The Driving Factors in the Diminishing Quality of Life in Canada
- dustincathro
- Apr 5
- 18 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
In modern day Canada the housing market has become a hot topic. While folks focus on things such as ‘tariffs’ or political nonsense that doesn't serve Canadians, the problem still persists. Though there are many failures in my home country of Canada, the greatest of these is the diminishing quality of life and the expensive housing market.
It truly wasn't so long ago that average Canadians had access to housing and expendable income to enjoy the simple pleasures of our wintery wonderland. Even people who made below the annual average could still own houses, go on vacations and eat decent quality food. But slowly, over the years this has been eroding. Yes, the middle class has been losing its buying power, year by year average working people have been losing the quality of life they once had.
Now I will not try to over simplify the complexity of why Canada has fallen to the wayside. There are many things that have had an impact, but first things first I want to explain why Canada is no longer a ‘good’ country to live in, and how it has failed the younger generations that will suffer immensely from the mismanagement of our country.
Canadians that do not have the privilege of having a wealthy family are the ones who are at the greatest risk of never being a homeowner. The average income in British Columbia for a single person is between 65-70k, while the average family income is around 100k. The average house can cost upward of 700k-1M dollars. While the average Condo can be in the 400k-800k range (Depending on location). This is a very horrifying trend, as people's wages are nowhere near the reality of purchasing a home. In the 2000’s the median family income in BC was around 68k, while a single dwelling home would cost around 200k. So what happened?
It truly wasn't so long ago that houses were much more in tune with reality, and people could enjoy bigger spaces with yards and privacy. This is a dream that has slowly been taken away, and it's by complete design. Let me explain, organizations like the World Economic Forum (WEF) mean to create 15 minute cities. This means that urban density is the goal. Now while that appears as a positive thing on the surface, it has a much more nefarious undercurrent.
This undercurrent, I believe, is that powerful people who have serious influence on countries such as Canada, believe that the world is overpopulated, over polluted and is heading for an environmental disaster. Keeping this in mind, it is in the interest of gatekeepers to make homes expensive. But expense is simply just one narrow part of this, these people don't want homes to be built at all. They are advocating for condo living. Now there are many reasons why condo living is being advocated for.
First, because it fits into the idea of the 15 minute city plan, where environmental impact is limited. Despite new construction as the biggest contributor of waste in the world, condos are cheaper and take up less space. Second, because people can't have bigger families, in fact some people might not have children at all, because of the cost of living and the lack of space. Children have become a commodity of a sort, as they take up space and financial strain. Third, control. Nothing is more controlling than having employment opportunities and amenities in concentrated areas. Essentially forcing young people with any ambition to live in city centres if they want to have a ‘good’ job.
Here's the thing, good jobs aren't good enough anymore. Millennials and Gen Zs are making money, but they are spending it on big mortgage payments or big rents. It's not by choice, things actually just cost a lot of money. My own two bedroom condo costs about $2300 a month in an isolated part of Vancouver Island. With bills and food this equates to around $3500 dollars a month or about $42000 a year. Just to have the basic needs. This does not include anything extra, it's literally what we need to survive. Shelter, food and fuel for our vehicles.
Just to make this clear, we own our vehicles outright and are not in any debt besides our mortgage. In fact, some would say my family's financial situation is much better than a lot of people. That is the scary part. There are folks who are much less financially competent, and this leads me further to my point. Older generations didn't have to be as clever to make or create their wealth. Lots of folk just went to their average job and could have more than most millennials and Zs could dream of.
That's not to say that there are not successful people who are exceptions to this rule, but it is to say that most young people feel quite hopeless when it comes to home ownership and financial stability. Especially when empty promises of going to university and getting a degree to guarantee a ‘good’ job’ was the motto so many of us were taught. This is a type of fraud, a lie really, that education could guarantee a steady and reliable income that could support one's basic needs.
