Canada is facing serious economic challenges. The nation’s labour productivity figures have been falling since 2016. Only Italy has seen a sharper drop in productivity among G7 countries when compared to the United States.

Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita figures offer a measure of individual wealth, and the figures are bleak. Canada’s GDP per capita has dropped to US$55,000, while in the United States it has grown to US$76,000. Meanwhile, housing affordability has hit crisis levels in many regions, and shortfalls in all services from health care to policing are pressuring citizens.

Many of the economic issues have been exacerbated by mass international migration numbers. Eager to avoid recession, the government has been bringing record numbers of international migrants into the country. While this helps shore up the national GDP as a whole, it also reduces the share of GDP per capita and increases demand for products and services, thus creating an economic cycle of disaster.

Canadians have been voting with their feet through interprovincial migration and the numbers are striking. Ontario and B.C. lost tens of thousands of residents to interprovincial migration in 2023, while Alberta was a net recipient with over 55,000 people choosing to move to the province. Maritime provinces saw modest gains from interprovincial migration while Quebec, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan all saw losses.