A record number of Canadians are leaving the country for good but Quebecers are staying put

More than 111,000 people left Canada for good in 2025, and if the first half of this year is any indication, 2026 isn’t slowing down either.

According to the latest quarterly data from Statistics Canada, 111,572 people emigrated from the country last year, edging past 2024’s total of 109,535. Through the first six months of 2026 alone, another 51,040 people have already packed up and left, putting this year on pace to land somewhere in the same range, or higher.

Not every province is contributing to that number equally, though.

Ontario and B.C. keep leading the pack

Ontario has supplied close to half the country’s departures for the past couple of years. Fifty-two thousand people left in 2023, just over 50,000 in 2024, and nearly 51,000 in 2025, each year landing around 46% of the national total despite the province only making up about 39% of Canada’s population. That pattern is holding in 2026 too, with 23,991 people leaving Ontario between January and June.

B.C.’s numbers are smaller, but the gap between its population and its share of departures is even wider. The province holds about 14% of the country’s population, yet its emigration numbers have hovered above 21% every year since 2023, with totals sitting close to 24,000 in both 2023 and 2024, then climbing slightly to 24,184 in 2025. So far in 2026, it’s at 11,296, right in line with the previous few years.

Alberta is the one province that tracks almost exactly where you’d expect. It’s contributed close to 14,000 departures annually since 2023, a number that’s lined up neatly with its roughly 12% share of the national population the whole time. The first half of 2026 puts it at 6,179.

Quebec isn’t following the trend

Then there’s Quebec.

For the past few years, Quebecers have been leaving at roughly half the rate you’d expect based on its population alone.

Despite being home to nearly 22% of the country’s population, the province has accounted for only about 12.7% of everyone who’s left Canada in every single year since 2023. In 2025, that meant 14,239 Quebecers emigrated out of 111,572 nationally. So far in 2026, the share has barely budged, sitting at 12.3% through June.

Statistics Canada doesn’t offer an explanation for why, but a few theories could explain it. Housing and everyday costs in Montreal and Quebec City still run cheaper than cities like Toronto or Vancouver, which may be enough to keep more people from packing up. Language and cultural ties could also make the idea of leaving the country feel like a bigger leap for Quebecers than it does for other Canadians.

Other provinces

The rest of the country makes up a much smaller piece of the total.

Manitoba and Nova Scotia have both sat around 2% of national emigration in recent years, with totals hovering in the 2,000 to 3,000 range annually since 2023. Saskatchewan has landed just under 2% each year too, dipping slightly from around 2,100 departures in 2023 to just under 2,000 by 2025.

New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador are smaller still. Each contributes only a few hundred departures a year, and together they add up to close to 1% of the national total. The territories, combined, account for well under 60 departures most years.

Will this trend continue?

Whether this pattern holds for the rest of 2026 remains to be seen, but with rent and grocery prices still eating into paycheques across the country, it’s not hard to guess why some people are looking elsewhere, or why others are staying put where the bills are a little more manageable.