Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

Should be snow on Mt. Washington (I assume that's what you're talking about).....the website is www.mountwashington.bc.ca if you want to check out the conditions before you come.

Had a late start with snow last year.......so it may be partly artificial snow.....but snow there shall be.......attracts too many visitors and residents for there not to be snow at that time of year..

Have a great time...........

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

Yes it is Mount Washington that we will go to, about 20 mins from us.
We have been up the mountain in summer, and there was a scattering of snow there in April when we went.

Hopefully there will be enough snow there, for us to go and say we have been for a day.
We need to go and fit the house out with furniture, so whether we will get much time to ski is another thing. Apart from Ikea on the mainland and Sears. Any good furniture stores in Victoria?
I cannot believe how hard it is to find a normal bed. I can buy an old fashioned metal frame thing on wheels to put mattress on, or i can find a wooden frame to go around a divan, but can I find a normal slatted bed frame style! No. even a divan is hard to find.
We will visit Ikea on the mainland as this is my favourite store in UK for al the odds and ends. It will be like having a trolly dash around the store, with three of us trying to get as much in as we can in the shortest time!

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

Holidaying in BC is NOTHING like having to live here. I had been here several times before I took the plunge, having also visited NS, Ontario and Quebec many times before. It was a ghastly mistake, outside the ski season it is just plain boring. Others on this forum do like it here, but I would swap Bournemouth/Dorset for this place any day. :cool:

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

Ooops I reckon you will get a few on here who will disagree with you dingbat!! I, for one do agree with you though. This was exactly what I was trying to say in my posts, that we really do love BC, to visit! Not to live there though. I am sure everyone looks for different things in life though so people have to decide what is important to them and find the place that best suits them. BC was not that place for us. We love living in the country, never lived in a town in my life, but I need to be close to a major airport and decent shops. In Ontario we have that.

We have some friends who looked at the Okanagan at the same time as us and as their Immigration went through before us they have now been there since May......and they really love being in Canada but are regretting not moving to Ontario for the reasons you have cited. They find BC quite un-inspiring now, as I eventually realised that we would have too.

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

Like alot of others I ahve spent hours on the net looking at places to live, and that is just in Ontario.
Canada is just so vast and varied. I think that you have to really narrow things down and stick to a choice. Then, once your out if you don't like it move around.
I also look at some of the Oz site and it's not unusual for immigrants to go to one place and then move 6 months later.
A friend of mine out there did Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne before happily settling in Brisbane.
My plan is to go with Ontario, somewhere around Toronto, (as that's where i will be initially working) then start having alook at other places, otherwise trying to visit all of Canada from the UK becomes too expensive.
I found holiday guide books such as Rough Guide and Lonely Planet a good starting point.

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

:) Hi pincher,thanks for the advice, it seems like there are alot of people on here wanting to escape Kent! We live in Teynham most people you speak to have had enough and want to get out of the UK :rolleyes: ,I wonder why! Are you close to getting your visa?

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

My postal address is Kent, too...

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

Someone mentioned a "normal" bed - I am not sure what is meant by a normal bed, but don't forget - this is Canada and what is a normal bed in England may not be a normal bed here.

I love Kent. However, my sister was telling me about Pembury, which is a small place - and how they are having trouble with yobs who respect nobody - least of all the police. You wouldn't think that kind of thing would happen in a small place like Pembury! But I guess it does.

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

Bed sizes are definitly different here. Canadian "Queen" is bigger than UK "King". Canadian "King" would probably have its own post code in the UK! If it really matters there is a thread in the archive with dimensions etc you can search for.

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

[QUOTE=Tiaribbon]
It really does depend on your priorities in life. I grew up in Ontario in the KW area and loved it - don't get me wrong...Ontario has a tremendous amount to offer.

I went to UBC for my university years and then travelled extensively after grad school. Settling in Ontario was never an option for me, even with family/friends residing there. It would have been difficult to start a career in marine biology in Ontario, but I really wanted to move back to the west coast - which I did and never looked back. My futurehusband who was from the same area wanted to settle close to family/friends - so I moved back to BC (Victoria) and told him that's where I'd be. Granted we have been very lucky with our careers and being able to buy a home while the market was still reasonably priced.

