BEST Affordable PLACES TO LIVE
Maclean's|September 2024
THE BAD NEWS: OWNING A HOME in one of Canada's marquee cities is now largely the purview of millionaires.
Alex Cyr, Michael Hingston, Jason McBride, Mark Pupo, Caitlin Stall-Paquet and Katie Underwood
BEST Affordable PLACES TO LIVE

In Toronto, a typical home goes for nearly $1.1 million, while the price of admission in Greater Vancouver is even higher at $1.2 million (and a house in West Vancouver has the vertigo-inducing sticker shock of $2.6 million). The good news is that for many people, homeownership is still possible-if they're willing to explore new terrain. In the following pages, we present 10 Canadian cities where the benchmark home price still falls under the national average of $700,000. And these aren't boring backwaters: each city we're featuring is buzzing with economic activity, innovative new businesses, delicious dining options and cultural touchstones. Among them are Windsor, Ontario, which has transformed from a rust-belt relic to an EV production hub. Charlottetown, once homogenous and sleepy, is now a tapestry of multiculturalism, complete with destinations for pho and Lebanese cuisine. And Sherbrooke, smack in the centre of Quebec's idyllic Eastern Townships, is leading the way in quantum computing. In each of these cities, buyers can find good-sized, high-value, often adorable family homes without breaking the bank. Happy hunting.

The Seaside Charmer

Charlottetown, P.E.I.

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MÁS HISTORIAS DE MACLEAN'SVer todo
So You've Been Hacked - A new generation of ultra-sophisticated cybercriminals are targeting governments, corporations, hospitals and libraries and laying bare how ill-equipped Canada is to fight back
Maclean's

So You've Been Hacked - A new generation of ultra-sophisticated cybercriminals are targeting governments, corporations, hospitals and libraries and laying bare how ill-equipped Canada is to fight back

A new generation of ultra-sophisticated cybercriminals are targeting governments, corporations, hospitals and libraries and laying bare how ill-equipped Canada is to fight back.On a July morning in 2022, Brad Hynes, the IT manager for the town of St. Mary's in southwestern Ontario, was backing up the town's computer systems when things went haywire. File names became unintelligible strings of characters. Desktop icons went blank. File after file was impossible to open, a string of digital duds. The background wallpaper on Hynes's screen disappeared, replaced by the red-and-black logo of a Russian ransomware gang called LockBit. A line of all-caps text appeared: All your important files are stolen and encrypted!

time-read
10+ minutos  |
September 2024
Bill of Health - I spent years with excruciating hip pain, languishing in Canada's health-care queue. I finally paid for private surgery-in Lithuania.
Maclean's

Bill of Health - I spent years with excruciating hip pain, languishing in Canada's health-care queue. I finally paid for private surgery-in Lithuania.

My hip pain started around 2015, when I was in my mid-30s. It began as stiffness, then the odd pinch or tweak. I live with my wife, Barbara, and our three kids on an acreage in Sturgeon County, Alberta, where we raise a handful of cows and some chickens. Our lives are very active. I'm also a maintenance supervisor at a nearby provincial park. That's a physical job, too-overseeing buildings, outhouses and campsites. I'm not exactly used to sitting still, so when my hip started to hurt, I pushed through it. I figured it was something minor and did some extra stretches. Instead, it got worse.

time-read
7 minutos  |
September 2024
Green Scene - Montreal's Théâtre de Verdure stages plays and musical performances against a naturally beautiful backdrop
Maclean's

Green Scene - Montreal's Théâtre de Verdure stages plays and musical performances against a naturally beautiful backdrop

Théâtre de Verdure is a setting straight out of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream: a thespian's paradise in the middle of a lush woodland. Since 1956, the open-air stage has occupied an island in the middle of Montreal's Parc La Fontaine, exposing park-goers to regular, accessible (read: free) and dazzling productions.

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2 minutos  |
September 2024
Log Off To Find Love - Apps have gamified meeting and mating-and affected our social skills for the worse. The real future of dating is offline.
Maclean's

Log Off To Find Love - Apps have gamified meeting and mating-and affected our social skills for the worse. The real future of dating is offline.

In 2017, after being single for a few years, I wanted to get back into the dating game. I was newly sober at the time, so I wasn’t super-confident about venturing into my local bar scene in London, Ontario. Instead, I leapt into the world of digital dating via Bumble, which, back then, required women to send the first message. I thought, That’s feminist. I’m a feminist. Let’s try it! My first few months online provided me with an emotionally exhausting education.

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5 minutos  |
September 2024
"I escaped Gaza and sent my family to Egypt. Now, my goal is to reunite with them in Canada."
Maclean's

"I escaped Gaza and sent my family to Egypt. Now, my goal is to reunite with them in Canada."

Bombs destroyed my neighbourhood and killed my loved ones. I hope my family and I can find refuge in Quebec.

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October 2024
TIDAL WAVE
Maclean's

TIDAL WAVE

Susan Lapides chronicles her family's summers in a tiny New Brunswick fishing town

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2 minutos  |
October 2024
THE NORTHERN FRONT
Maclean's

THE NORTHERN FRONT

In Ontario's hinterlands, a battle is brewing between First Nations, prospectors and the provincial government over a multi-billion-dollar motherlode of metals. Inside the fight for the Ring of Fire.

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10+ minutos  |
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THE CULTURE WAR IN THE CLASSROOM
Maclean's

THE CULTURE WAR IN THE CLASSROOM

Several provincial governments now mandate parental consent for kids to change pronouns in Schools. Who gets to decide a child's gender?

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10+ minutos  |
October 2024
THE JACKPOT GENERATION
Maclean's

THE JACKPOT GENERATION

Canada is in the midst of the greatest wealth transfer of all time, as some $1 trillion passes from boomers to their millennial kids. How an inheritance-based economy will transform the country.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
October 2024
My Child-Free Choice
Maclean's

My Child-Free Choice

For a long time, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to become a parent. The climate crisis clinched my decision.

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5 minutos  |
October 2024