squarepants

Instead of asking you why you want to come over here, knowing that I can't do anything about your personal situation, as everyone's is different, one can only give you a rough idea of what it's like here.




The Advantages

Education: So many advantages for an emigrant. As a single person coming from Britain with a complete academic education you'll find you'll not be lacking in the basics needed to adapt to a new modern society. Education system in Canada is linked entirely to the American system and using a majority of American text books, is far more complete than that in the UK. University after 'graduating' from High School is quite the norm, and with student loans and other kinds of public assistance available you'll have more opportunity to progress than you would in Britain.

Employment: For the married couple, with or without children, the availability of good jobs, especially professional, career-based, are quite extensive. There's always room for one more well qualified and well experienced individual in the three most important work fields: education, health care, and technical. Work outside of these fields is less available, and not well paid.

Environment: Much is said about Canada's climate (8 months good skating - 4 months bad!) but it is still a climate-friendly place to live. The west coast (British Columbia) has a climate much the same as Britain but with long, hot sunny spells, although it does have twice the annual rainfall as Britain does. Ontario has a pleasant climate, as does lower Quebec. All other provinces are prone to arctic-like winters (40c below is not uncommon) with short summers, quick growth spring, and splendid autumns.

Lifestyle: If you have no qualms with American based lifestyle you'll get along famously in Canada. Canadians have a similar American style accent, using most of their terminolgy, expressions, and embracing their interests. Canadian sports are all American - American style football, baseball, ice hockey, with only a token interest in soccer - although interest in soccer (noot called football in North America) is building through 'live' TV games from Britain and around the world. A game relayed on digital TV live from England (Man Utd & Arsenel) captured a bigger TV audience than any other shown in that month last April. Architecture, city planning, day to day lifestyle is virtually American in every aspect. Canadians watch more American TV, per capita, than Americans do! On Canadian digital TV there are 108 channels - only 14 are Canadian, and mostly those are all news stations. Canada actually has a 24 hour a day weather channel. Yeah. Weather - all day long! In a mostly two season country!

Politics: The political landscape of Canada is Liberal - in every sense of the word. Canada is an easy-going, live & let live society, that hinders and hassles no one, and goes out its way to give every small group & cause its big say. There are Conservative parties & governments (Provinces) but even these tory politicians are more liberal than anything close to tory as we know it. There is a sort of, kind of, loosely styled 'labour' political party (New Democrat Party - NDP) but it comes in and goes out as the nation feels it needs to prod its more liberal parties! It is not taken seriously - in the national sense. But politics in general is everything to Canadians.

Overall Canada is listed by the UN (2002) as the best place to live. It offers the working and middle class, middle educated, young modern family the safest environment to live in, in western society. It has a national health system, with university for everyone, and although it has currently 7.5% unemployment it still offers work for all the well-prepared, and the well educated job seeker. There is much to be said for its crime free society (less per capita than the U.K. and way below the U.S.), its laid-back lifestyle, and its quiet, back-water, un-newsworthy worldly existence. Canada also offers the immigrant Brit dual citizenship. After you've lived in Canada a few years, pulled your weight, stayed out of trouble, you can become a Canadian citizen. And you do not have to give up your British citizenship. You are allowed to hold BOTH passports.

The Disadvantages

There are many, and they are all minor, but they add up to a lorry-load of niggly little things that can have you on your way home joining the 8.2% discontented who return to Britain within the first three years. The big one, and the one you must take note of immediately, is: 'do not bring your pride in Britain with you.' Canadians (and Australians) do not like to hear Brits say anything really nice about Britain. If you do you'll get an immediate: 'What the hell are you doin' 'ere then mate', (Australia) or: 'Why the hell come 'ere and start praising the place you just left, eh.' (Canada)!! You'll soon find out it's okay for Australians, Americans, and Scandinavians etc., to praise their homeland and their lifestyle when in Canada- but not if you're a Brit talking about your homeland and your lifestyle. Sadly a lot of Brits look the other way, or even worse join the put-downers and run the old country down. Nothing good to say - then keep it closed.

You'll start doing without a lot of things. There are many food items that you'll not find in Canada, the number one item is tea - as we know it. Black, Indian tea, the kind you're brought up on at home is not readily available. Canada is a one-item one-type country, and they all drink the milder, sweeter, orange pekoe tea. Forget baked beans - as you know them. In Canada it's all US style beans which are overcooked, packed in a tin with a lump of fat, and flavoured with sugar. Everything is 'sweet' in Canada - the pickles, the mustard, and even the cigarettes - Sweet Caporal. There is only one kind of bacon, and that is streaky, which they simply call 'bacon.' Forget full-rasher Wiltshire or Irish back - you'll not find it. Sausages are bland, not like the ones you're used to. You'll never see black pudding, saveloys, or good meat pies again. In Canada it is 'pot pies', round, tasteless things full of bland gravy, peas & carrots. The bread in Canada is made from a different wheat to ours in Britain and therefore comes up very light, full of holes, and tasteless. There are NO toast racks in Canada because their bread just doesn't make toast. Left un-buttered it will go rock hard and snap!

