Hi to all in this forum!

We went out to Canada a few weeks ago, as it's long been a place that I've always wanted to visit, but never quite got round to it (beach holidays were always high on the list due to the unpredictable nature of the British weather!)

Arrived in Toronto in a severe thunderstorm, but the weather improved and we got stuck in to all the places we wanted to see. Moved up to Montreal and finally Quebec by train to get an overall feel of what the east coast was like. I must admit that it's the only place that I've ever visited that made me feel more homely than actually being back at home in the UK. People were friendly, the whole place felt fresh and clean, creating an atmosphere that I felt sad to leave once our 2 weeks were up.

So now we're considering moving out to Canada, as we feel that the lifestyle that it offers is exactly what we want from life. After spending hours trawling round the net, I came across this site, and glad I did, as it's nice to hear opinions from other immigrants rather than the tourist blurb with pretty pictures.

We've a lot to research, but we're looking at Calgary in Alberta at the moment, mainly due to it's stunning landscapes, high sunshine hours and closeness to the Rockies.

My only worry at the moment, is posts I've seen about the job situation out there. I'm working in systems development in the UK at the moment and my partner is into Sales/Marketing & customer service. I've heard the IT market isn't great in Calgary, and although it wouldn't bother me taking a lower skilled / lower paid job, my concern is just getting A job! Ideally we want to setup our own business, but we know realistically that we'll need jobs of some description before going down this route.

We're fortunate to be able to take the equity out of our house and be able to go 'mortgage-free' when we move (as I guess many UK residents who moved have), but we know we can't take 'early-retirement' (were only in our 30's!).

What's the cost of living like in Calgary? How much do you need to earn to have a 'comfortable' lifestyle?

Well that's a bit about us.. again, it's nice to read people's experiences of immigrating, the different places you go to, and how life is once you've moved.

Our first post, hope it wasn't too bad!

Simon & Anna

Hi,

The first thing that interested me about your post was that you are looking to move out west although it was in the east that you had such an enjoyable time. Is their anything about where you have been so far that has put you off from contemplating living there? Or is it just as you say the obvious appeal of the Rockies?

We are moving to Eastern Ontario and I was just curious.

We're only in the early stages of looking at areas, so we've still got a lot of places to look at Hopefully heading out to the West coast later this year so we can get an idea of what its like out there.

East coast was a nice place, but my partner wasn't too keen on the extreme winter, so Calgary was appealing for the 'milder' winters and for the sunshine. I don't mind, just keen on getting away from the 'city' lifestyle and enjoying the countryside

Blimey I wouldn't consider -30oC a mild winter!!! But myself and the better half are gonna check out Calgary this summer after seeing Ontario before. Will let you know!

I've an idea that you may need to get yourself over to the other side of the Rockies, ie BC to enjoy a milder winter!

From my limited research, Alberta and BC seemed to have milder winters, anyone out in Calgary beg to differ?

It'll be good to hear how your trip goes

Comedy

Regarding employment. Calgary is - on paper - about as good as it gets for employment in Canada. Of course there are different hotspots around Canada depending on what your line of work is.

The climate in Calgary is not like the coast. It is a semi-arid prairie. Do visit the west coast, it's beautiful, but Calgary is not like that.

You are well to be doing research on all these things in advance.

Don't you get more rain out there than we do in the UK

Give me snow over rain anyday

The west coast is mild but very wet. The further inland you move, the more extreme the hot and cold becomes. Calgary is sunny year-round but gets very very cold in winter.

In my opinion the southern interior of British Columbia (find Kamloops on the map) has the best climate in Canada.

I would, but that's because it can get below -40C in Calgary with windchill!!!

Where do people get the impression Calgary has mild winters??

Calgary has periods of really harsh cold broken up by the effects of chinook winds that blow over the rockies - we actually have a longer winter than the east coast.

We'll get our first snow here in September and our last in May - it can also snow or hail almost any month of the year.

Edmonton this week had loonie sized hail - it block the drains, flooded areas of the city and made part of the roof of West Edmonton Mall collapse!! The NW of Calgary got off lightly with quarter sized hail that stripped the leaves of the trees and destroyed bedding plants.

We do get a lot of sunshine, but it can be incredibly cold at the same time.

This is not a negative rant about Alberta weather - I just get very concerned when I see comments about Calgary's "mild" winters.

BC is the only place in Canada that can be considered to have a mild winter.

The eastern provinces are liberal, Alberta is the most conservative province in Canada - they are very different places to live.

If you like the east, don't assume that you'll like the west.

There are jobs here, but they're tough to get - you have to get to know people before they'll take you seriously as a candidate and that's the hard bit.

Income required for a good standard of living - that all depends on what you consider a good standard of living to be.

If you go back and look at a poll I did in the last few weeks, most people are earning in the $20K to $40K range. A supermarket job will pay $7 to $8 per hour.

Setting up a business is like getting a job - why should someone go to you if there's somebody they know already doing the same thing?

The problem with Calgary isn't so much lack of IT jobs, its the fact that they are rarely advertised. Often it's been said that a company prefers to employ Fred because he is a buddy of the directory rather than for his skills.

For the first time ever, I have been approached from an employer via Monster.ca - which almost has me picking myself up off the floor. I'm not sure if this is a sign things are getting better, or if my resume just scored well in the keyword test. I still highly doubt I will get as far as an interview.

I've been itching to setup my biz too, and even have a full business plan ready to set sail, but due to the nature of the business, it really needs to be incorporated - it costs a touch more to do that here than England, so it keeps getting knocked to the bottom of the financial priority pile.

Incorporation costs here are comparable to the UK.

Depends if you use a lawyer or a do-it-yourself kit from your local registry.

We used the do-it-yourself approach.

In the UK we bought an off the shelf company.

There's a lot less paperwork involved in running a company here.

Be a bit more positive lad!!

I'm working on that.

Hi

I am from the Okanagan, about 4 hours from Vancouver and about 8 from Calgary.

Summers, hot and sunny can get up to mid 30's often.
Winter and summer hardly have any rain - Okangan is semi desert.
Winters are mild and cloudy. Can have snow might not. Temperatures don't get below -10 often.

JJ

It's over 600 miles by road from Calgary to Vancouver - slightly further than the straight line distance from Land's End to John O'Groats.

That's a lot of space for local climates

People in Vancouver say: I like rain, at least you don't have to shovel rain.

People in Calgary say: I like snow, at least you can shovel snow.