A Dream Home
When we first arrived in Vancouver, the skyline sparkled with promise—an outdoor playground just beyond the city limits and a place ranked 7th worldwide for quality of life. My wife and I would push our newborn in a stroller along the seawall, convinced we’d planted roots in the world’s most liveable city. Across the country, Toronto and Montreal held places 13th and 20th in the same survey, testaments to Canada’s broad appeal. Those rankings felt like a guarantee: if we worked hard and played by the rules, our kids would inherit the same stability we craved.
The Crushing Costs of Daily Life
Yet lately, our paycheques don’t cover nearly as much as they once did. Statistics Canada reports the Consumer Price Index rose 2.3 percent in March 2025 compared to the year before, still above the Bank of Canada’s 2 percent comfort zone. In February, core inflation even jumped to 2.6 percent, a seven-month high that punctured hopes of reprieve for families like ours. Meanwhile, a Visual Capitalist analysis highlights Canada as the second-most unaffordable housing market among 38 OECD nations, with prices soaring 65 percent from 2020 to early 2022—far outpacing wage growth and leaving us crammed into a two-bedroom condo with dreams of a backyard slipping away.
Dinner Table Realities
On grocery runs, the toll is unmistakable: Trading Economics shows food prices climbed 1.3 percent in February 2025 year-over-year, the sharpest uptick in months. We’ve had to swap out fresh salmon for canned tuna, skip the organic berries, and ration our favourite yogurt—choices no parent wants to make. Dalhousie University’s Food Price Report forecasts another 3–5 percent hike in 2025, translating to nearly $800 extra per year for a family of four—a burden my wife and I dread as we watch our kids reach for second helpings of plain pasta just to save a few dollars.
Chasing Sunshine
It’s no wonder many neighbours are eyeing warmer horizons. Statistics Canada notes that in the second quarter of 2024, Canadians made nearly one million trips to Mexico and over 400,000 to the Dominican Republic—up sharply from pre-pandemic levels—as families seek affordable retreats or even permanent escapes. A friend of ours, also a parent of two, sold their townhouse in Hamilton and now lives in Sosua, stretching their dollars further while the kids learn to swim in the Pacific instead of battling Toronto snowbanks. As Canada’s cost pressures mount, the dream that brought us here is being reimagined under Caribbean palms, where lower living costs and year-round sunshine offer a different kind of hope.