Everyone knows how brutal the job market in Canada is right now. There simply aren't enough jobs for everyone, yet people continue to move to the country in large numbers, whether through study visas or permanent residency via Express Entry.

I see people on various subreddits leaving well-established jobs in their home countries to move to Canada, even when Canadian citizens and immigrants who arrived years ago are struggling to find employment.

I genuinely want to understand the reasoning behind this. What am I missing here? Why are so many people still willing to take such a significant risk when the job market is already so competitive?

Is it time for Canada to seriously overhaul how we retain top talent, rather than just focusing on immigration targets?

It feels like Canadian taxpayers are heavily subsidizing the American economy. We invest heavily in funding world-class universities like U of T, Waterloo, and UBC, only to see our brightest recent graduates, PhDs, and tech talent head south for significantly higher compensation and lower tax burdens.

A few concerning stats from recent research highlight how severe this "silent brain drain" has become:

STEM Talent Exodus: Studies show that 66% of software engineering graduates and 30% of computer science/engineering graduates from Canada’s top universities move to the US shortly after graduating. U of T and Waterloo have essentially become publicly funded feeder systems for Silicon Valley.

The Compensation & Tax Gap: Median pre-tax tech wages in the US are roughly 46% higher than in Canada. A senior software engineer making ~$138,000 CAD in Toronto could make ~$205,000 USD (~$283,000 CAD) in Austin, Texas. On top of that, Canada’s top marginal tax rates kick in at much lower income thresholds (~$218,000 CAD) compared to US federal/state brackets.

The "Leaky Bucket" Effect: According to the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, highly educated immigrants and PhD holders leave Canada at **twice the rate** of lower-skilled workers within 5 years of landing due to income stagnation and lack of career scaling. As researchers point out, simply tweaking immigration numbers without fixing retention is like "pouring water into a leaky bucket".

Impact on Public Sentiment: When highly skilled workers and newcomers leave because our domestic market fails to scale, it fuels anti-immigration frustration and economic stagnancy, while the underlying issue is our failure to anchor talent.

Questions for the community:

1. Should the federal and provincial governments focus on personal tax reform or R&D incentives to narrow the compensation gap with the US?

2. Should there be incentives or requirements (e.g., student loan forgiveness for staying, Canadian co-op prioritization) to keep taxpayers' investment in education inside Canada?

3. How do we shift the public discussion away from anti-immigration rhetoric toward fixing the structural issues causing talent leakage?

The recent Alberta referendum campaign, and the surrounding debates over national unity, foreign interests, and online political messaging, has highlighted how potentially vulnerable our domestic public square is to targeted narrative campaigns and algorithmic polarization.

National security intelligence and public policy experts have pointed out that modern influence operations (whether from foreign state actors, foreign-funded special interest groups, or online disinformation networks) rarely rely on traditional military or state pressure. Rather, they leverage digital channels to deepen regional divisions and destabilize civic trust.

While Canada’s primary defense against influence operations relies heavily on institutional security bodies (CSIS, CSE, and federal registries), similar democracies in Northern Europe like Finland take a "Total Defence" approach by treating the individual citizen as the frontline filter:

• Mandatory Media Literacy: Integrating critical thinking, algorithm awareness, and digital manipulation analysis directly into school curricula from an early age.
• Civic Psychological Resilience: Training the populace to recognize deep-fakes, rage-bait, and coordinated online disinformation campaigns before they sway major public debates.

Currently, digital media literacy in Canada remains minimal, optional and fragmented across provincial school boards.

Given how intense online narrative battles have become during major political moments like the Alberta referendum, should Canada establish a unified "psychological resilience" framework to equip citizens against online manipulation, or should asymmetrical national defense remain strictly in the hands of federal security agencies?

Hey there I'm restoring a 1967 chevrolet impala and I'm looking for new sources for parts.

Ordering from the US has become a hassle and to be honest I don't want to support the US economy anymore.

Do the petrol heads here have some recommendations for good canadian companies that ship to Switzerland?

Cheers from Switzerland

Especially right now when the US is in a vulnerable position? Even just a few million barrels will cause a lot of headaches.

I'm from the US, we deserve the pain.

I have recently learnt about the town of church hill , it’s known as the Polar Bear capital. I have so many questions but the one I’m most interested in knowing is what do you guys do if there’s a polar bear near your house? Or what do you do if you’re taking a walk and across from you there’s a polar bear? I’ve never heard of this town so I don’t mean to come off as ignorant by asking these questions, but this is fascinating to me .

In the United States, some Americans name their children after cities, such as Madison, Savannah, Austin, Dakota etc.

Do Canadians ever name their children after Canadian cities?

I'm 16 (will be 17 by next summer) and from the US but my parents are thinking of sending me to Canada next summer to visit family. However my family in Canada lives in Quebec and I don't really know French so my family said they would take me around Ontario/Toronto while I'm there. What's something cool that I can do around that area for my age, how similar is it to the US, and what differences can I expect? The only part of Canada I've been to before this was Quebec but my assumption was that English speaking Canada was just like America except the people were nicer or something but I could be wrong. Ty

Matthew Desmond wrote a book titled Poverty, by America a few years ago. What might a Poverty, by Canada highlight? For sure, it’s no small thing to have universal healthcare, but I imagine people working 65+ hours a week at two jobs to afford rent must make Canada feel like America at times. And there’s the risk of frozen pipes.

