🇨🇦 Canada Is Bleeding Talent and the Government Calls the Immigration System a Success

Roughly 120,000 people left Canada in 2025 — a 3% increase over 2024 and the fourth consecutive annual rise, as documented by the Association for Canadian Studies. Over half were prime-aged workers between 25 and 49. Highly-skilled immigrants — the doctors, engineers, and scientists Ottawa imported to justify record intake numbers — are leaving at twice the rate of lower-skilled peers. Seniors departing permanently hit 16,609 in 2025, up 80.5% from a decade ago. The system didn't retain talent. It processed it and exported it.

Meanwhile, the fantasy that Americans were flooding north to escape Trump collapsed entirely. Only 295 Americans were admitted as permanent residents in January 2026, versus 805 in January 2025. The political class spent years constructing a narrative about Canada as a progressive refuge. The data says Canadians are the ones fleeing — to the US, to Florida specifically, where 21.2% of Canadian relocators now land. The country isn't a destination. Under a decade of Liberal management, it became a departure lounge.

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