Douglas Todd: The brain drain from B.C. — and Canada — is worsening

The alluring images of B.C. being spread around the world during the FIFA World Cup disguise the more ominous, inside story of this province and country. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG

Article content

The glittering images the World Cup is rolling out of Vancouver are likely to induce envy.

Article content

The visions that TV is spreading around the world spotlight the green trees of Stanley Park, the blue waters of Burrard Inlet, the silver highrises of Vancouver and the North Shore, and the sunshine-drenched Coastal Mountains.

Article content

Article content

No wonder so many from afar yearn to move to this province, as they have in the past. The problem is the pictures are no longer worth a thousand words: The alluring images fail to tell the more ominous, inside story of this province and country.

Article content

Article content

For the first time in decades, people — especially the young and educated — are leaving B.C. for other parts of Canada faster than they’re arriving. On top of that, many more residents of Canada than before are heading off to other countries.

Article content

Article content

B.C. may sometimes look like heaven. But the reality is that an Angus Reid poll recently found that while three in 10 Canadians are seriously considering leaving their province, that swells to almost four in 10 for British Columbians.

Article content

It’s not only the exorbitant cost of housing causing the exodus. B.C. is struggling economically, more than most of Canada.

Article content

David Williams, a policy specialist for the Business Council of B.C., recently put beautiful B.C.’s problem in this droll, albeit painful, way.

Article content

“In the musical, The Sound of Music, the von Trapp children sing the chorus of the famous song, ‘So long, farewell,’ before a ballroom filled with their father’s assembled guests,” he said.

Article content

“One of the children, seven-year-old Marta, then steps forward to sing the next line, ‘I hate to go and leave this pretty sight.’ Perhaps this sentiment was on the minds of the nearly 70,000 residents who left beautiful British Columbia for other parts of Canada over the past year.”

Article content

Article content

To clarify, many people are still moving to B.C. from other parts of Canada. But they’re not enough to make up for the 60,000 to 70,000 each year who are departing. Since 2023, B.C.’s net interprovincial migration has turned sharply negative.

Article content

Article content

Subtracting the number of people who arrive from those who move away, a net 5,000 to 9,000 B.C. residents are annually leaving for other provinces, particularly Alberta. “This is unusual,” Williams said. “The province has not seen negative net interprovincial migration of this magnitude since the 1998-2002 period.”

Article content

Article content

Article content

Moreover, Canada itself is not doing well economically, says Williams.

Article content

The best way to measure individuals’ standard of living is through overall gross domestic product, or GDP, per person. And on that score Williams has a disturbing message: “Canada had the second-weakest GDP per capita growth” out of the 38 well-off countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in the period since 2014.

Article content

Western University economist Mike Moffat, a founder of the Missing Middle Initiative, is also concerned. Last year, Moffat says, a record-setting 120,000 Canadians moved out of the country, with 50 per cent of them between the ages of 25 and 45. The OECD estimates roughly half move to the U.S, followed by Britain and Australia.