Vulcanoid

Oh, absolutely what I was getting at was that most objections to 'crown corporations' are to specific companies that do crappy stuff, and would do it however they were owned, rather than to Crown ownership - (govt) Canada Post and (private) Royal Mail being just as bad as each other is a nice illustration of it

Former Lancastrian

Be glad you don't live in a condo even if only 5 floors and have indicated the buzz code # on the address

BristolUK

I experienced that for years in t he UK and the wife of a postal worker there confirmed it to be common practice.

Aviator

We get the same, not even to our closest mail office either. With Amazon, it can be shipped to a mail office, so we choose the closest one. Other packages we get 'signature required' and it comes to the door. Otherwise Fedex is our preference.

When I complained and questioned Canada Post over this, they tried to fob us off with nobody home. We have 20 people working on our property. At which point I suggested they may need a new mail carrier, as the current one must have sight problems!

DandNHill

Hope not. Although being from just outside Brighton I can definitely see the culture shock with Montreal. But maybe it also depends on the OPs background? I grew up in France so that would put me in better position than many to settle in Montreal for example.

SambaDeAmigo

Here's your problem: Toronto

For banking, you can use Simplii or Tangerine

OtherDave

I lived in Montreal for a while when I was a kid. I'm expecting culture shock - but not perhaps as much as someone who's never even visited. I also took the family over at the end of 2016 for a recce and thought it was great, despite the borderline sociopathic driving style some people seem to have.

Funnily enough, Montreal reminds me of Brighton in some ways. Both have pretty widespread acceptance of immigrants, gay people and other groups which weren't always welcome in the rest of the UK. Healthy music and comedy scenes in both.

Last time I was in Montreal, the people were friendly, and my ropey French wasn't a problem. Glad they offer so many courses in French though, because there's no way mine is good enough for bureaucracy.

I'm looking forward to it, though maybe it wouldn't suit someone with the sort of deep-seated cynicism that people from, say, Lancashire are so famous for.

DandNHill

I want to spend some proper time in Montreal. Ive only been fleetingly and just love the thought of immersing myself in “French” culture...

BristolUK

I remember reading that enthusiastic Canadians say Paris is the Montreal of France.

hpka

Please keep in mind I've only read the OP

My gut reactions are:

* You're ~2 months in. I cannot emphasise enough how much of a difference this makes. I've moved to Canada twice effectively (once on a working holiday, once to make a long term go of it)
-- First time: I worked in Vancouver for a week in October, thought it wasn't for me, quit and headed to Whistler, spent about a month kind of lonely until I made some friends. That was in part down to me at the time and in other regards a more intense, motivating social situation. The remaining time was some of the best fun I've had in my life. Made lifelong friends that trip.
-- Second time: Came to Vancouver after a round the world trip: 2 months in I had started a job but had not made many friends at that point. The job I had wasn't as social as my last in London. In this case, it took longer as I was older, but I started organising some events at work. It took some time but a few of us we started doing more things outside of work. One of these friends introduced me to the woman who would eventually become my fiancee and mother to my child.

The point is, this takes time to feel settled. You didn't explicitly say it in your post but I think it's likely you're homesick for your social circle, ergo I added it to the above. Given you've got a PhD I'm assuming you're around the 25ish area of age. My experience is that it takes a little longer to make friends around this point than perhaps you're used to. I certainly noticed it in the second story above. The upside is that friendships tend to be less volitle.

* Housing
Unfortunately no great answers here. Toronto, Vancouver etc feel this pain a lot. I've bought a condo now and get to ignore it, but I don't because I'm not unsympathetic. Unfortunately I don't know Manchester's market, but I will say I paid less in Canada than I did in London for a houseshare, a lot less. Even when I rented a place, at the time it was the same money for my London houseshare. Chin up, remember people do live here.

* Phones
Another one where I wish I had a better answer for you, and if I did have that answer, I'd not only tell you but do it myself. The UK has a excellent deal on phones. The US is OK (not great compared the UK). My younger brothers pay GBP7-10 a month for the service that two teenagers use.

