Talya88

Hi,

My brief intro - my partner and I have both just hit our 30s and live in a beautiful part of the UK and love to be outdoors. In our spare time we love mountain biking & hiking with our Duracell Cocker Spaniel followed by a few drinks with friends. I'm a Chartered Accountant and my partner is a Material/Technology Manager with a PhD in Electronics. We both have a very comfortable lifestyle, good job, nice house but feel like we need to make the next career/life step and this isn't really possible in our current location for my partner. We will also want to start a family within 5 years.

We are definite on our move to Canada and we are finalising our PR. We've both been to BC (Whistler and Vancouver) and Ontario (Toronto) and are going around in circles. We love the tech job opportunities in Kitchener/Waterloo,ON but we love the outdoors of BC.

Our current options are :-

*Kitchener/Waterloo for the jobs and take a hit on our usual type of outdoor lifestyle

*Victoria,BC, we can get outside biking & hiking but unsure of the job prospects (?)

To save my sanity we need to make a decision soon I would really appreciate any personal experiences/thoughts/ideas/comments etc. on any of the locations I have mentioned.

I'd really appreciate the help

Siouxie

Hello and welcome to BE!

You don't necessarily have to miss out on your outdoor lifestyle, there's lots of mountain bike trails in the Kitchener area! https://www.trailforks.com/region/kitchener/

Have you considered Guelph? Lots of pubs, restaurants and bars and places to bike or hike.

Guelph Cycling Routes - The best cycling routes in Guelph, Ontario https://www.alltrails.com/explore/ca...tario/guelph?a[]=hiking < zoom out the map for alternative areas

With immigration, the first priority has to be where you can find work, generally speaking.

rivingtonpike

Not surprisingly, I'm going to speak up for Victoria. It's comparatively expensive, but very pretty. The countryside around is pretty too.

dbd33

I have been to Victoria once. My daughter, who lives in Vancouver, got married on a water buffalo farm a bit north of there, close to where rivingtonpike lives. I live 45 minutes from Guelph and commute there.

What surprised me no end about the parts of Vancouver Island we saw was that it's not at all rural. I don't know what the technical term is but "affluent residential, well spaced houses" characterizes it. Like Connecticut or Surrey. There is nothing at all wrong with that but I find it at odds with the concept of BC as an outdoors place. We've a conservation area across the street and, if we walk around the lake (2 hours or so) we will very rarely see another person. It's not scenic, of course, except in autumn, but it is trees and lake and empty.

Still, which location is better for spandexed activities will soon be irrelevant. Where are the IB schools? How will the daycare work? Can we get jobs to sustain a nanny? Can we afford a place with a spot for the minivan? These are the coming concerns and the answer is K-W.

carcajou

Sorry - but it seems like you have a really good thing going in the UK, and I find it odd that you want to tip over the apple cart, especially with a family on the way. Sometimes the best moves are the ones you don't make.

How do you know that your partner will take "the next step" career-wise in Canada? Migrating is one of the most difficult things you will ever do - very, very few people ever just "slot right in," and that is true even in countries with somewhat similar cultures, like going from the UK to Canada. It's rare for people to find promotional positions straight away in a new country and quite often people can struggle to make a lateral move - many people find they have to take a lower position and then try to work their way up.

Not trying to be negative but I think this may prove more difficult than you are anticipating, and you had better flesh out what the "next step" would be for your partner and how it would be achievable in Canada, before torching a good situation in the UK. Have you and your partner, for instance, done recces to either area to discuss your prospects with local hiring managers?

As well - how do you know that you will be getting an equivalent position in Canada, or are you just assuming? Your competition will be familiar with the Canadian way of doing things, Canadian accounting regulations and will have local referees.

Good luck.

Paul_Shepherd

Hi there,

Good question, both have their merits, but from what you say..and this is my personal opinion, you can't really enjoy life without a decent income.

It all comes down to disposable income, and I think you are more likely to have a larger portion of disposable income if you chose K/W over BC... Vancouver has the mountains but is very expensive property wise.

I have lived in Canada for coming up to 9 years, I love the outdoors, thats one of the main things that bought me to Canada, I always thought BC was "Canada" because of the Rockies, however by chance I came to settle in the Kawarthas.....its a region about 2 hours north west of K/W and I get to do all the outdoor actiivities I could dream of. Of course it depends what kind of outdoors you are into....serious skiing/snowboarding is not a big thing as Ontario has no mountains, but has decent ski hills, but Quebec does have world class skiing.....Mont Tremblant is a 5 hour drive away, which you will soon find is nothing when you live in Canada.

As for other outdoor activities I believe the Kawarthas and Ontario has a lot of it.... hiking, canoeing (and portaging between the countless lakes), camping (great civilised campsites and lots of undisturbed crown land for wild camping) boating (recreational or fishing) great snowmobiling trails (crappy winter this year though for snow) ice fishing.....etc etc.. Infact they call it "cottage country" because thats where everyone comes to de stress!

