This is the thing I keep thinking re. immigration. Canada got a real Trump bump in terms of not only the number of immigrants applying, but the earning power of those immigrants. A lot of folks that would have tried their luck in New York or Texas or Seattle or California came to Toronto and Vancouver and Ottawa and Calgary over the last four years. Not only will those kind of folks not be coming here anymore, but the ones who came from 2016-2020 may now decide to take a delayed crack at the American Dream.

And I am a big lefty bleeding heart. I am fine with taking your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Loads of those people have come to Canada with nothing and they or, more often, their kids have been big contributors to this country. In the long run, it’s still a plus. But if your economy is dependent on the type of immigrants who are gonna be able to buy a house within two or three years of arriving, and ideally without the use of questionable hot money, we’re not gonna see a lot of those.

100% agree. This is all going to lead to societal problems which will continue to get worse over time. We will likely see a mass brain drain and our Politicrats seem to think they can gloss over that by increasing immigration. Problem is that the type of immigrants we need are also needed by other countries that present better opportunities and a better future for their children. Now that the U.S. is more open to immigration under Biden immigrants may choose to move there instead.

Agreed, there is too much struggle to get a comfortable life for recent grads and immigrants, not worth the effort for what Canada has to offer. Better job opportunities in US, much cheaper daily living and higher standard of living.

25% of Calgary office space now sits empty, and needs investment of 1 billion+ tax payer dollars, lest the downtown become spook town (after 5 nobody was there anyway)

We do not have a real estate problem, we have a banking/speculation problem.

The housing bubble is just a symptom of a greater problem.

US remains quite industrious and still remains on the frontier for high tech industry via its military and academic fusion coupled with its vast capital markets. It’s folly to compare the two nations.

But, other, smaller nations like Finland have also produced quality home-grown high tech companies in telecom infrastructure. The Germans of course have their own industrial powerhouses used in automation equipment and rail.

I’m afraid Canada will have none of these going forward. Like Britain, the Anglo-Saxons will follow the hyper-financialization model and just become hollow economies. Trying to build wealth in such a country without taking on large mortgage debt and/or starting out with parental wealth is going to increasingly become a borderline Sisyphean endeavor (especially with brutal taxation). Canadians just don’t get that they are crippling their own country’s future prospects by continuing to gouge on debt and rely on immigration instead of increasing productivity thru tech advancements.

Your daughter can probably go to a smaller US city and still own a home without being a slave if she is employed in the white collar industries of software, high finance and perhaps some forms of engineering or a corporate role (maybe). Big city living in the US is just another rat race albeit with more income.

Europe I’m not a big fan of except it is a nice tourist destination. Maybe a nice place to retire too.