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time to go elsewhere immigrants, it's not that we don't like you, it's just we don't have the residence to house any of you.

Between immigrants and other countries that take tax money from the system is the reason why we are in the situation we are in. You may say why is that. I say the billions of dollars spent elsewhere could be spent on the people where it was taken from in the beginning. Canadians could be not living under the poverty rate or homeless or this opioid addiction do you know how much the medication cost for suboxone or methadone 375 a month. Meanwhile the cost for a prescription of hydromorphone cast 130 to 150 a month. So sick of how much money goes on this big opioid crisis and how much it could be helped. Housing homelessness could be solved. The list goes on the billions of dollars could help the Canadian people's. Mental health is at an all-time high what do you think people are going to do soon mabe look at the fires that happened purposely. Or soon to be homegrown terrorists. All because of spending tax money carelessly add not giving the citizens what they deserve. Sad butt it's inedible.

Colombia's President said >>>> Trump, I don't really like travelling to the US, it's a bit boring, but I confess that there are some commendable things. I like going to the black neighbourhoods of Washington, where I saw an entire fight in the US capital between blacks and Latinos with barricades, which seemed like nonsense to me, because they should join together. \n \nI confess that I like Walt Whitman and Paul Simon and Noam Chomsky and Miller \n \nI confess that Sacco and Vanzetti, who have my blood, are memorable in the history of the USA and I follow them. They were murdered by labor leaders with the electric chair, the fascists who are within the USA as well as within my country \n \nI don't like your oil, Trump, you're going to wipe out the human species because of greed. Maybe one day, over a glass of whiskey, which I accept, despite my gastritis, we can talk frankly about this, but it's difficult because you consider me an inferior race and I'm not, nor is any Colombian. \n \nSo if you know someone who is stubborn, that's me, period. You can try to carry out a coup with your economic strength and your arrogance, like they did with Allende. But I will die in my law, I resisted torture and I resist you. I don't want slavers next to Colombia, we already had many and we freed ourselves. What I want next to Colombia are lovers of freedom. If you can't accompany me, I'll go elsewhere. Colombia is the heart of the world and you didn't understand that, this is the land of the yellow butterflies, of the beauty of Remedios, but also of the colonels Aureliano Buendía, of which I am one, perhaps the last. \n \nYou will kill me, but I will survive in my people, which is before yours, in the Americas. We are peoples of the winds, the mountains, the Caribbean Sea and of freedom. \n \nYou don't like our freedom, okay. I don't shake hands with white slavers. I shake hands with the white libertarian heirs of Lincoln and the black and white farm boys of the USA, at whose graves I cried and prayed on a battlefield, which I reached after walking the mountains of Italian Tuscany and after being saved from Covid. \n \nThey are the United States and before them I kneel, before no one else. \n \nOverthrow me, President, and the Americas and humanity will respond. \n \nColombia now stops looking north, looks at the world, our blood comes from the blood of the Caliphate of Cordoba, the civilization of that time, of the Roman Latins of the Mediterranean, the civilization of that time, who founded the republic, democracy in Athens; our blood has the black resistance fighters turned into slaves by you. In Colombia is the first free territory of America, before Washington, of all America, there I take refuge in its African songs. \n \nMy land is made up of goldsmiths who worked in the time of the Egyptian pharaohs and of the first artists in the world in Chiribiquete. \n \nYou will never rule us. The warrior who rode our lands, shouting freedom, who is called Bolívar, opposes us. \n \nOur people are somewhat fearful, somewhat timid, they are naive and kind, loving, but they will know how to win the Panama Canal, which you took from us with violence. Two hundred heroes from all of Latin America lie in Bocas del Toro, today's Panama, formerly Colombia, which you murdered. \n \nI raise a flag and as Gaitán said, even if it remains alone, it will continue to be raised with the Latin American dignity that is the dignity of America, which your great-grandfather did not know, and mine did, Mr. President, an immigrant in the USA, \n \nYour blockade does not scare me, because Colombia, besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world. I know that you love beauty as I do, do not disrespect it and you will give it your sweetness. \n \nFROM TODAY ON, COLOMBIA IS OPEN TO THE ENTIRE WORLD, WITH OPEN ARMS, WE ARE BUILDERS OF FREEDOM, LIFE AND HUMANITY. \n \nI am informed that you impose a 50% tariff on the fruits of our human labor to enter the United States, and I do the same. \n \nLet our people plant corn that was discovered in Colombia and feed the world \n \n1:15 PM · Jan 26, 2025 ·11.1M Views

