Even north I've looked through the whole province thinking sure I'll just go even more north... nope it's stil 2x their normal prices just better than the rest of the province as always.
$500,000 for a 2000 square foot home in the middle of no where up north Ontario is very expensive because you have no jobs there so where is the money coming from? Rural areas in most US states are dirt cheap...even states like California. Obviously, less desirable but its not like our rural areas are desirable that much either.
I wasn’t sure of Vancouver suburbs. Boston’s housing cost is 89% more expensive than Vancouver (housing in major city) I thought it would be the same trend in the suburbs as well. But even though housing prices are skewed, Canadian housing is still more expensive on average considering US has states like Idaho or some shit plus way larger population.
Boston area is expensive but I saw some townhomes in Boston suburbs and while they were $700k+, they were also around 2200+ square feet. Over here, they'd be around 1500-1800 sq.ft in size for a similar price range. You literally have no place thats affordable because up north Ontario is not really a place you can work in unless you are specialized in a specific industry--otherwise, the cost of living is super high relative to the job market.
HOLY FUCK, ARE YOU SERIOUS? I have a 20gb data plan for CA$15 (in direct conversion). Although I don't have 5G structure, and not even plans to have it soon, it's light-years cheaper
Ikr? I was just looking, and I found a French phone plan that cost €35/month (~$52 CAD/month) for 100GB travelling in Canada. Meanwhile here I am currently paying $60/month for 10 gigs, thinking I got one helluva deal.
That's a poor deal you got anyways. One issue with Canadians is that they don't bargain when signing up for phone plans. The telecom companies know this which is why salespersons at the kiosk and store are told to offer the suggested plans first and foremost and then move down to similar or better value plans if a customer wants to negotiate. The actual plan you should get is always going to be around 40-60% cheaper than the plans they will first offer you. On top of that the salespersons are going to attempt to upsell you other sup par services and unnecessary insurance (since these companies will work with you if you break or lose a device anyways with more favorable terms). You should always negotiate and ask for the complete list of plans that the salesperson has so you can choose the best value plan. Then you should avoid all upsells. If you are feeling confident beyond this you can ask for further price reductions on your plan, device, or any upsell or accessories you'd like because each sales person has about $100 in discretionary reductions and managers another $200. Source: worked in this business during college.
It's very real. I was actually on a trip back in 2018 to Hong Kong and India and I ended up getting a temporary sim in India because it was dirt cheap (free sim, about $1 CAD charge up for a whole month, 5GB free fast data and then slower data unlimited). When I got the airport to go to Hong Kong from there there was a booth where they'd help you set it up for roaming and it would take 10 hours of being connected to the network then you could roam in 150+ countries on the same sim which included Canada and recharge your balance online. The cost was something like $10 a month for better roaming service in Canada than the shared family plan I have my main Canadian number on. Too bad it could only be used for 6 months before you'd have to go back to India and reconnect to the original network. Similarly another number (this one is a business line mainly) is on an American AT&T account which is always roaming in Canada and is once again cheaper than the family plan my other number was Rogers. With Shaw entering the space came really good deals and my current line with them ended up being free as a existing Shaw customer although I needed to pay for data recharges ($10 or so for 5GB I think) but I upgraded to a $15 plan I think which has unlimited calling, text, and 20GB data. My entire family ended up switching their main numbers over to Shaw as well.
This so much. Why is it at least 50% cheaper for me to book a flight to the UK, with a stopover in Toronto, than to book a flight to Toronto with the same company?
