers,”
The Liberal’s most recent immigration plan was released in the fall of 2022, with a target of bringing 500,000 new immigrants annually to Canada by 2025.
In 2015, their target was less than 300,000.
The Liberal government claims that high immigration levels are necessary to keep the economy supported for the import of labour to help in the housing industry.
Certain academics in the field disagree however, even alleging that the opposite is true. Professor of data science and real estate management Murtaza Haider said, “The primary cause for (the) housing affordability challenge in Canada is our inability to build more housing that is in line with the increase in population.”
Haider, who teaches at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), also pointed to another factor in the housing crisis, Canada’s aging population.
As the populus ages, the tax base grows smaller and health care needs rise. According to Statistics Canada, the country’s working population is the oldest it’s ever been with 1 in 5 people approaching retirement. In addition to Canada’s aging population, the fertility rate also hit a record low in 2020, with only 1.4 children per woman.
Recent polling by Abacus Data revealed that many Canadians are also worried about the impact high immigration levels are having on the country.
“There’s a belief, anyways, that on the one hand, immigration is needed because we’re an aging population, because … we need people to do certain types of work that we don’t have sort of the domestic capacity for,” said David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data.
“They also see the downside, which is putting further pressure on the housing market and pressure on health care.”
There are also a large number of temporary residents coming to Canada. International students and temporary foreign workers are adding strains to the housing market.
Canada added over a million people to its population in 2022 and 607,782 of those people were non-permanent residents and 437,180 were immigrants.
A string of international student fraud cases has led the federal government to reconsider how many students to enroll going forward, acknowledged Miller in a recent interview. The change comes after hundreds of students were caught using fake acceptance letters by immigration agents earlier this year.
“There is fraud across the system that we are going to have to clamp down on,” said Miller, however he also claims that some critiques of the immigration process are rooted in bigotry.”The wave of populist, opportunist sentiment that does at times want to put all of society’s woes on the backs of immigrants — I think we need to call that out when we see it,” he said.
Miller cited labour shortages as part of the reason for a lack in affordable homes being built and he believes this could be fixed through immigration of skilled labour.
Recently, the federal government announced changes to the immigration process which would prioritize tradespeople for permanent residency.
Economist Derek Holt wrote in a report for Scotia Bank, “Alas, no one will win a Nobel Prize in Economics for observing that when you add a massive surge of immigration into a market with no supply, rents and house prices will push higher.”
For the first time in nearly five years, one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s top cabinet ministers is headed to China for an official visit.
Recent reports indicate that Liberal Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault will be attending the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCIED) to shore up support from Beijing to tackle global climate goals.
According to Radio-Canada, Guilbeault will attend the conference from Aug. 28 to Aug. 30.
“I think it’s worth it for me to go there, to advance this collaboration on the climate, on biodiversity, and perhaps also to start rebuilding bridges with China at the diplomatic level,” Guilbeault told the state broadcaster.
“The Chinese minister and I have developed this collaboration where we are able to sit down at a table despite our differences and talk about difficult subjects.”
Guilbeault was invited to attend directly by China’s Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu.
“If we organized a trade mission to China, I’m not sure it would work. People wouldn’t understand why we’re doing this,” said Guilbeault.
“But in light of the summer we’re having, with record wildfires and record flooding, I think there’s a much bigger awakening that something needs to be done about climate change.”
The last time top Canadian elected officials visited China was in 2018.
Soon after, Canadian authorities arrested Huawei CFO and Chinese heiress Meng Wanzhou, prompting Beijing to hit back with the detainment of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.
Today tensions between Canada and China remain high despite having reached a diplomatic solution, allowing the two Michaels to return to Canada.
Trudeau is being pressured by the opposition parties to call a public inquiry into allegations that China interfered in past Canadian elections and continues to attempt to assert influence within Canada.
Recently, China excluded Canada from a list of approved country destinations for Chinese travel tour groups as a result of a continued diplomatic freeze between the two nations.
Two weeks ago, in a fit of collective braggadocio, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that the Trudeau Liberals’ approach to fighting inflation “is working.”
If there is a recent example of speaking too soon, this is it.
The Liberal approach is failing.
Canada’s annual rate of inflation rose higher than expected in July, something analysts say could tempt the Bank of Canada to increase interest rates again next month.
The Consumer Price Index — a broad-based measure of inflation — was 3.3% higher in July than it was a year earlier. That’s up from 2.8% in June, and substantially higher than the 3.5% expected by a consensus of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
While that’s well below the 8.1% inflation peaked last June, it’s still above the Bank of Canada’s inflation target of 2%.
The Conservatives did not let this slip their attention.
“After declaring victory in July, it’s now clearer than ever that the Trudeau Liberals have failed to bring home lower prices for Canadians,” they wrote. “Inflation has again risen to 3.3%, and the cost of groceries has gone up by 8.5% since last year.”
“The price of housing also continues to skyrocket, with mortgage costs up by over 30%. Just ten days ago, the Trudeau Liberals claimed they were ‘making real progress,’ but struggling Canadians are still feeling the pain.”
It is easy to see why, although not so easy for the finance minister.
The Trudeau Liberals, led by Freeland’s ‘financial expertise,’ continue to pour billions on the inflationary fire with its debt and deficit strategies.
Trudeau and Freeland hit Canadians with a double tax hike this year by raising the cost of their first carbon tax and imposing a new second carbon tax on Canadians.
Trudeau’s tax grabs, in fact, are directly increasing the cost of gas and groceries, driving inflation higher.
The biggest single contributor to increased inflation, however, was higher mortgage interest, which rose by 30.6%. Excluding mortgage interest, the annual rate of inflation in July was 2.4%.
“Domestic demand in Canada’s economy continues to hum along, and as a result we expect progress on inflation to remain disappointing through the remainder of the year. This is pushing up expectations that the BoC may pursue another rate hike in the fall months,” TD senior economist Leslie Preston said in a research note after inflation numbers were released.
As also reported in the Toronto Star, BMO chief economist Doug Porter said that while the Bank of Canada had likely been expecting at least some rise, the size of the increase makes it harder for the Bank to stay mute.
“There’s no sense sugar coating this one — it is not a good report for the Bank of Canada,” Porter wrote. “We still believe that the BoC would prefer to move to the sidelines in September and give prior hikes time to work, but the inflation figures will make it a tougher call.”
Porter noted that Canada’s rate of inflation is now higher than the U.S.’s (3.3% vs. 3.2%) for the first time since before the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Last March, the Bank of Canada began an aggressive rate-hike campaign in a bid to drive inflation down.
Before the campaign, the overnight BoC interest rate sat at 0.25%. Now, it’s at 5%, its highest rate in 22 years.
After hiking the rate by 25 basis points — a quarter of a percentage point — in July, Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem didn’t rule out further increases, and said they’d be based on data.
“What we’re saying now is we’re taking it one decision at a time,” said Macklem. “We’re doing our best to balance the risks of under and overtightening.”
The Bank of Canada’s next rate announcement is Sept. 6
At a press conference in Prince Edward Island, a reporter asked Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre if he’s trying to “court the far-right vote,” citing unnamed “experts” who say he is. Poilievre dismissed the question as a “CBC smear job” and refused to answer. Is this the right approach? True North’s Andrew Lawton weighs in.
Also, Manitoba man needed a gas-powered vehicle to bail him out after his electric pickup truck failed to charge on a road trip. Dalbir Bala joins the show to talk about his electric vehicle nightmare.
Plus, the Liberal government is being accused of using “creative accounting” to meet its infamous pledge to “plant 2 billion trees.”