I've lived here 6 years and can't wait to leave. Salaries are just enough to get by. I work full-time as an analyst and am looking for a minijob just to save money, which I already live quite modestly. It's easy to come across nasty unfriendly people, neighbors, service people, people in government agencies. I hate people staring in the most unfriendly manner or givng attitude for no reason other than they are nasty people. Don't get me wrong, there are nice people as well, but the bad experiences outweigh the good. Beauracracy is overbearing, personalities are underwhelming, the food scene is underwhelming, learning German is a big burden when you work a full-time job (and now I need a minijob too??). The country seems like it wants to diminish the human spirit and ambition. I definitely regret moving here. Many housing companies are over charging rent. I found out the company, Deutschewohnen, who owns my apartment was overcharging me by nearly double!! I had to go through a year long court procession to get them to lower it to the legal price which I won. And now they sent me a letter last month saying they are raising my rent, which is illegal and I have to go through ANOTHER court battle with them. Of course it is exhausting to try and find another apartment. Some people search up to a year. What a joke. And not to mention the dating scene. I've been single the entire 6 years and I'm quite an outgoing, friendly, loveable person. Dating Germans comes with own weird experiences and I refuse to give them a chance anymore, for my own mental health. If you're POC, it's not uncommon to come across strange sexualizations and general lack of understanding other's cultures. A couple years ago I was attacked by 8 men while walking home at night. I ended up in the hosopital and there was an investigation opened. The police asked me why they attacted me, which I didn't know since it was unprovoked. They just followed me for awhile, surrounded me and started beating me. The police said it was probably because I'm Asian. Meanwhile, I'm not even Asian!!! I'm Latino. ??‍♂This is the type of ignorance POC have to deal with in Germany. Also, I only have 1 German friend and all my other friends are immigrants (which I love) but this poses it's own frustrations because many people move here, then move away after a few years when they learn they can have a more fulfilling life elsewhere. So keeping long term day-to-day friends can be a challenge. The entire system is exhausting and there's not enough balance to bring joy to my life to want to stay. When I lived in NYC, an African American aquaintance had just moved there after living in Berlin for 8 years. She warned me not to move here because I will never feel I belong. I didn't listen. That was a big mistake. Germans can have Germany. I'll find my joy elsewhere. End of rant. haha

Alina...you sound so much like your Dad. I hear you. It's tough for all of us to make a go of it now in Canada. My family's roots are all from Saskatchewan. They were farmers old time style with sections of land . \nOriginally from Sweden they immigrated from. When you are young it's easier to pickup and go elsewhere. So I am curious about your Dad and Mom? What do they think about your decision to do this?

Canada is becoming worse every day anyway!!! Salary are low (while cost of living is skyrocketing), which is why we have so many Canadians and immigrants who are becoming so anxious, depressed and facing all sorts of mental problems), people are moody, quality of life is decreasing and transport is trash compared to France and the lack for doctors is making this country look like a third world\nEconomy!!! Even Canadians are happy to leave this place (poor weather, lousy healthcare, lousy retirement compared to places like France, lousy transportation compared to most of Europe, worse mental health services than Europe, people are too serious and take things so seriously compared to the French) and honestly, we think of leaving it too for another country.. that you can trust me! (My 2 younger sisters are actually leaving and makes plans to leave Canada behind for good to immigrate elsewhere and my older brother plans to relocate to a warmer country.\n.. and NO!! I am not going to buy a 1 million dollar house in Vancouver or Toronto at the expense of my well being!!! It ain’t worth it no more!!! Better buy a place in Europe.. like France or Portugal!!!! There houses cost 2 to 3 times less.. sometimes more if you know where to buy!!! I do not want to end up lonely and alone in this cold and anti-social society that Canada is once I retire.. do you?? https://youtu.be/yQiwNepxHv0?

