Not going now
 

I was originally planning to land in Calgary round about now and start a new job there. However, on route from Dubai, I stopped off at home in London and was offered a job which is paying almost the same in pounds sterling as would have been my wage in Calgary $55k. OK a little less in pounds, the other side of 50.

Some how I cannot see that Canada will offer a better standard of living and I'm sure in the long run I will be financially better off in England. Also, I don't think $55k CAD will give me the same buying power as £50k. I'm not convinced that things are priced pound to dollar in Canada as I have been previously told. I have heard Calgary is beautiful, but at the end of the day I guess it comes down to money.

Therefore the decision has now been taken, and we are not going.

Thanks,
Majj

Re: Not going now
 

Well, I've found that while salaries are lower in Canada, so is the cost of living. So at the end of the day, the proportions of what you spend in the UK are the same as what you would spend in Canada. Might not be true for everyone though. The advantage of a UK salary is that you have relatively more to spend if you decide to go abroad.

However, I disagree that "Canada doesn't offer a better standard of living", especially compared to London!

It's not all about money for some people, but it sounds like you've chosen London so good luck with that.

Re: Not going now
 

I'm not sure about 55k in Canada, but, to be honest, 50k in London is not going to give you a great lifestyle unless house prices drop a lot. I'd say you need to be earning at least 100k in London to live well... it's a very expensive city.

Re: Not going now
 

I used to earn way less than 55GBP and I had a good life in and around London (OK Bromley). The cost of living here in BC is the same if not higher than the UK - groceries, utilities and other "basics" are more expensive and are of much poorer quality. You also have to put up with attitudes from the dark ages, crap services and terrible employment prospects. I would take the London job over a $55k job in Canada any day.

Re: Not going now
 

Wow! I thought you were there by now...

Are you at least going over to land? That way you can keep your options open for the next 3yrs, should it not work out in the UK, until your PR status runs out.

Best of luck either way. I was interested to hear what happened with your "cancelled" backwards visa too :D

Biiiiink

Re: Not going now
 

Nice, I think sometimes people get the idea of Canada being heaven and the UK is hell and feel bad about turning down Canada, but I think you made a good choice. I haven't found Canada to be that much cheaper on the whole (but then again I am on a student budget so nothing is cheap lol) and if you are happy living in a city then I think London is an awesome one. Good luck with the new job :)

Re: Not going now
 

This is not meant to be disrespectful - but why on earth don't you just go back? I mean, do you prefer to live somewhere you don't enjoy when there's a place you clearly prefer a few hours' flying time away? I have been in Canada for over 20 years and go to Europe and Britain yearly on business and to visit family. Wild horses would not drag me back to Britain - and it's not about salary or groceries or services (though I find services and customer service vastly better in Canada than in the U.K.) It's about space, about attitude, about people's lack of baggage, about a sense of community (yes, even in big cities) and about an incomparably better quality of life. This is totally personal, of course! But it puzzles me why someone as clearly homesick and unhappy would want to stick around

GTR

Re: Not going now
 

Great minds think alike. See dingbat's post in The Joys of Selling Your Home thread.

Re: Not going now
 

Nasty ex husband, who has lots of money, fancy lawyer - got a court order after we divorced which stopped my kids from leaving Canada and BC without his permission, children he pays NO child support for and has abandoned. I tried to fight it and lost over $10,000 to useless lawyers. I am now probably able to leave after yet another court review, unless my ex crawls out from under his latest stone and appeals before the deadline next week. Answer your question? Some of us have no choice but stay here, perhaps if you had read a few posts and not jumped to conclusions, you would have seen why I detest this place so much. :cool: You are also out East - ever lived in BC? No? Well then....shockingly, it is very different back East and had I been given the choice to move there, I might well not have the same gripes. As it stands, I leave Canada for good or potentially open myself up to never ending litigation from someone who doesn't even see the kids he has kept here for three years now against their wishes (and mine), just because he can.

Re: Not going now
 

As I said - no disrespect was meant in my original question. You have certainly more than aptly answered why you dislike this place so much. And you are right: I know very little about B.C. I hope you can resolve the difficult situation you're in and find happiness. Best of luck!

GTR

Re: Not going now
 

Fingers crossed for you.

$55k in Calgary vs £<50k in London. Too close to call. Personally I'd rather live in Calgary...dont remember the rockies being on Londons Doorstep...but then its not still winter in London either! Cant help but think £50k wont go far in london if you plan to buy a place to live, but then $55k in Calgary would be a struggle for a family on a fair size mortgage.

As I have said many times, emmigrating for financial reasons is going to end in tears. Its about quality of life in my opinion. Good Luck wherever you end up, life is what you make it, not where you make it.

Re: Not going now
 

I know people (Canadians) who are from BC and they will not go back there. They say it stands for Bring Cash.

Re: Not going now
 

Oh great!!!!!!!!!!!

I was just literally going to post something to say Ontario or BC which is best as have never considered BC up until yesterday but today decided to do a bit of research and see if it looked any better than Ontario - then I come across this thread which has nothing good to say about BC.

Please advise me as to whether BC is a good place to immigrate to from UK -is cost of living so high as stated here etc etc.

Thanks

Re: Not going now
 

To put it in perspective the only person with direct experience of BC in this thread is being help there against her wishes, which is not going to do anything to make you positive about it.

BC...the inhabited bits anyway... is undoubtedly expensive by Canadian standards, but on the other hand the weather is milder and the mountains and ocean right there. Prices are perhaps inflated due to demand from immigrants comming in from the other side of the Pacific, and perhaps by the Olympics coming to town. Its probably fair to say employment is easier to find in Ontario.
Im sure stats canada probably has some meaingfull cost of living index to compare communities in its community profiles, but remember, housing costs are often a case of supply and demand...if its expensive its because people want to live there, and if its cheap its because demand is less. Only you know what you are truly looking for.

I wouldnt want anyone to emmigrate anywhere based on whats posted here!Visit Ontario (and there is more to Ontario than the GTA!) and BC, and ask some more questions here.

Re: Not going now
 

Well I think the way I would put it is

If you have enough money then Canada can give you as much enjoyment as the UK can with enough money…

But without the money Canada can be just as miserable as any hole in the UK..

The question you need to work out is how much money is enough

A lot will ride on your personal expectations..

As a rule I find Canada on the day to day necessities to a bit slightly cheaper than the UK..
On hi Tech toys Canada is cheaper due to proximity to the US

For luxuries then that’s where Canada falls down they can be hard to find and expensive.

So the cost will directly be affected by your expectations and life style…

And as a general disclaimer some thing you expect to be cheaper here won’t be and other will