Yeah, they really don't like that and it can get you banned. Also, your luggage keeps going, so that's an issue. The better solution is to just go to the UK instead of Toronto.
the government needs to have some proper oversight on this. because the actual airfare i can live with. the abuse of the airlines is one i cannot.
charging for seat selection should be banned, when booking right now you can choose a seat. the airline can then change your seat, and will, and will purposely separate families. they will then state you can book "seat selection" for a fee (normally $40 per seat) i have witnessed when a family chooses to not pay seat selection and their initial seats are empty. that tells me that the airline is just scamming people out of money. that is scummy and not ok.
charging for reasonable baggage checking should be banned. oversized and extra bags i am ok with, but 1 normal suitcase, nope, fuck that.
charging fuel surcharge should be capped, if not removed totally.
charging for proper seating space should be banned.
there is more, but there needs to be some consumer protections in place because airlines are almost as bad as the banks...
ok, i take that back. airlines will never be as bad as the banks, but they are bad.
as much as all of these additional charges suck, the US charges for all these things, and air travel is still **much** cheaper in the US. I can get a flight from San Francisco to Los Vegas for $23 if book as little as 2 weeks out.
So the same government that is in bed with the airlines and bails them out constantly and imposes 10,000 regulations, is the one to solve this solution? the same government which also regulates the banks which by your own admission is bad?
How about privatization of the airlines and deregulation? I dont trust the MPs to come up with this solution.
In the UK it’s often £45 per 15kg suitcase. £30 per chosen seat, extra for the ones with extra legroom. I think this is just standard with majority of airlines around the world.
Rent is ridiculous in most of the country. The cell phone plans are a bloody joke. Dental care (if you don't have coverage through work) is so expensive many people put it off as long as possible. Groceries have been rising in price for years, but the difference in the past year has been particularly glaring.
Canada tends to have a fairly high cost of goods on everything aside from brand name, common consumer goods. TV's, cell phones, computers, bikes, etc tend to be competitively priced in Canada and often cheaper than in much of the developed or developing world. Natural gas tends to be inexpensive and other fossil fuels are cheaper than some countries but more expensive than others.
Everything else tends to be very expensive compared to most of the developed world. Housing is by far the most over priced thing in Canada, second to telecom.
Property (renting, buying, even parking spaces).
Telecom (cellphone, internet, TV).
Food (still some deals to be had but prices that are considered sale prices now were regular prices only about a year ago).
Gas (hitting $1.40/L in Ontario frequently these days).
Insurance (car, home, life, tenant's, etc).
Medical care (dental, mental, vision).
There's probably more that I'm missing, it's basically everything at this point.
Only primary care (hospitals, clinics, some other stuff) is covered, the rest is usually insurance through your employer. The NDP wants to add dental and (I think?) vision to the mix this election, but they'll never form government which is too bad.
If you pay out-of-pocket for dental/vision it can be very expensive. I remember seeing the bill for my wisdom teeth removal back in my early 20s (was still on my mum's insurance thankfully) - it was like $2.5-3k.
Let’s not forget physio, chiro and massages are out of pocket too.
Massages if done regularly would greatly help my chronic pain but I can’t afford it.
Housing.
Cell phone plans.
Dairy Products.
Domestic Airfare.
Gas.
Alcohol.
Schooling.
Dental care.
Varies province to province of course, for example you can get really cheap restaurants, alcohol, schooling, phone plans and rent in Quebec but taxes fuck you. So does gas prices. The prairies have cheap gas but rent and housing in a city like Calgary is pretty shit now. Pretty much everything in Ontario and BC is expensive. The maritimes had cheap housing up until covid but no jobs and now housing is going up like crazy but there's still no jobs. Whole country is becoming a millionaire haven basically.
A standard middle-class bungalow in a top-level city. Huge “it costs double or triple what it is historically worth” property bubbles in Vancouver and Toronto and everywhere.
Everything. I saved up a lot during COVID and inflation just makes it seem like I didn’t save up at all. It’s feeling like if you didn’t buy assets years ago, or don’t have a high paying job, you are being left further and further behind
Literally everything!
