RichMitch

Yes that's true. We aren't seeking to move away hoping it will be a "cheaper" place to live etc but at the same time it would be naïve of us to be ignorant of the cost of living issues and not plan ahead.

We've got a little money put aside but from what I can make out, we're going to need a heck of a lot more before we could emigrate to Canada with any sort of confidence for the long term

dbd33

I don't think the major problem is having money for the move, that's a short term issue. The bigger issue is the ability to earn enough here to be able to live. If houses cost a million dollars, and your household income is $200,000 you're not in with a chance. Houses do cost at least that much so you need two high paying jobs to buy one.

On the other hand, Brexit, Truss, poverty and misery looming for all but a few.

RichMitch

Thanks for the reply! Appreciate it!

Our plan was to rent for a few years and then take it from there but even then it seems like there's precious little "affordable" rentals kicking about

I've been trying to work out what has caused the economic problems and for how much longer this dire situation is set to continue!

From memory I think things were already on a downward spiral before the pandemic kicked off in 2020 with all the economic fallout from that.

Then there's the war in Ukraine and Russia turning off the gas (not sure if that affects Canadians or not!). Brexit and "questionable" government spending as well................

Over here the government have announced a freeze on some energy price hikes which is good - however that is most likely something tax payers will end up paying for well into the future.

Maybe a good start to sorting things out would be for the war in Ukraine to end but God knows when that will be.

Moses2013

Of course it's a great idea that you want to visit first, but Canada is so large it would be very hard to get a true picture in 14 days. Even in Ireland I haven't managed to see everything and the beach I went to last weekend felt like I was in a different country and I recently drove down to a lake area again and it was like a foreign land (only 1 1/2 hours away). And when you like a place, there is also a danger that you fall in love with the area and quickly realise that you need to be a millionaire to be able to afford the home you want.

dbd33

One thing I would say that might be considered optimistic is that house prices in Canada have always been boom and bust. It would not be shocking if there was another period when people went into negative equity and dumped their houses. The best locations are somewhat immune to that but starter homes are not. Of course, to take advantage you need a work permit.

Atlantic Xpat

Usually I have a default "I could see myself moving back" setting, no matter how unlikely that would be after 18 years. At the moment? No thanks for the reasons you say. The irony of course is all those same reasons make for an exchange rate of $1.51/GBP which is useful if you are Blightly bound but not so good if you want to bring sterling over to Canada.

dbd33

I wonder if the exchange rate is at a point where buying beer there and shipping it by sea is viable. There is a total of six cans of Pride for sale in Ontario and it'd be 1,000 miles on the road to collect them.

JamesM

Coming to the thread late somewhat of a tech hub is Waterloo/Kitchener. You'd find work and living costs are somewhat reasonable relative to Toronto.

If you want to read my views on housing in Canada go to the Maple Leaf. They're riveting.

Lastly under no circumstances do you move here for the sausages. I also hope you took heed of the cheese warning up thread.

dbd33

K-W is historically German so there's lots of Bratwurst, a joyless form of sausage.

JamesM

Their Oktoberfest is supposedly quite impressive. Have you any experience of it?

I'm told K-W was called Berlin till the war. Sorry for mentioning the war!

dbd33

I have some experience of their Oktoberfest. It used to be that the longest stand-up bar in the world was in K-W. In a former K-Mart store. I went there on a bus trip from Scotland Yard when someone mildly famous in Canada was playing behind the bar. Tom Cochrane? Blue Peter? Shania Twain? I don't recall now. I do recall that I was wearing a new jumper, left it in the bar, and had to sneak out and buy the same in the morning so my then wife never knew I lost the first one.

More recently I've been there to the skating rink at the town hall. They have gluhwein and pastries and fantastically complicated model train layouts. It's not A Taste of the Danforth but it's a gently amusing, child friendly, outing.

I am confident that, given the student population of K-W and the nature of Octoberfest one can find a lively evening if so inclined.

Lychee

Think of it this way: Canada is a continent like the EU. Its provinces function like separate countries from one another. Each province has its own government - the provincial government - and they have their own parliament building in the provincial capital city, and they control almost everything that impacts your day-to-day life in Canada: school, healthcare, health regulations, taxes, holidays, driving rules, local laws (i.e. minimum drinking age, smoking policy, where alcohol can be purchased, etc.), minimum wage, work regulations, etc. It's why each province may as well be its own distinct country.

There is no universal Canada experience. You really must research deeply at the province level, not at the country level, and even then, each province has a lot of nuance within. There is often a distinct cultural differences between rural and urban parts of Canada - conservative vs liberal, openly racist vs openly inclusive, resource extraction-based economies vs. diversified economies, environmentally friendly vs in denial of warming climate, etc. It's not a utopia.

10 days to see Canada is like spending 10 days to see Europe. If Nova Scotia is Northern Ireland, Toronto is Berlin and its surrounding landscape may as well be the Netherlands and Belgium, while Vancouver is more similar to coastal Norway. Toronto and Vancouver are a 5 hour flight apart and may as well be in different countries. Nova Scotia is closer to Dublin than Vancouver. And Ontario is larger than Spain and France combined. Toronto and its vicinity is the more urban, developed, industrialized part of Canada for hours and hours around. Pockets of nature, lots of lovely rural properties and farmland, but a quick browse on Google Earth or Google Street View reveals that wilderness is much further away than other parts of Canada. But maybe that's not what brings you to Canada and that is okay.

What sort of lifestyle are you seeking? I think you may have romantic rose-coloured glasses of what Canada will offer you. $90,000 is barely enough for a single person to live in Canada right now. I could not fathom a family of 5 on that type of income right now. Perhaps if you lived in rural Manitoba, or even Winnipeg (a traditionally affordable city), it might be doable. Somewhere extremely remote like Prince Rupert in northern BC might give you a better lifestyle for that type of income, but it is far from everything.

dbd33

I disagree with the idea that Canada is culturally diverse, it all seems much of a muchness to me, what makes the interesting parts interesting is the immigrants. However I don't disagree with the idea that single people struggle on incomes of less than $100,000. This week I had a fairly junior developer decline an offer of $125,000 on the basis that it's not a living wage in the K-W area.

Atlantic Xpat

The flaw in the “you could live somewhere remote and with lower housing costs” plan is that everything else - food, gas etc is more expensive. Plus of course the remoter corners of the country either don’t have enough jobs or don’t have high enough speed internet to make working remotely doable.

Moses2013

That's the thing and even here in Ireland I've been toying with the idea to move to a more remote area near the beach or lake. Although the Republic of Ireland is just about the size of New Brunswick, it's not always as easy as it sounds and distances can be far. No larger supermarkets and kids have to travel far to get to school. While the employer might allow working from home now what happens when you lose the job etc.? These are the thoughts people have here and Canada is another level of remoteness.