Close Reading

In 2004 I wrote a somewhat famous article called 'Top 8 reasons not to immigrate to Canada'. In short, the Canadian authorities tried to destroy my life. They made it so that I could not be employable in Canada. So I moved to the U.S. in 2005 and then some years later I moved permanently to the Philippines. I am happy that so many years later videos like yours are saying essentially the same things that I did. I was ahead of my time. I will never go back to Canada. Not to live, not to visit, not even a connecting flight. Too cold, too expensive, taxes are astronomical, no culture, no freedom, no jobs, no opportunities, only modern slavery, worst healthcare system, unbearable political correctness, crime infested/drug infested, xenophobic people, too depressing. It has become a North Korea style dictatorship in the western world.\n\nTheir are many reasons why Canada has fallen apart. But the number one reason is ‘multiculturalism’. My friends, multiculturalism simply does not work. Different cultures do not come together and mix, different cultures come together and clash. The world is divided into different countries for a reason: because people hate each other and only want to be with their own kind. The number two reason for Canada’s demise is ‘socialism’. In this modern era of aging populations, it is mathematically impossible for socialism to continue. The government does not have the money to take care of old people and provide healthcare, pensions and the various other benefits, even with the astronomical taxation that burdens hard working Canucks. Well Canada, you had a good run. Time for Canucks to move to an emerging country. We welcome you here in Southeast Asia.

Respecting people's rights to choose what they believe and practice - but saddened that so many people\nfollow religions and do not truly research the symbolism, the history, the connections - no one should \nbe attacked for wearing a head covering etc - at the same time Muslims, like many other religious\ngroups just follow what the leaders say - and - if they truly researched they would find out that \nfollowing men and clerics is not wise and not even what our Creator wants for us.\n\nI was raised in a large world wide accessible religion - then, when I saw and heard things that\ndid not add up - I prayed for truth and then pro-actively researched - I compared the teachings\nof that religion from materials with in and from out with - and drew my conclusions - I also\nbeleive that I was led to find some very useful information not of myself - I learned enough\nto make an informed decision to leave that religion. My journey after that has not been an\neasy one as there is a lot of conflicting information and factions in this world - but over time\nmy original decision has been re-enforced by facts - I also came across the origins of Islam\nand who controls it - and that would be a surprise to many - and likewise would surprise\nother people in other religions ( including the popular New Age / Eastern Mystic religions)\nare all run by the same group world wide - and The New Age / Eastern Mysticism have\nbeen marketed as some kind of non religious freedom - but are, in fact religions with\ndogmas and leaders.\n\nThe Truth has set me free - I continue to study and to have faith alone in our Creator alone\nand I try to continue to learn what I can about the world and about spiritual things - to aid\nmy understanding and discernment. May more people seek truth for themselves, stop\nblindly following men and traditions and actively study and research from a rounded\nperspective. Best Wishes.

This is a colonialist question from depraved mind. I find it difficult to understand the logic behind that question, except to blackmail the Arab world. \nYou take in a people when there is natural disaster or pestilence of some sought. The case here is that the Israeli state is committing a genocide in total disregard to international law. Yet, her kind refuses to call out Israel to stop the slaughtering.

Big decision, but so is the world. Have you considered what you would do for a living? I'm sorry I don't know much about your family. \nIf you can work from anywhere in the world, then you have a few choices. Someone suggested Malaysia. I think that is very good option. Its technically advanced, people are kind and warm, living expenses are very reasonable. I have only visited once, but I loved it. Felt completely comfortable (I don't wear the hijab). This was my experience from over 25years ago. \nIf you want to consider an Arab country, I would highly recommend checking out Oman, that is where I am from. I lived in the US for over 25 years, and now I love living in Oman. Its very calm, people are kind and welcoming. Winters are great here, but summers are very hot. Most foreigners who come here, never want to leave. The sense of serenity here is addictive. \nGood luck in your search.

