Hello,

We are on the verge of deciding which location we choose to migrate to and later on decide on citizenship ....

I am an Oilfield Engineering Professional and my wife is an IT SAP ABAP professional.
I have read the Canada vs Australia article.....

I would love to have more inputs on this issue:

My decision will be based on
1. Job opportunities and Pay packages.
2. Health Care (I have read that healthcare is bad compared to the US and a patient would have to wait for months before a critical diagnosis is made .... Also Canada has only 1 insurance company and they decide what issues are insured or not.)
3. Education (Child is 3 yrs old)...How is the education quality and are the schools safe.
4. Crime Rate
5. Racism...
6. Employee rights/facilities
7. Annual leave ...(heard that Canada has just 10 - 15 days of annual leave while Auz has 4 week annual leave)
8. Cost of living
9. Government help on jobs or social welfare

Your comments and guidance will be deeply appreciated.

Kind Regards

HP

Dont believe half of what you see about healthcare here, the US healthcare debate has resulted in a lot of lies and misinformation. Each province has its own provincial program that coveres the basic (similar to NHS), then there is employer provided health care insurance that covers drug costs, dental etc etc., there is no canada wide one insurance company. Which bit of the US are you comparing too, the gilt edged corporate insured no expense spared bit, or the bottom of the pile cant afford any insurance underbelly? At least everyone in Canada has access to care and is treated based on clinical need, not wallet size.


What is the oil job situation in Australia? Canada obviously has large oil operations in Alberta and off the East coast.

How do you feel about heat vs cold?

How do you feel about the pom bashing and sporting friction between Brits and Australians? There is virtually nothing like that in Canada.

Werent most of your points covered by the wiki article?

Schooling is in general fine in Canada, although its a big place and there is some local variation. Crime again, depends where you go. In my rural area there is very little. In an inner city area, its what you probably expect.

Cost of living is broadly similar to the UK, what you lose in some areas of life you gain in others. There is some government social safety net, but its set pretty low to the bottom. Not a great welfare state, but better than the US.

Oz and Canada are so different you have to decide based on what you are looking for, not what you are trying to escape.

First of all, why do you want to migrate?

On the jobs front, you should be aware of a couple of things. Canadian employers are reluctant to hire workers who lack "Canadian experience". Canadian licencing bodies can be averse to recognizing foreign credentials. These are longstanding issues that create problems for many immigrants. The oil industry in Canada suffers from boom/bust cycles; I don't know what part of the cycle is dominant right now, though.

You might find that IT jobs aren't in the same place as oilfield jobs - it's a very large country with a small population.

Unless the two of you are absolutely, positively sure you have good jobs lined up, I wouldn't consider moving to Canada unless you have very, very strong reasons to leave where you're now living.

Canada is way too crowded, I'd go to Australia.

australia is full of snakes and spiders. i'd go to canada.

...and they're just the people, wait until you see the wildlife.

Didn't we do this thread already?

i know, but i do not have the energy, time or mental capacity at the moment to get into BC paramedic/death penalty/incarceration threads so i went for a one liner then i'll bugger off to work.

by the way, according to other threads elsewhere, aussies like it in the tradesmans a lot apparently, may just swing it for you.

That thread has gone a bit random hasn't it. Discussing debtors prisons now with AC...

yep, 'tis the way of expats though, later.

Australia has massive natural gas operations all over the place, and I'm sure there are large oilfield operations in Qld, but you'd need to look into it. Canada of course has large oilfield operations going on in the west.

Canada's healthcare system is broadly similar to the NHS, and I have read it supplied very good quality care but there can be waiting lists. The Australian system I have found to be excellent as well - it is a little more private/public in its set up but coming from Britain you would be eligible for reciprocal healthcare on Medicare. We have used this without charge and also found that the care so far has been good and without any waiting lists. In Australia you can walk into pretty much any doctor's surgery you like & do not have to register with a specific doctor. You can choose private insurance for extras like dental and so on.