No matter what the reason, it has become rather expensive to live in Canada, and it's slowing the growth of our population to the point where people are no longer having children, or living fulfilling lives. It is why you see a homeless crisis, drug addiction and confused adults. One could say it's become a rather uncomfortable existence for many folk. We are not so lucky to have nice weather or low hanging fruit such as our neighbours in Central and South America. Canada is a place that one cannot live without certain expectations, because our climate is harsh and dangerous. We have a strong electrical grid, water, sewer and a variety of other important infrastructure, but the cost of it is exponential.
Canada has failed its up and coming generation, and many young people feel they are not better off than their predecessors. I would go as far to say that a certain portion of young Canadians feel they would be better off in a different country. This is why Canadians and immigrants are leaving Canada for better opportunities elsewhere. It is a byproduct of Canada's backwards approach to economics, and not playing to its strengths. We are not the country we once were. In our short existence we have sacrificed the future of our young. Inflating our currency and creating unsafe neighbourhoods and expensive housing.
Like all things Canada used to play to its strengths. This being a focus on oil and gas, mining, forestry and some other industries that have helped employ the working class. Canada is a resource rich country that refuses to tap its full potential because of political ideologies. Instead, Canada buys resources to meet arbitrary environmental conditions. So instead it offshores its ‘pollution’ to countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and many more. Canada is a fraud, it is not some environmental liberal haven. It is simply offshoring its pollution to meet its climate goals.
Environmental Propaganda
Canada is politically compromised by environmental propaganda that will continue to destroy our economy. The most powerful people in our country have decided that by their own virtue the middle class and working classes of Canada will suffer to ‘save the environment.’ Whether you agree or not with these environmental politics doesn't matter, because you will pay the consequences of a country that's not invested in playing to its strengths or concerned about its youth.
In contrast, one could argue that being concerned about the environment is a concern for the up and coming generation. But this is false, because the fact is that the environment is much more complicated than global rising temperatures. Paying more tax on things such as fuel, and consumer items is not an effective way to manage the environment. The governments of advanced civilizations have now created a cash cow that will generate billions of dollars in the name of saving the planet, despite the government's lack of effective policies, or tools that can measure their effectiveness. Instead, they continue to collect revenue and incentivise ‘green’ or ‘clean’ energy businesses.
These are globalist agendas. What I mean by this is that global organisations such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) are having enormous influences on our political goals and objectives. It's simple really, Canada needs to worry about itself, and not be caught up in the global agendas of countries that are much different than our own. A univocal ideology about the environment does not fit for everyone. It is not a one shoe fits all type of world. Look no further than China, whose loose environmental policies lifted them from poverty and into the modern era in what seemed like only decades. This is capitalist ideology at its best, eradicating poverty at rates that no other idea could. What is most interesting about China is that it adopted these policies mandated by its Communist Party.
To make it clear, I do not support the destruction of the environment for profit. But I do believe that poverty reduction is best created by capitalist ideals. Creating industries and jobs that will bring up the quality of life for the poor, is more important than meeting arbitrary environmental projections that are based on theoretical models. This brings me to my next point, that environmentalism has become anti-human. Making claims that human beings are ruining the planet.
Human beings have been accurately recording weather for about 100 years. Nothing is more illogical than to base environmental projections on a small sample size in accordance to the earth's entire existence. Imagine your body is the planet Earth, and a single strand of hair on your head was the measurement used to define your entire health and life expectancy. Seems rather silly, but this is what environmentalists are generally claiming.
Though one can carbon date and estimate some weather patterns from the past in the right conditions, there is no bigger flaw than to base the earth's projections of weather and behaviour on small sample sizes. The earth is currently still in an ice age, it is warming up because we are on the tail end of a natural process that has happened. I look at the work of DR Patrick Moore, one of the founders of GreenPeace and his book ‘GreenPeace Dropout’ and how environmental ideas have lost their sense of rationality in approaching climate change.
The effect humans have on climate change is exaggerated, there is so much more than simply C02 emissions warming the earth. The axis of the earth is changing, it does this naturally, especially with ice melting and the earth's mantle convection warming. Much of these things are not in our control, though I would not be so extreme to say that human beings don't have an impact at all. It's just not clear how much of an impact we are having, and how much of this is a natural process.
