According to the 2023 Best Countries ranking by U.S. News, Canada is the second-best in the world overall this year. The move up to second is an improvement from 2022, when Canada was ranked third overall by U.S. News. To formulate these rankings, U.S. News looked at 10 different sub-categories (where they ranked the top
Despite what Canada’s nation hating extreme right would have you believe.
Groceries are fucked, gasoline is fucked, interest rates are fucked, can’t buy a house, can’t buy a car (or probably shouldn’t right now), dollar is fucked, schools probably going on strike again, a Canadian team hasn’t won the Stanley cup in 30 years ……
And what’s really fun is that despite the housing crisis, many home builders outside the big-3 city areas are running slow right now because regular people can’t qualify for housing. I’ve only been working 5-12 days a month for the last year, between a shortage of framers (many moved to Ontario in 2021 due to work slowing), shortage of materials, and now interest rates killing purchases.
We’re so fucked, and anyone in a position to fix things just refuses to. If you build public housing, prices drop and you get voted out by angry house owners. Don’t build houses, and both homelessness and living standards get so much worse, and you get voted out by angry poor folks.
This just tells me that you don’t know what fucked is.
Interest rates topped 21% , while mortgage rates topped 18% in 1981. Inflation was over 11% at the time. We’d just gone through two massive oil shocks, where the price of gasoline was almost double what we have now when adjusted for inflation, while cars struggled to get under 20L/100km and were rotted through by their third year.
Strikes were rampant, but so was high unemployment, at times topping 10%. A lot of industries just closed up shop, only accelerated as the Canada-US FTA came into effect.
By 1990, a lot of that had settled down due to the high interest rate treatment, but the accumulated debt of the Trudeau and Mulroney years had us facing a debt crisis just as we fell into a deep recession in 1991-92.
The average house price in the 80s was 3x the typical family’s annual income. Yes, 21% was high but had much smaller principals comapred to the 5%+ we have now when homes are at least 7x the typical family income.
Even worse in CCOL (Crazy Cost of Living) areas like Toronto or Vancouver. Vancouver needs a family income of over 225k to qualify for a mortgage on the average house price. This average house is not a dream home, you’re lucky if it’s 1200 SQ feet and in a safe neighborhood. Or within a 75 minute drive to work. Don’t even get me started on trying to buy a car today either.
I think what we need to do is not compare how fucked it was then, I don’t disagree that it was.
However it’s clearly fucked now and nobody’s doing anything to unfuck it.
So don’t move to Vancouver or the GTA? Simple solution. I’m from the Maritimes. We’d always been told by Upper Canada and the West to “move to where the work is.” Fair enough. How about moving to where you can afford to live?
Dad bought a house in 1979 that was $79k, in Moncton. In Toronto it would have been much more at the time. That’s about $310k in today’s money. Median income in 1979 was the equivalent of roughly $60k today. Dad made good money, had done well on previous houses, and Mum was an ER nurse, they could swing it. But a lot of people were really struggling. Especially those people who saw their fixed rate mortgage jump from 14% to almost 22%.
I’d generally agree, but unfortunately, we work in very specialized fields. The options in Canada for this work are Toronto or Vancouver. Otherwise its the USA and visas are a pain. We did that for a few years and while cheaper, that’s a big fucking nope now.
Dunno where she found a house for $45k ($160k in today’s money) in 1980. Dad bought a new, three bedroom, split-level in Moncton in 1979 for $79k ($310k in today’s money). Moncton at the time was really struggling with the recession. Prices in the GTA were much higher.
Housing prices were rapidly increasing in the GTA, and did so through the 1980s, finally flatlining at the end of the decade, before taking off again around 2000.
Also, prime mortgage rates at the time hit 16% in 1980 and peaked at 21.75% in 1981.
I just sold a 2500 sq ft, 4 bedroom house in Regina for a bit under $390k a few years ago. My current place in Winnipeg is a 1000 sq ft, two bedroom, two bathroom unit. and it was $260ish.
I purposely avoided transfers to the GTA or Greater Vancouver. There is no way I’d give up my free time and disposable income to be that miserable.
