Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by RichMitch

Crikey yeah, the sheer prices of everything now is mind boggling. It will take a great deal of effort and good fortune to come our way if we are to get moved across to Canada at all at this rate because of financial pressures.

I'd like to think that the global economic issues are temporary but just seems like it's in a downward spiral following the pandemic and the war in the Ukraine.

Originally Posted by ann m

We’ve lived in Alberta (outside Calgary) for 15 years, and tonight is our last night of an 9 day Ontario trip mostly around Lake Ontario and I’m sitting here sipping a local cider. Admittedly this was purely a sight seeing visit, not a “find my new home” visit.

Ontario (real generalizing here) seems to remind me more of England and Ireland, with the styles of older buildings in brick and stone, many of which have been so well maintained or restored, or beckoning to be a project, and the wonderful (jealousy here) flora and fauna and big trees! It’s pretty damn flat. They like history here and the blue plaques are everywhere, profiling every Tom, Henry and Admiral of note back to 17-something. Compared to Calgary, that is actual history.

Push comes to shove, we kinda liked Kingston, and if playing with a silly budget, then areas of this Niagara region are beautiful for a quiet retirement. But I’m surprised to hear myself say this, I’m looking forward to returning to Cochrane, my familiar foothills and Rockies landscape and lack of big deciduous trees, with nothing much older than 1900, and a lot of stucco buildings!

Calgary has a growing tech sector, with affordable housing compared to Toronto or Vancouver 😉

Originally Posted by RichMitch

I had thought that if we booked a holiday for around Easter 2023, I could try meet face to face with some employers, maybe make some new friends and build up some useful contacts.

Originally Posted by RichMitch

Hey thanks very much for this info, much appreciated. We wouldn't rule out a move to Alberta, I think the biggest thing that puts us off is that it would require a few flights for us to get there because from Ireland there is just one flight to Canada currently and that's to Toronto.

Ireland and the UK are full of historic buildings and castles etc. However, I'm not sure how much we would miss them if we got moved across to Canada

I'm still trying to work out in my head how we can make the whole move across work. First things first, I need to work on my resumé and get applying for jobs.

I had thought that if we booked a holiday for around Easter 2023, I could try meet face to face with some employers, maybe make some new friends and build up some useful contacts.

Originally Posted by Tumbling_Dice

If you ever come to Halifax, feel free to get in touch.

Originally Posted by Lychee

However, ask yourself: once living in Canada, how often do you intend to fly back and forth to Ireland? How much will the flight make an impact in your day to day life in Canada? Won't the location you settle in and what it offers play a larger role?

I don't say this to antagonise, but to reemphasize that Canada is not homogenous, different parts of the country offer different landscapes, climates, and lifestyles, and once in Canada, it's expensive to travel to other parts of the country. Folks from the UK and Ireland don't often fully appreciate this until once in Canada. Calgary (Alberta) and Toronto (Ontario) are about 3,500 km apart, for example (a similar distance to Ireland and Turkey) so you won't "pop over" to the other parts of Canada regularly. I'd argue most Canadians rarely venture beyond a 300km radius from where they live. Don't let an additional 3 hours on a plane that you might take once or twice a year influence where you live.

Originally Posted by RichMitch

Hey thanks very much for your post. Yes I agree, while it would be a little less hassle to only have to take one direct flight to Canada or Ireland - on the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter. I'm thinking that it will most likely be next fall at the earliest before I can secure work/visa etc and we all get moved across.

A big factor will be housing because we wouldn't be keen on renting a condo if we can help it. So hopefully I can get a job within a reasonable distance of some "affordable" rental accommodation.

There are so many different permutations to the whole thing though which could place our plans in jeopardy -
1. I might not get a job offer
2. I get a job offer but the wages aren't great
3. I get a job and good salary but there are no homes available to rent
4. I get a job/visa, we find a home to rent but there are no schools nearby..................!!

Having said all that, we're trying to remain positive that we can make it all happen and we can work things out as best we can.

Originally Posted by dbd33

On point 2:

Here's an example of how networking in Canada goes. I mentioned your circumstances and skillset to a colleague who used to be "Manager of That Sort of Thing", that's not a big deal, we're always gossiping and scheming, we're the middle management, that's what we do. She said that the That Sort of Thing team always needs people. "If I he has a visa I'll talk to him". There are a couple of things in play. Firstly, a candidate off the street doesn't come with a pimping fee. Secondly, no one has to deal with a pimp (most managers hate getting stuck on the mailing list and bombarded with resumes for illiterate, obviously unsuitable, candidates). Thirdly, the former manager wants to stay on good terms with that department, suggesting a recruit who works out is one way to do that.

The organization in question is a fair sized enterprise with formal pay scales so, leaving aside the matter of obtaining the visa and making the giant assumption that all involved love one another on first sight, I can see that the most the That Sort of Thing team manager would offer as a starting salary is just under $100,000. One can guess, btw, why that particular team always needs people but immigrants can't be choosers and there's no physical danger involved. It's not like building a football stadium in Dubai.

Have a look at the price of everything in Kitchener-Waterloo. Consider whether or not $100,000 is a living wage. I think it is if you're 25 and have no dependents.

Originally Posted by Moses2013

Lychee is probably right and in reality you probably won't ever fly back to Ireland again after 1 or 2 years (unless you are homesick of course). Once people are settled and routine kicks in, you won't go back and will want normal holidays that are affordable. Apart from that, flights can change all the time. It's no different for me with ferries now and a few years ago there was no ferry to Spain and now we have one.

Originally Posted by RichMitch

Cheers Moses! Yes you're right, this is it - things are constantly changing and certainly who knows what way flights will be in the future between the Emerald Isle and Canada.

I honestly did not hear yet about the new ferry to Spain. Just checked the ferry website and they're saying it's a 2hr 44 min sailing - that's pretty darn quick!