Canada

Chrystia Freeland put out the bunting after her April 16th budget.

The fiscal plan had three targets or “guideposts”: keeping the deficit below $40 billion in 2023/24; lowering the debt-to-GDP ratio in the current fiscal year, compared to last fall’s financial statement; and keeping deficits below one per cent of GDP in 2026/27.

With the stroke of her pen, Freeland proclaimed victory.

“In this budget, every single one of these objectives is met,” she said.

Canada made a promise to block imports of products made by forced labour, to keep those goods from entering this continent as part of the new North American trade agreement.

Now a U.S. senator heavily involved in the issue offers a blunt answer when asked by CBC News whether Canada is keeping that promise.

“No, not yet,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat who co-wrote his own country’s legislation on the topic, said, followed by a dead silence.

An increasing number of Canadians can’t afford a house or find a decent-paying job. Some can’t find a date or are fed up with the bitter politics, while others are in search of adventure, are sick of the cold winters, or simply miss home. The solution they seek? Leave Canada.

The rising cost of living, record-high immigration, a stagnating economy, and political tensions are prompting rising numbers of Canadians—both native and naturalized—to leave the country.