Groceries are fucked, gasoline is fucked, interest rates are fucked, can’t buy a house, can’t buy a car (or probably shouldn’t right now), dollar is fucked, schools probably going on strike again, a Canadian team hasn’t won the Stanley cup in 30 years ……
Don’t forget the corrupt politicians who will never face any real consequences.
Amen, brother
And what’s really fun is that despite the housing crisis, many home builders outside the big-3 city areas are running slow right now because regular people can’t qualify for housing. I’ve only been working 5-12 days a month for the last year, between a shortage of framers (many moved to Ontario in 2021 due to work slowing), shortage of materials, and now interest rates killing purchases.
We’re so fucked, and anyone in a position to fix things just refuses to. If you build public housing, prices drop and you get voted out by angry house owners. Don’t build houses, and both homelessness and living standards get so much worse, and you get voted out by angry poor folks.
I am construction industry adjacent and business has been really bad
You forgot healthcare :(
This just tells me that you don’t know what fucked is.
Interest rates topped 21% , while mortgage rates topped 18% in 1981. Inflation was over 11% at the time. We’d just gone through two massive oil shocks, where the price of gasoline was almost double what we have now when adjusted for inflation, while cars struggled to get under 20L/100km and were rotted through by their third year.
Strikes were rampant, but so was high unemployment, at times topping 10%. A lot of industries just closed up shop, only accelerated as the Canada-US FTA came into effect.
By 1990, a lot of that had settled down due to the high interest rate treatment, but the accumulated debt of the Trudeau and Mulroney years had us facing a debt crisis just as we fell into a deep recession in 1991-92.
The average house price in the 80s was 3x the typical family’s annual income. Yes, 21% was high but had much smaller principals comapred to the 5%+ we have now when homes are at least 7x the typical family income.
Even worse in CCOL (Crazy Cost of Living) areas like Toronto or Vancouver. Vancouver needs a family income of over 225k to qualify for a mortgage on the average house price. This average house is not a dream home, you’re lucky if it’s 1200 SQ feet and in a safe neighborhood. Or within a 75 minute drive to work. Don’t even get me started on trying to buy a car today either.
I think what we need to do is not compare how fucked it was then, I don’t disagree that it was.
However it’s clearly fucked now and nobody’s doing anything to unfuck it.
So don’t move to Vancouver or the GTA? Simple solution. I’m from the Maritimes. We’d always been told by Upper Canada and the West to “move to where the work is.” Fair enough. How about moving to where you can afford to live?
Dad bought a house in 1979 that was $79k, in Moncton. In Toronto it would have been much more at the time. That’s about $310k in today’s money. Median income in 1979 was the equivalent of roughly $60k today. Dad made good money, had done well on previous houses, and Mum was an ER nurse, they could swing it. But a lot of people were really struggling. Especially those people who saw their fixed rate mortgage jump from 14% to almost 22%.
I’d generally agree, but unfortunately, we work in very specialized fields. The options in Canada for this work are Toronto or Vancouver. Otherwise its the USA and visas are a pain. We did that for a few years and while cheaper, that’s a big fucking nope now.
Ya and my mom bought her house for $45k in 1980
I’m looking at 4 bedrooms right now for about $1.2m
Dunno where she found a house for $45k ($160k in today’s money) in 1980. Dad bought a new, three bedroom, split-level in Moncton in 1979 for $79k ($310k in today’s money). Moncton at the time was really struggling with the recession. Prices in the GTA were much higher.
Housing prices were rapidly increasing in the GTA, and did so through the 1980s, finally flatlining at the end of the decade, before taking off again around 2000.
Also, prime mortgage rates at the time hit 16% in 1980 and peaked at 21.75% in 1981.
I just sold a 2500 sq ft, 4 bedroom house in Regina for a bit under $390k a few years ago. My current place in Winnipeg is a 1000 sq ft, two bedroom, two bathroom unit. and it was $260ish.
I purposely avoided transfers to the GTA or Greater Vancouver. There is no way I’d give up my free time and disposable income to be that miserable.
I know. Back in the mid-80s a house cost almost $60,000! They had it so hard!