iaink

I am a Canadian, got the little blue card and about three letters congratulating me from various MPs desperate for my vote and everything
Im not arguing that the drawbridge should be pulled up anyway.
All I am saying is its a bit bizarre that an asylum seeker whos case has not been proven is allowed a work permit and access to the canadian workplace until a decision is made, but a spousal applicant has to sit and twiddle their thumbs waiting for the wheels of beurocracy to turn. Doesnt seem quite fair.

Scouse

If you think that this is purely a 'Canadian' problem, you are wrong.

Did I say anything about pulling up drawbridges?

Did I say anything about Expats?

Who is running?

Are you sure you have replied to the right post??

dbd33

Are you not a UK national living in, or intending to live in, Canada ?

Patsy

I wonder if we could have a thread on....reasons to go to canada, rather than reasons to leave the UK. Does anyone who leaves for Canada actually like the UK? I'm hoping to go because i like the way of life over there and the space etc etc........I was brought up on an estate and the good people outweighed the 'yobs'? It was ok....I dont live far from where i was brought up now, not a housing estate but a nice area with nice houses, nice handy shops, nice wine bars and pubs, and especially nice people and neighbours....bit like Wisteria Lane really, lol... without the murders!!! City centre is about 20 mins away and that it also nice, lots of money spent on the area, lots of lovely eating places and friendly bars plus great shops. Having read the thread on reasons to leave UK, i wonder whether canada is seen as an escape route!! Ive NEVER experienced any of the horrors listed above, (yes youre right i do live in Liverpool) except my son and his mates did have an experience with a rival gang once (no canadian gangs of lads in canada then?). Be really interested to know if anyone has gone over to canada without putting their 2 fingers up at Heathhrow airport before boarding the plane.

Souvenir

I came to Canada because a Canadian lady brought me here when her four-year posting to London ended. I'm not calling myself souvenir for nothing.

That being said, I don't miss the UK and, frankly, I can't wait to get out of the place when I make trips back.

Patsy

Be really interested to know if anyone has gone over to canada without putting their 2 fingers up at Heathhrow airport before boarding the plane.??

Souvenir

I did. The two fingers stuff only started when I'd been here long enough to know what I wasn't missing.

MikeUK

Me.... and I view anybody that thinks the UK is 'so.. bad' and canada 'so.. good' as foolish and/or naive....

and I'm on my second stint working in canada in a very good job, and have a candain wife and candain son.....

But I can accept that canada has its flaws just as much as the UK and that the overall cost of living is very similar when canadain wages are factored in..

Does Canada have gangs… oh we do and in the wrong ‘downtown’ places they use guns…. Do we have drunks..yes but not in towns centres as in the Uk… you’ll find them out of town driving f150’s with a mullet…quite often a native Canadian you’ll find most of then in the northern half of the provinces
We have all the same problems just in different places…

Patsy

which was what? Im intrigued.... cos im thinkin 'uh uh...am i doin the right thing?' see, im not running away but would like my family to experience life in canada...someone once told me that once u emigrate all the Brit expats do is moan about UK (sorry not my actual quote)

Patsy

Oh i misread this.....thought u meant

Souvenir

It's true that a lot of expats move somewhere else just to moan about the UK. I'm not saying that Canada is utopia but there was just so much that appealed to me when I got here. It could, quite possibly, have been to do with where I first lived when I got here and the fact that I'd been living in London for years. It's the little things, like cars stopping to let you cross the road; like cars backing up into their driveways to let pedestrians continue walking along the sidewalk; like people say good morning to complete strangers; like the fact that kids are cherished here, not ignored (street hockey is a safe sport for kids). Like the fact that you can have a bar full of Englishmen, Irishmen, Scots, Welsh, scousers and poncy southerners (all expats) get drunk, take the p**s out of each other and it doesn't turn into a brawl.

The first time I went back to the UK, the first thing I noticed was that everyone looked as if they were ready to kill the first person who came within five feet of them. Try starting a conversation with a complete stranger on the Tube and see what happens......

Patsy

hmmm well the tube is something else.....a friend of mine travelled a few stops opposite a dead man on the tube once...no-one had noticed......having said that its difficult to avoid conversation with strangers on merseyrail.....hmm..well, it used to be, maybe not as friendly as it used to be. I think people are scared...Liverpool was always a friendly city, now people hold back incase the person sitting next to them wont understand wot their saying...(that is not a stab at refugees) Im thinkin inclusion. Society's changed

Calgal

'ere!!!! who you calling 'poncy'?

snowqueen

[quote]Does anyone who leaves for Canada actually like the UK? [quote]

I'm glad you asked this! I was going to post a thread entitled 'RUNNING TO OR RUNNING FROM....?' as I've notice quite a few posts on here about how AWFUL everything is in the UK, and how the country is going to the dogs etc etc. We're all guilty of it from time to time and this forum is a great place to have a rant, but we have to do a reality check on ourselves from time to time and make sure we are not just trying to escape our lives as they are, thinking that Canada will solve all our problems. For my part, living in Ireland, I can see loads of things about the UK that I miss and consequently appreciate about the UK that I might not see close up as it were. Likewise, when we leave Ireland, I'm sure there are things I will miss, even though it's not my original home. I want the adventure of starting a new life in Canada and enjoying all it has to offer, but it is not a matter or life and death, nor is it the end of the world if it doesn't happen. We have jobs, a house and a decent enough life where we are, like, I suspect most of you. Europe is not such a bad place, you know, we are VERY lucky to be living in the developed world at all!! And for all those of you who give out about spongers/refugees etc, ask yourself if YOU would be prepared to risk your life and that of your family to get into Canada? Is your life really that bad? Makes e-client seem quite civilised if you ask me!!!

Whatever, you think, we are the lucky ones.

Lecture over!!
Snowqueen

Souvenir

I'm from Brighton. And, before you ask, no I'm not like that.