* Internet (you didn't ask about this)
Well you can turn the tables here. Use Teksavvy or a smaller ISP of your choice and get a stinking great connection. My family was just over from the UK and marvelled at my somewhat ordinary, midrange deal from Teksavvy.

* Commuting costs
Your situation seems very high cost. I admit that stings. Hopefully Ontario locals have advised by now. Had it not been a 60km trip, I would have advised getting a bike (seriously). Even so, get a bike anyway for local stuff and touring.

* Research behind what it was
Honestly, here keep up your UK connections etc. It won't be long until you can influence the direction of your research. I cannot say I'm academic but I can say that I've been asked a few times to lean on my out-of-Canada experience to improve things.

* Banking
The monthly fees you'll have to soak up. Let your credit build for a while and you'll have a larger overdraft/line of credit in no time at all.

* Objective opinions
While this is a useful ability, please don't ignore your subjective opinions. You have a prerogative to like or not like your situation. Your objective opinions can help you feel informed and avoid poor decision making, but I want to add some validity to you saying "I subjectively and personally do not like this". I went though a similar thought exercise when I decided to leave London (UK) and move to Vancouver. Objectively I could fix my situation there, but subjectively I decided I did not like what that fix would leave me as.

* Salary (and a lot of how I think of it)
Also bad news here in the sense I cannot make this better. With varying exchange rates etc, sometimes I'm out-earning everyone in the UK, the next minute I've taken a paycut from my first job. You can work your way up to a more stable situation but to some extent I know that the money I can get elsewhere isn't enough to make me want to move away from Vancouver. I love it here, I'm lucky enough to live here. If the career acceleration and higher pay (and higher costs) were what I wanted I could go back to London/UK. I don't want that. I've got a great quality of life here.

* Weather
I'd sooner have this than constant greyskied drizzle in the UK, but a lot of people do complain about it. It is what it is.

* What on earth was the point of this wall of text?
If I could interview you before leaving the UK I'd get a better idea of what to tell you. If you're determined to make this work, then stick it out for a year to 18 months. If it's just obviously not working at that point no matter what then do go back. However, during that time frame, feel free to make radical changes. For example, if you just cannot hack Toronto, see if UBC in Kelowna or somewhere less known has a place for you. Also, remember that sometimes we do things for our work permits that perhaps we'd change otherwise... that leads me to my final point.

Work towards your PR with all your might. I know it seems counterintuative to recommend this but a large memory for me was feeling tied down by my circumstances and work permit. Permanent Residency is essentially freedom from this. Persue it vociferously so you're not thinking "well I'd like to do that but I'd need a work permit" in 18 months etc. As I said to many friends who hesitated on PR or Citizenship "because we might not stay"/similar thoughts, do not let Status/Work Authorisation issues dictate your decisions. In this regard, always work towards PR. If you decided to leave half way though the process, I promise you won't miss the application fees.

Shakyuk

The UK courier Yodel threw my DVD player over my fence into my paved back garden in the pouring rain... It was packaged in a card board box...
It didn't work.

crofty82

I'll have you know we're the friendliest people you could wish to meet! Unless you're from Yorkshire.

Or London.

Yeah on second thougths, maybe you're right.

BristolUK

I had a parcel delivered by a UK courier. They left it inside the rubbish bin by the front door.

Luckily it wasn't collection day.

Former Lancastrian

Unfortunately those not hailing from the Red Rose County are not aware that when we reply to a question that requires more than a Yes or No explanation we tend to interject a bit of sarcasm and our famous Lancashire sense of humour which is usually misinterpreted by those Southern shandy drinking Jessies as being construed as deep seated cynicism.
As for people from Yorkshire well the less said the better

Siouxie

I'm a (non shandy drinking) Southern Jessie, but my Mum came from Yorkshire - so I'm twice damned!

Strangely, I get the humour though...