I stopped visiting Canada 40 years ago because of insane or corrupt border control policies. I traveled to Canada from California to record an album for a popular rock star. My crew number 4 people and we had reserves a month for basic tracking in a studio there. We bought our own reels of 3 inch wide recording tape because the studio wanted twice the rate as normal and since my studio was a distributor for the mastering tapes we brought from my own inventory. Each reel of tape was 3 lbs and brought 30 reels. We got to customs and they said we owed money for importing the tape. Normally a reel would have been $180, and customs wanted $38,000 x 20, and would not let us retrieve it to take it back to the US side of the border. How can a tape worth $180 suddenly have duty of $38,000?\nIt was explained to me as the Potential Value of the tape which meant AFTER a hit song was recording in it. Most recordings are total losses and the tape cant used on a new project even if properly bulk-erased. They expected me to pay on the spot $760,000 in duties. I gave up and left the tape with them. I called the artist and said we could not do the project in Canada and we went back to California. The artist came to us a few months later and the result was a minor hit, and probably barely made its production cost since the label only distributed it in Canada. I talked to an international trade lawyer about what happened and he said customs officials were wrong in Canada but they are given full latitude with no appeal so his advice was never take anything over the border that I did not mind being confiscated. Sometimes they would let it in because it was going back out in a month, but likely they sold it off and pocketed the money. The US is corrupt on a federal level but Canada is corrupt on the local level. I moved out of the US 24 years ago have a much higher quality of life than is even possible in the US, and live very cheaply. Total cost of living with a very active social and cultural life impossible to duplicate in the US which as some of the least options for culture. And my cost of living is $1500 a month, less than utilities alone for one house in California, and that is for 2 people. Last month for example I attended world class opera, ballet and symphonies 9 times, and went out to dinner, in jazz clubs or dance clubs, visited12 top museums, and it was still under $1500 for the month. A pair of tickets to the MET in NYC for lower grade performance, sets, orchestra ad theater, was $1800!! $600 for tickets to drama for 2. Here there 237 drama theaters within walking distance of my city center home, and can walk anywhere at any time of day and be safe due to VERY low crime rates. Free medical is good. I am not citizen but still I had an operation and 10 days in a vip single room for $5300 and despite my insurance I had been paying back in California $824.month, it was going to cost me out o pocket $500,000 and one day in a recovery 12 bed room, and require paid nursing attendant for 30 days. The results were great and was treated like king.\nCanadians have lost control of their government but Americas are screwed regardless, with lower than international standards for everything, with crime, corruption in Washington, extreme cost of living, no access to culture, few if any safe parks. My adopted city is not only far more beautiful than any US city, my GF can walk, alone, anywhere in a city of 7mil at any time of day through any of the 600 beautiful parks open 24/7..at 3am. There are no homeless, and 80% of those over 20yo own their home clear of debt. No college debt despite twice the % of people having degrees. The rest of the world caught up and has surpassed the US and Europe in quality of life. \n\nI have only been back to the US 5 times in 24 years and each time I am shocked by how much the entire society has declined while most of the world outside of Europe, Canada, US, UK or Australia have dramatically improved.\nEvery year since 2008 more Americans leave the US to live elsewhere than legal immigrants arrive.

