jhampton

Hi Robin Thanks so much for your quick reply I thought it might be the case that you had dual citizenship which does make life easier I will have to make a decision regarding my residency status which is quite a stumbling block for me as it was quite stressful obtaining my pr card seven years ago! Life does give you challenges! I'll just have to keep my sense of humour and believe it will all work out in the end! Have you completely settled into your new environment? I enjoyed reading about your ongoing adventure and have to admit I'm envious! Sounds the perfect solution Thanks again for your advice ...

robin1234

We aren't a million miles from you (in North America.) We are just across the border from Brockville, Ont., and once in a while we take the train from Brockville to Toronto for a three or four day "city break." I love Toronto, if I was to live in a city again, Toronto would be high on my list! I hope to visit the Aga Khan Islamic Museum next time we go there... I've never been to London, but in general I think that's a nice part of the world. I had a great uncle who moved to Hamilton after WWII so I have long standing family connections there. Back in the 1970s, I worked on a tobacco farm in Delhi, Ont, for a few weeks. But I came down with nicotine poisoning and had to leave the job...

Think seriously about getting citizenship. You never know what plans you may have in the future. If it's anything like becoming a U.S. Citizen, it's a breeze, unlike getting your original resident visa. They want you to be a citizen!

I want to thank you for posting in this thread. I'd forgotten I'd started it last year, so now I'm motivated to write up an update, maybe today or tomorrow!

jhampton

Nice to hear you enjoy visiting Canada It is a lovely country ... Looking forward to your next update!

Novocastrian

It's an impressive place. I highly recommend lunch at the restaurant within...excellent food and great service.

robin1234

First instalment of my update; yes, it's been a few months, my only excuse is that I'm rusticated, just going for walks, watching the birds and spring flowers etc.

Election on Thursday! OK, it's a fairly low key election, for a district council vacancy in our ward. I think it's arisen because of the resignation, ill-health, death or similar of the incumbent.

I only know about the election because the Lib Dem candidate has now written twice with newsletters. I will vote for him, at least partly because he's the only candidate to bother to reach out. A search reveals no press interest or information whatever. The only official info about the election is a notice from the district council, issued 9 March, so only a week before the election. This notice is available online but wasn't mailed out or otherwise brought to the attention of residents.

So I at least know the names of the Conservative and Labour candidates. Labour guy has no online presence at all, as far as I can see. He's invisible. Conservative guy has a Twitter presence. He's issued five or six tweets, and has seven "followers." He is on Facebook, but just has an ordinary personal page with no info about him available to casual searchers. And as I said, neither of these people or parties has put out any election materials at all.

According to the Lib Dem guy, in 2015, the vote was;
Con 41%
Lib Dem 34%
UKIP 15%
Lab 10%
So bearing in mind there is no UKIP candidate this time, you'd have thought the election was pretty open, certainly not a foregone conclusion....

Oh well, at least we're not having election rallies violently broken up by rival gangs!

Editha

i'm surprised that there is no UKIP candidate. Oddly enough, UKIP often take Lib-Dem votes. I can't explain the mindset of someone who switches votes between LD and UKIP, but they do. So, I wouldn't say the outcome of your election is a foregone conclusion at all. With the Tories down in the polls, and engaging in internecine warfare over the EU referendum, the LD candidate stands a sporting chance.

The Labour Party hardly exists in most rural areas, so your local candidate's lack of 'presence' is par for the course.

robin1234

Thanks for the recommendation. My wife is not keen on eating out, but museum and art gallery restaurants I can usually persuade her to try!

We would have gone last time we were in Toronto, but it's a bit out in the suburbs and I think the public transport possibilities were a bit scanty..

Novocastrian

Yes, public transport in Toronto is naff but it is possible.... this is taken from the museum website...

By Public Transit
The 100 Flemingdon Park bus, available at Broadview and Eglinton subway stations, stops on Wynford Drive right at the Aga Khan Museum (stop: Garamond Court; travel time approx. 25–30 minutes). The 25 Don Mills bus, available at Pape subway station, stops at Don Mills Road and Wynford Drive (stop: Wynford Drive; travel time approx. 20 minutes). The Museum is a short walk along Wynford Drive (approx. 5 minutes).

HTH

robin1234

Lib Dems won big! According to the Lib Dem website,

LDEM: 48.0% (+17.1)
CON: 37.9% (+5.5)
LAB: 14.1% (-8.0)

(Percent changes do not seem to agree with the percentages reported for the 2015 election.)

Looks like the LD candidate got some of the UKIP votes, and some former Labour votes too. Considering UKIP weren't running, I'd say the Tory did poorly, which is surely a national phenomenon as I've not read that people have any particular objections to the way the Tories are running the District Council.

The experience of voting here is remarkably similar to voting in New York. You show up at the polling place, squint at a list of streets which directs you to table one or two. The poll volunteer asks for your address, which she looks up in a big paper printout. As in New York, no ID is required. After confirming your name, she gives you a voting paper which you then go to a counter and mark up with a pencil (provided). Here, you then feed your paper into a box. In NYS, you feed it into a big machine that tabulates the votes electronically.

I'm on a winning streak, maybe there'll be some more things to vote for soon...?