What’s Canada like in 2025?
I had heard the grumblings from Canadians visited us in Spain. They complain about the cost and availability (or lack of) of housing in Canada, about healthcare and the difficulties of seeing a doctor, and about the cost of living and crime. One of our friends specifically talked about the glut of car break-ins happening in the Toronto area.
They all seemed very negative on the general state of affairs in Canada and all point to the last 5 years (ie since Covid in 2020).
My father was dying so we came back and spent two months in Canada this summer. Our last visit prior to that was in 2020 – so it had been 5 years since our last visit. Most of the time on this visit was spent in Quebec city but we also spent a few days in Montreal (where I spent all of my working life) as well as Ottawa (where I spent my teenage years).
In this post I’m going to tell you our thoughts being back in Canada after all these years. And I’ll compare it to Spain where we’ve lived over the last 5 years.
Friendliness
I’ll start with the good. Coming back to Canada after 8 years away we were struck by the friendliness of people. People smile, make chit chat etc. It was a huge surprise. I’ve written, hesitatingly, that we don’t find the Spanish that friendly. That may come as a shock to people who go to Spain on vacation and stay in a hotel and frequent restaurants etc. But when it comes to day-to-day living in Spain, the Spanish aren’t that friendly. But it’s not just the Spanish, Europeans in general aren’t smiley and chatty like North Americans. The friendliness of Canadians was the first thing that struck us.
“Friendliness” is one thing though, “Confrontational” is something different. We had a couple of interactions at the gym that we had joined in Quebec City that got a bit nasty. One started when a man heading towards the stair climber chided me for being in his way. The 2nd was when Lissette got into it with a woman who refused to move her water bottle from the spin bike that Lissette wanted to use.
Lissette and I talked about it a lot over the two months. We concluded that Canadians are indeed friendlier than the Spanish (and most Europeans for that matter). But Canadians, maybe like Americans, are also more reactionary: if a confrontation happens it can escalate quickly.
But I’ll stick to the positive: we really found Canadians to be generally very friendly during our time back. It was a pleasant surprise and it felt good to be “home”.
Note: I’ve read a lot on social media these days about immigrants saying that Canadians aren’t that open and that it’s hard to make real relationships. It’s not our experience with Canadians, but then I think of our own experience in Spain and wonder if maybe it’s just a universal truth that it’s hard to immigrate anywhere and not feel like an outsider? Just thinking out loud…
Costs
A lot of people talk about Canada being expensive. But higher costs aren’t across the board. I’ll give you some examples:
Accommodation
Travelling around in June 2025, we paid an average $200/night for hotel or Airbnb accommodation (in Ottawa and Montreal). Back in 2017 (2020 doesn’t count because we didn’t travel around), I paid an average $95/night. That’s a pretty shocking increase. However I’ve found that accommodation prices everywhere have gone up incredibly since Covid. Just for comparison: the night before our early morning flight to Canada we had to stay in a hotel in Malaga and paid 195 Euros (close to $300 Canadian).
In general, I find accommodation expenses in Canada more expensive year-round but more stable. You can usually count on something in the $150 to $250 range almost anytime of year. In Spain it’s very seasonal: over the last few years we’ve had some long trips around Spain in February and March and have paid an average of about 60 Euros/night (almost $100 Canadian these days with the lousy exchange rate). In the summer prices rise exponentially, an example being that 195 Euro room in Malaga.
Restaurants
At face value, the cost of a restaurant meal in Canada and Spain is about the same. You can pay about $25 Canadian for a main dish in a restaurant in Montreal or Ottawa, with the exchange rate these days that’s the same as a 15 Euro dish in Spain.
But what kills you in Canada are sales taxes and tips. GST/HST/QST approximate about 15%. Nothing’s changed there, we were used to that when we lived here. But what surprised us most were tips: these days restaurants program the suggested tip percentage into the card machine, so when you go to pay you have to chose one of the percentages presented to you….and in most restaurants the choices were 15%, 18% or 22% (and are you going to chose the lowest percentage when the waiter is looming over you while you press the numbers?). I remember in the old days living in Montreal that you´d leave the waiter 10 – 12% of the bill. Somewhere along the line tips have exploded to US levels. When you add taxes and tips to the cost of a bill you’re basically adding between 35 and 40%. That’s when I appreciate restaurant prices in Spain: there the listed price is what you pay (no taxes) and tips are an afterthought. Read the Tipping protocol in Spain.
Cafés
Same logic as restaurants. It would shock us going to a café, ordering 2 coffees and 2 croissants and paying $26. How?? Just crazy (granted the coffees in Canada are much bigger. Still…)
Groceries
This is where we saw the biggest cost differences. A package of baby lettuce for $7 (1.50 Euro at Mercadona), chicken breast for $15 (4 Euros at Mercadona). It was across the board, everything. I added up our grocery bills for 1 month in Quebec City: $1,206 (our groceries in Spain: $540 Euros *1.6 = 870 CAD). That might seem like not such a big difference but that’s maybe because I balked at buying some of the things like chicken and wine that I would usually buy. I found myself doing what many Canadians do: window shopping for food. I’ve read that the average Canadian family pays about $400 Canadian/week on groceries (about 1,600/month). I can see that. And much of the expensive pricing is on healthy food, things like meat, fish, fruits and vegetables. I think, cost-wise, grocery prices were the biggest shock coming back to Canada.
