New report reveals reasons behind Canada's brain drain to U.S.
· Toronto Sun
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OTTAWA — Canada’s best and brightest are leaving Canada in droves, and it’s more than just chasing warmer winters.
A study released this week from the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy shows that, since the end of the pandemic, Canadians heading south to the United States for work has spiked — citing jobs, taxes and Canada’s collapsing healthcare system as reasons.
“The generally positive perception of relocation suggests that the U.S. is successfully meeting or exceeding Canadians’ expectations in several key areas,” read an excerpt from the report, authored by Jack Mintz and Neil Seeman, pointing out that reasons for leaving involve a combination of factors including economics, healthcare and personal factors.
Instead of relying on potentially-sanitized government exit surveys, the study’s authors used innovative web-intercept technology to poll more than 4,000 Americans on exactly what their new Canadian neighbors say are the reasons they left Canada.
Canadians leaving Canada in droves for the US: OECD
According to a 2024 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD,) 19,300 Canadians permanently emigrated to the United States in 2022 — a 65% increase from the previous year.
Separate numbers released this year by Statistics Canada, the report says, shows between 30,000 and 35,000 Canadians left Canada for other countries as of 2023.
“While these statistics provide valuable insights into the scale and dynamism of the phenomenon, their ability to explain the specific motivations behind these relocations is limited,” the report read.
“Statistics Canada, the primary source of demographic data in Canada, does not release comprehensive information on the rationale for departures to the U.S. or provide robust data on the characteristics of those leaving.”
This lack of data, the study’s authors concluded, leaves significant gaps in determining why so many Canadians are making a run for the border.
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Among study subjects who stated a reason for relocating, the majority (28%) cited greater job opportunities as a key reason for moving to the United States.
That’s followed by 26% who cited access and quality of Canada’s troubled healthcare system — preferring the U.S. model of for-profit healthcare over Canadian socialized medicine, and 14% who blamed taxes.
“Combined, health care and tax reasons represent approximately 40% of all reported relocations among relocator-aware respondents — a striking share that points to structural policy concerns well beyond individual circumstances,” the report read.
Two-thirds of those those leaving Canada are between the ages of 20 and 44, with 70% of those leaving holding university degrees.
The study found that healthcare-related reasons for leaving Canada increase with the respondent’s age, peaking among those 65 and over (38%) compared to just 27% for those between 18 and 24.
“The more important finding here is health care’s overall prominence as an observed driver of relocation across all age groups,” the report read.
“This underscores that health-care system performance is not a niche concern of older Canadians but a broad structural driver of emigration that Canadian policymakers cannot afford to treat as a demographic edge case.”