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Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by bart2804
UK CIMA qualifications are recognised in BC BUT you need to sit 2 exams (tax and law) to get full accreditation equivalent to the BC CMA designation.
You then have a 'Canadian Accountancy Qualification'. Don't know the cost, but 2 papers should be fairly straightforward in terms of studying. Don't know about any of the other provinces 'though. If you live in a province with "awkward" requirements then it may also be an option to do either the US CPA or CMA designation instead. Canadian employers are often more open towards US qualifications rather than those from other countries. |
Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by Tom Masters
Sorry for rambling - I'm just thinking out loud really! I think the gist of what I'm saying is that Canada isn't for everyone and it isn't perfect. Whether it is right for you depends on what you want to achieve by moving here. We are happy with our decision and our kids love it but there are ups and downs to wherever you live. It just depends on what works for you. Someone else posted (on another thread) that you'll have all the "normal" issues of life to deal with no matter which western country you live in - job security, crime, unemployment, healthcare, schooling for children, security for seniors, and so on ... The question is do you want to have to deal with these issues in a place that's "home" to you. For some people Canada will be "home", for others not. The original poster should also ask what are the reasons for leaving the UK, and why Canada as opposed to Australia or New Zealand, some other European country, or maybe even another part of the UK? |
Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by Athome
Do you want to start a new life or immitate your old one?
Just from my observation, I think there are people who 'want to escape the rat race' in the UK by moving to Canada yet end up just joining the Canadian Rat Race / Course de Rat du Canada and visa versa. |
Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by Chiefy
Vancouver is a nice city - I would say that it is a city in a fantastic setting (mountains, water etc), but it is not a fantastic city, We have wondered about this ourselves. With a few exceptions, most cities we have visited in North America are not fantastic cities. If you really need a "traditional" city life, you have to look to somewhere like New York, or in Asia, Africa or Europe. I would not move to Canada for "city life" as the choice is severley limited. On the other hand, if you are looking for outdoor activities and a chance to move out of your comfort zone for a while, Canada offers great opportunities. There has to really be something attracting you specifically to Canada to make it all worthwhile. I think it will be very difficult to be happy if you are fleeing your home country without good reason (torture, persecution etc) unless you know it is a temporary move eg for a couple of years. |
Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by acer rose
We have wondered about this ourselves. With a few exceptions, most cities we have visited in North America are not fantastic cities. If you really need a "traditional" city life, you have to look to somewhere like New York, or in Asia, Africa or Europe. I would not move to Canada for "city life" as the choice is severley limited.
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Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by dbd33
True, but most countries only have one remarkable city. You can get the list from perfume bottles: Paris, London, Montreal, NYC and so on. North America has more than its share: NYC, San Francisco, New Orleans and Montreal come to mind.
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Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by flashman
Add Quebec City.
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Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by dbd33
Oh yes. I suppose you could also make a case for Miami, I'm not crazy about the place but it's not like anywhere else.
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Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by 1066
You could also say the same about Hastings ... :D
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Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by dbd33
I thought Hastings' only claim to fame was the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe. My niece moved to Bexhill when she got banged up at 14. There was something about the council bribing her to move away so she wouldn't raise the average age and deprive the town of a EU grant, but the details are lost on me now.
Not sure if anything has changed much, or if it ever will ... |
Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by 1066
Aahhh, they were the days ... :D
Not sure if anything has changed much, or if it ever will ... |
Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by dbd33
Oh yes. I suppose you could also make a case for Miami, I'm not crazy about the place but it's not like anywhere else.
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Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
You didn't choose a very good time of year to visit, most places look pretty awful in early spring. It is very grey and muddy and everywhere looks depressing. The GTA is very built up but it doesn't take that long to get away from the urban sprawl, admittedly the scenery is nowhere as pretty as the Lakes, Dales etc. We were at Blue Mountain for March Break and it looked awful as there hadn't been much snow over the winter and the slopes were muddy in places.
In the summer it all looks so much better and there is also a lot more to do. There are some really nice places by the lake, and it doesn't look that awful cold grey colour. If you go further north there are lots of lakes where you can partake in the various sports or just relax with a few beers!! There are lots of waterfront trails and bike paths in Toronto and it is actually very green, even going down the DVP downtown there are conservation areas that cannot be built on. The GTA also looks better in winter than when you saw it, there are lots of activities in and out of the city when it snows. The west of the city is very built up, we are in the east and it doesn't look as bad, especially once you get off the 401 (of course this is a personal opinion). The reality is that everywhere has its good and bad points, Canada isn't a Utopia where everyone's problems will be solved and they can "live the dream". You still have to go to work and do the cleaning and shopping wherever you live, on holiday you see things in a different light. If you have a long commute there isn't much time to partake in all the activities on offer, I leave the house at 5.40am and get home around 9.15pm when I am on days and don't have a lift home. Combine that with significantly less holidays than in the UK, there isn't much time for anything else. My children certainly have a better lifestyle over here and I have more confidence in their futures, but personally I had more fun in the UK. It is a sweeping generalisation but Canadians are really boring, they don't have enough vices (not always a bad thing), most of my colleagues are very "nice" but have no sense of humour. The "hockey mums" on our street drive me crazy and when I go out with my neighbours all they do is talk about how their little darlings are achieving much more than everyone elses kids, then they make me feel bad for having more than one drink in the pub. In our neighbourhood they are very materialistic and need to be seen to be doing better than everyone else, I dread to think of the amount of debt some of them are in. It doesn't seem to be as bad in the more rural areas if you read some of the other posts on here. Hopefully you will choose the right area and be happy, the good thing is that there are massive differences between the provinces and you can move around (if you have the money!!!). |
Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by Gail
You didn't choose a very good time of year to visit, most places look pretty awful in early spring. It is very grey and muddy and everywhere looks depressing.
