IckleHelen

Hi Guys,

Well when I first started using this forum about a week ago I was full of enthusiasm. We haven't applied yet - I'm just at the information gathering stage. However, the more I read, the more I ask myself ...

'Why do I want to move to Canada?'...

* There are tornados and earthquakes (?)
* It is winter for 8 months a year
* Car insurance is outrageous
* There are few IT jobs (both my partner and I work in IT)
* Not having any Canadian work experience will make it very difficult to find work.
* We will earn half what we do in the U.K. (if we manage to get a job)

Could anyone help to restore some balance or shed any light on any of the above.

Thanks all.

Jonny

Change the question to "why do I want to leave the UK"...

1. No more stepping over piles of vomit on the way to work...
2. Pissed girls in their tiny tops and short skirts running down the street with their fags in one hand and 2 bacardi breezers in the other shouting "ere trace, I just gone and pulled aint I..." :scared:
3. Tony Blair
4. Your house will cost less and life will cost less, so who cares that you'll earn less...
5. Please won't somebody stop the rain, clear the clouds and let me see the sky for once.
6. Grey dirty buildings isn't my idea of wonderful scenery. I want to see mountains and forests and oceans and lots of snow...
7. I don't consider a spotty 17 year old grunting at me as great customer service
8. I'll get a job to pay to live my life in Canada, not move to Canada to get a great job
9. After 6pm I want to be able to do something other than go to the pub...

I'm sure others can add to this list

IckleHelen

Ooo! I can think of lots of reasons to leave the UK (of which you've covered many). I guess I just want to be sure that the things I'm running away from in the U.K. arn't in Canada too (or at least as bad!).

IckleHelen

On a similar note - do Canadian Kids have manners?

And Jonny when you say there are other things to do on an evening besides the pub what did you mean? What do Canadians get up to after 6pm?

IckleHelen

Other things I've picked up from the forum are...

* Holidays are expensive on a Canadian Wage
* Annual Leave of 10 days is common (How do you get chance to visit the folks back in the U.K.)
* You work long hours (coupled with the annual leave thing, how do you get chance to enjoy living in Canada)

Now, I know these posts sound like I'be having a go at Canada - I'm not. Please do tell me where I'm off the mark!

Jonny

In terms of what to do after 6pm, it depends where you live. If you live in the snow bound central parts of Canada, people will just drink after 6pm as it's too cold and snowy to go anywhere or do anything, and there's nothing to do out there anywhere. But if you're planning a trip to a major city or even near to a major city, such as Vancouver ( ), then there are plenty of things to do. Unlike in this country, everything will still be open until 10 or 11pm or later, so go for coffee, go out for deserts, go to the shops and malls, take a walk and enjoy the scenery and do go out for a drink. Going out for dinner is also dirt cheap, e.g. we can go for Sushi (made with real fish, not smoked salmon or tuna) in Vancouver for $10 a head, cheaper than staying home for dinner... Or try Chianti's on a Tuesday which does half price pasta for $6 a head. Cheap as chips... Or go see a Hockey game, what fun for an Englishman... Go ice skating, go skiing....

As for holidays being expensive, you're in Canada, why go on holiday? If you really want to, depending where you are in Canada, there are tons of places to go on a low budget, hawaii, mexico, down to the US (if you really want to). Annual leave is a bit of a problem, but you could always ship the folks over instead. Or get a job in teaching to get the summer off. You work long hours? Only if you want to... "Normal" jobs are usually 9-5 just like the UK. Depends on your job, depends on what area you are in, but it really depends if you want to work long hours. Same as the UK.

There will be things that you might not like, but it's a judgement call. Once you leave, you're not barred from the UK, so apply for PR, and spend a year or two there, and if you don't like it, move on somewhere else, or come home. If you don't you'll forever be thinking "what if...".

hot wasabi peas

Oh no! They're doing something!