Awww, it's so sad to hear u talk this way....... No country is perfect. Higher taxes means we can take care of the less fortunate and.....I can get an operation whenever I need one and it won't take my life savings to pay for it.\nMinimum wage here is much higher than in the US, so if u think having fun is better over there.....go c for yourself......as well has any kind of healthcare and medication.... nevermind when u have to c a Dr and u pay almost nothing.\nExactly what kind of fun r u missing out on living here??? If u have the means to pay for ur fun.....u can have it.\nThe pandemic def made almost everything more expensive......all around the world and it's going to take some time to get caught up again. But there r lots of greedy people everywhere and just want the extra cash so those prices will stay up.\n\nWas life that much better where u came from??? Canada will not keep u here if u want to go elsewhere, but while u r here, please don't trash my country. I'm an immigrant too and happy to be in CANADA, where for the most part, we take care of each other.\n\nI'd like to hear ur podcast on the differences between ur country and this country.......I honestly do. I'm an open minded person but I need an explanation....please....

One of the top issues is being black. Seen as black and identified as black when you leave a predominantly Black Country. \nWhen I watch the various Realestate shows of white people buying property abroad as second home or just packing up and moving. I always say it must be nice! Because the reality is they can see them self almost everywhere unless they choose to go into a remote area then that’s the only exception but even then as long they learn the language and respect the culture they are good they are liked welcomed and even seen as fascinating. Not saying they don’t have to struggle but the colour of their skin is the least! \nAmerica is great if your trying to be self made, be your own business owner, and other random ventures you want to dabble in. But to just go there and be a regular teacher, doctor, lawyer, engineer to the low and middle class you’ll end up with the same financial issues and struggles as a result. You gotta now cater to the rich and famous wealthy people but then it’s back to never being home and not enough time for family. \nThe reality is if we could make the money we make here in North America and Uk back home in in the Caribbean and specific countries in Africa it would be a dream come true and that goes for other communist countries too. You truly have to know what makes you happy. Make money but enjoy life it might mean living below your means even though you can can afford a bit better life style. People do it all the time back home (not because they want to I know) but for some reason when you move abroad a one bedroom for your single self is to small, the car under $24k isn’t good enough, you don’t want your kids to share a room so you need a bigger house and the list goes on and on. \nCanada is boring if your not in a major city with money to spend you know why? Because people forget the population of the entire country of Canada is only a 3rd, 4th, 10th of the population of certain countries that immigrants came from and in the case of the US population it’s 100x more than Canada. So of course there’s more opportunities there. \nAnd finally imagine if more countries didn’t need visas to travel? They really would just come to make money and go back home or live bicoastal. Even just the freedom of travel half of the immigrants would of settled elsewhere before the year was up or go back home.

Immigrating to Canada to seek greener pasture is abracadabra. The fact is when you made an important decision that fails, you escalate your commitment to that decision. That’s why many can’t go back home, while others seek migration elsewhere. By and large, Canada is a lovely country where you don’t have people killing each other by the minutes. Like you said, it’s a tradeoff and it’s either you go to the US where you are 10 times likely to become homicide victim, but have much better occupational mobility and opportunities or you choose Canada where there’s peace and tranquillity, but low occupational mobility and limited opportunities.

Nice summary of the main challenges. Reading some of these comments leads me to believe that if one is motivated solely by money, Canada is not a great choice for you as an immigrant. The number of commenters hoping to move to the US from Canada due to greater opportunities to make money while ignoring the real and substantial disadvantages of living south of the borders just emphasizes this. My family are immigrants from the US and we didn’t face the same challenges as immigrants from countries further afield but I do understand the differences between the two countries very well and can state unequivocally that moving to Canada was the best decision our family made. Lower crime, better health care (yes even with the wait times), a fairer system and a “boring” but sane political system more than compensate for the few extra dollars I would make south of the border. In terms of where better prospects going forward for children and grandchildren, with the looming threat of climate change, Canada wins hands down. Extra income means little if you have to spend all of it on personal security and health care deductibles. So if you are only motivated by top line items like gross annual salary, Canada might not be for you and you would be better off looking elsewhere and leaving that immigration spot open to someone who can appreciate the more balanced offering that a new life and future in Canada can offer.