This is why we should be skeptical when billions of dollars of taxpayers money is on the line and under the guise of ‘saving the planet.’ This idea of ‘We are saving the planet,’ is essentially a license to steal money and line the pockets of subsided ‘green’ and ‘clean’ businesses. Doomsday philosophies have been around since time immemorial, cultures from all around the world built ideas about the end of days. In this case, climate science has become this dogma. In the name of saving the planet it assumes that human beings' impact is so great that we alone are responsible for our own demise.
It's almost like a science fiction movie, but what climate scientists won't tell you is that the earth is becoming greener. As C02 rises in the atmosphere more and more plants are growing and absorbing CO2 emissions. The earth is changing, as it always has. Our planet is not becoming some desolate barren waste land, it's actually becoming the opposite. While folks will make claims that their climate change models indicate that this will not continue, one cant help but wonder what crystal ball they have that tells them the future.
I optimistically believe that the earth has been through worse. It has survived through ice ages and cataclysms since its mysterious creation. If I was going to base any doomsday theory on the planet it would not be that the climate is going to kill human beings, but that some far away asteroid is going to hit us. Like they have before, altering the earth's environment, changing its axis. There are many arguments that the moon is in fact a piece of the earth. A reminder that nothing is in our control, that we are floating on this giant spherical spaceship, our worries are small, but yet we have a way to sensationalize them.
Whether you are a believer that humans are having a serious impact on the climate, or you are skeptical of these ideals, we can agree that minimizing our damage to the planet is important. We should consider ourselves caretakers of this place. We should use it to help ourselves, but we should not be so blatantly destroying it for great profits or on foolish endeavours. I for one stand for eliminating human poverty. A task that is likely impossible but it is more noble and honourable than trying to save a planet that might not even need saving.
I believe we should bring a rational and well rounded approach to how we use resources and treat our home. The earth is resilient, it is here for us to use and care for. There is a line that has been crossed. We should not become poor and impoverished in the name of saving the planet. We should aim to eliminate poverty, we should use the tools we know work to do this. Capitalism is the most effective way out of poverty. Not the mixed economy models, but true Laissez faire capitalism. Once people are comfortable and live a life outside of their basic needs, then we can begin to care about things like the environment. Until then, we should focus on poverty reduction. It's hard to convince people who barely scrape through their lives to save the planet. We must first save ourselves.
Pharma and NGOs
I am quite openly against public education, I believe that public education, alongside the environmental propaganda of our modern time, has perpetuated an anti human ideology. This anti human ideology is showing up in people who make money off others suffering. Specifically what comes to mind is the multi billion dollar industries that exist from the opioid epidemic and the opioid producers themselves. Organizations and people that work in these fields are making a living from other people's suffering. The worst part is, that multiple layers of governments are opening their pockets and dumping billions of dollars into these organizations. Subsidizing and favoring organizations that don't even have a scale to measure their own effectiveness. One must ask if the drug manufacturing companies are doing more harm than good? And if the NGOs that are supporting addicts and homeless folks are having any measurable effectiveness?
Evidently they are not effective, because the problem continues to grow worse with the more funding and support people get. So what are we doing wrong? It's quite simple, and it's a firm conviction I hold, that so many folks are struggling with substance abuse and homelessness, because they lack connection created from trauma.
Taking the work of Gabor Mate in his famous book, ‘In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts,’ I would argue that trauma is at the root of these problems as they manifest in our society. Inside each of these people who are suffering from addiction, there is a common theme. The theme that they are hurt and no one has been there to support them. They have experienced some form of trauma and have not overcome it. Social workers providing food, shelter and drugs is not the answer. It is literally an individual revolution that is needed. These folks must work through their trauma or die from their own addictions.
Truly we are looking at the crisis in all the wrong ways. Organizations are simply reactive, they are not getting to the root of the problem, they are merely enabling these traumas to manifest further, and longer. Though I am not an expert in the field of human addiction, it is without saying that addiction has affected many of us, and it is this anti human approach that continues to perpetuate the growing problem in our communities and personal lives. While some may find this an odd addition to this essay, it is intertwined into the greater theme of all these things that have gone wrong in my country.
