raindropsandroses

Have you considered an apprenticeship as a Red Seal tradesman? Quite a lot of provinces have schemes to get women in stereotypically male dominated fields, and apprentice starting wages are usually much better than what you'd get if you started another new career.

If I were starting a new career in Canada I'd go for Red Seal, and something which has scope for to work in lots of different areas geographically.

Honestly I've been reading your threads and its awful that your qualifications don't count here, but I really would see it as a chance to carve out a new life exactly as you want it.

If you want to avoid deprivation, the maritimes probably aren't the best bet. I was reading an interesting study the other day about the best provinces to be poor in, and Alberta came out top for highest quality of life on very low incomes.

Calgary vs Fredericton, the amount of jobs in Calgary is, obviously much higher, as is the range of jobs. So if you got laid off (God forbid) it wouldn't be as hard to find another job for similar pay in the same field, compared to Fredericton as its a smaller place. That's one of the main things we look at when we've moved before too.

raindropsandroses

Yes that's true, it is possible, but back to the nature of this forum, how many people looking to move to Canada of the demographic who post on this forum would be happy to make do and scrape by, vs how many are looking for an improvement in quality of life?
However you choose to quantify quality of life, having all of the hassle, cost and heartache of switching countries just to end up with a personally perceived lower qualify of life is a swift route to misery.

Vulcanoid

I imagine very few people plan migration explicitly planning to "made do and scrape by"; ideas of what constitutes 'quality of life' depend on the people. My partner and I are currently getting by just fine on the wages of one retail clerk, in an area often cited as a 'you need bank to live there'. We had more money on the prairie due to lower costs, but being able to wear tshirts in November, and wake up every morning to see the mountains just lifts our souls.

Income and quality of life aren't the same thing - indeed, they're often the playoffs that you balance against each other (eg some jobs pay well but involve long weeks and working weekends). For us when deciding to move initially, the big calculation was better wages in Britain, better QoL in Canada - so we moved. For people whose QoL calculation is based on what toys they can buy, the calculation may have been different. It depends what you want in life.

raindropsandroses

Yes definitely. I think for us what changed was becoming parents, whilst we may be happy to live frugally, we want our son to have as many opportunities as possible, we want him to be able to do all of the hobbies he wants, and the ones he loves are the stereotypically expensive hobbies.

I often joke with my husband that our son's life is shaping up to look like a Wham music video! Whilst there are so many opportunities like ProKids for lower income families, realistically kids being able to do the hobbies and activities they want doesn't come cheap.

I used to travel the world for my job, and I still love globe trotting, which also costs. I wouldn't be happy long term if I wasn't able to travel and explore. For us, and for many, income enables opportunity.

BristolUK

I know Bemmy well. I used to work in St Catherine's House in the 70s and lived 20 years in Totterdown until 2004 when I moved here.
The money for my 2 bedroom terraced house (after paying of mortgage) bought our nice detached house on double lot here, along with a duplex that provided rental income.
That's one of the things I always said living in these parts could do. I was a low paid civil servant, which means a low pension that was further reduced because I took it early. My houseput me in a position where I could retire early and supplement the pension with rental income.

Something like could enable part time work, low waged work, writing that book or painting that masterpiece, whatever. Or you could just have a regular job and a comfortable life.
New Brunswick does have low adult literacy rates. But as with other things, you'd likely not notice it in the city, whichever city that may be.
Plenty of space. Lots of trees up and down streets and in back yards. That's nice.
This is where there's a major difference. In the big cities, you'll get the same. In the smaller places, not so much. I have found nowhere in Moncton where I feel the need to, let's say, "be alert" when walking about like I would in parts of Bedminster, Stokes Croft, Portland Square...even walking back to Totterdown from town at 11 at night. There's some graffiti in some places but I don't see smashed up bus shelters, litter bins set fire to, pavement pizzas and all that kind of thing.
Free
tuition For families with income up to $60000


Is this not similar to something else I've mentioned before too...like there may be far more 'professor' positions advertised in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary than any city in these parts but there will also be many more applicants?

