Originally Posted by Quest911

How can an average Canadian making 38k make it in our ever rising expenses? I know that in the last 10 years in the current building my business is in our expenses have more than doubled. In 2004 my Hydro One bill averaged $ 300-350 per month.....now it is 750-800 and we have the same electrical usage. Enbridge is the same, gasoline for vehicles etc. Every expense just keeps going up and up. I don't know how 2 people making 38k can afford to have a house, vehicles etc. I am fortunate to live in a community where the house prices are not out this world (average house 250k) my house I paid off in 2010. Most of my vehicles are paid off (I have 4) and I don't make as much money as I did in pre2007 but it is penny pinching time for my family as well. I have my oldest son going to University in Sept

Originally Posted by myw

IMO they can't survive, it's extremely tight. The odds of 2 avg CDn earners making a household combined income of 80k buying an avg-price home in Toronto of 550-570k is impossible.

Since graduating about 10 years ago I've seen all major items double (homes have doubled, gasoline practically tripled, new cars IMO cost 20% more). yet when when I talk to my younger graduating cousins trying get full time jobs, starting salaries are exactly what they were 10 years ago.

Originally Posted by jcb928

http://www.scmp.com/news/world/artic...=breaking_news

Canada’s government has announced that it is scrapping its controversial investor visa scheme, which has allowed waves of rich Hongkongers and mainland Chinese to immigrate since 1986.

The surprise announcement was made in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget, which was delivered to parliament in Ottawa on Tuesday afternoon local time. Tens of thousands of Chinese millionaires in the queue will reportedly have their applications scrapped and their application fees returned.

The decision came less than a week after the South China Morning Post published a series of investigative reports into the controversial 28-year-old scheme.

The Post revealed how the scheme spun out of control when Canada’s Hong Kong consulate was overwhelmed by a massive influx of applications from mainland millionaires. Applications to the scheme were frozen in 2012 as a result, as immigration staff struggled to clear the backlog.

“In recent years, significant progress has been made to better align the immigration system with Canada’s economic needs. The current immigrant investor program stands out as an exception to this success,” Flaherty’s budget papers said.

“For decades, it has significantly undervalued Canadian permanent residence, providing a pathway to Canadian citizenship in exchange for a guaranteed loan that is significantly less than our peer countries require,” it read.

Under the scheme, would-be migrants worth a minimum of C$1.6 million (HK$11.3 million) loaned the government C$800,000 interest free for a period of five years. The simplicity and low relative cost of the risk-free scheme made it the world’s most popular wealth migration program.

A parallel investor migration scheme run by Quebec still remains open. Many Chinese migrants use the alternative scheme to get into Canada via the French-speaking province and then move elsewhere in Canada. The federal government has previously pledged to crack down on what it said was a fraudulent practice.

Flaherty also announced yesterday the scrapping of a smaller economic migration scheme for entrepreneurs.

All told, 59,000 investor applicants and 7,000 entrepreneurs will have their applications returned, Postmedia News reported. Seventy per cent of the backlog, as of last January, was Chinese, suggesting more than 46,000 mainlanders will be affected by yesterday’s announcements.

The Immigrant Investor Program, which has brought about 185,000 migrants to Canada, was instrumental in facilitating an exodus of rich Hongkongers in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre and in the run-up to the handover. More than 30,000 Hongkongers immigrated using the scheme, though SAR applications have dwindled since 1997.

Originally Posted by myw

IMO they can't survive, it's extremely tight. The odds of 2 avg CDn earners making a household combined income of 80k buying an avg-price home in Toronto of 550-570k is impossible.

Since graduating about 10 years ago I've seen all major items double (homes have doubled, gasoline practically tripled, new cars IMO cost 20% more). yet when when I talk to my younger graduating cousins trying get full time jobs, starting salaries are exactly what they were 10 years ago.

Originally Posted by canuck964

Correct (man do I come across so obvious that I am a bean counter) except for the accounting fee approaching or exceeding what the 'average' Canadian makes. That's not a reality in Canada. Now in the US professional fees much higher (better) there.

myw - That's a nice collection of cars. I'm guessing you are doing ok. And I do know that the stated median Canadian family income is at around $70k but while I am definitely not even close to being a high income earner or wealthy, I do cater to a bunch of above average income earning Canadians. In fact the majority of my clients are in Palm Springs or Hawaii right now. They enjoy calling me from the golf courses there to inquire as to how the weather is back in Canada. I charge extra for those calls. I know I wont get any sympathy here but it is my opinion that the professional class in Canada is losing ground.

Again sorry I am taking this discussion away from the economic situation of the average Canadian.

Originally Posted by moab

This is pretty much bang on. I can only speak from experience living in the City of Toronto, but my house has doubled in price from when I bought it in 2003. It was a big purchase when I bought it back then, but if I had to buy it again today at its current "value", and I was a 4th year lawyer as I was in 2003, no chance. Salaries for associate lawyers have not gone up in at least 10 years. Sure, while a first year lawyer at a big downtown Toronto law firm is making close to six figures, that salary is the same now as it was in 2002. Junior associates in my firm who are making a relatively good living and don't yet have kids are still having a tough time buying a house and if they can buy one, the mortgage they need to get is stomach churning. And lots of my colleagues have a spouse who is working and who is also making a good salary. Between the two of them, they are close to the top 1% and finding it very difficult to afford a single detached house.

Originally Posted by Bacura

How do you spell Hennan-Blaikie?

Originally Posted by jumper5836

They will only continue to go up and I believe we will see multi-generation mortgages here one day.

Originally Posted by moab

F I N I T O.

It is actually pretty sad. I share the same elevator bank as them and the support staff are really taking it hard.