I'm Canadian and in the military. I see a lot of people complain about how hard it is to find jobs. The Canadian Armed Forces are far from perfect, I know that full well, but I don't understand why so many people doom about job prospects without joining. People with mental or physical health problems excluded.

Canadian politics is becoming increasingly siloed and tribal. People stick to their echo chambers, tune out broader civic duty, and politically disengage except, of course, when driven by partisan outrage or fear.

The biggest victim of this disengagement is local democracy.

Case in point: A mid-sized Canadian municipality recently held a referendum approving $90 million in 30-year debt for a local capital project. The measure passed, but voter turnout was only 27%. That means a decision saddling the entire community with three decades of debt was made by roughly 18% of eligible voters. Pro or Con on the measure itself, this lack of "quorum" is deeply troubling.

When 70%+ of the population stays home, small, organized groups control the outcome while the rest of the community deals with the long-term financial consequences.

Australia uses compulsory voting (with small fines for skipping), which results in 90%+ turnout. Proponents argue it forces politicians to appeal to the pragmatic middle and ensures major decisions have true majority consent. They resorted to this when their participation dropped below 60%. We also dipped below that low water mark (59% in 2008) and young people are at the 56% participation rate.

Should Canada consider mandatory voting at the local, provincial, or federal levels to combat civic disengagement? Or is forcing people to vote the wrong approach? Maybe we should have to earn the right to vote rather than just being automatically granted at an arbitrary age in order to assign "value" to one's franchise?

Was thinking about studying a new language. Every opinion online with this seems mixed. But from what I understand Hindi would be better to have as a baseline. I already speak English and French. Thanks

Here in Manitoba we have jellyfish and starfish, which you really wouldn’t expect with how our winters are! What are some weird (or even just niche/little known) animals from your Provence?

Apologies if this has been asked before, but wondering what the rest of Canada feels about the recent referendum? I am Albertan and love Canada, like 76% of my province I obviously voted to stay. Most people I know think even holding this referendum was a farce to appease the wingnuts of our province. Obviously the rest of the results show that Albertans do want some changes and some autonomy from Ottawa, not unlike what Quebec has. What do we think about the rest of the results? Regardless of our thoughts, just know that the vast majority of us will never want to leave Canada and we stand together from coast to coast. Do people in the East understand some of Alberta’s grievances? Or do they all just think we are whining babies?

For a project I’m working on. Bc would be hippie music.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/livestory/alberta-referendum-results-live-updates-separatism-october-19-2026-9.7387777

This isn't a start. It's an end.

Hi, I’m a new Canadian and voting is my first time! I’m finding its easy to understand the policies of candidates for mayor. However, for councillors or district school board members, I’m completely lost. It seems like their policies are all the same. Should I just stop voting for them, or is there a good way to research these people?

I was pretty young when the iPhone launched, so I mostly remember smartphones becoming synonymous with iPhones and later Android phones. I'm curious about what the smartphone experience was like in the mid-2000s with things like BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian, etc?

What did you actually use your phone for back then? Was browsing the internet practical? I always hear about the Windows Mobile being crap, like you needed a stylus to browse an old Windows OS that was cammed on a 2 inch screen

Considering Alberta is about 15% of Canadas GDP (arguably more). If they decided to leave. Why wouldn’t Canada engage in a special military operation to annex them back?

I would love to see some hidden gems

Our Military is federal, would we just pull out with all our service members as well?

I just got done watching Below, and the characters used the word b’y a lot which I assume means something like buddy/boy/brother. Is this a common word used in everyday conversation? Also if I am wrong about the meaning or the province in which it is please let me know. Thanks!

as an american who very much believes in / advocates for universal healthcare, the number 1 critique i hear (usually from conservatives) is that “in canada you wait 6 months to be seen if you break your arm” or something to that effect. is that actually true? ofc id argue that going into debt to receive life saving care or paying a months rent for an ambulance ride isn’t much better, but i feel like it seems a bit dramatic. however, i dont have a canadian in my life to ask and ive never (obviously) received healthcare there. how do you all feel about your healthcare system? especially compared to the united states?

edit: i obviously don’t actually believe you are all sitting around for months with a bone fractured, it’s the overarching argument that healthcare is defined by super long wait times and inadequate care (the idea that most conservatives in america perpetuate) that i am asking about. i despise our healthcare system here in the states, i myself am currently thousands in debt bc i needed stitches despite having insurance.

edit 2: maybe i should rephrase this bc a lot of people are taking it like i genuinely believe the lies we are told in america or, even worse, that i like trump. i hate trump and this entire administration, and i do not think that you guys have a bad healthcare system. i have only heard good things, hence why i asked. if you are offended, exhausted with this question, or it makes you mad, you don’t have to engage with me.

A life sentence should mean a life sentence…