Thailand is the best place to live. Low cost, not much rules. Kind people

This people are lying if someone is dead and this kind of situation is there they did not behave like this so clam and chil bunch of lairs

Thanks for leaving Canada. Please don't return. I wish more people like you - who aren't content with western weather, western values and who uphold Islamic beliefs - go to live in Middle Eastern countries that'll be more suitable for them. Please encourage more of your kind to follow your lead. Canada will be better off without Islamic fundamentalism. I also hope that you'll be better off without Canada too. Goodbye from Canada!

This is what i have been saying.\nwhy are there not people out there confronting this crap.\nIf i even think this kind of thing is going on where i live i woukd be out everyday looking fir them znd making sire they go home with their heads shoved up their butts.\nwe need to protect our countries from these backwards idiots now.

Main difference between Singapore and Canada is the latter has been trying to suppress wages of the working class effectively turning the working class into the working poor. \n\nThis, based on idiotic economic theories coming from central bank economists who think profiting private banks which produce nothing and creating a slave labor force in perpetual debt is good for the economy.\n\nIn Singapore, the govt has done the opposite. i.e. enabled purchasing power of the average citizen to rise along with standards of living. Its created the belief that hard work, innovation and enterprise on the part of the individual actually leads to personal success. \n\nThat dream has faded away in Canada and the young people see a bleak future. Its sad to even have to write this.\n\nWhen central bankers, govt..etc. step in to steal the productive output of the working class, it destroys Capitalism and suplants it with Crony Capitalism. FIRE (Financial, Insurance, Real Estate) speculation prospers while the working class producing real goods and services is financially destroyed.\n\nThe real estate prices are deliberately kept high by artificially restricting supply of housing through all kinds of bureaucratic means. Its main objective is to keep people in debt and working to pay off mortgage debt. A fall in housing prices would undo a lot of the leveraged bets that depend on housing prices staying high -- as happened in 2008 in the US. Main losers of that are banks.\n\nYou can then understand why Canada keeps pushing for more and more immigrants. All pyramid schemes (in this case a debt pyramid scheme) has to expand their base or collapse. It also serves the purpose of wage suppression of the working class so they remain in debt.\n\n\nI don't understand why you came from a prosperous country like Singapore to a lower standard of living in Canada. What did you hope to achieve here that you could not have achieved in Singapore.\n\nUnfortunately, people come to see Canada as a stepping stone to going some place else. \nBut in truth, I'm not sure whether other places are any better.\n\nOne great strength of Canada which Singapore does not have is the vast natural resource base of the country. \nIt remains the one shining star the country can fall back on despite incompetent economists and govt.

The problem in Canada it's not only about the job the most problem is dealing with a human looking dangers animals like the police and RCMP this type of a shit head am talking about wS and puppets for W S this type of Jezebel they are every were harassing and attacking to people and the question is how do you deal with this kind of low value a WS Jezebel type of animals?

You see how the media would ask questions, and expect some kind of answer that fits their narative? The first thing when a war happens is WHERE would the people go? And will never expect 'no where, we're staying' as an answer. Good answer by the Saudi FM.

Please come to Pakistan … as you people are a kind of entrepreneurs(doing ur own business for earning ) you may find good gaps that may turn opportunity to you and that may boost your business , huge population wear hijabs n lala hijab May get flourished here … yeah I admit that it’s sanitation problem is quite much but Islamabad is too good to live you may explore on internet as well as it will satisfy your demands … nature n infrastructure plus sanitation… all is of good standard …mosques n azan call five times daily …. I am asking u come settle here cause our youth need motivation they are too exausted that Pakistan could ever get prosperous …. If u settle here it will be a motivating factor against the trend like educated youth going abroad and brain drain is at highest ….. you may help Pakistani youth in dreaming that Pakistan is also a place that may be lived in based upon if we work hard and donot give up ….And remain honest as ALLAH PAK sees and takes care of things better than us

I live in USA, wears hijab in the proper way i work in a health care facility, never had any problems with my hijab. I met all kinds of people never had any problem and pray on time. My kids thank God pray, fast ramadhan with a big pleasure , I don’t know nothing about canada but I wish you good luck ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

