Geordie Lass

You are young with no ties. Get yourself out here lad.

What's the worst that can happen? you blow a load of money? no biggie. You can spend £1000s on a decent holiday.

With hindsight we would have done it earlier when either our son was younger or before he came along.

On an IEC it's almost a try before you buy situation. If you don't like it head back to the UK - simples. What an experience you will have to look back on even if you don't stay.

People like us on the other hand have shipped all their stuff over (at a big cost) so will have to incur that if we decide to go back.

andyhughes88

I understand what you are saying, I have already said I know without even seeing Canada, that it is not a bed of roses and the grass is not always greener. That's why I want to try it first... I have my reasons behind wanting to move in the future I'm not so naive as to up sticks and move to a new place with no experience of it or any pull factors that influence my decision. What were the reasons for you moving? Did you test the water before committing?

My point is that I think everybody has reasons for wanting to leave a place, and reasons why a particular place is drawing them. Some people have no desire to ever leave a place and that is fine, it's up to them. I don't fit in with the latter though and if I am going to 'move' to Canada I'd like to try it first and discover something special about Canada which becomes my primary reason for wanting to settle there for good. It would be nice to hear of some of the positive things people have found living in Canada brings over living in UK- in addition to negative ones.

iaink

A big enough house for not much money, neighbours in sight, but not really earshot.

Not a lot of day to day stress to deal with. Not really any traffic on my 20 min commute, no crime that affects me to speak of in my rural backwater, so not constantly wary about it.

A strong sense of community (google Hockeyville 2012 to get an idea)

My kids really can be kids longer, and just play in the neighbourhood without worry.

I lucked out I think to end up where I am with a job that covers the bills, had it been a job offer in the GTA I would probably left already.

Oink

Well Britain’s broke isn’t it? It’s become desolate of moral and social values. Where an underclass of drunken feral youths assault old-age pensioners while being robbed for ten pounds. Post offices closing down, pubs being boarded up. Ordinary hard working people who end up paying for welfare cheats and asylum seekers; professional spongers who breed for greed while worshiping a celebrity culture where X Factor counts more than Olympic gold. Duplicate litter strewn town centers studded with Argos and Carphone Warehouses have become community centers for teenage mothers pushing strollers around while screaming and battering their children. I forgot, failing schools, prohibitive cost of housing, corrupt bankers squiring away millions in bankrupt bonuses. A general sense of a country infected by a lack of aspiration. I can see how it seems to be a post-apocalyptic hellhole. I’d want to escape too.

Airborne_Dan

Thats exactly what I'm looking for, somewhere on Vanacouver Island.

iaink

You can scratch off the "for not much money" part then...

My neighbours got posted to Victoria with the forces and swapped a $160k house they loved for a $450k mortgage on a shoebox.

andyhughes88

Couldn't have put it better myself. Add to that a complete lack of respect for anyone or anything that people have done for this country. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/no...rial-sentenced...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...f-T-shirt.html

Every day, literally every single day I turn on BBC Midlands news there is a story of this nature, or murder, rape, stabbing, drugs shooting...

People claiming cocktails of benefits, playing the system intended to benefit those genuinely in need, so that they can live a life of luxury at home watching Jeremy Kyle whilst their next door neighbour is out from 7.30am til 6pm working his bollo*ks off and is no better off!

Drug riddled streets, chavs, pubs full of working age drunkards at 11am, prisons rammed to the rafters, filthy streets covered in litter, etc etc etc

Oink

It was just a wild guess.

christmasoompa

Think you rather missed Oink's sarcasm.

You are aware that all of those things are in Canada too right? And that if you wanted to escape them you could just move to a different area of the UK? I'm an ex-Brummie too and wouldn't move back there for all the money in the world either - although to be fair, I wouldn't move to any city, I love living in a yob free rural idyll too much!

iaink

Clearly, you need to move. And stop reading the daily mail.

And read a lot more of Oinks posts!

Airborne_Dan

Well I'll be scratching off Victoria from my list then

iaink

Its where many Canadians go to retire (well, other than Florida), so property prices reflect the demand.

andyhughes88

I did note the hint of sarcasm but chose to ignore it as I think they are all valid factors behind why a person living in the UK would want to move. I too would rather live in a rural idyll isolated from the cities like Bham.

I would like to see examples or experiences people have had of these things in Canada? I dont doubt they exist, are they as prevalent though particularly away from the GTA and in more rural locations?

If its seen as cliche to quote these things as to why people leave the UK, then why aren't the people wanting to move back to the UK quoting these reasons as being factors behind them leaving Canada? I would bet it more likely to be failure to assimilate, settle in, find work, friends, homesickness etc.

Maybe migration is just a case of swapping one shi*hole for another as others have already quoted eh?

iaink

Then explore that possibility... See previouis post, finding a decent paying job in those locations is the trick. I spent a fun day yesterday at Canadas Wonderland with one of my kids (near Toronto, 2hrs drive or less), but as usual was glad to leave the city behind at the end of the day. See the returning to the UK forum for many examples of just that "Same shit is a shiner bucket" is an oft quoted phrase around here. Some people have commented that at least its usually a larger bucket.

christmasoompa

They're just as prevalent in cities, you can easily find news stories on murders, drugs, etc in Canada too. In fact murders per capita are higher in Canada than in the UK! You can't really compare a rural location in Canada with Birmingham though, it's like apples and oranges. Just as you couldn't compare a rural UK location with Toronto.

Plenty of people leaving Canada for all sorts of reasons, have a read of the Moving Back to the UK forum for their stories.

Canada is a fantastic country, as is the UK, but as Iaink has said it's far better to move for the love of a country, rather than the perceived negatives of the one you've left behind, as the same problems are everywhere unfortunately.