We were lucky with weather (BC in Spring = lots of rain) in that we had a few clear days, but it was a good time to visit - not too busy, not too expensive and even wet and soggy BC still looked appealing. Mind you, I'm blown away by the excellent summers here (so nice to have definite seasons, wet (Spring, Fall, Winter) and hot (mid July/August) :) Enjoy your fact finding trip Clare |
Re: Factfinding trip - reality check?
Originally Posted by Chiefy
this is going to be a long post so please stay with me as I would appreciate thoughts/comments
Like most people on this site we applied for PR in Canada quite a while ago (AOR Aug 2004). I don't know what prompted most people to apply but for us it followed a few holidays. My partner had a trip to Vancouver 6 yrs ago and we went to Banff skiing two yrs running in 2003 and 2004. So we applied and we waited. We both work as accountants so figure that we need to be in reasonable sized cities to be able to get decent jobs (we are both mid 30's so no prospect of winding down workwise yet). So last summer we booked a trip out to Canada to check things out and we have just returned from that trip - having had a week in Vancouver and a week in Toronto. Vancouver is a nice city - I would say that it is a city in a fantastic setting (mountains, water etc), but it is not a fantastic city, not architecturally inspiring, lots of the buildings look like 1970's grey concrete and going to the main shopping mall around Burnaby was not a great experience. And of course we got one day when it bucketed it down and two days when it was fairly grey. Stanley Park is great and some of the (expensive) suburbs were really nice, but I personally was not blown away by the city. My partner said he thought it has changed a lot in 6 yrs since he was last there, lots of building work and you can see the growing influence of China. So after 5 days we moved onto Toronto. I really wanted to like Toronto as we thought it might be the place we would settle (lots of larger companies, some European based so would help us get work). Say what you like about Heathrow but when you exit and get onto the M4 to go west you do see a lot of greenery and there are fields and it looks quite nice (I know you rapidly approach Slough). Leaving the airport at Toronto to go to the city you are met with concrete for as far as the eye can see. Toronto is not a great looking city, again lots of grey, drab buildings and very little older architecture seems to be remaining (sorry if I sound like Prince Charles (what is he for anyway?)) we went to places like Cabbagetown which i guess i would call shabby chic - so nice Victorian houses in a fairly run down area. Getting out into the GTA was something else - I don't think I have ever seen that amount of concrete and vast, vast areas of offices, roads, housing estates - just concrete for as far as the eye could see. Yes there are some nice areas such as Oakville (again the best bits really expensive) and then lots of cookie cutter houses. The GTA was just depressing in a way that I don't think anywhere in the UK could be - hamsters caught in the wheel between massive housing estates and office blocks next to massive freeways. The one thing I would say is that in our two weeks there we encountered nice people and I think a society more gentle than the UK and not with the antisocial behaviour that seems to be the norm here now. So we came back quite chastened by the experience and maybe we were naive but we now need to consider carefully. We are now going back to the area we really liked - Alberta and hence Calgary - though we are concerned that that also has changed a great deal and is in the process of such massive growth that it is or soon will be a place subject to great strain in terms of housing, services etc and maybe the beauty of Alberta will be spoiled. So the idea is to have a trip to Calgary in the autumn and really think hard about the whole thing. We have come down to earth with a bump I'm afraid and really don't know what to do for the best. I have posted this to generate discussion and welcome all sensible comments. chiefy The trick to succeed in Canada is to make yourself hate England more. I found that driving along West and then East Hastings Street in Vancouver and then Coquitlam was enough to make me depressed. Even on a fair weather Day. In architecture Canada is really very much like Eastern Europe: there is a general contempt for anything that looks dated and a keen desire to delve into post-modern design trends or high rise concrete. To enjoy living there you just need to try and adopt this way of looking at things. It is hard but eventually it must be possible. I remember being driven by a work friend on my arrival in Vancouver going North on Granville Bridge and being shown the high rise office blocks of the Downtown. He showed them to me with great glee and a grin of pride of " What a New York of Canada Vancouver is" kind of thing. But to me the dusty glass of these 70’s buildings was more reminiscent of some African or South American capitols. Mind you, It was not all bad, I did see a few decent houses round Vancouver City going towards the BC University and Granville Street. :rolleyes: |
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