BristolUK

Glad you took it the way I intended

dormy

Sorry you are going through this, I also went through it, lasted for 5 years before I had to leave, just couldnt take the insular attitudes anymore.

Good lucl in your adventures!

anders101

Thanks Dormy. Am just excited to get out and start living again!

MarylandNed

Of course it could be that the moaners and complainers are more likely to frequent immigration forums while we never hear from the hordes of happy people who are out and about living their lives and generally enjoying themselves.

AmyDavid

I think it takes a certain type of person to appreciate NS and thankfully I'm not one of them

bats

Don't hold back now.

anders101

Cookie

Whatever that means If I remember right, this is the third province you've moved to. Hopefully this one has everything you're chasing after.

AmyDavid

Thanks so much - that means a lot

Cookie

If you scroll down this page you will see the Provincial tax table on earnings. Tax allowances do vary from Province to Province.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html

Likewise your RRSP tax savings varies too, with higher taxed provinces receiving the bigger savings.

http://www.ey.com/CA/en/Services/Tax...4-RRSP-Savings

Bellanova

NS minimum wage being the highest??? Wow that's something to be proud of for sure, they need to do something to attempt to make people stay

Bellanova

I totally agree, I'm not sure what type of person you have to be, but I'm certainly not one either lol

Bellanova

christmasoompa

I struggle to understand the 'we couldn't be outside in the UK because of the weather' I see occasionally on here. We're outside every weekend, no matter what the weathers doing. Do people really not go for a walk or a bike ride just because it's raining?

I also struggle to see why anybody would pay £135 for Legoland tickets when you can get them for free using Clubcard or Nectar points, or at least get free child & half price adult tickets on one of their frequent promotions. We used to have annual passes as it's only 15 mins from us, never paid a penny to go there though. Every day out we do is either free or heavily discounted (cinema tickets for £1 each tomorrow morning as a prime example).

Heck, in October we're spending a week in Morocco for free courtesy of Clubcard points, you be amazed what you can get with them!

I've only been to NS once and it seemed very nice, but can't imagine there's any more 'outdoorsy' stuff I'd do there than in the UK, or that taking the family out would be cheaper, particularly given the price of eating out there.

There are many arguments for NS I'm sure, but those two aren't convincing me somehow.

Lychee

I think it boils down to this: Canada is not the UK. Canada is Canada. People are bored because Canada is not the UK.

Moving to Canada without appreciating the cultural, economic, social, geographical, and historical differences for what they are, rather than what they are not, is key.

Rather than criticize Canada for its differences, understand why those differences from the UK exist. Once you understand why the differences exist, and then accept those differences for what they are, you can adapt, and the differences no longer seem a nuisance or an annoyance.

There's also a lot of ignorance about Canada, and it seems that many fail to truly understand the the societal aspects of Canada before moving, or that this differs from region to region, even within a province.

I think many of the Canadian/UK cultural differences can often be explained from Canada's continental scale vs. the UK's tiny geography, and Canada's tiny population strewn across a vast continent compared to the population density of the UK. Other differences can explained by Canada's natural resource extraction economy and extreme climate, and its short colonial history compared to the UK's thousands of years of modern history. This is a massive oversimplification of course, but all plays a role in these two countries' differences.

One topic that comes to mind are the footpaths in the UK countryside. There is a reason these exist in the UK and not in Canada. Again, it can be explained by the factors mentioned above.

On paper, Canada may seem similar somewhat to the UK, but when you move, you'll discover that the people are different, they think differently, they value different things, they socialize differently, they acquire jobs differently, they plan their cities differently, they build their buildings differently, they shop differently, they eat differently, they style their hair differently, they listen to different music, they consume different media, they socialize differently, and so on.

There used to be a regular to the BE forum, Judy_in_Calgary, a true gem and a wise woman. She used to say, "look at Canada through an anthropological lens". In fact, it may be written in the Wiki under "culture shock". Either way, all I know is that if you look at Canada from "UK-tinted glasses", comparing it to how it is or how it isn't like the UK, but instead start understanding Canada in its own context, you'll likely be a whole lot happier.