I was talking to my boss yesterday and he was saying that due to his age (over 45) he might look at New Zealand. I then told him that Canada is also an option, to which he replied that Canada is a cross between the USA and France.

God, that could be horrendous because of (many of) the people or fantastic for scenery and food (ignoring general US food of course).

I could never live in Canada. I don't do cold or snow and whilst I bow to Dorothy's expertise, if the UK is too cold for me then Canada is too.

I'd love to visit Canada partly because I suspect that it's not the way that most people imagine it to be. I understand it's very beautiful there. To go and live in Canada? It seems like a fairly good bet particularly for future generations if you believe in global warming. But lately we hear more about the possibilty of global cooling.

...For now at least, I think I'll stick with Australia

have been looking at canada myself and currently its taking 6-12months, average of 9. You have to renew your visa after 5 years and providing you are there 2 out of the 5 years its not a problem. Alot of people tend to "land" supply an address of friend/relative to receive their card and come back to tie up loose ends. If not its takes 4-6 weeks to get your card.

Therefore i beleive it will be alot quicker to get into canada.

One advantage to canada might be being able to fly to the US for holidays in the same way you fly to europe from england?, I would be interested to know if thats what people do

Having moved to perth myself I do miss being more connected to the rest of the world.
As for likes and dislikes, well, there have been a million posts before on the same thing. They tend to become very heated debates. For me I would say I like that australia is a very beautiful place, but dislike that it seems about 15 years of of date when compared to the UK in so many different ways

australia is hot? so why in Sydney now my thermometer displays 10 Centigrades? and will be displaying till December?

Cause it's broken?

You're trying to tell everyone that even during the day from now until December your thermometer will not get above 10 degrees? Where do you live? Underground? Granted when the sun goes down, the temps plummet, but during the day in winter, all around Aus, the weather is generally brilliant and well over 16 degrees.

I'm looking at Canada, as soon as I've saved up 4k (a requirement) I'm applying for a working holiday visa. I know a few people that moved to Canada on a working holiday visa and #$%%$## loved it!!! They even renewed their visa so they could be there for the Vancouver winter Olympics. My Dad moved to Australia from New Zealand and my mum moved here from the UK both love it here but want to retire back to their home country in the future lol (we'll see how that pans out, eep).

I don't know where I will eventually end up, whether it be Canada, Australia, the UK or somewhere else in the EU (I'm an EU citizen) but living in another country is one of my biggest goals in life....People have suggested taking a reccie trip to both which is a very good idea!

What an immature comment.

The oz vs canada thing has been to death on here. Which is best? How long is a piece of string. Plus and minus points either way. Isolation of oz may be a problem for some. Cold in Canada a problem for others - having said that the climate in BC is pretty good other than wet winters in vancouver.

As noted, permits and work opportunities have to be serious considerations when looking at either place. Also recognition of qualifications, which tends to be easier in OZ.