Rent increases and landlords are making life extremely difficult for Canadians

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

When my 26-year-old son who has a good job looked at me and said, “Mom, I really think I will have to live with you forever because it’s nearly impossible to live on my own,” it broke my heart. These are the words of a concerned Canadian mother who wonders if her son will ever be able to fend for himself in today’s Canada.

Rent increases and some heartless landlords are making life extremely difficult for many Canadians, and it leaves one to wonder where is our government in all this, what are they doing, or do we have a government at all?

Imagine showing up to view what is a bachelor apartment in Toronto only to find out that it was marketed to you as a one-bedroom suite, and to add insult to injury the cost is $2,000 plus hydro per month; let that sink in for a moment.

Canadian renters are now paying $224 more per month compared to a year ago. This is an increase of over 12%. The average person makes $40,000 a year, and if your rent is $2,500 (in many cities) that alone is $30,000, remember this is before bills, food, and clothing, if you are lucky, you will become best friends with the Salvation Army real fast just to survive.

In the last three years, working-class Canadians have become prey to greedy landlords and supermarkets that are just interested in their bottom line, and even though a few media outlets have called some of them out, there is no recourse for the average sufferer.

Our youths are supposed to be the future men and women of tomorrow, but with all that I just explained above coupled with low wages, dead-end jobs and even bidding wars on basic rentals, it is becoming more and more impossible for young couples to be able to afford to purchase a home in this country.

With buying out of reach for most Canadians, this puts more pressure on the rental market, however, in a fair and balanced society the government’s job is to implement national regulations that protect the people from not being able to afford a roof over their heads, but sadly in Canada this is not the case anymore.

Businesses are closing left, right, and centre in this country. Just recently Nordstrom has decided to leave Canada in search of greener pastures, and reasons cited for leaving are inflation and rising interest rates in this country, which have affected consumer spending.

Even the LCBO has announced that in a few days, the cost of beer, wine, and spirits will rise by more than six per cent in April, so if anyone thinks he or she will get drunk in order to forget the cost of living in Canada, he or she can forget the idea.

When will Canadians stand up and say this has gone on for too long now. Is this the legacy we are planning to leave our children?

If this situation goes unchecked very soon, tent cities are going to become more popular than condos, especially in cities like Vancouver and Toronto.

I had promised myself to stick to the rent story, but to find the cause of a problem one must first get to the root of it.

This situation was created on purpose. First, a false so-called pandemic was declared, followed by months of forcefully closing hardworking people’s businesses e.g., “Adams Barbecue.” Then partial reopening and now followed by interest rate hikes on everything including rent. Can anyone here see the planned collapsing formula, or is it just I?