Canada's Lack of Identity and Culture
As the title says, Canada lacks an identity. We are not a place of opportunity anymore, we are a hollow husk of our former selves. Liberal ideals of freedom no longer rule our country. We are now ruled by low paying service industry jobs, expensive real estate, and sub par health care. In the eyes of anyone that is not a Boomer, Canada is no longer a great place to live, it is overpriced and lacks genuine opportunity to get ahead.
What does it mean to be Canadian? I can't even answer that question with precision anymore. I honestly was ashamed of our Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and I am happy he stepped down. He embodied so much of all the things I have written here in this essay. He at his best, is a product of nepotism. Handsome, and a good public speaker, but someone who simply regurgitates the propaganda of our times. He is the living proof of all that is wrong in this country. He is guilty of perpetuating the shallow ideologies that guide our characterless culture into its current abyss. I still do wonder who the real Justin Trudeau is, if there is someone beyond the narcissistic shadow of a man he appears to be. Perhaps now he has time to reflect and recover himself. One can only hope.
I am being dramatic again, but Canada's lack of religious or even philosophical values is reflecting in its leaders. I have this feeling that our leaders are lost too, that they are grappling with our overarching nihilism. They have grown numb to our current state of affairs, more concerned with sensationalizing things like the ‘tariffs’ or creating and supporting war and weapons manufacturing. This is the new Canada. One that does not have any strong convictions and bends to the will of global organizations.
Though immigration could probably have its own separate category, I will say that we don't need anymore people in our country. Nothing is more anti human than allowing over 1 million immigrants into Canada Last year. Where will they live and what will they do? This flux of people are coming here on empty promises and broken dreams. How disappointing must it be to come here and realize the situation of Canada. I don't mean to sound spoiled, but it's getting out of control. In what rational mind do we invite 1 million people to live in our under housed economically unstable country? It does not make sense.
Canadian politicians are more interested in looking ‘good’ and ‘virtuous’ by taking in immigrants and refugees. Call me a pessimist, but I can't think of any other good reason why our struggling nation would think bringing more people into the country is a good idea. On the flip side, we can hope that there are some clever immigrants who know just what to do. Or maybe they too will fall to the wayside and abandon Canada as they find that it is not so much a place to get ahead, but a place to admit defeat.
Now don't get me wrong, there are opportunities out there for people with certain skill sets, but the list is short and everyone has their own limitations and fields of interest. What's important to take from this, is even people with high paying jobs in Canada can't live the quality of life that was common twenty or so years ago. While change is inevitable, It is unknown how this diminishing quality of life will impact people's decisions on things like family size, diet, mental health, and leisure activities.
Conclusion
I can't help but connect all these major issues to socialist policies and subsidy favoritism. From homelessness, addiction, the housing crisis, the environment, and the growing poverty levels, it's all connected. All these things have a few common themes. They are enabled by the socialist programs of a mixed economy governance and are subsidized by that very same governance. Amusingly when it fails, capitalism is to blame, but really it's the subsidized companies that are favoured by the government. For example, look at how our federal government bailed out billion dollar corporations such as General Motors and Air Canada in the last years. The list goes on, but you get the point. Lobbyists and favoritism shouldn't exist, but it does in mixed economies.
It's a common theme to throw billions of dollars at problems to make it look like the government is doing something. Look at the billions spent on homelessness, as if money could fix what is evidently a deep and troubled problem that is beyond a single all encompassing solution. Canada spends more than 10 billion a year on homelessness, and yet has no way to measure if what they are doing is effective.
People are suffering. They need serious help, they don't need clean drugs. They need to make new connections, and get away from the toxic ‘friends’ and people that are bringing them down. The last thing we need is rules that are for everyone and don't serve anyone. It is the major flaw in the current mixed economy model. When will it become obvious that we are not all the same or equal? We each require something different as individuals to grow and prosper. It is why I am a believer in individual freedom.
This is the same theme in the globalist environmental policies, that one rule shall fit all. That less developed countries should suffer because it's bad to do X or Y. That people who already suffer should suffer more for the preservation of the planet. Meanwhile the folks that make these policies live in luxury and meet at conventions flying around the globe. Eager to help their local lobbyer or donor, and with little concern for the common man's wellbeing.
