1.) Sales taxes. Each province has a GST (Goods and Services Tax) applied by the federal government. All provinces (except Alberta) charge PST (Provincial Sales Tax) on top of that. (Some places have the HST which is a combination of both taxes blended into a single tax). It varies by place but for almost all places expect to pay 13% to 15% tax on your purchases and services.
2.) Housing Prices. The average house price is now nearly $500,000 after declines. There is no escaping it. House prices in the northern territories are expensive because of the isolation, weather, and cost of supplies - meaning even living in the middle of nowhere doesn't cut prices. The prairie prices are roughly 300-400k for housing and we're talking small cities. Vancouver housing prices are at three-quarters of a million dollars and slightly higher in Toronto. Maritimes are cheapest at a quarter million but that's because we're talking about tiny locations with no population or work.
3.) Winter. A good portion of the country (northern territories) is in the arctic. The rest of the country gets winter weather each year, varying to some degree by province and location. Most places average -15 to -30 C during the winter ... there is no escaping it. The only places which don't get guaranteed winter snow/cold are the Vancouver-area and Vancouver Island - although this varies by year as well (however temperatures are bearable).
4.) Student Prostitution. The government doesn't track statistics on this, but we do know from minimal data provided by one company alone that at least 1 in 10 post-secondary students in Canada is prostituting or attempting to prostitute for money to pay bills.
5.) Bilingualism. Canada is considered a bilingual country as the two national languages are English and French. Roughly 1 in 5 Canadians speak French but almost all of them are contained in two provinces (the main being Quebec). Outside these, the average French speaker is between 1% to 4% of the province's population. Quebec is Canada's second most populated province (after Ontario) and outside this self-proclaimed "independent nation" nobody speaks the language.
French is plastered over signs, on cereal boxes and everywhere else to the cost of nearly two and a half billion per year - when last studied. Most government jobs require people to be bilingual, and in some sections of the country finding work without bilingualism is nearly impossible.
There are no free lessons or classes provided by the federal government (unless you are a new refugee who speaks neither language). There is no official website or curriculum to help Canadians learn. Students will receive a few hours of lessons in school, but nowhere near enough to become fluent - especially without any locals speaking French.
6.) Child Poverty. Roughly 1 in 5 children in Canada live in poverty, although it varies by particular location. Some places the amount is 1 in 3 children, and can go up to 50% of Indigenous children and nearly 70% on reserves.
7.) Prescriptions. The cost of prescription medication is not covered under Canada's universal health care. Unless you are being given medication in the hospital or are Aboriginal (with a status card), your coverage costs will have to be covered by your employer, disability benefits, or you will have to pay full price independently. In some regions there are varying insurance coverage plans you can purchase if you qualify. (Ontario is rolling out a pharmacare program for seniors starting this summer.) 1 in 10 Canadians can't afford their prescriptions, a number that will only rise.
8.) Food Insecurity. At least 1 in 8 Canadians is food insecure, a statistic compiled despite four provinces refusing to measure food insecurity. Food prices are expensive and only going up: to feed an average Canadian family (of four) costs almost $1000 a month in food. Food insecurity and prices in the north are often insane and reliability is so bad that only Amazon Prime can be expected to deliver with competence.
9.) Sex Offenders. The National Sex Offenders Registry database is not public in Canada and can't be accessed by anyone other than law enforcement. Adding sex offenders to the database wasn't even mandatory until 2011, and is not a lifetime registry. The Registry is such a joke it was called a "national embarrassment" by the Canadian Encyclopedia.
Sentencing is usually a joke and mandatory minimum sentences are being struck down left and right for being "unconstitutional" and unfair to the perps. The Canadian government has the names of over 5,000 perps who abused Native children in residential schools but sits on the list doing nothing.
10.) Location. Canada is located to the north of the United States. Aside from the USA, there is nothing nearby; it is surrounded by ocean and far away from Europe or South America. There is nowhere to go except the U.S. which is often difficult when the currency is valued so much lower - at times only 70 cents to the USD.
It takes just under a week to drive from one end of the country to the other. Depending on stopping points and starting location, it can take several days to a week to drive from Canada to Mexico. It's generally cheaper to fly to US destinations or even England than to fly across Canada.
11.) No escape. There is nowhere to go (being surrounded by ocean) except the United States. Unless you meet a strict set of criteria, 9 out of 10 people won't qualify to emigrate. Citizens are stuck in this country. Most don't have dual-citizenship to elsewhere, and there are no choices in where to live. In the United States there are 50 different choices and in the European Union there are many different countries, but Canada is one large, cold, bland mass.
12.) No warmth. There's nowhere warm to go. In the U.S. if you have health issues, or come upon hard times and wind up living in a van, you can go to Florida, California, the south and so on. Here there is nowhere to go except the Vancouver area - the second most expensive place in the country where it rains the majority of the year. There's nowhere else to live without snow during the winter.
13.) No culture. What is Canadian culture? There is none. If you ask you'll probably hear vague mutterings of 'being nice', maple syrup, beavers, and hockey. There's no sense of heritage: food, music, art, clothing and traditions. If you were born elsewhere or spent time living in places with actual culture this can become painful and unbearable. I often compare Canada's bland sterility to that of a hospital.
14) Racism. Yes, Canada is as racist as anywhere else. Hatred and prejudice towards Natives remains a major problem: they have it worse than blacks in the USA. (There is only more murder down south due to the drug trade in inner cities.) Blacks also have it tough, they are the number one target of hate crimes. The Inuit are generally ignored and abandoned to poverty and suicide up north. Lastly, antisemitism is rife and always has been.
[This list is ongoing and will be added to periodically when I have time.]
Have any thoughts regarding the worst things about living in Canada? Share below.
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