Novocastrian

Not the doors, then?

MarylandNed

Have you lived there? Like Canada, it's a big country and there are good and bad areas everywhere. Difficult to generalize a country so large as being a $hithole.

MarylandNed

When they are coming through the doors, I hide behind our massive sectional couch.

MarylandNed

We're talking about 2 huge countries. The winters are not harsh everywhere in Canada. Also there are many places in the US that have harsh winters.

I moved to Canada for Canada. I had no intention of living in the US but that's exactly where I ended up (via a short 2 year return to the UK). Some people do use Canada as a stepping stone to the US. Some don't start out with that intention but end up moving from Canada to the US for a variety of reasons e.g. company transfers.

Oink

Good, its good honest food at good honest prices for good honest people. I rather that than some liberal media loving nouvelle cuisine where they don’t put enough on a plate to feed an anorexic stick insect, or some trendy Italian style pizza place where they charge you $20 for a pizza.

Novocastrian

Do they do Specials for Utterly Dishonest Crack-smoking Politicians? (UDCPs)

Lox and Rocks? A Good Joint on Sunday? Rolly-polly Mayor's Dessert? The Fattest Slob in the City all you can eat Thursdays?

Leg of Oinker?

Oink

Very east coast.

dbd33

Not speaking Russian just makes you less well educated than you might be. Since it's not a language of the country where you live there's no particular advantage in knowing it. I hear it often, spoken by Russians or by people who grew up in occupied Poland. There would be some advantage in knowing it though Yiddish would likely serve for the same audience. Again, if you think not speaking Russian, or Punjabi, or any other language is a badge of honour, then good for you. I know French to be of value in Canada, immediate value if one would like a job with the Feds, but my original point was that people who speak French already would likely gain more advantage by moving to Canada than to the US.

Firstly, I qualified my initial comment with reference to healthy people so your trade-off is of no relevance. Secondly, my broad point was that, for people who live in subdivisions, the difference in day-to-day life, and so in quality of life, is minute. If one lives in a griege box in Naperville, life is not discernably different from life in such a box in Mississauga. What difference there is comes down to consumer durables of which the television is symbolic.

Tract houses in Phoenix have taller internal doors than similar houses in Mississauga or Victoria. Otherwise, they're stick built, covered in plastic and crammed together, they're in projects named for whatever was bulldozed, Aspen Ridge, Arbours of Cobblers, Pining for the Desert. On the edge of each city there's mile upon mile of them, punctuated by identi-plazas containing drug store and a Keg/Outback where, to celebrate big events, the box-dwellers go to try tiger shrimps or kangaroo testicles.

You think yours is small, don't you?

dbd33

If it's to be able to converse with the greatest number of people then I'd say one of the Asian languages. I think most people who speak Italian or Polish in Toronto also speak English (and quite possibly French) so nothing is gained by learning their language. If it's for commerical advantage around the world then, again, one of the Asian ones. If, however, the objective is to have a career in Canada (mysterious as that aim may be) then French is the way to go; there are many affirmative action programs available to francophones and there's a lot of money in Quebec, it'd be foolish to miss out on that leverage or that market just to be able to fart higher than your arse.

Novocastrian

Je vais laisser ce débat au maître.

MarylandNed

It depends on where you live in Ontario. You'll hear lots of French where Ontario borders Quebec and particularly so in Ottawa. French is one of Canada's official languages so there are advantages to knowing the language in terms of job opportunities e.g. federal government, companies that do business in Quebec, etc. It's also beneficial when travelling to Quebec. Sure, you can live your entire life without knowing French but knowing it definitely opens up more opportunities in Canada.

orly

I don't think so.

French comes well down the list in terms of speakers. Behind English, Chinese variants, Farsi, Portugese, Italian, Russian, Urdu, Spanish, Tagalog and Tamil.

In other words, French is a pretty minor language in Toronto. It just has more special status than it probably ought to. On a province wide basis French comes in 2nd...but in Toronto it's not even in the top 10

dbd33

Then more residents of Toronto should learn the language so as to lessen the us vs. them gap between Toronto and the rest of the province. As immigrants we, of course, have an obligation to try and learn the language, just as we have an obligation to try and master which end of an iced hockey puck is which.

Novocastrian

Minor, yes. (32,500 people claim it as their mother tongue). An undocumented number in addition speak it.

Negligible, no. Useful, certainly.

JamesM

Can we have the next Expats Drink Up at Moxie's??? Just planting the seed here under the radar.