I support the common man, in the sense that elitists should let us live in peace. So many of us are slaves to what small existence we have. With our mortgages/rents and our 9-5 jobs. But yet, these extremists have the audacity to tell people how to live. They patronize us, tell us it's up to us to change while we hardly live a life at all. Should I have to lower my standard of living because of fear driven environmental policies? No. I do not live in fear of our planet being destroyed. This fear mongering, is what drives the political landscape that is shaping my home country of Canada. It goes deeper than just mere policy, it's even a part of the housing crisis.
This is just another trend of the mixed economy bureaucrats who can tie up building and construction with regulations and paperwork. Local councils and municipal governments are complicating projects by asking for too much. If a builder wants to create housing, they may need to build a road, a park, a roundabout, or whatever other requirements the municipality desires. It is understandable in some cases, but it also is another obstacle and another way that only folks with deep pockets can build and create new developments.
Even people who are living in single detached homes are building suites to help subsidize their own costs. It's no longer normal to live in a detached house that doesn't have a suite. This is a great investment for anyone who can afford to do this, but it is also necessary in our modern Canada. There is a feeling that something nefarious is behind the ridiculous cost of housing. Some major flaw that will affect generations for decades to come. Canada is too expensive for not enough value. We live merely to pay our bills and go to work. Perpetuating addictions to drugs, alcohol and pornography to escape the reality of this new slavery.
Again, I am getting a little dramatic, but I do want to emphasize that the state of my country is unacceptable, and weak leadership and selfish governance is behind it. We need to advocate for less government intervention and let people do what they have always done. Take care of themselves. Canada has become a nation of rules and regulations. Small business owners can relate, as it can take years to open up a new store or have an idea finally manifest into reality. We are choked with bureaucracy, top heavy and the middle class is bearing the weight.
I am not entirely blaming the government for all the shortcomings of my own country, as a big portion of what we are experiencing is also related to the lack of honest and decent people in general. As I have pointed out in this essay, there is an anti human idea behind a lot of the troubles in this world. I am a believer that once we take back ahold of our individual sovereignty and challenge ourselves to be better, we will find the world to be a better place. It's simple really, Canada isn't as good as it can be because you are not as good as you can be. ‘Experts’ will try to tell you what to think and what to do, but really we should all start with ourselves. Then maybe we can branch out to our community, provinces, and country.
There are a lot more thoughts I have on these topics, and I am open to anyone who would like to object to any of these points I have made. I make these claims in complete earnest. It is with deep regret that I cannot trust authority in this country of mine. How can one trust experts that continue to fail and lie? Goal posts change and the chants and slogans of its propaganda fill the air. Just look at your local news channel or web page, you will see that there is a tone of anti humanism. A theme of elite globalist propaganda whispering into our ears that it is all our fault.
This is not the Canada it used to be, and it is not the change one wants to see. I dare not romanticize a past that we once had. I am hopeful that there can be a better future, but it starts with ourselves. Canada is a troubled nation, and there are folks who take advantage of nations that are growing unstable. Let us redefine ourselves, I do not want to be part of a country that supports endless wars and endorses political ideologies that are anti human. I do not want to have to pay more to eat food that does not have poison in it. I do not want to be told how to live, or what to think. I feel the patriotism of my own country wearing thin these days. I want my own peace, my own freedom to do as I please without the man's hand in my pocket. Demanding more. The Carbon tax, GST, PST, HST, income tax, property tax, Excise tax, dividends, capital gains. Everything has been touched by the government.
Did you know that when tax was first created, it was created to be paid only by the rich? Not the poor or middle classes. Just the wealthiest and most well off folks. The first tax system in Canada was implemented by Sir Robert Borden, to pay for World War One. The wars never end, my friends. Do with my thoughts what you must. The machine will go on, the spiritless mechanisms that enslave us all in the name of some virtue or ideal. It is and always has been to me, a theft of a kind. One that I don't completely agree with, but one I understand. The masters must have their cut. It is the nature of the oligarchy.
Works cited
Comments