This is exactly why I moved my children out of America 10 years ago. We moved to Turkey and we couldn't be happier. Your list hit the nail on the head, and a big one for me too was we never heard Azan, we couldn't easily pray, halal food was an issue...all the things you mentioned. Now, me and my daughters never fear walking alone or wearing our Abaya or hijab. We are never judged here and the people are so welcoming and kind in Turkey. It was the best decision we ever made. Elhamdulillah

Born and raised in Canada. Like all western places, you need tons of money to have a great life. It's true that everything's gotten worse. It's hard to make friends--it's easier in most other places. The people are very resigned, complacent--in other words, fearful and subservient. People in general have a poor undertanding of geopolitics...lots of naivite. There are some genuinely kind people but most are burnout, struggling to get by, living with their parents.

Salam am a Muslim 16 year old and I lived in Saudi ever since I was one but moved to Australia at 11 because of how expensive the residence card was my dad lived there for over 20 years and mum for around 11 and we viewed it as a truly amazing country its very safe and people are very helpful and kind everything id also islamiclly led when you're walking in the streets you can litterly feel the islamic spirit am talking about 4/5 years ago I dont know about now but it was the best we used to go madina every eid mecca was close so we went when we could went roude trips around Jeddah and jizan its the best think about it your kids growing up in a society where there is no alchahol, lgbtq,dr**s and islamaphobs its a qiute exspensive place but its truly amazing. I wish you all the best Your sister from Eritrea

the truth is, we only hopes all kind assistance from the arab world including armies and arms , but excluding taking palestinian refugees for shelters. if palestinians were to move out from their land, israel had so easy way to increase occupation and steal lands in Gaza!!! israel are not shameful people!!!

Hi,I’m British and mum of 2 teens. Things are changing rapidly here too. I’m really worried and thinking same like you people. Kindly let us know which Muslim place would be good to move on especially for education.

you should try Sri Lanka... its a multi cultural country. And the people around are very kind and its easy to blend in cuz there's no discrimination at all! most foods are halal also cuz the muslim population is big, many restaurants are run by muslims and there are many girls schools for muslims including religious studies... u cn find musjids in every city/town... and again, the people are so flexible. as a muslim in sri lanka, im so glad im sri lankan cuz i love the people in this country, cuz no matter what, all of us have each other's backs.. <3

Thank you for your answers but kind reminder Canada is no Muslim country and how about people who that think of immigration Muslims and non Muslims alike... Talking as a Muslim myself!

in short, recent palestinians deaths is not caused by Saudi Arabia, it is caused by breaking of the status quo by the Hamas. Hamas knew full well that their surprise attack woul make Israelis respond in kind. Hamas also knew htat people of GAza would pay the price while they are safe in their tunnels

They ?don’t want their own people answers what kind of people live in Palestine

Haha, this doesn't answer the question—kind of an oblivious response. Hamas attacked Israel so they have a right to defend their land. We don't need to be rocket scientists to know that they are going to do it again. Further Hamas uses its people when it attacks Israelis. Where have any other Arab nations shown any type of involvement in condemning Hamas and intervening by stopping Hamas whether it's through negotiations or by force? it's because most of them back Hamas and know if they don't take any refugees it's only going to cause Israel more harm than if they were terrorists. People condemning Israel are stupid. Take your time to look into the entire matter before pointing a finger to entertain your life.

He is right, the war from Russia on Ukraine should end immediately but anyway I think it is a beautiful Christian thing that all the surrounding countries are willing to let in people that unwillingly have to leave their country in order not to die. It is a pity that we don’t see that kind of human gesture for Palestinians. But let’s talk about this blatantly obvious point abd instead focus on our hate for Jews… ?

