JamesM

Pub culture is very different.

In London your beer is pulled by an australian or a minimum wage worker with bad teeth and no real idea how to make a mojito. You are also faced with having to elbow your way to the bar on a Friday night with no general rule of service and knowing you could be away from your mates for 10 minutes.

In Toronto you'll likely have a slender well cut young lady serve you at your table or at the bar, they can make a decent cocktail and you won't feel the need to glass or knock six bells out of anyone. The downside is your pint will cost a little more and you'll have to tip on it.

They have started doing sweet potato fries in England and potato wedges here so that is not a differentiator.

matt_toronto

No fruit-machines though .. I miss those a lot !

MarylandNed

The best pub I've ever encountered for getting served while standing in a large thirsty throng six deep the entire length of the bar....The Whitworth ("The Whitty") in Rusholme, Manchester. Sadly this has now closed but in the 80s when I was at uni it was packed every night of the week with students from Manchester University, UMIST, Manchester Poly, Royal Northern College of Music, nurses/doctors from the nearby Manchester Royal Infirmary and working class Mancunians. The roles were reversed here in that the bar staff were numerous and adept at picking the customers out for serving. Before I got my drinks I'd be asked multiple times by multiple bar staff "are you being served?". It got to the point where I tried to avoid eye contact with them because then I'd get asked again. Superb pub at the time but obviously went into decline in subsequent years.

BristolUK

It's at this time of year that - having reserved a three week block at work - I'd be checking availability and prices for Greek Islands for late bargains, ready to go at very short notice; on one occasion I left the travel agent at lunchtime and walked into my apartment for the next two weeks on Zakynthos at 2.00pm the next day.

That's the biggest downside to being in Canada. Not being able to do that. And the same goes for the rest of the year, too, not being able to pop over to Paris for a few days or a Christmas Market or winter-sun break or numerous other European cities, mountains and lakes often all on the same trip.

I miss it.

Novocastrian

As an ex-eternal expat I strongly disagree with that. That curse is surely a lesser one than that of never experiencing intimately and at first hand, cultures, attitudes and lifestyles other than one's local one wherever it was you happened to be born.

I've switched countries of residence five and a half times since first emigrating from the UK in 1977 but never in search of some nebulous Eutopia (delicious typo in the context of the June 23rd referendum BTW) but always to advance professionally. None of the countries I lived in have been less acceptable than any other.

You get out what you put into it.

Your difficulty, if I make so bold, is that you're trying to decide in advance what you want out of different options.

It's been said already, but do you actually have the option of immigrating in Canada? Get that elephant out of the room before worrying over whether Canada or the UK has the best pub culture or health care system.

It can be done. It's called retirement.

Steve_

The thing about crime in Canada is there is definitely less of the mindless drunk yob type crime, mainly because of the controls on alcohol, imv.

Sandsmehra

Thanks JonboyE. Vancouver has always appealed when I have visited.

Sandsmehra

That's a really good point. I haven't really experienced that having lived away from UK for a while but the last minute booking is similar in Asia. It's a shame it doesn't exist in Canada.

dbd33

If we accept that to be true, the preference for drugs over alcohol is not without it's unfortunate consequences; every day I pass some unfortunate with thin arms and rotted teeth who is shouting at imaginary people.

I suppose from a broad societal perspective people ending their lives early through meth is cheaper than them drinking and fighting during their youths and then slowly ruining their internal organs through alcohol but, while Canadian mindless yobs are alive, they're horrible to look at.

Steve_

This doesn't apply to Vancouver, bear that in mind. Downtown Vancouver has a higher population density than central London and the cost of housing is eye watering.

Yes they are, bit dumbfounded by stinkypup's comment. I've never even heard anyone use a racial slur in Canada. Not that I recall anyway. Lot of old people in Kelowna, maybe they're more racist. I don't think so though.

Depends on what you mean by "forward thinking". The Tories are more to the right of their UK equivalent and the Liberals are more to the right of Labour in the UK. Although the Ontario Liberals aren't.

Canada imx is definitely more conservative than the UK, lot more Catholics here. Canada is more welcoming of immigrants but on the other hand that's probably because they can't get into the country as easily.

If you swear in public here it's definitely more of a faux pas than in the UK.

Mmm, don't get too carried away with this, I got cabin fever so bad one winter I went out for a walk in "the great outdoors" when it was -20 and nearly froze to death. You don't feel the space with six-month long winters.

I'd say you're wrong on that one, people aren't as hell bent on working as in the US but it's definitely more of a work-until-you-drop culture than the UK.

