Hi All,

I am new to this forum but there is clearly a lot of you that have made the adventure to leave the UK I was hoping that I could "pick a few brains"! As they say, there's no substitute for experience!

Have a job offer in Montreal but also in mainland Europe, the latter being a more senior and prestgious role albeit similar package.

Not sure which way to go!
Take the punt and ship across the big blue or play it safe and stay within the eurozone!

Any regrets/things you wish you would have known before going to Canada?

Thanks for your time and any advice
mB

Europe is closer and cheaper for travel and family visits. Probably get more time off there too...

How does the cost of living compare. Any burning reason to prefer montreal is the other job is more prestigous?

For me Canada offers a relaxed lifestyle in an English speaking environment, not sure you could say that about Montreal? Its a nice enough place, I suppose it depends where in Europe and what you want from life.

Stay in Europe

The thing that springs to mind is that you might not get a family doctor here for a long time. I'm probably going to start a thread on this issue soon, to make newcomers and those considering Canada aware. Currently 5 million Canadian residents are without a family doctor and waiting times for specialists are extensive compared to other countries.

These things tend to be dependent on where you are. Is it true in Montreal?

Used to be true where I am, but not recently.

I couldn't get one in England. IMO it's a non issue in the greater scheme of things. Walk-in clinics provide faster access to a doctor than being signed up to a specific GP in many cases anyway.

Hi Iaink,

Overall the cost of living is higher in Euro but mainly driven by property values (higher in Europe) and the need to go for an international britsh school which is £££ otherwise the difference is nothing to lose sleep over.

Big driver for Montreal is the reputation for general quality of life, many great reports and obviously a popular expat destination but I'm a numbers man and the quality of life argument is a bit subjective. Both mrs blue and myself have spent holidays in north America and loved it but after a few months I am sure the novelty wears off.

mB

I suspect it's mostly true only outside of cities. But that's one of the reasons I wanted to start that thread, just to identify the reality from our input here.

It might just be that Brits typically move to the cities and they do get a doctor within a couple of months, however, I'd read a report from last year which cites Canada as having some of the longest wait times compared to many other similar countries. I'd read some disturbing news about people dying in ER while waiting to be seen, that wait times (ER, specialists etc) are too long everywhere in Canada.

Obviously depends on medical requirements. Walk-in clinics are easier to get into but the doctors are limited in capabilities (e.g. giving referrals, narcotics, making time-saving determinations in a short consultation).

If it's just a case of needing antibiotics to fix an infection, that's easy. But the co-ordination of anything more serious is impossible.

My last wait time for walk-in was 2 hours. I got there 2.5 hours before the posted opening time and they opened 30 minutes early. They're frequently overwhelmed and turn people away 2-3 hours before they close. Still better than the 8.5 wait last time I went to ER, but that got me an specialist referral marked "urgent".

Perhaps you have answered your own question.

That's not my experience. Walk-ins have provided the same access to more specialist treatment just like a GP would. Mrs Rich has had x-rays, mammograms, scans and blood tests arranged the same day via walk-ins. The co-ordination with other local healthcare providers or facilities is identical.


How's that any worse than being told by a GP that they're booking appointments 2 or 3 days from now?

I appreciate all this is very much dependent on your location and the luck of the draw, but is it really so much worse than the UK? I could never see a GP there within 24hrs.

Fair point but in your opinion as a Brit in Canada, would you say that once settled in, is the quality of life a step change from UK?

It does seem like it is location dependant, that's the reason I've been reluctant to start a thread until I've really thought it all through (to best serve its purpose).

This is the report, if anyone is interested (I'll spend some time looking for a synopsis to outline the main issues):-

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/me...L_12022010.pdf

Isn't that going to be wholly dependent on what you were used to and what sort of job/income you end up with here? Individual experiences won't mean you're going to have the same.

Whereabout in mainland Europe?

If the $$ is better in Europe I'm pretty sure you'd have a better quality of life, but then again, we don't know if you mean Monaco or rural Latvia.

If you can afford to holiday in N. America when you want to, then I think living in Europe is the better option.