Now, if you're 10th most respected in your field of astro-physics or you're someone like Red Adair that won't matter as you're going to get the most sought after, highly paid position anyway. But if you're "just" an accountant, project manager, programmer or whatever, the fewer job opps will be compensated by fewer qualified applicants.

BristolUK

This is where it sounds like I'm on a mission
People discover this forum when there's a possibility they might come to Canada or for whatever reason they want away from the UK and are looking at alternatives. When they do find us, if all they ever read is houses for a million up or rents for $2000 a month unless you want to live in a crappy area with no jobs, surrounded by rednecks, where aliens come and get you in the night for experimental purposes (I made that one up....or did I? ) and you need $100k to get by...then the demographic will remain the same and those people who are lucky enough to have a route available but are qualified only in the not sought after jobs may not think it worth it.

A few years ago there was a spate of members posting here, who had a route into Canada, without the usual highly paid jobs and all the rest. They had miserable existences in the UK - poor housing, living payday to payday at best, in debt, living in places where the neighbourhood kids had ASBOs.

The usual responses of move somewhere better within the UK were just not realistic if they can't afford 'better' or can't get another job or nobody wants to leave the better place (and create job vacancy/sell house cheap) because, well it's better so why give it up?

For those people it would be a considerable step up from making do and scraping by.

mogscat

That sounds good to me, also the artsy bit. I like living in beautiful places, it really makes a difference to me. I need to go on Google Earth and have a 'walk round' next!

mogscat

Thanks, Raindrops. I had never heard of Red Seal but I had a look and they do offer financial incentives for women. I'm not sure whether this would be a good fit for me as I am cack handed and also can't see very well so not fantastic at precise practical work! Although saying that, I have helped construct a flat roof and done some dry walling so perhaps I should consider it!! Good to think outside the box though, and I agree it's a good opportunity to re-think career options.

mogscat

BristolUK:
Free tuition at uni? That could make the difference for us. I will check if they do similar in Alberta (Calgary) as that's our other possible area. Amazing. Thanks for info.
PS I also used to live in Redland Road! In the 90s.
I worked near Stokes Croft - did you know it's declared itself a 'People's Republic' now?

BristolUK

I had heard but I didn't realise how 'official' it was.

MillieF

mogscat

BristolUK

No, no....I prefer to think of it as in tandem and pointing out the good in this part of Canada.

I've only been to Fredericton for an afternoon. Nicer buildings than here, nicer river. I think Moncton's better for living and Fredericton is better for visiting.

We chose Moncton over Fredericton because a centrally located home was a must and a similar location for Fredericton was significantly more expensive, leaving me less able to buy a good quality rental for the other income.

skoura

I agree Bristol, I think it is good to show a more sunny side of NB and the Maritimes, it really isn`t as reported sometimes and gets a raw deal in the media all too often. Before moving to Fredericton 18 months ago I spent many hours (as have/do most people) searching the net about all of the different options and places to live in Canada, and that was 4 years ago. I think Vancouver is definitely up there as one of the most aesthetically pleasing modern cities in the world, it really is quite stunning at times, but after spending several years on and off there, I knew for certain that it wasn`t for me. Someone summed it up quite well once (please no bashing me on this quote, it`s not mine!) `Vancouver is like a beautiful woman without a soul` Feel free to change `woman` to man or human Anyway, after narrowing down my search to Fredericton I hopped on the plane and took a 4 day trip, taking in Moncton too. I have to say that I was smitten by Fredericton from the first minute I arrived.
It`s a great place to live and although there are doubters out there, Fredericton is doing alright...…

Moscat, check this out if you already haven't done so - www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1RxPmwMebw (I think you will have to copy and paste this)

To touch on the greatness of Fredericton library, they are now offering snowshoes for free rental!

Siouxie

Here you go - it should autoplay