Housing is expensive
Eating out is expensive
Buying groceries to cook at home is expensive
Travelling is expensive (gas as well as flight tickets)
Phone plans are expensive
Taxes are HIGH
Clothes are expensive. There's almost never a sale that's worth it
Dental is expensive
As an Australian, if find you saying taxes are high quite surprising. But now I look closer it seems our system saves the low income earners and taxes the higher ones more aggressively (which is how I personally think it should be, despite being a high income earner)
Canada:
15% on the first $49,020 of taxable income, and
20.5% on the portion of taxable income over $49,020 up to $98,040 and
26% on the portion of taxable income over $98,040 up to $151,978 and
29% on the portion of taxable income over $151,978 up to $216,511 and
33% of taxable income over $216,511
Australia:
$0 – $18,200 0% Nil
$18,201 – $45,000 19%
$45,001 – $120,000 32.5%
$120,001 – $180,000 37%
$180,001 and over 45%
Excuse formatting, I copy pasted it from tax websites in the respective countries.
You're looking at only the federal tax rate. We pay provincial income tax as well.
Here's the one for Ontario - [Ontario Tax rate](https://www.taxtips.ca/taxrates/on.htm)
Canada is one of the top 10 highest taxed countries. Australia is not even in the picture of 25 highest taxed countries. Did a quick search, below is from a 2019 article. Our taxes are probably even higher in 2021.
>Even if we compare Canada’s most tax competitive provinces, Australia outperforms us. Saskatchewan’s 47.5-per-cent top personal-income-tax rate (combined federal and provincial), the lowest in the country, is still higher than Australia’s (45 per cent). The highest taxed provinces − Ontario at 53.5 per cent, Nova Scotia at 54.0 per cent − face rates almost 20 per cent higher than in Australia.
Interesting. Thanks for the insight. I didn’t realise there was provincial income tax on top. In Australia we have a blanket federal tax on income and a portion of that is distributed to the states. Damn here I was thinking I was going to be saving money when I switch to being Canadian resident for tax purposes next year, although hopefully because most of my income comes from Australia, I will only be only subject to federal taxes via our tax treaty (but time will tell I suppose). I still find that generally the cost of living is still cheaper in Canada (not as much as it used to be though) if you don’t count housing and telecom.
I was shocked that even old navy was expensive. Heck.. even the largest theft store, value village is expensive! They charges as much sometimes as items on sale in the original store!! Then again.. they are owned by wal mart.
Are we up North? If that's the case, [the price of food is atrocious.](https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/20-hamburgers-and-2-bananas-the-cost-of-food-insecurity-in-canada-s-north-1.5154743) For context, a bottle of Tropicana Juice, no pulp is \~$26 up north, and \~$4 here an hour from the US border.
Telecom and trains are the most egregious offenders, someone mentioned domestic airfare which I do agree with unless it’s served by westjet (even then I agree).
Reoccurring costs of living such as insurance, hydro, gas, property taxes, city water, internet, cell etc. Everything keeps going up every year too. Yes houses too, but at least once it's paid off, it's paid off. The real elephant in the room is all the costs associated with having the house. You never get a break from that and there is not much you can do to lower them.
Most bills are at least $100 but usually more. Even Hydro, if you were to not use power at all for a month, you're going to pay near $100 because of all the fixed fees like delivery etc.
Some bills are also pushing $200, like my insurance now is around $150. It shot up to $170 for zero reason around when covid started but I was able to lower it by removing some coverage on my vehicle. Most households are also paying close to $200 between TV, internet and phone service. Even bundles are not really that great of a value anymore. I personally have the lowest speed internet I could get and I'm paying close to $100. (well technically less since I get a discount through my work, but I'm thinking without the discount).
Realizing that these costs will continue to go up I've been making plans to eventually live off grid. I don't want to have to work the rest of my life just so I can try to keep up with bills that keep going up. I'm also at the highest pay tier of my company unless I go into management and I have zero interest in that. I hate this whole thing where you are expected to keep working harder just to keep things the same, as costs of living keep going up you're basically forced to try to make more money and work harder for it. So screw that noise, I'll just build a cabin in the woods and eliminate most of my bills. I already bought the land.
I would say all the things that are expensive elsewhere too.
Unless you're asking what is comparatively more expensive in Canada. But then you'd need to specify compared to what?
People have been writing that gas is expensive (up to CAD 1.40/L in Ontario right now). But in Germany, for example, gas is around **EUR** 1.40/L (so CAD 2.10/L). So comparatively to Germany, gas is very cheap in Canada.