Below: a video I found on Groceries, just to show you how expensive it’s all become in Canada.
Immigration
I´m sure I’ll get people upset stating the obvious: the racial makeup has changed dramatically in certain Canadian cities. Parts of Montreal and Quebec City are unrecognizable. In Sainte Foy for example (a part of Quebec City) there has been an influx in recent years of Africans from French-speaking countries in West Africa. As a white person you suddenly feel like you’re in the minority.
Canada has always been diversified, we’ve always welcomed immigrants. I believe in diversity as do most Canadians who live in cities.
But this was different. What we saw while in Quebec City was immigration gone rampant. There’s no balance anymore. Nobody wants to say it out loud because they don’t want to sound racist – but ask someone “who are all these black people? How did they get here? What do they do?” and suddenly it all comes pouring out, all the complaints about how the country has changed, how the Trudeau government and provincial government let everyone in, how they’re mooching off the system…
It’s not just Quebec City, it’s all of Canada.
There was a lot of talk about ex-PM Trudeau’s “woke” policies. But for most Canadians it didn’t have anything to do with gays, trans rights, abortion, climate change, a gender balanced cabinet etc. Most Canadians don’t have an issue with any of that stuff. When Canadians accused Trudeau of woke-ism it was because of the immigration issue and the effect if was having on demographics, culture and – most importantly – on the cost of living and availability of resources for everyone else.
As I was writing this, the Quebec government announced it was getting rid of the PEQ government program which was a path to permanent residency for many immigrants. The reason, just like the recent decision to reduce foreign student visas, being that immigration in Quebec/Canada is out of control. It was something that had to be done but it’s unfortunate for foreigners who were enticed to Canada – many spending lots of time and money – only to have policies revoked.
Cities
I lived in Montreal over 25 years. The city was a bit of a dump in the 1990’s during when Quebec was playing around with the idea of separating from Canada. That died down and Montreal flourished. Through most of my working life Montreal was a sexy, beautiful city.
I don’t know what’s happened to Montreal but on our latest visit it has reverted to being a dump. I’ve never seen as many bums on street corners or loitering in parking lots. Staying for 5 days in the downtown area, it at times even felt unsafe. Something I never would have said about Montreal when I was living there. We agreed we would never, ever live in Montreal again.
Ottawa hasn’t changed all that much: it was always a good, safe, maybe slightly boring government town with good access to nature. Immigration has shaped the city as well (mostly Indians and Chinese) but in a positive way. It seems more vibrant than it used to and we were impressed by the new light rail system which is a fantastic way to get around the city. It’s turned from a quiet provincial city to a much more cosmopolitan place. Just as when I was young, Ottawa is a good place to raise a family.
The first 8 years of my life I grew up within 45 minutes of Quebec City. Despite that I never really got to know the city until our 2 month stay this summer. In many ways Quebec City is just a big town…but it is really special and we were just amazed by it. It really is the most beautiful city in Eastern Canada and the closest thing in North America to a European city. Now if only they could do away with the damn Separatists who still talk of separating from Canada, having their own currency, and having closer ties with the US (right. I’d like to see how that goes). In short, all the reasons we always said we would never live out our lives in the Province of Quebec.
Patriotism
Maybe Canada should be thanking the Orange Turd…because I’ve never seen Canada as united as a country. Even Quebeckers, who usually have something negative to say about English Canada and Federal Politics, get red faced when you bring up the Orange Turd’s name. He’s created so much anger and feelings of betrayal among Canadians and you wonder if the relationship will ever go back to what it was. It got Mark Carney elected which is leading to structural changes to the Canadian economy and which, in the long term, Canada will be stronger for. I’m optimistic for Canada’s future in a way I haven’t been in a long time.
Below: A great clip I saw yesterday with US academic Scott Galloway
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Odds and Ends
Cleanliness
Canada seems so clean after being 5 years in Spain. Let’s start with not having to step over dog shit every 10 meters…
Weather
We were apprehensive of having to face another summer in Granada (where July/August temps in high 30’s/low 40’s). Being back in Canada we enjoyed the weather: sunny days, humid days, torrential downpours, even cloudy days. In Spain you can go 3 months with the weather being constantly the same (usually constant sun without a drop of rain). The body needs a bit of variety.
Having said that we were in summer. I don’t know if I could ever take 6 months of Canadian winter again…
Summing up our feelings about going back to Canada
We didn’t want to go return to Canada and it took my dad’s death to bring us back. And I’ll admit it’s changed our feelings about it. We may never live in Canada again and, if we ever do, it won’t be for a while. But we’ve gone from “never” to “who knows what the future brings…”.
It has however made us want to see more of Canada, maybe do a cross-country trip as we had planned many years ago pre-Covid. Time will tell.
Related: Another new start …and on wondering if Spain is right for us
Related: 9 pieces of Advice for those thinking of living a Nomadic Lifestyle
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