Why young people are leaving Canada #moveabroad #workabroad #canadiandream #leavingcanada

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]A former senior Google executive who was born and raised in Canada just proposed a $500,000 exit tax for educated Canadians who leave the country for better opportunities abroad. As an educated Canadian who left the country 10 years ago for better opportunities abroad, I want to add my two cents. So, this proposal shows two things. One, Canada has a great education system but not the salaries or job opportunities to keep the graduates of that system. So, Canada has three of the world's top 100 universities and many more in the top 500. Most of these are publicly funded.

[00:00:28]I personally have a bachelor's degree from one of Canada's top three universities and it took me years to find a job in my field because there's just not that many. Vancouver, where I grew up, is too far and too many time zones removed from almost all global centers of commerce to have that much opportunity. I work in marketing and most of the jobs available in my day were generalist roles that also required graphic design skills. Now, there are some better jobs, but most of them are at companies that are based out of Seattle or San Francisco that opened a satellite office in Vancouver to take advantage of the significantly lower salaries. This is also why a lot of Hollywood movies are shot in Vancouver.

[00:00:59]They fly in the main cast and then hire extras locally. Therefore, a lot of young people will go directly to Seattle, San Francisco, Hollywood, or like me, a major European hub. And two, this makes it clear why countries love skilled immigration. So, this proposed $500,000 exit tax is supposedly to cover the amount that Canada invests in educating its young people and it actually kind of makes sense. I personally was in the Canadian public education system until the end of university, then worked full-time for five years and paid back into the system that raised me. Then, unfortunately for Canada, I noticed better financial outcomes abroad and I moved to Europe. I have now lived in the Netherlands for eight years and I pay 49 and 1/2% income tax to the Dutch tax authorities.

[00:01:39]Meanwhile, the Netherlands did not invest a cent in my education, but they do get my taxpayer dollars.

[00:01:45]Euros. Therefore, I financially benefit the Dutch economy and this is why governments love skilled immigration. I still love Canada and I do think about moving home and bring my Dutch husband with me to pay into the Canadian economy. However, Vancouver is the second most unaffordable housing market in the world and if we move there, we would make less money doing the same thing. Toronto would be financially better, but my family doesn't live there and neither does most of my friends. If my husband and I were to move Vancouver, our salaries would go down by 30%, our vacation days would go down by 50% and our sick days would go down by 10,000% but our cost of living would remain the same. I've run the numbers, the cost to buy per square foot in Vancouver is 1,100 Canadian dollars. The cost per square foot to buy in Amsterdam is 700 euros which is 1,100 Canadian dollars and so we stay and pay into the Dutch economy instead.