It sounds as though between you and your partner, you could afford a good lifestyle to enjoy all this. If you worked in the K/W area, you could probably choose a place to live somewhere in between K/W and the Kawarthas, and have access to both....the property could be cheap, depending where on the location you chose, but certainly a steal compared to Vancouver which is beyond any normal person's budget.

It also depends on what you like to do socially on a weekly basis....if you enjoy going out in the week and every weekend to pubs bars and restaurants then that will also play part on where you will call you home.....outside city limits....most places in Canada feel remote....but property is cheap in return for that inconvenience......some however dont call it an inconvenience, and as you are outdoor kind of people, Im guessing the more remote location wouldn't be a problem to you guys?.

That is my input....I will say I have visited BC a few times, but I live in Ontario, so Im sure someone in BC will provide you with another insight, I am just sharing my experience since I have lived in Canada.... and I love it.

Where ever you choose to live in Canada, as I have said to many people before....Canada has the best backyard playground in the the world, I just feel from your point of view, if you have the income by living in K/W, you can enjoy more of it......thats if you can get the vacation of course....but thats another story!

I hope my insight has been helpful to you, I wish you the best of luck, if you love the outdoors I dont think you will be dissapointed with coming to live in the great white north.

Cheers

Paul.

Oink

Why the --- would you want to move to Canada? If you're bored with life, why not go on a venture holiday. You've got a be a bit of a Kant to subject your children to the wonders of a Canadian education just to satisfy your disaffection.

Jingsamichty

The lifestyle you have in the UK sounds exactly like the lifestyle that people dream of moving to Canada for, without the downsides of living in Canada. I think you'd be quite mad to emigrate.

Verdant

It sounds like you're relatively happy where you are currently - is the upheaval/ risk worth the adventure? Previously (and for many older expats), it made a lot of sense financially to move, but nowadays unless you're moving from an expensive area in the UK to a cheaper area in Canada then any gain is easily eroded by the cost of living.

B.C and especially South Island is one of the more expensive provinces/areas to live in terms of cost and earning potential, which is comparatively suppressed due to lifestyle. The housing is often very expensive and dated (if they're not rotten then they're very Canadian aesthetically speaking...with the odd 90s McMansion thrown in for good measure) compared to other areas of B.C like Kelowna, so it's worth looking into how far a household salary is likely to go. Victoria and the South Island is known for its high percentage of retirees due to the climate, which pushes up prices. A lot of young families tend to move either up the Island or off it entirely for more space.

If you're moving for adventure then anywhere in Canada will offer that - it's just that B.C is a good promotion for that due to the climate. Many expats (the ones that stay) end up moving a few times until they find the area that suits them, which isn't usually the first place that they land.

BristolUK

I can understand some saying "stay put" but as someone whose 'ambition' has only ever amounted to seeking contentment I don't see much of a reason to dissuade them from trying it.

They are apparently definite about it and just want advice and information about where, rather than doubts about whether a move is right; I'm sure they've done that thinking already.

That five years allows for plenty of time to assess new life potential and a return to the UK if the experience pointed that way. It would just be a case of whether they had gone backwards as a result.

Verdant

I totally agree but I think B.C (as a token child of today's Instagram culture) can give a false impression of the reality of life in Canada. Vancouver is considered dull, Victoria is even duller than Vancouver with its saving grace being the gateway to the rest of the Island. That being said, dullness isn't necessarily a bad thing in my book.

I do think the poster should temper their expectations or be throughly disappointed.

Former Lancastrian

Isn't this another one of those questions thats impossible to answer?

The OP can be given both positives and negatives and even neutral suggestions.
There is no guarantee that moving to Canada will make them happier much like we cant say they wouldn't like it.
They will never know what happens if they don't try or if they don't try then comes the well what if we had tried questions.

They could end up loving the place or hating it. Its their decision to make at the end of the day regardless of what we may or may not suggest. We all have our own opinions.

BristolUK

Growing unrest in the UK; increasing intolerance; the predicted and uncared about increase in rough sleeping and other effects of welfare cuts; NHS problems; cozying up to undesirables like Trump and DUP; instability etc etc

I can certainly do without 'excitement' like that.

Former Lancastrian

Meh all that can be overcome by just tucking into one of these and all those perceived problems become irrelevant

GREGGS fans are in a frenzy over a picture of a 'full English breakfast bake'.

The beloved bakery chain shared a picture of what looks like a new pastry option containing beans, a runny fried egg and a rasher of bacon on Twitter - and immediately people were demanding to know where to get one.

More fake news or good marketing strategy for Gregg's
https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/fo...reakfast-bake/

Now where in Moncton could you possibly dream of getting such a culinary delight such as that to make whatever problems Moncton and NB are going through just dissipate as you wipe the yolk drippings from your chin or flick a couple of baked beans that have fallen onto your shirt/trousers onto the floor.

Jingsamichty

Fake news. Sad.