There were about 750k Palestinian refugees after the war in 1948, but the following year the neighboring Arab countries expelled as many Jews from their countries as some kind of revenge. The difference was that the Jews were assimilated by Israel, the United States and Canada, among others, while the Palestinians remained stateless. It cannot be a coincidence that for over 70 years they have failed to assimilate these refugees. It is hard to see it in any other way than the Arab neighbors see it as part of the struggle to keep these people in camps and increase hopelessness and anger.

But they won't take refugees cause they know what kind of an people they are???

No they just don't want the Palestinian people because they know what kind of people they are. The Palestinians have been offered a separate government five times in the last 40 years

One of the sweetest videos I've come across on Canada. No negativity or hate-mongering, just facts as it is in the simplest of ways. I've been living here for almost 3 years now- and I'm used to being alone, but I still find the void maybe its seeing your own people back home. I'd say it's quite a struggle to live here and you start to accept it as a norm. But I love motorcycling and I am overwhelmed by the natural beauty- did some amazing rides in summer, but unfortunately winters are here now. While I have three years on my OWP, I'd use that time to gain more experience, travel across the beautiful landscapes and head back home. I don't see myself settling in here- not my kind of life. I am very adaptive and have come up on my own in life from a very tough childhood- I love Canada for what it is, but then it's just not for me.

All of those issues are the same in any OCDE country. \n\nHousing market is shit in Europe too, even worse I would say, but at least they have decent public transports, so you can live outside a city and still go to your work fast. That’s the only real advantage. (Okay maybe construction quality and norms also)\n\nFrom experience, aka a French software engineer now living in Quebec, cost of life is waaaaaaay cheaper here than in Europe. I just don’t buy shitty stuff I don’t need, and eat responsibly. \n\nSure Canada have a lot of issue. Probably due to the current liberal government and the usamerican capitalism, healthcare is in shambles (as any other healthcare system in OCDE), public transport is non existant, etc. \nWherever you go, at some different levels, theses are issues you find in any developed countries because this is just how we made our society and how it’s deteriorating because our model is just bad overall. \n\nI do have gripes with Quebec stuff, which I think it’s one of the worst province in the country, but as far as I’m concerned, as well as most of my immigrant friends, this is still a prime country to immigrate to. \n\nAlso, the Canadians are really welcoming, progressive, kind. (In general, not all of them, don’t get me wrong)\nOne of the best people I’ve encountered and this is very important when you immigrate somewhere.

These people don’t look like they need any kind of asylum seeking help. It’s just because they can.

Canada has the same problem as the United States: wrong kind of politicians elected. Like the U.S., most Canadians consider themselves compassionate liberals and thus feel obligated to vote for said, compassionate liberal politicians. The problem is, for Canada and the U.S., these compassionate liberal politicians don't know how to run the nation's economy except to run it further into the ground. And when the problems get really bad, the solution is always, raise taxes because liberal politicians are either Marxist Socialist and believe the citizenry are obligated to pay higher and higher taxes for more government intervention, meaning, interference, in most cases.\n Whenever Canada does get around to voting in a conservative prime minister and government, the Canadian mass media immediately goes on a years-long negative campaign of deliberately undermining the government in the eyes of the Canadian People, demeaning them as inept and uncompassionate and comparing them to fascists. Eventually the Canadian People get so distressed they have to vote back in the liberal party. And then the same happens again.\n I'm just glad our Canadian brothers are not blaming the U.S. government or the CIA, but instead are clear-headed and courageous enough to blame their own government and past legislations and laws that do the exact opposite of what is supposed to happen, level the playing field for all Canadians.\n I'm reading about the outrageous pricing of Canadian housing and am astonished. But one YouTuber explained this about his Canada. Everyone in Canada wants to squeeze into the few, concentrated urban areas that concentrate business, finance, manufacturing, job opportunities, et al. As it happens, these areas are too few and far between. So what ends up happening is geographical overpopulation, despite Canada having a total population of around 32 million souls. People in California can certainly understand this phenomenon. You can purchase a 3-bedroom house out in California City, which is near the Mojave Desert, for $176,000, but there's nothing out there to make it worthwhile living there. Conversely, a tiny, 3-bedroom home in Torrance, Los Angeles, was selling for $800,000 in 2018. \n As realtors put it this way all the time, location, location, location!\n I'm going to pass on commenting on Canada's National Health Care. I've read criticisms from native Canadians on the Internet. As Canadians, they're entitled to say whatever they want about their country. If I, a Yank, open my big mouth, I'm going to get trolled by a hundred angry Canadians defending their National Health Care as the world's greatest socialized medical care. Health Care is already expensive enough in the U.S. Most people get it through their employer, which pays a part of it. But employees' monthly deductions for health insurance have been growing steadily over the past 30 years to where it's now a huge chunk out of one's monthly paycheck.

