Karate Kev

As most of you may know, I started a thread t'other day asking where we should live - but i think i may've been too specific! Basically, i'd thought about Calary Alberta, Edmonton Alberta, and Kamloops B.C. Which means, for the most part, those 3 places are the main ones i've recieved opinions about...... so i'm gonna start again - sorry about that!

Let's put it this way - i've never ever been to Canada, but i've heard nothing but good about it - and emmigrating there is a dream of ours that now seems to be getting closer and more real. Obviously we're gonna visit as soon as it's viable, but our purse-strings won't allow more than one visit before we jump in with both feet.

What i mean is this; If and when we get our visa, we'l start the 're-mortgaging-and-renting-out-our-house' machine, to release our setting down capital. But until then, we can only really afford the one trip - that's why i want as many opinions as possible.

Basically, we don't mind where in Canada we end up..... but we do want sun, snow, scenery, job prospects, and reasonable house prices - no matter where it is. (Don't want much, do i??!!)

But at the risk of repeating myself (as i so often do!), although we definately want snow and white Christmasses, we'd rather not have it toooooooo bitterly cold, and little or no flippin' rain!!!

Thanx in advance for your views, and remember, i'm no longer giving limited options as i did before - absolutely anywhere in Canada that's closest to our criterea is the place we'l aim to visit.

Take care - and please have patience with me!!

Kev.

Tiaribbon

Aww I love it Kev! Your old thread has had a whopping response and now you try to divert it to a more manageable thread and no-one replies!

Sorry but I found it funny....I've got a weird sense of humour I guess.

Karate Kev

Boohoo!! no-one loves me on this thread!!! Oh well, i'l just be patient - and if it made you laugh, you ought to hear some of my jokes!!...... No, on second thoughts, my jokes are cr*p!

Come on people - don't just read this thread - reply to it..... pleeeeease!

Kev.

mickj

You sound desparate, just like those googling me :-) Anyway....the more important issues you were searching answers for, what is the update on that, if you don't mind me asking, have you visited an expert in that field?

Yes i do want to hear your jokes....on second thoughts, i'll pass :-)

Karate Kev

Yeah, i've been doing research on Josh's condition, and on his acceptability. This is what i've learnt;

I spoke to a Doctor here in the U.K., who actually does the screening medicals for immigration applications.

Although he doesn't have any say in the decision process, he said that in his opinion, seeing as Josh has cerebral-palsy, which is non-progrssive, and because it's what they class as 'controlled, he doesn't think we'd be disallowed on medical grounds. I just hope his opinion is correct!

Obviously i'l keep anyone who's interested posted on this subject.

But for now, we're waiting to hear officially from a migration agent that we sent our appraisal form to. Obviously i'm hoping they tell us that we have a far better-than-average chance of attaining our visa.

Kev.

CalgaryAMC

The problem is that there is nowhere in Canada that meets all of these criteria. Kamloops might, just, but its weakness is the job prospects.

oceanMDX

I'll vote for Calgary. To the west, it has mountain scenery that is awesome. Housing costs aren't cheap but they are reasonable. It gets rain, but in no way can it be considered a rainy city for Canada. It is one of the sunniest parts of Canada (a country that isn't noted to be particularly sunny). The economy is as strong as anywhere in Canada.

Rich_007

We looked at Edmonton and Calgary but were well put off by the winter temperatures in Edmonton, so looked at Calgary with the Chinook, and even then it can get down to -15 and -20, and -10 on a fairly regular basis for what is after all a fairly long period of time.

OK, it's easy to say that you just take the Canadian attitude of 'no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing' but at the end of the day us Brits aren't really used to that kind of extreme temps. Trust me, if you never have experienced that kind of cold, -10 in Iceland seemed very very cold, -20 was unfeasibly bloody brassic - frozen tear ducts and trouble wearing contact lenses cos they stuck to my eyeballs !!! And we aren't warm-weather wusses either - we love getting out and about in a bit of sharp, fresh cold weather. Folks young and old die walking home in that kind of weather (yes true I've seen it in the Canadian press!!).

We were even going to visit Calgary over winter to find out whether we could handle it, but then got diverted to BC because of other reasons and ideas.

Take your choice, assess your thoughts on everything, even the winter weather. As said, Calgary has booming real estate, good infrastructure, good economic prospects, great location, good weather ex. winter) and compared to some smaller places it is comparatively cosmopolitan, especially V Edmonton.

Good luck,

Rich.

oceanMDX

I wouldn't say that Calgary is any more "cosmopolitan" than Edmonton.

liftman

What is it that you do for a living?

We have been looking at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and that seems to encompass many of your requirements, job depending.

Rich_007

Beg to differ, though no expert and neve visited myself. Two people who had visited both cities said Calgary was a far nicer more cosmopolitan place.

Maybe right, maybe wrong.

Personally I don't care as I won't be considering Edmonton anyway.

oceanMDX

I didn't visit Alberta - I lived/worked there for 15 years before retiring.

Cosmopolitan refers to ethnic diversity and wordly sophistication. In that regard, the two cities are very comparable. They are of nearly identical population.

As to which is "nicer", that is very subjective. Calgary is more "white collar" and has a more educated and higher income population than Edmonton. However, lots of people think Edmonton is "nicer" - whatever they mean by that. Edmonton has nicer trees - it's a little greener than Calgary and has prettier vistas.

oceanMDX

If you want a cosmopolitan city, Toronto and Vancouver will blow away anthing that Alberta has to offer.