The video, posted by Robin Skies or @iamrobinskies on TikTok, received more than 3.7 million views and 29,700 comments. Thousands of users commented their own opinions about Canada including the high cost of living, the ongoing opioid epidemic, and the “broken” healthcare system.
“I’m ready for the hate and I don’t care. We need to address this,” the caption read. “Canada really sucks right now. Any #americans wanna adopt my gf and I?”
For a single person to live comfortably in Canada the estimated monthly cost is about $883 and about $3,166 for a family of four, according to the Canadian Visa website. It is also estimated that a “good” salary in Canada is about $61,000 annually, while entry-level jobs start at about $25,000 on average.
In the TikTok, Skies duetted a video from user @ashanti8888 who said she was on a bus back to Canada and was crying because she did not want to live there anymore. Her video received 2 million views.
Skies said he empathized with Ashanti and that he wanted to speak up about what was going on in Canada.
“At the moment, it really kinda sucks to live here,” Skies said in his video. “It really feels like there’s no hope and no future in this country.”
Skies explained that the cost of living in Canada is “ridiculous” and that groceries, gas, and housing costs are “through the roof.” Currently, the average cost of one gallon of gas is about $5.25 compared to $3.84 in the U.S.
“Everything is expensive. My cell phone plan costs me $100 a month,” Skies said.
He also explained that in addition to the high cost of living, the cities “are not safe” and the opioid epidemic is claiming Canadian lives every day.
“Our healthcare system is f***ing broken,” Skies said. “So broken in fact that even though 90 percent of the population of this country is fully vaccinated, we can’t open back up.”
Skies also explained that there are Indigenous people who do not have access to clean water.
He then shifted to the fact that everything “fun” is still heavily restricted in Canada. He said this includes concerts, festivals, and all social activities.
“But we can work our ass off every single day to not have enough money to, you know, survive,” Skies said. “Most of the time it just feels like Canadians would rather be smug about not being American than actually address this sh*t. And it sucks because I love this country but I want to move.”
In the comments, many users mentioned that they thought Skies was talking about the U.S. up until he said that 90 percent of the population was vaccinated.
Other users commented that it’s funny how Canadians want to move to the U.S. and Americans want to move to Canada.
“I find it fascinating that Americans wanna move to Canada and many Canadians wanna go to the US, and both in part for similar financial struggles,” one user commented.
“I thought you were already talking about the US in the video…we are not okay over here either,” another user wrote.
But many of the comments came from Canadians who agreed with Skies.
“The cost of living is basically ‘get a roommate’ or go homeless,” one comment read.
“This whole country feels like a sinking ship,” another read.
Newsweek reached out to Robin Skies but did not receive a comment in time for publication.