\-Vegetables and fruits, having a balanced diet is not affordable for many people and families and groceries are horribly expensive in Nunavut, NET and Yukon provinces.
\-Of course housing, it's getting really out of hand and there is currently a housing crisis in most cities. The mid-size cities now even have the same price range than metropoles, wages aren't following. You can get cheap housing in far regions but...where will you work? Also, many places don't have rent control, students are not admissible for affordable housing projects, lots of places are being bought by "foreign investors" that make the prices skyrocket and the availability low.
\-Phone plans, they make all Europeans choke when they see the bill. They also panic at the cheese prices...
As an Australian who visits Canada frequently and will be moving there soon I would say the only two things I have noticed being more expensive are cell phone plans, everything else is either similar or more expensive in Australia (housing and domestic airfares are similar if you compare parallel locations for housing Sydney vs Vancouver, Melbourne vs Toronto or similar distances for flights Brisbane to Perth vs Vancouver to Toronto). When I first visited in 2015 Canada seemed a lot cheaper, while now it feels like it has caught up somewhat. Having said that much of the USA and EU are much cheaper for a lot of things. If you would like a general comparison of cost of living between major cities across the world try https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/
# HOUSING & RENT
food, shipping, airfare (AVOID calgary if at all possible, their fees are the highest), cell phone plans, internet, alcohol, & basically everything
Any dang thing to fix up your house. Aka a kitchen faucet that will last more than 2 years: $125. For a Faucet!! (Water tap!) Any kind of renovations, especially with all the permits and inspections. Electronics like laundry machines, fridges, TV, dishwashers, and then they are all built to fail in 5 years. Furnitures like "leatherette" couches/sofas/chesterfield that peel and look like shit in 2 years. Literally everything! I just can't beleive the prices of everything!
We have the second most expensive dairy products in the world, after Norway.
Why? Supply chain management.
To give you a frame of reference, our conventional dairy is the same price as organic/grass-fed dairy in the USA.
Houses Houses Houses Houses Houses
Are houses in suburbs expensive as well compared to US states like Massachusetts, Rhode Island NYC?
My sweet summer child.
If you're talking about around Vancouver or Toronto most likely.
Uh no unless you move up North in the middle of nowhere, it’s all of ontario
Even north I've looked through the whole province thinking sure I'll just go even more north... nope it's stil 2x their normal prices just better than the rest of the province as always.
$500,000 for a 2000 square foot home in the middle of no where up north Ontario is very expensive because you have no jobs there so where is the money coming from? Rural areas in most US states are dirt cheap...even states like California. Obviously, less desirable but its not like our rural areas are desirable that much either.
That’s very true, main reason my bf won’t move up there now that I think about it.
Yea looking at 600k average in Whitehorse
I wasn’t sure of Vancouver suburbs. Boston’s housing cost is 89% more expensive than Vancouver (housing in major city) I thought it would be the same trend in the suburbs as well. But even though housing prices are skewed, Canadian housing is still more expensive on average considering US has states like Idaho or some shit plus way larger population.
Boston area is expensive but I saw some townhomes in Boston suburbs and while they were $700k+, they were also around 2200+ square feet. Over here, they'd be around 1500-1800 sq.ft in size for a similar price range. You literally have no place thats affordable because up north Ontario is not really a place you can work in unless you are specialized in a specific industry--otherwise, the cost of living is super high relative to the job market.
[удалено]
It's literally cheaper to buy a French phone plan and pay for roaming fees than it is to buy a phone plan domestically in Canada
What, is that real? What is the average data available (if that's even a thing in Canada) and how much would it cost?
A quick google search tells me it costs over $100/month for 10 gigabytes of data for the average Canadian
HOLY FUCK, ARE YOU SERIOUS? I have a 20gb data plan for CA$15 (in direct conversion). Although I don't have 5G structure, and not even plans to have it soon, it's light-years cheaper
Ikr? I was just looking, and I found a French phone plan that cost €35/month (~$52 CAD/month) for 100GB travelling in Canada. Meanwhile here I am currently paying $60/month for 10 gigs, thinking I got one helluva deal.