I would rather go through the inconvenience of having 1 1/2 hr ferry ride through the most goregous scenery in the world to get to a major airport and the shops.......in order to live in a wide open space with fresh air, beaches, ocean, and lots of parkspace for my kids. BC has a tremendous amount to offer people - you don't necessarily even have to look for it.

In fact, when I returned from my latest trip to the UK, I had tears in my eyes as we circled the San Juan Island getting ready to land in Victoria I was so happy to be home!!!!! :D

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

Man, these threads are pointless arent they!!! FWIW Tia is literally just up the road from me, and Marine Biology not withstanding, we have all of the above in abundance, with the beach a 30-45 min drive away, plus TO 90 mins away and Ottawa 2 h away, plus our property costs are probably at least half what they are in BC. Plus, our "ocean" is fresh water (Lake Ontario), so no icky saltyness after swiming!

Wish I had a picture of Sandbanks handy to post a pic of the beach!

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

Iain - no one especially me is disputing the fact that Ontario has a tremendous amount to offer people. I grew up in the KW area.

I was just giving my opinion that I felt for myself and eventually my husband and kids BC had more of the lifestyle that I preferred and a great deal to offer people, and I would prefer the inconvenience of living on an island....to living in Ontario - only my opinion. :D

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

They're frikkin irritating ...

The answer to each of these threads is "where can you make a living?"????

Personally, I'm in IT on the infrastructure side, so I need a decent sized city - Vancouver Island looks cute and I'm sure once you're 90 minutes from TO Ontario is wonderful ... but almost nobody lives there!!!

Can the good people out there asking these questions actually get a job??

If you can't make a decent living, life will be rough at first as an immigrant in any new country ... no friends, no family, nothing familiar ... which probably explains why just under 9% of Brit immigrants just give up and go home.

So let's stop this pointless, counter productive pissing contest and try to come up with some useful frikkin information!!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh .... good night.

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

I seem to be doing OK, so are my neighbours. We arent all farmers you know!. I think there is a popular misconception that there is nothing outside of the GTA. My area, (Belleville & Trenton) has over 100k people, with a lot of manufacturing industry, plus all the usual services to support the community. Not a lot of IT though. Sure, for some occupations a major city is a prerequisite, but for most its not. There are a lot of small and medium sized places with a lot to offer.

One aspect people may not immediately think about is that nearly all newcommers head to the major centers, TO, Van, Calgary etc, because thats where a lot of jobs are, but there is also a lot of competition for those jobs simply because so many newcomers go there. Its a lot more expensive to live in the big cities, so while you are trying to land that good job, your savings are eroded that much faster too. I guess the reality is that people will always be drawn to the places they have heard of at first.


I agree, but there is no usefull info to post on a "where to live" thread!

Re: Which is the best part of Canaada to immigrate with 3 kids ?
 

I didn't suggest everyone out your way were straw chewing yokels ... on the other hand, 100K people wouldn't keep me in a job ... Calgary is on the small side for what I do ... theorhetically I should be more employable in Ontario.

I'm not trying to knock all you lucky b*st*rds who get to live out in quaint little towns in the glorious great outdoors ... I think many people don't have a choice about heading for a city ... IT people, accountants, etc.

56% of new immigrants head to Ontario, probably mainly Toronto - the second most popular destination is BC.

Although Calgary has a high profile on this forum, it's actually a secondary destination for a lot of people I've met - they've been to BC or Ontario and watched their capital burn to a crisp already.

The impression that Calgary has a lot of jobs is misleading ... Calgary has jobs for the right people with the right skills.

How about we write a FAQ for each major destination province??

We have posters here from ON, BC, AB, SK and the maritimes ... surely we can knock something together in a standard format?? Maybe come up with a standard scoring system??

I'll take Iqaluit ... er, lovely place ... summer temperatures just like parts of the UK ... um, winter? ... well ...