Well I'd live in cornwall over Edmonton. No amount of cash wads could get me to live there.

Vancouver's a perfectly nice city, but one who's reputation is a bit over-inflated and reliant on the lovely scenery.

For me, it is a relaxed city for it's size with great access to the outdoors, if you like skiing, sailing, walking etc. Generally it's clean, relatively safe and chav-free, with some good restaurants etc.

But housing is very expensive. Good jobs are scarce and hard to find. It does rain a lot. It is a very bland looking city. It's nice, but too plastic for me. Little culture and no sense of history. Fine if you're independently rich and like sailing/skiing, but everything just seems too much of struggle, just to live here. It also seems quite a remote, paraochial place at times. I miss going to other places on a regular basis. People are friendly on the surface, but hard to get to know in depth. Most people seem to be from elsewhere, a lot barely speak english.

I can certainly see why people do like it here. It is a nice place, but very over-rated IMO.

i wouldnt..but then if you offered me wads of cash.....

I can see where those peoples' viewpoint is coming from. I came here begrudgingly with my OH. It was a struggle to find decent work but now that I'm more settled I can see some of the positive things about the city. My commute is very short. For sure you should not come here without significant savings and a plan for finding work, housing etc. There's a temendous amount of poverty. I doubt this city is 'the best place on earth' for all those struggling to get by. To be honest I'd move back to the UK if I had more money.

We moved to West Vancouver 7 years ago. We spent six years living in West Vancouver and we are currently living in Squamish (between Vancouver and Whistler). We came here to give our children a better life. We moved away from West Vancouver as we found it to too "clicky" expecially amongst the old generations of Vancouverites that lived there. The house prices are ridiculously too high, most of them over $1m and for that you would probably buy a wooden shack that needs to be knocked down and rebuilt. I didn't like the school the kids were in. My kids are competitive and that was frowned upon (strange), the school was very relaxed, the parents were friendly but only on a superficial level. I never felt like I could have a deep meaningful conversation with anyone. When the constuction industry started to cool down about 2/3 years ago, it really affected us financially. My husband was being undercut left, right and centre. We know lots of Brits in the same situation. People are selling their houses and then living off of their savings as they cannot afford to live here. B.C. does in fact stand for BRING CASH. Or as someone else told me Chinese Columbia. I am not racist but it is true that the Vancouver housing market is being bought up by the Chinese. If you are rich you can have a wonderful life here. It is beautiful, there is lots for your kids to do but it all comes at a cost. If you cannot afford to live here it is miserable. We moved to Squamish as it is more affordable. An average house can cost between $500-600k. The only downside for me is that becuase we are living up in the mountains you are more likely to see bears or a cougar (son saw one last week). This does worry me. As far as politness goes, I have found Vancouvites to be very friendly and the kids are polite.

Somedays I really think about moving back to the UK. I really miss all my family and I miss all the choice the UK has. Food, clothing, accessibility to places, restaurants, pubs, humour. I am going back to the UK for the summer, if i can get my passports back in time, so maybe I just need a dose of Englishness, I guess we'll see.

My advise to anyone thinking of moving out here would be to come live here for one year first before you totally committ to this new life because it is very different to the UK.

couldnt help laughing where mentioned the way immigrants have ways to start shops up in the cheapest and shoddiest ways!!!

im in the uk and where we are, most o fthe shops are owned by asians (i take it by immigrants you mean asians).
and these shops are also so shoddy its unbelievable!

shall i tell you what the typical asian shop looks like? here goes...outside the shop, there are usually bags of potatoes, onions, greens and other veg thrown randomly around, placed upon home-made wooden framed racks!
inside, there will inevitably be that unmistakable aroma of curry....
why? thats because they cook their food right there in the shop kitchen!

inside the shop, there will usually be more racks, some homemade, some metal ones, with goods stacked in an almost random manner again!
and unless your asian, you wont have the faintest clue what 99% of the stuff is....as theres no explanation or descriptions!

anyway, you bought ur stuff, now ur at the checkout....the person serving you will usually have a neutral look on their face...no smile no nothing...if not, then you might get a scowl! and your money is taken, change given, not a single sign of thank you, please come again, have nice day, or go and get killed under a bus outside....!

and thats the way it is....me and my family tried to run just such a shop many yrs ago, and we tried to do everything NOT like the above....and u know what? the damn place didnt make a single penny.....!!!!! maybe we shouldve scowled a bit more...!

anyway, im digressing...reason im posting is that i wanted to ask you what its like living in surrey. im on my way there by end or early next year and was just wanting to know how the medical system works there etc.
when ur ill, and you get a prescription from your doc, is it covered by the medical system?

ive heard that the medical costs can be crippling..not far off what they ahve in the usa apparently?

be pleased to hear your views.
rgds
julius

I realize this isn't addressed to me but I'll answer in any case.

A couple of things. This is Canada. An immigrant is not necessarily Asian. Secondly, the terminology is different. An "Asian" in the UK usually means a brown person - someone who comes from (or family originated in) India/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Sri Lanka. These people are generally called East Indian, South Asian or Indo-Canadian. An "Asian" here is someone from the Far East.

Canada Jimmy talked of Kingsway which has a lot of "Asian" (i.e. Far East) stores and restaurants. Primarily Vietnamese.

Once you have joined the provincial Medical Services Plan visits to the doctor, medical specialists and all hospital treatment is covered at no extra cost. However, you pay market price for prescription drugs. Many companies have extended health schemes that cover some or all of the cost but if your employer does not have this you have to pay.

There is a means tested benefit that means if you have very low income, or need catastrophically expensive drugs, the BC Government picks up some, or all, of the cost.

Medical costs are not crippling and are nothing like the US.

Just want to reiterate to avoid confusion. The cost of healthcare is absolutely and categorically nothing like the US. Canada might generally be a bit of shit hole but healthcare won't bankrupt you here as it can and possibly will in the US.

Hi
Where I work there are about 22 jamaicans,they are great guys to work with.
I think perhaps from conversations, weather and the cost of living here, are a main reason vancouver is not really a big option for many.
cheers
Jerry

Hi
It was about five years ago i was in Cornwall, and I would personally say from what i remember, Vancouver has way better chances for teenagers,We moved from Devon basically for the Kids.
For example my daughter has graduated from school and has decided to become a Heavy Duty/Commercial transport mechanic, Could she have done this in the UK ? I doubt very much if she would have been taken seriously or been given the chances at school by the teachers, to do three years automotives classes to reach the level to get her place at VCC this year, and a potential of eventually getting a post apprenticeship job paying currently about 36Cdn / hr.
As a bonus life for us as parents is better as well,my wife made a major career change, the new employer training her for the job, again something I doubt would have been possible in the UK.
Cheers
Jerry

Hi
You can now get a good sustitute for all here in vancouver
You can't get Cornwalls glorious land and weather, but the vancouver area and parts of the island are very similar, and have there own beauty.
cheers
Jerry

I always found the towns on Vancouver Island very shabby, poor and quite depressing. I think there is a lot of drug use among the youth as there's not a lot to do and they have little prospects unless they move away.

And me!! I am Cornish m'luva

you had me at pasties.

Prescriptions can be expensive, especially if you don't have any coverage.