Canadian government introducing a new policy to fine or impose an exit fee on those who leave the country? Several posts with a similar screenshot have been doing rounds on social media claiming that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proposed such change. However, these claims that have gone viral are found to be untrue as none of the official Canada’s government websites mention about it anywhere.

The screengrab opens with a headline saying ‘Canada Proposes $25K Departure Penalty and Increased Taxes to Curb Emigration Crisis’. The contents and the headline however professionally presented are misleading and false. The authorities in Canada have no such plans to propose any such hefty cost on ordinary Canadians who wants to leave the country.

Since it’s been shared, the screengrab appeared to have gained at least a million of views, if all such posts on X are combined. The user who actually shared the post on social media platform even added another screenshot from the Canada’s government website. To support the claims made, the user named TD Leaker mentioned a section on ‘Leaving Canada (emigrants)’ policy details mentioned on the official government’s website.

However, when we looked into that particular section mentioned on the official government’s website (https://www.canada.ca/), it was found that the particular section was about retaining ones properties if an emigrant tries to leave. Not just it applies only to emigrants but it further talks about a deemed deposit in case a person had made a capital gain by selling or keep assets such as shares, jewelries, paintings, and collections.

Many users started reacting to the post and some even mistakenly called it ‘Canadian government going to charge you if you are leaving’, by believing the screengrab as true.