Its time we went back to 1940s morals where women were married before having children. People didn't walk around half undressed and drunken bad behaviour were looked down upon !! \nThe family unit 8s a thing of the past and it's a rare thing to find a child at school whose parents are married and not from a blended family .it's not the kind of England I want my grandchildren to be born into. It's time we went back to old fashioned values

Oh really, I wonder why would you put a blockade on such a nice people that tries to kill your citizens.\nWhen Israel left Gaza in 2005 there was no blockade and no jews left. Yet they immediately came to attack Israel again and again so Israel had to somwhat control what goes in and out. As you see it didn't stopped them from getting all kinds of weapons... so much for a blockade

When i see people dress like this in UN it just make me think what kind of joke the UN is.Its 21st century it would be nice not to dress like a war lord from 1000 years ago

This is mostly the marginal explanation. What is actually causing the problems in Canada is PRECISELY the expectations of a high standard of living absolutely everyone has, including brand new immigrants. Who as if they were owed a palace immediately begin complaining about the work they have to do and the fact they're not immediately appointed the king of Canada. To put simply, we have an incredibly spoiled population, a population that expects low prices for everything and has a terrible productivity overall and does not wish to work in the kinds of jobs that every economy needs in order to fuel everything else. Food production is the so-called inceptive value. The more food you produce, the more people can consume it, and this in turn flows through the economy to enable all the other kinds of economic activity. We have to bring in hundreds of thousands of temporary foreign workers from Mexico just to be able to harvest. In the past, Canada allowed immigration from all over the world of people who were mostly poor, refugees, and those desperate for a new life. They worked all the time doing every kind of imaginable job in every kind of condition. They built this country with their perseverance and hard work. The immigrants today, are selected on a points-based system, and the idea behind this is that someone with two university degrees, or trained in a profession, even if they don't work in their field in Canada because they're all sorts of barriers to transferring your education, are not very likely to be criminals or antisocial types. Criminals or antisocial types. In other words, Canada has chosen to attract high quality candidates on the assumption that they would be less likely to become criminals, while they in turn, having been picked from the best in their society, arrive in Canada with very high expectations, and discover that actually they're going to have to work in all sorts of other kinds of jobs and will probably not work in their field, even though that's what got them the points to come to the country. The country. This is the brilliant system brought in by Stephen Harper's conservatives, which brings in people with high education, and allegedly high skills, especially high language skills, so the government doesn't have to pay for their language training, but it doesn't consider the fact that these are very often people with other choices, who are not willing to work in construction or farming or service or retail or all those kinds of things that we desperately need workers in. The reason why we can't build enough housing has nothing to do with local governments and property values. It has to do with lack of labor. This education system, for some unbeknowned reason, is absolutely terrible, and provides basically no skills, training or education for the vast majority of high school students such that when they graduate high school, their forced to go to university or college. Since they have absolutely no training. In most parts of the world you finish high school and you have a trade, or you have some skill to begin working, the kids here know nothing. Nothing. Other than emotional safety, intersectional language, and wokeism. On top of that, the government has brought in every kind of environmental restriction and regulation on account of incredibly loud, but actually small minority of enviro lunatics, who most of the time use these environmentalism as a cover precisely for protecting their high property values in very luxurious and special places around the country, and they oppose logging and all sorts of resource extraction under the guise of environmentalism. But it's actually to preserve their special privileged position often in some wilderness or island, where they might be the only one or a handful of families who got lucky to somehow own a property. Property and so they oppose everything on account of environmental reasons. But it's just to keep people out and preserve their own privileged place. This country also as most others suffers from the illness of dishonesty and lack of integrity brought about by a culture of marketers where nothing is the way it is said to be. Everything is a fine print. And we have gotten used to this as normal. We've gotten used to having credit cards, charges, 25% interest, we've gotten used to being ripped off constantly by all the corporations for everything, and nobody complains and they just borrow more and they just bottle it in and now it's finally coming out. Out. People are fed up of the enviral lunatics. They're fed up of people who complain and bitch one moment about the pipeline and then complain and bitch the next moment about the high cost of gasoline when the pipeline is temporarily shut down for servicing. The problem with Canada is Canadians.

