the_tones_guy

Might be a stupid question and I think I probably know the answer to this, Premiums - Province of British Columbia - so my wife does not work, so has zero income, so do we have to apply as a family unit, or can she apply as her with my 12 year old and I apply just as myself, this would be 'much' cheaper. I'm sure they're wise to this though?

not2old

what I see is from the top of the page in that link ....based on 'family income' Maybe others can comment

In B.C., premiums are payable for MSP coverage and are based on family size and income.

Monthly Premium Rates
Effective January 1, 2015

Aviator

If you move into another home and live separately that would work! Otherwise, as with all govt. programs, it is family income not individual. MSP also check with CRA when premium assistance is applied for. So your tax returns will also be a give away.

the_tones_guy

I thought that would be the case, no worries though, what we lose with this we gain on just how cheap things you buy (including petrol) is and how much longer things like fruit and veg lasts, it's already 3 days old by the time we get it from a ship in NL!

the_tones_guy

One more question, if I might?

With the fires over that way, how is house insurance against fires etc...?

We just spent 2 weeks in BC/Alberta and the North of America, chasing forest fires and being constantly rerouted, I know this might be an issue, do insurers insure against fire?

Stinkypup

I'm not aware of any loaded premiums - you will be covered for all risks with the appropriate policy including coverage for fire.

Aviator

The real kicker is contents. Insurers charge based on property value, however if you have a total loss, as some OK residents did some years back, they don't just pay out what you are insured for, you have to somehow prove how much you lost and that is what they pay. Don't be underinsured either. If they figure you under insured by say 30%, any payout is reduced by 30% even if it falls within the limits of the sums insured.

the_tones_guy

Great answers, thank you.

Theoldfields

We've been in Kelowna now for two years and we'd certainly recommend it. It's a great place to experience the four seasons and the quality of life is excellent.

the_tones_guy

We 'really' enjoyed our recce there the last couple of weeks, it has everything we need, loads of shops, nice weather, choice of places to go visit etc... we will be bringing our child (who will be 13 when we move), so the next thing on my list is schools.

PS. regarding Winter, do we need to bring our snow blower? Bear in mind, I usually just dig any snowfall we get here in NL is it's around a foot deep.

BristolUK

A shovel looks more than enough from the climate details I looked at.

Mind you, one of the things I read says it gets 15" of precipitation, a fifth of that falling as snow.

In my maths that's 3 inches so I was thinking kitchen utensils.

But it seems that was bad intel and it's a bit more. A mere 105cm/43" annually. Much nicer than our 'normal' 280 plus.

Mind you, you never know what to believe. Once it became clear we were really being dumped on last winter, there was a lot of media coverage about getting close to the record for a winter and they kept changing what the record was.

One day you'd read we were 40cm short, there'd be two more storms of 22cm each and we'd still be short by 30.

The last I read suggested somewhere around 420cm because I remember thinking it was 50% more than the usual.

Anyway, I'm now reading we got over 500cm.

the_tones_guy

Yes, I also read there is not much snow and that if it does fall, it's gone very quickly of its own accord. Well....that's one less thing to bring with us!

snoopdawg

I think you are not quite understanding Okanagan winters! Last winter was quite different from others. It was generally mild, short, but we did have some snow, most of which fell over 48 hours in January. This winter may be the same due to El Niño.
Normally, it averages about -10, but we can have spells, maybe a week of - 20. Most years, there is snow on the ground from around late November, early December to end of March. Nothing grows, so no veg growing in winter. My gardener OH won't touch the garden over winter, no point.
The snow is usually incredibly light, you can blow it yourself, but most people use a shovel or snow blower! It doesn't just disappear usually as on the Lower Mainland or the UK. Paths in provincial parks will be packed ice and hard to walk on till March/ April. I can see we have a lot less snow than the East , but much, much more than the LM.
Most older people with the financial ability LEAVE the area for the winter as snow birds, the extreme south of the Okanagan tries to attract snowbirds but I can't imagine they are that successful with local residents. They prefer Arizona, California and Mexico.
One last thing to be aware of, some people find winters difficult as the valley can hold on to cloud for days sometimes, it's never bothered me, I think we get more sun than people say, but it's easy to get above it by going to the ski resorts, even if only for a walk. A lot of locals do try to get a sun winter break in, to break the perceived cabin fever though.

Tinpusher63

Kelowna average annual total precipitation 386.9 mm (1981 - 2010) Average total rainfall 311.3 mm (1981 - 2010) Average total snowfall 89 cm (1981 - 2010)

Moncton average annual total precipitation 1124.0 mm (1981 - 2010) Average total rainfall 842.0 mm (1981 - 2010) Average total snowfall 282 cm (1981 - 2010)

Total snowfall for Moncton last winter (November 2014 - April 2015) 506.6 cm

Source for the above Environment Canada.

BristolUK

This might be one of those things 'relative' though.
Leaving many parts of Canada (guaranteed regular heavy snowfalls and extended periods of -30s) for BC might make one seem as much of a snowbird as one getting away from Kelowna and heading for Arizona.

I suppose there may be those in the South of France who consider themselves snowbirds by escaping the frigid wastelands that The Côte d'Azur becomes in January for somewhere warmer.

Yep, found those.

Trouble is the figures in the paper come from the same source and they don't always match. I think part of that is the focus. Some days they might compare to the same date in 1953 and then tomorrow's date with 1971. I find all that meaningless.

Or they might focus on snow falling in a particular month as if snowfall the 1st to 31st of March is somehow more significant than a greater amount from, say, 25th of February to the 10th March when surely far more snow in a shorter period is more remarkable.

Reading the paper last winter with all those updates and the record seemingly being pushed on all the time made me think of Catch 22.