JamesM

At last check you are 10 times more likely to be killed by a gun in Canada than the UK.

Shootings in Canada's largest cities far more frequent than London, UK.

The benefits of Canada are an oddity. You need to have a niche variety of interests and be in a niche profession to get on here.

Public Transport, Health care, Gun crime and majority of work opportunities all better in the UK. Not to mention the superior choice of retail at cheaper prices.

The US offers more professionally than Canada, has better wages and lower priced goods. But that is as an average and not necessarily one region versus another.

prairiechicken

I have a friend in Northern California, a British expat. He reckons that although the apparent cost of living is lower there (goods are lower priced etc), the high cost of medical insurance for him and his family means it all evens out in the end. I am sure that there are many variables, but I guess the message here is to take all your variables into account!

scrubbedexpat091

That entirely depends on one's profession. I find Canada has better wages.

kevin041

My wife is a nurse and I don't class that as a niche profession.

What niche variety of interests are you referring to?

MarylandNed

10 times a small number is still a small number. You're still very unlikely to be murdered in Canada. Also, the overall homicide rates are much closer than that (the difference is less than a factor of 2). People are murdered in various ways. It doesn't have to be by gun.

bc_guy

I lived in a small rural Iowa town. It wasn't too bad a place, but people there are a bit too stuffy and monolithically conformist, and seem to have a problem with people being themselves or having independent thoughts of their own. In Nanaimo, I felt free to be myself and the town wasn't very monolithic with respect to the different types of personalities that lived there. It's the most diverse (not necessarily ethnically diverse) and non-conformist place I've lived in so far. Not only that, but I felt that a significantly greater portion of the friendly people I met were genuinely friendly as opposed to passive-aggressive. The place had its fair share of tossers though, but they were so much easier to ignore given their relative size to the rest of the city. I also managed to meet lots of people who were non-partisan and had their own independent thoughts and belief systems rather than being either too politically malleable or too politically dogmatic. Finding such people in the US (not limited to Iowa) was like finding a needle in a haystack (figuratively speaking of course).

But again, I have to stress that my experience denotes a comparison between two different cities/towns on different sides of the border, rather than two different countries. I had this same conversation with another out-of-towner when I lived in Nanaimo, and he told me that Kelowna was pretty much the same way as that rural Iowa town. Now, I've never been to Kelowna so I can't exactly verify the accuracy of that claim. But you get the point.

kevin041

How does one find somewhere they would like to live in Canada without exploring the whole country? Perhaps I will create a new thread for this.

bc_guy

It really depends on what you're looking for in a place. Things like jobs, economic data, federal election results, weather patterns, etc can be found on wikipedia and various government statistics websites. However, things like the overall social culture have to be experienced firsthand. It really depends on what matters most to you.

kevin041

I suppose my wife's employment would ultimately dictate this, however, if we had a choice, our primary goal is to live somewhere with good people. I know that sounds a little vague and perhaps even strange to some people, but right now we live in a society where people are inherently aggressive, rude and impolite.

On a more practical note - good amenities and infrastructure are important, as well as good housing, schools, good family friendly neighborhoods.

Tirytory

So I don't want to be the voice of gloom...but what nursing qualification does your wife hold? Nurses might be on the federal skilled worker list but that doesn't indicate that it's easy to nurse here. It's not. I think it's ok to get a job when you have got through the nightmarish red tape and exams here but it's a long process (speaking for Ontario). There are various threads on nursing on this forum which you should read. The easiest province for your wife to get registered in might ultimately decide where you live tbh.

Nurses in no way have the benefits that the nhs offer it's employees. Think one week annual leave and research seniority too... Basically whoever is in line for the next fulltime position gets it, and it's not based on who's best for the job just who's been there the longest.

Sure the NHS is in need of reform but it is still a great healthcare system. I don't think the Canadian one is better than it though. There is a lot of things not available on OHIP here which is probably the way the nhs needs to go...

Edited to add...where do you live which is so aggressive and impolite?

bc_guy

Well, a mid-sized city with a demand for your wife's skill set would probably be ideal. Almost every Canadian city with over 100,000 people has sufficient amenities, adequate housing options, a good selection of schools, neighborhoods, etc. As for finding friendly people, you'd have to personally visit all the places on your shortlist beforehand. How about doing some preliminary research on cities, look for available jobs and then visit your top 3 or 5 cities before making a decision. You can even use Google Maps to look at all the different neighborhoods to see if you'll be living in a nice family-friendly area or a slum. There are also crime statistics available online at:

| British Columbia Crime Rates | Crime Statistics By City | Street Gangs | Canadian Crime Rates

The likelihood of encountering rudeness is inversely proportional to crime rate. The less crime there is, the less likely you are to come across rude people.

bc_guy

PS: In the right-hand sidebar, there are links to crime rates for cities in other provinces. I don't exactly know how to navigate to the main page. I googled the link.

JamesM

I agree with you 110%. But the average wage is higher across all professions so the individuals really need to do their homework on their specific profession.

bats

Seniority also dictates your choice of vacation time and availability of overtime.

Gozit

Even with the downright shitty weather, Canada all the way. At least your kids aren't at risk of being shot down whilst at school. Never would I live in the US, for more reasons than 1. I don't even like it that much when I visit it.