Life is too easy in Canada.. people are bored and are restless and looking for some kind of challenge to life.. so they are deeply dissatisfied

This is all in aid of poisoning our minds against the Muslim community, ever since the World Cup we all saw how kind our fellow Muslims can be, divide an conquer.. remember that people it’s a few people in power that cause all this mayhem, we need to organise before they break our new found bonds

The devious plan to get rid of Palestinians so they can take over all the land, how kind of these people being so generous. Being sarcastic btw.

Kindly ignore the guests.. because they belong to Pakistan after all??? \n\nJust try to understand the mentality of these people???\n\nAn eighteen year old girl who was in 12 and she married a twenty eight year old boy..

As a visitor I really love Canada. It is clean, it feels safe and the people are so great; kind and helpful. Mind you I am from the UK so comparisons are hopeless.

Compared to US the kind of people that are immigrating to Canada are those who are just not up to the mark who could prosper economically. It is like they wanted to get to the gold standard - US - but since they are not that skilled going to a truly disgusting compromise. I recognized that about 22+ years ago after working for a few months in Canada. There is no comparison to the US!

You seem to come from privilege \nCanada is a country of equality and decency \nI was a refugee from another country to India and found hostility and religious intolerance Canada was a welcoming experience Kind and honest people with no corruption and acceptance I wonder why you would take your beautiful people back to pollution and corruption

Naw really? We never asked for the liberals WEF agenda. It was never presented in their campaign when running during elections, they simply imposed it upon Canadians and then implied if you disagree you must be some kind of ist or ism. \n\nAnd it's not like we can look at every country who has recently taken in hoards of migrants and see a clear and defined uptick of negative consequences, not to mention the spikes in crime. \n\nNobody is an ist for prioritizing their culture in their country, and for wanting their people to be taken care of first. Get the house in order before you try saving anyone else, there are like 56 countries in Africa, they don't need to fly across the Atlantic to find a safe haven.

The liberals’ crazy aggressive immigration targets make everyone’s life miserable except for the rich and powerful. More people means more cash cows for them. Without sufficient infrastructure to support this kind of population growth, the GDP per capita has been dropping and housing costs have gone through the roof due to the great gap between supply and demand. The politicians only talk about the shortage of supply but let’s face it they can never build faster enough for the people they bring in. As a result, people will keep fighting for the scarcity and fuel on the Canadian housing speculation.

In 2004 I wrote a somewhat famous article called 'Top 8 reasons not to immigrate to Canada'. In short, the Canadian authorities tried to destroy my life. They made it so that I could not be employable in Canada. So I moved to the U.S. in 2005 and then some years later I moved permanently to the Philippines. I am happy that so many years later videos like yours are saying essentially the same things that I did. I was ahead of my time. I will never go back to Canada. Not to live, not to visit, not even a connecting flight. Too cold, too expensive, taxes are astronomical, no freedom, no jobs, no opportunities, xenophobic people, too depressing. It has become the North Korea of the western world.\n\nTheir are many reasons why Canada has fallen apart. But the number one reason is ‘multiculturalism’. My friends, multiculturalism simply does not work. Different cultures do not come together and mix, different cultures come together and clash. The world is divided into different countries for a reason: because people hate each other and only want to be with their own kind. The number two reason for Canada’s demise is ‘socialism’. In this modern era of aging populations, it is mathematically impossible for socialism to continue. The government does not have the money to take care of old people and provide healthcare, pensions and the various other benefits, even with the astronomical taxation that burdens hard working Canucks. Well Canada, you had a good run. Time for Canucks to move to an emerging country. We welcome you here in Southeast Asia.

