Piff Poff

All we knew (from our recce) was how stunning it looked in June, the wide open spaces, the big blue sky and the miles of empty roads, we knew it got cold and snowy. It didn't enter our brains, the growing season, plant variety or how tedious those long empty roads and wide open spaces could be. We also didn't have internet at home before we moved, sometines thats a blessing, sometimes not

Donnykins

I thought I'd get some flack. My reasons for moving are somewhat shallow and naive - I know this. Alberta, or indeed Canada may not end up our 'forever home' , but for now it's a break from the pressure cooker that is now the UK. Much has changed in just a few short years. Yes, there are the world-class universities, culture, arts etc... in the UK, but who can afford to visit/use them? We are currently playing 40% income tax and 20% VAT. We have good salaries, but are not living as comfortably as we should be, or indeed once were. I appreciate that there are a lot of people worse off but...

I know the streets of Canada are not paved with gold, and I also understand that it will have plenty of its own issues, but I'm not alone in wanting out of the UK. The past 5 years of so, have been too much for most, and it is only going to get worse. The UK came bottom out of all of the rest of Europe for standard of living and quality of life.

smivers

If you are paying 40% income tax in the UK, you will be close to that in Alberta (39% is the top tax rate, 36% kicks in somewhere around $90k), and while GST may be 5% rather than 20%, the dramatically lower population density and so increased cost of transporting everything further makes the stuff you buy more expensive. I reckon cost of living is about the same when everything is combined, so just depends whether your salary will be higher here or not...

nldfc

To be fair there - I couldn't believe how much dog shit and litter were around the streets when I was back in the summer compared to here - hardly ever see a dog crap on the pavement here but back in Scotland the kids were doing a "miss the dog shit hop" every day and that's in a supposedly posh town

Piff Poff

Justcwalk any of the trails this time of year in RD and you'll play the same game, Sylvan kakeshore is worse, we hardly ever walk the dogs there anymore.

caretaker

[QUOTE=Donnykins;11237180]I know the streets of Canada are not paved with gold,QUOTE]
One British immigrant, having heard that, was walking the streets of his new home hours after getting through customs and saw a $10 bill laying on the sidewalk. He bent halfway over to pick it up then changed his mind and walked on, thinking "Why should I work on my first day?"

TanieBird

I keep typing out long rambling replies, which make it clear to me that I am done with living in AB after 8 years here. I'll just break it down to bullet points on the reasons why:
Hate being land locked.
Hate how crowded it is here, but can't escape and live rurally as need to work in one of the larger cities to earn decent money to live off of.
The stupidly high cost of air travel meaning I no longer fly anywhere.
The amount of time it takes to get anywhere in this province.
Not being able to afford some prescriptions due their cost and having no employer insurance (over $1300 every 90 days for a shot and pills!).
Discovering I suffer from altitude sickness, which is just peachy when you are sat at 3438ft above sea level just in Calgary.
Chinook migraines.
Winters that are at least 4 months too long.

I did like it here initially, but doubts crept in after only 6 months. Homesickness has hit me very hard at times, but I stuck it out and am now a citizen so can come and go as I please. Good possibility of a move to Ontario one day as that is where my boyfriend is from and that would be to a small town on a lake which sounds much more appealing.

Steve_

Your reasons sound perfectly valid to me, Oink doesn't live in Alberta or the UK. There are various reasons I couldn't stand living in the UK but if I were to list them it does boil down to it being too crowded. And absolutely taxes are significantly lower in Alberta, no question about it, another reason I live here.

The schools here have the reputation of being the best in the English-speaking world although I'm not sure I entirely agree on that point.

The one point that Oink made in another thread and which I do think a lot of people do underestimate is the weather - as I fathomed in another thread recently - Minneapolis, 156 days a year with temperatures below freezing, 12 days with temperatures above 30 C. Calgary, 190 days a year with temperatures below freezing, 4 days with temperatures above 30 C.

Winter is the default weather. Often I speak to recent arrivals who complain about (for example) the lack of trees, not being able to see road markings, etc. Well it doesn't matter, because most of the time the whole place is covered with ice.

And yes Calgary may be dull, and that imo is another excellent reason to live here, places tend to be dull when they don't have many problems. Dull is underrated. Dull means less stress.

Steve_

Crowded? It has one of the lowest population densities of any metropolitan area in the world. I don't think that's an Alberta problem, that's the specific place you live in.

Haven't you got ABC? $25 max. per prescription. Or is this something that isn't covered?

Mmm, I did have that problem myself to begin with, the one thing that annoys me is that it takes longer to think.

Doesn't that contradict your first point?

But yeah, it's not Europe. It is isolated and it is freaking cold.

Steve_

I strongly disagree on this point, 40% tax bracket in the UK starts at £41,500, in Alberta that's $75,000 roughly which would put you in the 32% bracket. And the difference in GST and VAT adds up very quickly. You've got to be earning over $136,000 to be in the 39% tax bracket, so the more you earn up to that, you will save even more money. And - the most important point - payroll taxes here are a joke compared to NI in the UK. At £41,500 you are paying 12% (minus the lower income limit threshold, which is around £5,500) in NI, as compared to CPP and EI at 4.95% and the ceiling for that is $52,000 roughly and then you pay nothing further - in the UK if you earn more you pay even more! 14%!

And look at other things, no TV licence fee, the car registration is $80 per year, what does a tax disc go for now?

Also utilities are way lower here than in the UK (worked it out in another thread the other day that it was less than half in terms of cost, although you use more but it still works out cheaper). Yes, you use more fuel in your car but that depends on your circumstances and it is way cheaper.

The only one where people generally agree it is more expensive is car insurance, but personally I find it is only slightly more expensive.

rivingtonpike

When we were contemplating where to move to the main things that put us off Alberta were:

It really is COLD for a lot of the time compared to what we were used to. Each season should last for one quarter of the year (ish). I watch the weather network and the differences in temperatures and snowfall between Alberta and where we are on the Island is night and day!

The other thing that put us off was the landlocked vastness of the place. It takes FOREVER to get to somewhere else. Even then it invariably looks like wherever you've just left!

Don't get me wrong, there are some beautiful areas and places, but we just felt that the sense of isolation outweighed the undoubted opportunities that Calgary/Alberta offer.

Sally Redux

UK road tax rates are based on carbon dioxide emissions. Just a little snippet I found interesting when my brother told me how low his was.

Steve_

But there's hardly any traffic outside of town, so it's not like driving in Europe. Yes it is a long and boring drive to say, Regina but personally I don't feel as stressed as I would driving 100 miles in Europe.

Steve_

Looking on the website: https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables anything from D upwards is more expensive than here, and that includes the vast majority of passenger vehicles it appears. God knows what an F-350 would cost in the UK.

Sally Redux

Burn Baby Burn.