These people were able to take their big-city salaries to more affordable towns
CBC
Alejandra McLatchie loves that her new home sits on two acres of land, with a pool and a chicken coop, just a 10-minute walk from a lake.
In June, she and her family moved to Upper Tantallon, N.S., about 25 minutes outside of Halifax, ditching their long commutes to downtown Toronto each day from their home with a small backyard in the suburban city of Mississauga.
McLatchie and her husband, Tyler, who both work in the insurance industry, are among what appears to be a growing number of people who have been able to relocate to smaller cities and towns in Canada, as remote work during the pandemic made their jobs — and their big-city salaries — portable.
Statistics Canada data on internal migration over the pandemic period is not yet available, but a real estate boom in Canada's smaller cities has been tied, in part, to the new freedoms of remote work.
"I never thought that I would ever have the opportunity actually to work from home five days a week, consistently, all the time," said McLatchie.
LISTEN | Hear more about how Alejandra McLatchie made a case to move her job to the East Coast:
When the pandemic hit, as difficult as that time was, she said she decided to use it as an opportunity to "showcase my abilities to be able to produce the same amount, if not more, being at home remotely."
Moves like the McLatchies have raised questions about whether employees should retain the same-sized paycheques when they move to less expensive areas. Tech giants, including Google and Facebook, for instance, have said staff members who choose to continue working remotely after the pandemic from areas outside normal commuting distance from the office may take a cut in pay.
Still, other companies, including Shopify and numerous others in the tech industry, have said they're embracing remote work, partly as a way to retain workers with in-demand skills, while also expanding the pool of candidates.
That's good news for our country, said Tony Bonen, director of research, data and analytics for the Ottawa-based Labour Market Information Council.
"I think the move to increasing levels of flexibility for workers is good for businesses; I think it's good for workers," he said.
"In Canada's case, in particular, I think it's especially good for us, because it maybe allows people to spread out a little bit more. We have a lot of land here. And there's a big difference between the amount of people crowding into large cities versus … more remote areas that have a lot to offer, but there just haven't been jobs there."
If your job can be done just as well from a part of the country without sky-high housing costs and long commutes, Bonen said pay shouldn't change with your postal code.
"I think if you are given the flexibility, the benefit of working remotely anywhere within Canada, there's no reason why your pay should be different, depending on where you choose to live," he said. "If you live in an expensive city or a less expensive region, or a less expensive part of the city, for example, that's a personal financial choice."