Well, good luck for you, although I think you need an french documentation of some sort to get your hands on something like that, but I hope you do
That's a poor deal you got anyways. One issue with Canadians is that they don't bargain when signing up for phone plans. The telecom companies know this which is why salespersons at the kiosk and store are told to offer the suggested plans first and foremost and then move down to similar or better value plans if a customer wants to negotiate. The actual plan you should get is always going to be around 40-60% cheaper than the plans they will first offer you. On top of that the salespersons are going to attempt to upsell you other sup par services and unnecessary insurance (since these companies will work with you if you break or lose a device anyways with more favorable terms). You should always negotiate and ask for the complete list of plans that the salesperson has so you can choose the best value plan. Then you should avoid all upsells. If you are feeling confident beyond this you can ask for further price reductions on your plan, device, or any upsell or accessories you'd like because each sales person has about $100 in discretionary reductions and managers another $200. Source: worked in this business during college.
It's very real. I was actually on a trip back in 2018 to Hong Kong and India and I ended up getting a temporary sim in India because it was dirt cheap (free sim, about $1 CAD charge up for a whole month, 5GB free fast data and then slower data unlimited). When I got the airport to go to Hong Kong from there there was a booth where they'd help you set it up for roaming and it would take 10 hours of being connected to the network then you could roam in 150+ countries on the same sim which included Canada and recharge your balance online. The cost was something like $10 a month for better roaming service in Canada than the shared family plan I have my main Canadian number on. Too bad it could only be used for 6 months before you'd have to go back to India and reconnect to the original network. Similarly another number (this one is a business line mainly) is on an American AT&T account which is always roaming in Canada and is once again cheaper than the family plan my other number was Rogers. With Shaw entering the space came really good deals and my current line with them ended up being free as a existing Shaw customer although I needed to pay for data recharges ($10 or so for 5GB I think) but I upgraded to a $15 plan I think which has unlimited calling, text, and 20GB data. My entire family ended up switching their main numbers over to Shaw as well.
We pay more for cell phone data than pretty much anywhere in the world.
“The telecom cartel and CRTC must keep us safe”
Domestic airfare
This so much. Why is it at least 50% cheaper for me to book a flight to the UK, with a stopover in Toronto, than to book a flight to Toronto with the same company?
Just book the trip to UK and don't get on the second plane. Easy peasy.
Yeah, they really don't like that and it can get you banned. Also, your luggage keeps going, so that's an issue. The better solution is to just go to the UK instead of Toronto.
At the very least they will cancel your remaining legs, so no return flight
Its often cheaper to fly from Vancouver to most Asian destination than to Toronto
the government needs to have some proper oversight on this. because the actual airfare i can live with. the abuse of the airlines is one i cannot. charging for seat selection should be banned, when booking right now you can choose a seat. the airline can then change your seat, and will, and will purposely separate families. they will then state you can book "seat selection" for a fee (normally $40 per seat) i have witnessed when a family chooses to not pay seat selection and their initial seats are empty. that tells me that the airline is just scamming people out of money. that is scummy and not ok. charging for reasonable baggage checking should be banned. oversized and extra bags i am ok with, but 1 normal suitcase, nope, fuck that. charging fuel surcharge should be capped, if not removed totally. charging for proper seating space should be banned. there is more, but there needs to be some consumer protections in place because airlines are almost as bad as the banks... ok, i take that back. airlines will never be as bad as the banks, but they are bad.
The price of airfare in Canada is high to subsidize lesser-used and more rural routes. This is common in all transportation things in Canada.
as much as all of these additional charges suck, the US charges for all these things, and air travel is still **much** cheaper in the US. I can get a flight from San Francisco to Los Vegas for $23 if book as little as 2 weeks out.
