In 2024, Canada attracted 3,200 millionaires from around the world. In 2025? One thousand. That’s a 69% collapse in a single year.
And it’s happening while the rest of the world is seeing record movement… 142,000 millionaires was expected to relocate globally in 2025. The money is moving. It’s just not moving here anymore.
I run a financial planning firm, and over the last two years, this has become one of the most common conversations we have with clients. So today I want to talk about why wealthy Canadians are leaving, where they’re going, and why many of the people who say they’re going to leave… never actually do.
The Product Is Getting Worse
Here’s what’s interesting. When you ask wealthy Canadians why they’re thinking about leaving, the number one answer isn’t taxes. It’s not politics. It’s quality of life.
A recent survey of 1,000 Canadian millionaires found that 56% cited a decline in quality of life as their primary reason for considering an exit. 45% pointed to the economic outlook. And compared to the last federal election cycle, 28% more millionaires said they’re now more likely to leave.
And you can see it in the numbers. The median wait time from a GP referral to actually receiving specialist treatment in Canada is now 28.6 weeks. That’s over seven months. And that’s actually an improvement… the year before it was 30 weeks. We’re celebrating that it only takes seven months to get treated instead of seven and a half.
Housing? Even after eight consecutive quarters of improvement, an average Canadian household buying a home today would spend over half their income on mortgage payments. In Vancouver, it’s 85%. Eighty-five percent of your income going to your mortgage. In Toronto, nearly 70%.
You’re paying top dollar for a product that’s getting worse. And for the first time, a lot of Canadians are asking… what exactly am I getting for this?
Ten years ago, even if you felt that way, what were you going to do about it? You were kind of stuck. But that’s changed.
The World Opened Up
Canada used to be the default. Safe, stable, no real reason to look elsewhere. Like Netflix when it first launched. It had huge hits. House of Cards. Stranger Things. It wasn’t perfect, but what else were you going to watch?
Then Disney+ showed up. And HBO. And Prime. And at the same time, the Netflix originals started getting worse. The library got thinner. The prices went up. Sound familiar?
Canada is in its Netflix era. The product got worse. And the competition got dramatically better.
The US attracted 7,500 new millionaires in 2025. Switzerland, another 3,000. These countries aren’t winning by accident. They’ve built ecosystems specifically designed to attract mobile wealth.
And here’s the unlock that changed everything. Millions of Canadians now have skills and income sources that aren’t tied to a physical location. Before 2020, “moving abroad” meant giving up your career. Now it means opening your laptop somewhere with better weather and a lower tax bill. It’s not just tech workers. Consultants, planners, designers, business owners with digital operations. The pool of people who could leave is way bigger than it used to be.
Countries know this, and they’re competing hard. The Bahamas charges zero income tax. Zero capital gains tax. Singapore? Depending on your income, you could pay under 10%. No capital gains tax. No inheritance tax. And most foreign income is exempt. These aren’t theoretical options anymore. They’re active recruitment campaigns.
When the Arton survey asked where Canadian millionaires would go, 31% said Australia, 26% said the US, 17% the UK, and 13% Portugal. The destinations are diverse, but the impulse is the same. There are options now. And people are shopping.
This isn’t new, by the way. When the UK’s top tax rate hit 95% on investment income, the Rolling Stones moved to the south of France. John Lennon went to New York. The talent didn’t stick around to debate it. They just left.
By the way, if you left Canada in 2025, your departure tax return is due April 30.
This is exactly what we do at Blueprint Financial. Cross-border tax planning, departure strategy, and helping you avoid costly mistakes.
If you need help with a last-minute departure return before the deadline, email us at info@blueprintfinancial.ca. Otherwise, you can learn more through the link in the description.
The Tax Math
So let’s talk about the money. Because ultimately, a lot of these conversations come down to the math.
Canada’s top combined marginal tax rate in Ontario is 53.53%. BC is virtually identical. Quebec is right there too. So if you’re earning at the top bracket, more than half of every additional dollar is going to the government.
But that’s just income tax. That’s not the full picture.
You’re paying sales tax on almost everything you buy. Property tax every year on a home you already paid too much for. If you own a business, you’re paying corporate tax, payroll taxes for CPP and EI, and then getting taxed again personally when you pull the money out. You buy a house in Toronto? You’re paying land transfer tax twice… once to the province, once to the city. You sell an investment? Taxed. Even your beer has a built-in excise tax that goes up automatically every year without anyone even voting on it.
No single tax is the one that breaks people. It’s all of them, stacked on top of each other, all at once. And when you actually add it up, the real number most Canadians are paying to the government is way higher than any single rate suggests.
And here’s where it gets really interesting. On the Tax Foundation’s International Tax Competitiveness Index, Canada ranks 27th out of 38 OECD countries for individual taxes. For corporate taxes, we rank 22nd. You know who ranks better on corporate taxes? Sweden. Finland. Norway. The countries everyone assumes tax you more than Canada actually have more competitive business tax structures than we do.
That ranking doesn’t even capture the full picture. Canada’s tax treaties with some popular destination countries are decades old and haven’t been updated for modern wealth structures. You might assume you’re protected from double taxation, but the treaty with another country might not cover everything the way people expect.
Oh, and compared to our neighbours? The typical Canadian pays about 70% more income tax than the typical American. That’s not the top bracket. That’s the median earner. The person in the middle.
That’s the math that makes people start Googling other countries. And once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has repeatedly flagged that small business owners face an effective combined tax rate well above what the headline corporate rate suggests, once you factor in personal tax on dividends, CPP contributions, and passive investment rules inside CCPCs. It’s a top concern among their members.
Why Most People Never Actually Leave
I’ve worked with a lot of clients who’ve seriously considered leaving Canada. Some followed through. But most had no idea what they were getting into when they started.
Lawyers and planners across the country see the same thing. People get excited, start researching, and then hit a wall. The industry term is “tire kickers.” And the process of exploring whether to leave can potentially take months or even years.
Because the surprises come fast. You find out the government treats you as if you sold everything the day you leave. Stocks, business shares, crypto… capital gains triggered on all of it.
You find out that moving abroad doesn’t automatically make you a non-resident. Keep your home or leave a spouse behind, and the CRA can still claim you. You find out yourTFSA doesn’t work anymore, your OAS might disappear, and your CPP comes with a withholding tax you weren’t expecting.
Every answer leads to two more questions. And that’s where most people stall. Not because they changed their mind. Because nobody told them what they were walking into.
The ones who actually leave? They planned for it. And they started way earlier than they thought they’d need to.
That’s what we do at Blueprint Financial. The departure tax, the residency rules, the cross-border planning that catches people off guard. If you’re even starting to think about leaving, a discovery call is the smartest first step.
A 69% drop in millionaire inflows tells you something. This isn’t driven by emotion. It’s driven by better options and better information. And whether you decide to stay or leave, the key is making that decision intentionally, not reactively.
If you’re thinking about leaving Canada, one of the smartest things you can do is understand the tax traps before you go.
We’ve put together a free guide covering the seven biggest CRA tax traps Canadians face when leaving the country. You can download it here.
And if you want personalized help planning your move, explore our financial planning services.
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The more prepared you are before you leave, the fewer surprises you’ll face after you do.
