….. which translates to “From Sea to Sea,” and that applies to Canada, the subject of this post. Canada is one of those places that people really want to visit, and some want to stay, permanently. It certainly is ready to welcome them: since January 3, 2023 — the Ottawa Government reached its target of 431,645 new permanent residents. And they come from literally everywhere. This isn’t just people coming to the country to go straight on to benefits: immigration accounts for almost 100% of Canada’s labour force growth. Roughly 75% of Canada’s population growth comes from immigration, mostly in the economic category. And, by 2036, immigrants will represent up to 30% of Canada’s population, compared with 20.7% in 2011. That’s impressive.
But one thing that Canada certainly is, is that it’s expensive. And one major factor of this which is contributing to the high cost of housing in Canada is urbanization; more people are moving to cities for better jobs. It’s understandable. But, coupled with the factors above, in order to move here, you need to get here – literally. So, we’re discussing exactly that: airlines and flights in Canada. Some visitors might gasp at some of the prices for flying here, but there are several difficult reasons why this is so.
From east to west it stretches almost 4,700 miles (7,560 kilometers) across six time zones. It is the second largest country in the world, but it has only one-half of one percent of the world’s population. And with those statistics, low air ridership and huge distances, make those factors considerable when trying to run an airline. Basically, the barriers are the sheer size of the country, and the unavoidable truth there are only a few native airlines here, which is a factor in competitiveness, fees and costs. It could be a matter of “we don’t care, we don’t have to. We are the only games in town”.
We do have a caveat here, though: it’s not all bad news. We’ve flown Air Canada a number of times and, in case of problems, their call-centre staff are terrific. And, off the back of that, we really like airTransat even better. Excellent aircraft (Airbus) super-flexible booking, and they even offer holidays. Try them out. You’ll get hooked. Click here to book.
You’ll likely want a car in Canada; options can be scarce and expensive. Thrifty is Canada’s car rental source. Click here.
Expedia.com