The problem I find is that people work longer hours here but get less done. There's less efficiency.

OECD ranks Canada lower on healthcare. Really depends on where in Canada you live though. The thing you have to bear in mind is there is no private option in Canada, it's nationalized, or rather provincialized. This is your only option. So if you need something done urgently you can't just go to a private hospital (not in Canada anyway). Most British immigrants I encounter are pretty shocked at the cost of dentistry.

Personally I find it better in some ways and worse in others, hard to generalize.

Well it's always better to have more citizenships. But if that's your plan I'd give birth in the US.

Yeah crime is less here, generally speaking. The lower level offences at least. Depends on where you are of course.

Not really my experience. Canada actually has a more urbanized population than the US. For example, look at a satellite map of the Fraser Valley. That's the flat bit of BC in that area and it's pretty small which is why it's so crowded.

Canadians are really stuck in their ways and they put all kinds of silly roadblocks in the way of immigrants to preserve the status quo, like, you have to be a member of this union or that trade association. Look at all the doctors who have immigrated who ended up being taxi drivers.

Canada has a natural resource extraction driven economy, bear that in mind.

There's all kinds of silly bureaucracy, subsidies and nationalization that were largely done away with in the UK by Thatcher. And there's less competition because it has a smaller, more spread out population. Have a look at amazon.ca for example. Check out the prices of cellphone plans. You can't buy milk in 3-litre jugs because the milk producers object. You can't transport any significant amount of alcohol interprovincially.

dbd33

If you define a racial slur as being one of a specific list of terms "paki", "yid", etc. then generally agree, I rarely hear such terms used. However the more common form of discrimination is the lazy assumption that all, or the large majority of, some group share a characteristic thought by the speaker to be negative.

Sandsmehra

Indeed we need to ascertain if we are eligible to emigrate as yet so at this juncture it's all a bit of an academic exercise. Before we applied we just wished to acquire some views from Brits who had already emigrated to see if it is worth spending me the time and money on immigration services. The input from everyone has all been really helpful so thank you.

Yes indeed my typo with respect to "EUtopia" was timely indeed! If we "Brexit" comes to pass then we may well be on the next flight back out of LHR

Retirement does indeed sound like an ideal plan..just so far away for now

Sandsmehra

Thank you for the candid thoughts, Steve!

Stinkypup

[QUOTE=Steve_;11948907


Yes they are, bit dumbfounded by stinkypup's comment. I've never even heard anyone use a racial slur in Canada. Not that I recall anyway. Lot of old people in Kelowna, maybe they're more racist. I don't think so though.

[B]Firstly I don't live in Kelowna. Rascism isn't as open and blatant as in the UK but more covert and under the surface, sadly I think that it is widespread[/B]


Mmm, don't get too carried away with this, I got cabin fever so bad one winter I went out for a walk in "the great outdoors" when it was -20 and nearly froze to death. You don't feel the space with six-month long winters.

Well you would living where you do - the OP was suggesting further West.

The problem I find is that people work longer hours here but get less done. There's less efficiency.
[B]This might be true in your field, Im not sure of the evidence elsewhere. I appreciate, just your opinion. [/


OECD ranks Canada lower on healthcare. Really depends on where in Canada you live though. The thing you have to bear in mind is there is no private option in Canada, it's nationalized, or rather provincialized. This is your only option. So if you need something done urgently you can't just go to a private hospital (not in Canada anyway). Most British immigrants I encounter are pretty shocked at the cost of dentistry.

Working in healthcare I have reasonable experience to comment. It is like school league tables, not that reliable. If you need to have something deemed medically urgent then you will get it done- this may not work if it is just you who think that the condition is urgent. I don't think dentistry costs are hugely more than private dentists in the UK

Well it's always better to have more citizenships. But if that's your plan I'd give birth in the US.

OP is male


Canadians are really stuck in their ways and they put all kinds of silly roadblocks in the way of immigrants to preserve the status quo, like, you have to be a member of this union or that trade association. Look at all the doctors who have immigrated who ended up being taxi drivers.

I do agree that the union culture is too strong here. Things aren't done on merit, just years served- nursing is a perfect case in point.
But those taxi driving doctors can jump through the hoops just like I did Steve and become doctors in Canada, there isn't anything stopping them. It isn't that they didn't know the requirements before they got here.

dbd33

Aren't those taxi driving doctors actually holders of doctorates in theology and satanic botany and the like anyway? Not medical doctors.