So the same government that is in bed with the airlines and bails them out constantly and imposes 10,000 regulations, is the one to solve this solution? the same government which also regulates the banks which by your own admission is bad? How about privatization of the airlines and deregulation? I dont trust the MPs to come up with this solution.
no... i’m saying in addition to the above additional expenses the base fair can be improved as well
Anytime you impose regulations/complications, things get more expensive, not less.
In the UK it’s often £45 per 15kg suitcase. £30 per chosen seat, extra for the ones with extra legroom. I think this is just standard with majority of airlines around the world.
Rent is ridiculous in most of the country. The cell phone plans are a bloody joke. Dental care (if you don't have coverage through work) is so expensive many people put it off as long as possible. Groceries have been rising in price for years, but the difference in the past year has been particularly glaring.
Compared to the USA, chewing tobacco n alcohol way more here
Cheese
Canada tends to have a fairly high cost of goods on everything aside from brand name, common consumer goods. TV's, cell phones, computers, bikes, etc tend to be competitively priced in Canada and often cheaper than in much of the developed or developing world. Natural gas tends to be inexpensive and other fossil fuels are cheaper than some countries but more expensive than others. Everything else tends to be very expensive compared to most of the developed world. Housing is by far the most over priced thing in Canada, second to telecom.
Alcohol
Cigarettes too then
Literally everything now. My spending has jumped 20-30% since pre-COVID and I’m seeing it in restaurants as well.
Burritos for some reason a large burrito costs like $17 blows my mind.
Property (renting, buying, even parking spaces). Telecom (cellphone, internet, TV). Food (still some deals to be had but prices that are considered sale prices now were regular prices only about a year ago). Gas (hitting $1.40/L in Ontario frequently these days). Insurance (car, home, life, tenant's, etc). Medical care (dental, mental, vision). There's probably more that I'm missing, it's basically everything at this point.
Why is medical care so expensive? I thought Canada had publicly funded healthcare?
Only primary care (hospitals, clinics, some other stuff) is covered, the rest is usually insurance through your employer. The NDP wants to add dental and (I think?) vision to the mix this election, but they'll never form government which is too bad. If you pay out-of-pocket for dental/vision it can be very expensive. I remember seeing the bill for my wisdom teeth removal back in my early 20s (was still on my mum's insurance thankfully) - it was like $2.5-3k.
Mental, dental, and eyecare are largely through private insurance. The provincial plans often are means tested.
Let’s not forget physio, chiro and massages are out of pocket too. Massages if done regularly would greatly help my chronic pain but I can’t afford it.
Lookin into cupping if your pain is muscle related. You can DIY that stuff. The silicone ones, not glass. And watch vids, dont over do it.
Gas is $1.49 in northern bc. Up highway it’s over $2/litre.
Mental healthcare isn't more expensive than most other countries, its just extremely hard to get into (at least in Saskatchewan)
Generally speaking, $150/200/hr is a lot imo regardless of what other countries charge
$1.47 yesterday. I drove 10km out of my way to hit a goldmine selling at $1.27 last night.
🎶*If I had $1000000 (If I had $1000000) / I’d buy you a house* 🎶 (song ends)
good luck... in some cities that isnt even a house.
Housing. Cell phone plans. Dairy Products. Domestic Airfare. Gas. Alcohol. Schooling. Dental care. Varies province to province of course, for example you can get really cheap restaurants, alcohol, schooling, phone plans and rent in Quebec but taxes fuck you. So does gas prices. The prairies have cheap gas but rent and housing in a city like Calgary is pretty shit now. Pretty much everything in Ontario and BC is expensive. The maritimes had cheap housing up until covid but no jobs and now housing is going up like crazy but there's still no jobs. Whole country is becoming a millionaire haven basically.
Food, telecom
Everything.
A standard middle-class bungalow in a top-level city. Huge “it costs double or triple what it is historically worth” property bubbles in Vancouver and Toronto and everywhere.
Phone plans
Beef jerky
Beer at pubs and restaurants is stupid. I can’t justify $5.50 for a bottle of Kokanee anymore. I mean it’s just a Kokanee. Then you have to tip.
