Actually - I don't know if it is typical or not. I have assumed that for most people sick days came off vacation time, but maybe I'm mistaken as I'm in the same position as you.

I know that for some vacation time tends to comes in different categories: family days; so-called "green" days; actual vacation etc. I can't say I've ever understood the difference between them all, or how sick days actually work for people.

Personally I don't think 19 + 11 is anything to write home about. Everyone I knew in the UK was on at least 25 + bh, with most on 30 + bh.

Writing this from the point of view of living in British Columbia as opposed to Canada as a whole.

Pros:
* More relaxed pace of life.
* Stunning Scenery, Unspoilt Nature, Every kind of Geography (coasts, snowy mountains, deserts, meadows).
* Less established, more room to make your own "mark", start your own business, contribute to the country in some way.
* More space.
* Near to the USA.
* Less judgemental people.
* Smaller government & lower taxes.
* Some really unique cultural assets.
* Reliably good service at restaurants (though my family has told me this is improving in the UK)
* Different selection of wildlife.
* Investment in the Community, new Libraries are being opened, compared to being closed down in the UK.
* Emergency services are always very fast to respond to calls (unless you are in a remote area)
* Clean and Tidy streets.
* Holidays are more spaced out throughout the year.

Cons:
* Poor infrastructure in Vancouver area - roads just as crowded as UK (though improvements are being made)
* Annoyingly high amount of immigrants who make no effort to integrate or even learn english.
* Terrible and dangerous driving.
* Poorer Road Signage.
* Speed limits unrealistically low - so everyone speeds.
* Government afraid to be radical when it really needs to be.
* Food more expensive - though shopping around, including cross border grocery shopping, can reduce this.
* Clothes more expensive and lower quality than UK supermarket clothes. Again cross border shopping avoids this.
* Canada Post is a rip-off, the Canadian eBay and Amazon are not worth even bothering with most of the time - it's often cheaper to buy locally.
* (BC) High housing cost, anywhere slightly nice (with a nice view for example) the price rockets up to insane multimillion dollar levels.
* (BC) Monopolized Car Insurance ICBC - no competition between companies for basic coverage. That being said the price would likely be high anyway with how badly people drive, then again in the back of my mind I wonder if people just rely on ICBC as a safety blanket because they know there will be no insurance hassle.

Edmonton AB, middle aged couple, here since '06, going back to UK in '14.

Good points:

My (Canadian) husband has a job.
He is paid 40% more than in UK.
We are closer to his family.
A brilliant GP working in a well equipped health centre.
Granola.
Being able to buy Ajvar in the Italian Centre (it's a Balkan chutney).
Quebec cheeses.
Greater support for the arts than in the UK.
Watching baby skunks and Jack-rabbits in the back yard.

Cons

A house that is essentially a glorified wooden shed.
The appalling climate.
A murder rate higher than central London.
Long waiting lists for hospital specialists.
Explaining to UK friends why I'm living in the Sodom and Gomorrah of climate change.
Mosquitoes.
Tornado warnings.
The cost of living, particularly food.
Dull flat landscape of the Prairies.
Shop assistants, who are at least three times as annoying as in the UK.

I figured compared to what I was expecting - yes it's a pro! I was on 23 days plus bank holidays but 3 had to be taken at Xmas! I was expecting to be on 2 weeks!

Ah, ok. Fair enough.

Are the two not linked?

I was never on 25 days, the most I got was 23 too. I dont know that many on over 25 unless they work for the NHS. Here I have 20 days plus the 11 days BH and I get sick pay too (like England)

I have never heard of sick days being deducted from vacation time.
I certainly didn't operate that way. If you were sick you would get up to three days grace before a doctor's note would be required. For longer terms I had both long and short term disability insurance in place for employees. As far as I am aware there was no abuse of the three day thing.

Depends where you are. Sounds like most who have replied are doing nice bits of Canada - the sort of scenic Canada you normally think of. I have been here a couple of months on the edge of Toronto and am facing a busy commute for reasonable money but less holiday than the UK. Since I got here I started a list of pluses and minuses and at the moment it is UK 0 and Canada -6 though this would change if I lived somewhere like the posters above. Also, the negatives that score on the UK are significant for me (more rabble, litter everywhere and stuffed economy) and the negatives for Canada are things to get used to (archaic banking system, expensive TV, internet, insurance etc).

Other than that, what's this about taking sick days out of holiday? I have not been through my terms in detail but there seems to be an "allowance" for number of sick days (an equally bad idea) but if I get ill and have to take it out of holiday, I'm offski.

I was on 30 and I've never worked in the public sector. Officially I get 25 now which I thought was good by local standards.

I guess I thought that sick days come out of some time off entitlement because people talk about accruing them. Why do they do that if it's not normal for it to come out of vacation time? (where vacation time = any time you are allowed to take off in the year)

We have litter, rabble, and a teetering economy in Vancouver so i'd not move there if i were you

Some people (teachers in Ontario for example) can accrue sick days and get paid a proportionate bonus on retirement.

The OH has just cashed hers in.

In ON, after originally considering Vancouver... Depends where you are in any place; just happened to have ended up in a nice bit of ON as far as those things are concerned (where there is less, not "none" by the way). Maybe the UK is not as bad as we think; it's just the Daily Mail. Maybe...

Yes and no. Academics are just paid more in Canada than the UK, so his level of pay has nothing to do with the tarsands, more a reflection of the fact that NATFE -- the UK university lecturers' union -- has done a crap job of representing its members interests for the last 30 years.

However, you would have been right to link the fact that he has a job with the tarsands. The Alberta universities have been expanding and recruiting, while universities elsewhere have been contracting.