When illiterate fools travel in flight... don't know how to behave in flight and..just thinks of flying high in the sky. Airlines should impose fine on these kinds of people..they are unnecessary breaking peace and pleasant atmosphere in flight.

A student that lacking liberation of thought , against rights has no business being in a college or at the very least needs and attitude change and to learn tolerance for ppl not belonging to your own group. Same for the police. That kind of behaviour can be expected of colonials or people with no knowledge on history and lacking awareness of rights. Intolerance and phobias towards any group oppression of their rights is a step back not forwards .

It wouldnt be legal to live like this if the person/body was not INDIGENOUS that % is just the people happy to talk about it unless maybe there some kind of gypsy reporter enforcer suing out of WorkBC at least apparently that also exists...

I'm not Indian, I'm indigenous from Canada and I grew up in Vancouver, where the population is mostly from Asia. Being surrounded by people of asian descent is very normal for me. I don't expect anyone to assimilate and lose their culture to exist here. I knew we had a large population of Sikhs here but I didn't think it was nearly as many as in India... and now I find out there are more sikhs here than in India. Amazing. I also didn't know we had so many Sikhs in parliament, let alone Indians. My school is mostly Indian and everyone I talk to has come from Punjab. Everyone seems to love it here, and the school is in the middle of little Punjab so I've been told by my classmates it is the perfect place for the students who are homesick because they are surrounded by their community. I rarely hear English when I walk down the halls, there is even a course to learn to speak Punjabi, which I want to take so I can talk to the students who don't speak English as well. We have many large gurdwaras, and one near me I've eaten langar almost everyday for the past 10 years. Most people here know Sikhs to be very generous and humble. It was a shock to me when I heard the president of Guru Nanak Gurdwara was shot, because I believed Sikhs to be very kind and peaceful, and the gurdwara has a very good reputation as they take lots of food into Vancouver and feed the homeless. They even opened a kitchen in the DTES during the pandemic to be able to have food available to the people immediately. No one else did anything like that. They delivered a lot of food. Now they have an auxiliary kitchen in the DTES permanently that serves free meals. I thought more news would come out of the shooting but it seemed quiet for a bit until Trudeau accused the Indian government of the attack. This news also shocked me, so I decided to start looking into it slowly. I couldn't really get a good idea of what was going on until I searched a video for Diwali and your videos came up. I will share it with my husband so he can be educated on the matter as well. Thank you for your diligent research and dissemination of important knowledge.