I'm a Canadian whose family was based for decades in a snow bound area of Canada. All I can say is that in my family, practically everyone's birthday is in September!

Gaz_F

We had a very enlightening experience in Toronto this Easter. The Ice Hockey finals were on, (I'd say, being the ultimate Ice Hockey luddite, the equivalent of the FA cup) and we were in the Hard Rock cafe where it was packed to the rafters with hockey fans cheering for the Maple Leafs.
Now, bringing my UK ex-doormans head with me, I had one look and thought 'Here we go, wonder what's going to happen here?'

But, to my great surprise, within 30 minutes of the game finishing, the place had say 10 people left in it. There was no glass or beer throwing, no punches thrown, no doormen dragging groups of battling teens out, no police, no knives; I think you get the picture.
A couple of weeks after getting back to the UK, some local football fans decided to celebrate Plymouths promotion by wrecking a local pub and scrapping in the street leaving two hospitalised and 11 arrested.

A big eye opener.

swoops

Hi Icklehelen
I've always dreamed of starting a new life in Canada its taken a good few years for us to get to this point, my other half could never see past the cold and the snow :scared: until she could really see what Canada has to offer, a better way of life and a future for our kids and plus what jonny's mentioned.
It was time to get rid of that "IF" and start to plan our life as a family in Canada.
What have you to loose you can always return to this grey way of existing, GO FOR IT !!

gooding

Answers below in red.........

[QUOTE=IckleHelen]Hi Guys,

Well when I first started using this forum about a week ago I was full of enthusiasm. We haven't applied yet - I'm just at the information gathering stage. However, the more I read, the more I ask myself ...

'Why do I want to move to Canada?'...

* There are tornados and earthquakes (?) Not in every town and city....
UK has had flooding and land slides, and getting worse, but again only in some places.BOSCASTLE!
* It is winter for 8 months a year
[COLOR=DarkRed]Canada is not all Eskimos, and igloos! A common misconception. Vancouver and Vancouver Island similar to UK, [/COLOR] Okanagan area is much warmer, and near to USA.
* Car insurance is outrageous
Most Cars to buy are much cheaper than UK for equivalent models. What you save on car cost will pay for additional insurance
* There are few IT jobs (both my partner and I work in IT)
if you are good at what you do, someone will want you, if not start your own business. I read that 75% of immigrants are self employed.* Not having any Canadian work experience will make it very difficult to find work.
The same can be said here in UK. Again if you can offer something a Canadian equivalent worker can't then you will be better off.* We will earn half what we do in the U.K. (if we manage to get a job)
House prices are cheaper. I have a brand new 4 bed house on 1 acre for £120K, and pay half the property tax I would on equivalent in UK

More money does not necessarily mean more dispoable income, it is all relative. If you have half what you earn now and no mortgage, you'll have less stress, and more money to spend.

We will be living 20 minutes from a ski resort, with the sea across the road,and a national park backing onto the rear.
We will be living a permanent holiday, every evening and weekend etc.
For us it is down to quality of life.
Wider roads, less traffic. Bigger less pokey houses, for far less money.
Beautiful clean air. Outdoor lifestyle. lovely people.
There are an awful lot of people that do not need to visit forums like this because they are too busy enjoying their new life in Canada. I think something like 8% return to the UK, which means 92% are enjoying what they have.
It is a huge lifestyle change and not for all. the grass is not always greener, but I personally do not want to look back and say "What if........?"
if I really do not like it 5 years down the line. I can always come back......
and can say "At least I tried"

wizzard

That's not always the case, there are quite a few notorious Hockey riots. I recall watching some stupid TV show that was showing film clips of civil unrest and stuff, probably "crazy police situations XVIII" or something. I recall one of the clips they showed was after a Hockey game in Montreal and something happened but everyone went crazy and they were smashing up shops and cars and fighting police in the street etc, like hundreds of people.

however those things are once in a blue moon and any sport you might watch here whether it's hockey or American/Canadian football or basketball or baseball etc. their fans and the way they act are a *million* miles away from the kind of culture that surrounds football in the UK. Maybe it's because with Hockey the fans can channel their agression through the players smashing each other to pieces and so are calmer when they leave where as with football which has barely any contact and so forth the fans have to attack each other. Maybe if in football they allowed the players to carry sticks or something to hit each other with people would chill out more? Sounds kind of backwards but you don't really see fighting after boxing matches or wrestling and stuff.