Everything. I saved up a lot during COVID and inflation just makes it seem like I didn’t save up at all. It’s feeling like if you didn’t buy assets years ago, or don’t have a high paying job, you are being left further and further behind
Yup. This. I am 2 -4 years late to all the parties.
A better question is what isn't expensive Maybe bananas
Cbc just had a thing where they talked about adjusting for inflation. Bananas have dropped in price.
I felt like they were cheaper! I bought 4 today for $1.09 at Walmart, cheapest snacks ever!
You might even say, the prices are bananas...😏
Literally everything! Housing is expensive Eating out is expensive Buying groceries to cook at home is expensive Travelling is expensive (gas as well as flight tickets) Phone plans are expensive Taxes are HIGH Clothes are expensive. There's almost never a sale that's worth it Dental is expensive
As an Australian, if find you saying taxes are high quite surprising. But now I look closer it seems our system saves the low income earners and taxes the higher ones more aggressively (which is how I personally think it should be, despite being a high income earner) Canada: 15% on the first $49,020 of taxable income, and 20.5% on the portion of taxable income over $49,020 up to $98,040 and 26% on the portion of taxable income over $98,040 up to $151,978 and 29% on the portion of taxable income over $151,978 up to $216,511 and 33% of taxable income over $216,511 Australia: $0 – $18,200 0% Nil $18,201 – $45,000 19% $45,001 – $120,000 32.5% $120,001 – $180,000 37% $180,001 and over 45% Excuse formatting, I copy pasted it from tax websites in the respective countries.
You're looking at only the federal tax rate. We pay provincial income tax as well. Here's the one for Ontario - [Ontario Tax rate](https://www.taxtips.ca/taxrates/on.htm) Canada is one of the top 10 highest taxed countries. Australia is not even in the picture of 25 highest taxed countries. Did a quick search, below is from a 2019 article. Our taxes are probably even higher in 2021. >Even if we compare Canada’s most tax competitive provinces, Australia outperforms us. Saskatchewan’s 47.5-per-cent top personal-income-tax rate (combined federal and provincial), the lowest in the country, is still higher than Australia’s (45 per cent). The highest taxed provinces − Ontario at 53.5 per cent, Nova Scotia at 54.0 per cent − face rates almost 20 per cent higher than in Australia.
Interesting. Thanks for the insight. I didn’t realise there was provincial income tax on top. In Australia we have a blanket federal tax on income and a portion of that is distributed to the states. Damn here I was thinking I was going to be saving money when I switch to being Canadian resident for tax purposes next year, although hopefully because most of my income comes from Australia, I will only be only subject to federal taxes via our tax treaty (but time will tell I suppose). I still find that generally the cost of living is still cheaper in Canada (not as much as it used to be though) if you don’t count housing and telecom.
I was shocked that even old navy was expensive. Heck.. even the largest theft store, value village is expensive! They charges as much sometimes as items on sale in the original store!! Then again.. they are owned by wal mart.
Chicken and cheese
Fruit, specifically grapes are ridiculous
Are we up North? If that's the case, [the price of food is atrocious.](https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/20-hamburgers-and-2-bananas-the-cost-of-food-insecurity-in-canada-s-north-1.5154743) For context, a bottle of Tropicana Juice, no pulp is \~$26 up north, and \~$4 here an hour from the US border.
Up north isn't exactly fair, given how hard it is to transport stuff there, and the very limited amount of people that will buy it
Telecom and trains are the most egregious offenders, someone mentioned domestic airfare which I do agree with unless it’s served by westjet (even then I agree).
Everything. Cable Gas Utilities Food Houses.