1) Toronto is poor value. Getting housing of any kind (buying or renting) is stupidly expensive. And the quality you get for the price is lousy. Especially the newer builds, which are just thrown up as quickly as possible and sold to investors. Policy measures generally all seem to serve to just inflate the price of housing further. The occasional lip service given to affordability is amusing, but ultimately sad. There are lots of people who really do not want the housing bubble to pop. They will fight against it with all they have.\n\n2) It has become kind of boring. There is lots to do if you have money, but it’s harder to find entertainment on a budget. Even the free stuff like parks are filling up. Stuff like sporting events, eating out, going out is very costly across the board. Even the “cheaper” stuff is expensive. It seems like a lot of local culture is disappearing. Even the cool neighbourhoods are filling up with the same chains. I think the high commercial rent and bureaucracy is deflating a lot of would-be entrepreneurs. Most landowners seem to just be banking on cashing out their land for condos.\n\n3) Canada overall has a high cost of living compared to salaries. In the US you can find lower cost of living areas that still give you a real city experience. And in Europe you can be poor but still live a decent, if no frills, life. In Canada the basic necessities are all expensive. Phone bills, grocery bills, rent, insurance are through the roof. Domestic travel is expensive. And the dollar sucks if you want to travel abroad. Health care is free but good luck finding a family doctor or waiting 8 hours in the ER these days. It’s expensive to be poor, or even middle class.\n\n4) Most of the Greater Toronto Area, outside the core, is soulless suburbs with awful transit - very “American” except with worse traffic congestion. You will need a car, which is another huge cost. Row upon row of old cookie cutter suburbs with the same crappy houses. Good luck walking anywhere, and if you do you will need to walk down boring, treeless arterial roads with cars zooming past right beside you, and cross giant eight lane intersections that were never built for humans on foot. In a rainstorm or on a fall evening you have to be really careful not to be run over by aggressive drivers.\n\n5) It is hard to raise a family in an apartment here. You can do it but it’s not very easy, and also you are still kind of judged for it. Lots of young people are feeling stuck and are deferring or avoiding starting a family. Buying any type of house, even a basic townhouse, requires pledging your soul to a bank by taking a massive mortgage with eye watering debt in a volatile market. But few apartment buildings have the kind of sensible gentle density, the family unit sizes and the common amenities, like little courtyards with jungle gyms, that you might find in Europe. No one ever contemplated that anyone would ever desire to raise kids in an apartment. It’s just a cultural thing that has worked its way into how things are planned and designed.\n\n6) The transit system is ok by North American standards but awful by international standards. There are only two real subway lines, one stub line, one line that is permanently out of service after a derailment, and another line that was supposed to open a couple years ago but still has no date for opening. The subways go out of service frequently, sometimes for the dumbest reasons, and then it is a zoo of shuttle buses. The streetcars are nice but so slow. The buses are fine if you find yourself dreaming about riding a daily herky jerky rolling tin of sardines. They are building a lot of transit but it will take decades to get done.\n\n7) There is still a lot of cool multiculturalism and opportunities to experience different foods and cultures - one of the best things about Toronto. Increasingly though it seems to be losing the fun vibe of the 90s, when everyone celebrated each other’s backgrounds and was chill. It seems the immigration is not as broad based anymore and also people are importing a lot of their “old country” grievances here. The immigration system also kind of preys on people abroad by selling them a false fairy tale, so they end up dejected when they arrive and see how things really are.\n\n8) This one might be controversial but it’s kind of an ugly city. There’s nothing particularly of historical meaning or value. Some of the older neighbourhoods are kind of nice, but the last 25 years they have only built giant glass skyboxes, one after another. There aren’t the cool “missing middle” walkups like in NY, Chicago or Montreal (or even LA). There are very few buildings with much architectural character. Some of the buildings they deem “heritage” here are an embarrassment.\n\n9) For safety, honestly on this score I think Toronto is not bad. There are not too many real “ghettos” and it’s night and day compared to much of the US. With that said, there is more vagrancy and social issues these days, with tents and such. It’s very sad but the shelters are full, lots of homeless go into the libraries, parks and transit system. It does make it harder to enjoy these public amenities safely. It is nowhere close to Europe where you might let your kids run free around town. Canadian parents still helicopter their kids and the place again is not designed to really be safe for kids, in the same way as Europe.\n\n10) Finally, a bit of a double edged sword. Toronto had a lot of youthful energy - people coming here from all over. It is definitely not as sleepy as many parts of the world. With that said, it is becoming a bit of a transient place (minus the world class experiences like London or NY). If you are from elsewhere you might find it hard making and keeping friends. I’ve seen lots of people struggle because it’s is hard to build a strong social network. We have a very “shallow” culture here - people are extremely polite but not overly warm and hospitable. We treat one another kind of like neighbours - meaning we’d like to have a cordial, drama-free coexistence and otherwise kind of stick to ourselves.