There is a general impression of people being more friendly in Canada. I have found it to be generally true with regard to people you meet. However I think mostly people are thinking in terms of when they meet strangers and in many ways you have to look at the situation you meet them in. There is a lot of contact in stores and resteraunts where there is the North American attitude to go out of your way to be nice to people, unlike the UK where it's the opposite. I think it all depends where you are as well. There are plenty of places in the UK that have repuations for being very friendly, especially in more rural and smaller towns, which is the same in Canada. If you go to downtown Toronto like going to London most people will completely ignore you, and there are a reasonable proportion in parts of the city who would love to shoot you and take all your money.

As for kids, they are different here than the UK. There is a different culture and the schools are different. The music and fashion and so forth are all completely different. You find a lot of kids are nice but there are also the same kind of kids as in the UK it is just that it is expressed differently. There isn't the yob culture, there isn't the same culture of say groups of 15 year old kids hanging out on street corners drinking beer, insulting old people and then throwing abrick through yoru window. However in Canada, mainly in big cities like toronto or Vancouver there is a more US influenced gang subculture. You will find a lot more kids influenced by the kind of north american hip hop gang culture. My brother in law here is 17 and walking around the town he lives in which is north of Toronto he points out which kids belong to which gangs at school, who is carrying a gun who sells which drugs etc. Now when you meet the kids they are mostly polite and don't have that anti-social bent that a lot of groups of kids have in the UK where they are openly confrontational with people. However it is not a perfect situation of nice well behaved kids who never get into trouble.

Drew

oceanMDX

Gooding,

Where in Canada do you own property?

Gaz_F

Hi Drew,

Thanks for the informed reply. I've encountered the gangland subculture when I was in such diverse places as Southern California to North Carolina, and I'd expect Canada to follow a similar model due to it's close proximity to, and the influence of, the US.
But, the overall 'feel' I had for Toronto and Vancouver was a lot more relaxed than here in the UK. That's one of the reasons the wife and I are planning a few trips to different areas of Canada at different times of the year. So we can get a good look at the people and places before we commit to a specific area.

But, admittedly, posts such as yours are very helpful to make us realise the grass isn't all that greener and there are more points to consider.

Thanks,
Gaz.

Glaswegian

I noticed a sudden outbreak of births in Calgary since September ... I can guess what Calagarians get up to in Jan/Feb when we get our coldest weather

Glaswegian

1 acre for under $300K isn't very likely anywhere near Calgary ... our property prices are way cheaper than either Vancouver or the GTA.

It's true that a large proportion of immigrants are self-employed ... to some extent that's because non-european immigrants make up the majority of immigrants and are the least popular with potential employers.

I work in a team of system engineers ... with the exception of one guy who looks possibly mediteranean, everyone else is obviously of european heritage ... the staff at most of the client sites I work at are pretty much the same ... if they don't look european, they've got Canadian accents because they were born or grew up here ... the only non-Canadian accents I here a lot of are european and of course, they are the minority of immigrants.

Bear in mind that Canada is huge ... Alberta gets tornadoes quite often ... but Alberta is also almost twice the size of the UK ... most of the tornadoes touch down on land with nothing on it.

As for BC earthquakes ... it affects me about as much to me as an Albertan as an Italian eathquake would affect me if I still lived in the UK.

I had a chat with a couple of guys this week about doing business and getting a job in Calgary ... you're way more likely to get a job if someone knows you or recommends you ... once they know you and you have credibility it gets a lot easier.