Sports are very American. If you don't like ice hockey, baseball, and grid-iron American style 'football' then you'll have to subscribe to digital TV to get the sports the world plays. Cricket produces an annual put-down on TV (Global & CTV) full of giggling Canadians who think the sport is for fops and played by twits! An Australian national team declined to tour Canada - in case they had too many punchups with the giggling locals! You liked fishing? Coarse fishing? Forget it. It's ice cold, fast flowing, shallow river fishing for salmon only. And not more than a few months a year. Some fly fishing for trout exists, but in boulder strewn, ghostly lookng rivers, a hundred miles from anywhere. A quiet, easy flowing chalk stream is unknown in Canada. Soccer (football) is only a token sport here, not taken very seriously at all. Even Formula One racing gets the 'look at those cars Wayne - all banging into each other' - treatment. They much prefer the US style - akin, but not quite the same.

Brit bashing is not as common as it is in Australia. Any mention on the Canadian TV news about anything British or anything happening in Britain is made with tired, smirky grins, leaving you feeling as if you have come from a third-world country. The monarchy is somewhat of a joke. When Princess Diana died the Canadian government had to force a government official to attend the funeral in London. It tickles their funny bones to poke fun at Britain - never ever at Uncle Sam by the way.

Overall, Canada is no place to emigrate to if you're a proud Brit. If you're ready to be a fence-sitting, prissy-toed, liberal minded, Yank-loving individual who will quickly lose your sense of humour then Canada is made for you. If you are ready to bury your heritage, adopt a new and oh-so laid-back, backpack, water-bottle, power-walking, 'have a nice day' lifestyle, and ready to change the colour of your coat, and give up your British allegiance, and pretend you don't give a damn about Americans while all the time you copy everything they do - then Canada is for you. Canada has a huge mental block about its identity. Tell them they're just like Americans - and they gasp in disbelief. What us, they say. But they'll love you - well, you'll be just above East Indians and just below Chinese, so in the middle of the bottom three most disliked immigrants - ain't bad! And if you loudly disclaim all Britain stands for - they'll love you even more. Can't stand anything about Britain anymore? Then emigrating to Canada might be your best bet.


Source: A recent article on the web !

iaink

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=237949

Rhodes

Gosh - the article linked to the link reflects Squarepants's thoughts pretty accurately.

Glaswegian

Yup ...... if that sums you up, stay at home.

Toontje

If you quote, don't forget to mention your source:

http://www.50connect.co.uk/index.asp...t%26aID%3D8649

flashman

If you like to organize and classify people into stereotypes then Canada isn't for you. Especially if the criteria used are eroneous. For instance the book "Fire and Ice: The Myth of Converging Values" challenges the perception that Canada is a copy of the USA (http://erg.environics.net/fire_ice/)

The U.K is probably more Americanized than Canada.

squarepants

Thanks for that ! I just hope people can see through that, and take what they want from the article, rather than some nincompoop trying to stir things up


Flashman.... am curious as to how you worked that one out, is it because the Uk folks drive monster trucks, wear baggy clothes, don't know the geography of the world, many haven't been out of the country, we say have a good day, behind in technolgy, have crappy TV, and don't speak properly?

How is that then that the UK is more Americanized than Canada. I mean electricity here is shared with the states, the police cars and others are the same, same school system, the food is the same, same banking system, where do I stop?

Glaswegian

Until recently Canada had Tim Hortons and the US had Krispy Kreme - even that boundary is disappearing.

I know - Canadians can't buy assault weapons at the corner store

squarepants

Not yet anyway with the weapons thing, but they can sure smuggle across the boarder, which is how most of the weapons get into the country.

flashman

Don't forget that some aspects are "North American" and are shared by both countries because of a common history just as there are "European" similarities.

From what I understand the UK is now
1) Very materialistic consumer driven.
2) Very competitive dog eat dog society.
3) Superficiality and image is preferred rather than substance
4) Pre-ocuppied with personalities (Royals /Hollywood stars)
5) Gullible in believing their politicians (Iraq war)

Enough for now?

squarepants

I will go with #1, the rest I'll have to disagree with, did you see all the demo and riots at the time of the war in the UK, how many brits do you know that really go on about the queen and her kids, and where did you get that, that people believed Blair?

You might have been away too long Flash, I mean who is this country going to be competitive with, the U.S, when everything basically comes from there. The UK has to be that way, because of other countries in Europe, and the whole EU thing.

Start listening to radio online ( LBC is a good one, and other talk stations ), and you might change your opinion on things.

Rhodes

It's not really my perception of the UK, either. Someone could easily have said the same things about Canada, or probably any modern democracy.

squarepants

I can easily sa that about canada, what is all the obssession with "cottages and monster trucks". Oh...and canadians don't like the royal family and all that? Give me a flippin break flash.

Have you seen the number of people that camp outside the ROYAL YORK in Toronto whenever the queen is in town?

willmore

No me that's for sure.....in fact I'm a member of a committee that is trying - unsuccessfully unfortunately to change the law that thequeen is being the "head" of our country - with all due respect to the queen and the royal family - it's more than time for Canada to becme an independent country, free of her being on our money, free of the lt govenor (wasted taxpayers money) and everything else. Unfortunately, you're right in the respect that lots of people still come out and see her and the rest of the royal family.....but do you think it's due to respect or just because they like to "goggle" at royalty

squarepants

Ah.....am right, where did that come from my friend, also did you get my pm? I know am right, voice of reason and all that ( just kidding before they start coming out of the woodwork at me )