I can't speak for education in either country - sorry - over to others who know. I can say the schoolchildren you see here in public (trains, etc) are pretty well behaved in general, giving up seats for elderly on trains is something I see all the time, but I am sure it's the same in Canada. Crime - without resorting to tedious stats I am sure you couldn't get a cigarette paper between the two countries on this. Racism?? Don't know about racist crimes but Canada seems to be more PC than Australia, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint

Employee rights - Australia is quite heavily unionsed for one thing, and Labor recently took Work Choices apart which was good news for people working in small companies in particular. From this website I would say it is much harder to get work in Canad because of the sinister "network" I read so much about. Also Canada has a problem with recognising overseas quals but I don't think you'll find this problem in Australia at all. Statutory annual leave in Canada is 10 days and in Australia it is 20 days.

As for cost of living - Australia has been screwed by outrageous property prices in the same way British society was ruined by them. Excluding the West, Canada seems to have escaped this misery, and as a result I guess Canada is for the most part a cheaper place to live. Tax in Australia seems pretty reasonable to me though.

Finally, something you don't mention in your list - the weather. Both countries have extreme weather conditions than some people cannot take to. There are parts of Canada that are cold like you wouldn't believe with temps like -50 at times, although -20 something would be more normal I suppose. More than that is the duration - winter comes in early and snowfall can continue for six months. In Australia it can get very hot indeed. We recently had a heatwave here with six days of 40, and without a decent aircon you will be very uncomfortable indeed. The heat drains some people, plus you will need to take care in the sun. Having said that, we do go down and swim in the ocean every evening to get cool, so that's a good side effect.

This is as comprehensive an answer as I could supply, and my knowledge as you can see is limited. If I were you and I would find out if you are eligible for visas to either of these countries, because neither are easy places to get into.

All the best and good luck.

Groceries are quite expensive in Australia.

I find them to be the same as the UK for the main. Bread is much more expensive for some reason, but meat is significantly cheaper. Veggies about the same. Beer and wine more expensive in bottle shops and supermarkets but about the same in restaurants and bars.

The problem with Australia is that two supermarkets have 80% share of the market, whereas in the UK there are five supermarkets that have 65% share of the market. There is nowhere near enough competition in the Australian supermarket sector, but there are moves to address this in the shape of a co-op that they're trying to put together with farmers. Because nearly all food sold in Australia is produced in Australia, this could wield some power, but I'll believe it when I see it.

And there are plenty of parts of Canada that don't.

It's not uncommon for central southern BC to experience 40 degree days and 35+ is a regular feature of summer. No humidity to deal with here, which makes the heat bearable.

I think "plenty" is an exaggeration when you mean "southern BC and VI" - and even then you're looking at a lot of rainfall, which might not be an incentive to move if you hate British weather.

I recall a 40+ day in Vancouver once and it felt very hot. The humidity in Vancouver in the summer is much higher than the humidity in southern Australia which is amongst the lowest in the world. Still, it's a good summer in BC, I would agree, but for me personally not worth the rain in the winter, which is higher than London.

The average summer temp in Vancouver is significantly lower than in the southern Australian cities but this is because those cities would be approximately in line with LA if they were in the northern hemisphere, and their weather is much more similar to LA or San Diego than Vancouver for that reason. Comparing BC to Australia is as ridiculous as comparing Vancouver to LA and expecting parity, especially when one considers that LA is not as hot as Perth or Adelaide. Whereas the average Vancouver summer temperature is about 25 or 26, it's much higher in Australia and of course it goes on for much longer. This year the summer started about 10 days ago when temperatures climbed over 40, and this will go on until early March (between 28 and 47).

Going back to my original point, the OP should be aware that the extremes of heat and their durations in these countries is not like anything he/she will have experienced in the UK. There's a town in WA called Marble Bar where in 1924 the temperature was 37 degrees or (significantly) higher for 162 consecutive days.

You don't get that in Croydon.