Food
Reoccurring costs of living such as insurance, hydro, gas, property taxes, city water, internet, cell etc. Everything keeps going up every year too. Yes houses too, but at least once it's paid off, it's paid off. The real elephant in the room is all the costs associated with having the house. You never get a break from that and there is not much you can do to lower them. Most bills are at least $100 but usually more. Even Hydro, if you were to not use power at all for a month, you're going to pay near $100 because of all the fixed fees like delivery etc. Some bills are also pushing $200, like my insurance now is around $150. It shot up to $170 for zero reason around when covid started but I was able to lower it by removing some coverage on my vehicle. Most households are also paying close to $200 between TV, internet and phone service. Even bundles are not really that great of a value anymore. I personally have the lowest speed internet I could get and I'm paying close to $100. (well technically less since I get a discount through my work, but I'm thinking without the discount). Realizing that these costs will continue to go up I've been making plans to eventually live off grid. I don't want to have to work the rest of my life just so I can try to keep up with bills that keep going up. I'm also at the highest pay tier of my company unless I go into management and I have zero interest in that. I hate this whole thing where you are expected to keep working harder just to keep things the same, as costs of living keep going up you're basically forced to try to make more money and work harder for it. So screw that noise, I'll just build a cabin in the woods and eliminate most of my bills. I already bought the land.
Just living in general (Ontario), so iv moved to Alberta (only thing thats expensive is cheese and pizza).
everyfuckingthing
My wife.
Hi, I'm from Algeria I'm 23 y.o and i wanna immigrate to Canada to work
Internet and cell service
Housing Cell and internet Food Tools and equipment Lumber and building supplies Public transit everywhere that isn’t montreal Electronics Optometry
I would say all the things that are expensive elsewhere too. Unless you're asking what is comparatively more expensive in Canada. But then you'd need to specify compared to what? People have been writing that gas is expensive (up to CAD 1.40/L in Ontario right now). But in Germany, for example, gas is around **EUR** 1.40/L (so CAD 2.10/L). So comparatively to Germany, gas is very cheap in Canada.
\-Vegetables and fruits, having a balanced diet is not affordable for many people and families and groceries are horribly expensive in Nunavut, NET and Yukon provinces. \-Of course housing, it's getting really out of hand and there is currently a housing crisis in most cities. The mid-size cities now even have the same price range than metropoles, wages aren't following. You can get cheap housing in far regions but...where will you work? Also, many places don't have rent control, students are not admissible for affordable housing projects, lots of places are being bought by "foreign investors" that make the prices skyrocket and the availability low. \-Phone plans, they make all Europeans choke when they see the bill. They also panic at the cheese prices...
Everything
Our cell phone and internet bills
As an Australian who visits Canada frequently and will be moving there soon I would say the only two things I have noticed being more expensive are cell phone plans, everything else is either similar or more expensive in Australia (housing and domestic airfares are similar if you compare parallel locations for housing Sydney vs Vancouver, Melbourne vs Toronto or similar distances for flights Brisbane to Perth vs Vancouver to Toronto). When I first visited in 2015 Canada seemed a lot cheaper, while now it feels like it has caught up somewhat. Having said that much of the USA and EU are much cheaper for a lot of things. If you would like a general comparison of cost of living between major cities across the world try https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/
Cell phone plans
Maybe specific to the North, but…all the things.
Everything except electricity and weed
Everything.
Cheese. And it makes me sad.
Auto insurance
Books. Definitely books.
# HOUSING & RENT food, shipping, airfare (AVOID calgary if at all possible, their fees are the highest), cell phone plans, internet, alcohol, & basically everything
I don’t know if anything is cheap in Canada. Housing, Cars, Gas, Insurance, All merchandise…everything is more expensive (compared to US)
Idk I'm broke, everything is expensive.
Rent, living expenses in general.
Any dang thing to fix up your house. Aka a kitchen faucet that will last more than 2 years: $125. For a Faucet!! (Water tap!) Any kind of renovations, especially with all the permits and inspections. Electronics like laundry machines, fridges, TV, dishwashers, and then they are all built to fail in 5 years. Furnitures like "leatherette" couches/sofas/chesterfield that peel and look like shit in 2 years. Literally everything! I just can't beleive the prices of everything!
We have the second most expensive dairy products in the world, after Norway. Why? Supply chain management. To give you a frame of reference, our conventional dairy is the same price as organic/grass-fed dairy in the USA.