Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

The seasons are spot on in the Okanagan, Winters great, not butt freezing and great first Winter sports, Spring is beautiful, Summer hot but cool down in the lakes from the boat- not humid and no bugs, having a barbie in tbe evening quaffing local Okanagan beer and wine. Autumn is just fine. Clearly different from Calgary which sounds ...not so great :thumbup:

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

That's BC for you - in most cases similar or closer to the European seasons thanks to its unique microclimate (when compared to the rest of Canada)

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

Come sup some beer/wine with us:thumbup:

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

The first was Montreal, the others local.

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

:thumbsup:

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

I thought so, they were super:thumbup:

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

Hmm, down here in the Hammer (that's Hamilton to you), we get 3 distinct seasons and sometimes 4. We definitely get an autumn (more so if you go a little north to Algonquin area) although spring can be a little hit and miss - sometimes it lasts for 3-4 weeks and others 3-4 days! We don't get biting blackfly (in the city - you do in the Algonquins for part of May/June); mosquito's tend to be in certain areas but aren't difficult to dissuade. Summers are long and hot, winters (as of the past couple of years anyway) around 4 months - autumn goes from September to even early November some years, beautiful blue sky and sunshine, trees changing colour, all that good stuff.

As for historical buildings, Hamilton has plenty - and parks, waterfalls, pubs, art, theatres, concerts...

I don't think you should dismiss the whole country just because Calgary isn't a good fit (it wouldn't be a good fit for me either, lol).

:)

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

I always say that Moncton has the same ugliness that other places have - big roads with big box stores, big office buildings - and the river is particularly unattractive.

But I do love most of the houses around. Just walking or cycling around on a sunny day, in the shade of the trees up and down the street looking at so many unique houses is lovely.

Then we have our own 'central park' ;) bordered by some really impressive looking houses.

This is one of my favourite houses.

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

And the effort some put into making it look nice for summer is always impressive.

Every summer this house looks like this before winter comes along and snows on it.

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

OK at the bottom but what on earth have they done to the top?!? Different strokes for different folks I guess, I think that's pretty ugly personally. :lol:

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

The pointy bit? probably an attic room.
I'm not seeing anything unusual. :confused:

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

Mmm, it is now since the UK raised the 40% threshold to £43,000 and Alberta raised income taxes on people earning over $125,000.

Payroll taxes are way higher in the UK though. At $110,000 I think it's around the same amount of tax overall you're paying, but when you get into serious money you're still better off here because CPP maxes out at $54,000 whereas in the UK NI keeps going, there is no limit. Anything over £43,000 and you have to pay 2% and it's 12% below £43,000 which is far higher than the rate in Canada.

The UK penchant for hiding tax. "Oh we've got a low income tax rate". Yeah, now register your car, pay VAT on everything, pay fuel duty, pay national insurance, TV licence, higher capital gains tax, inheritance tax etc. and see how you do. (Although I suppose you can argue you can manage without cable TV in the UK).

And I wouldn't be surprised if the 40% rate comes down again to a lower threshold given current events.

Although how the hell we're going to pay off the massive budget deficit the NDP have come up with is an open question.

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

More "oh BC is great" comments I see.

Victoria is okay but let's face it, it's not that much different from Plymouth. Vancouver has a higher population density than London and worse traffic, which I didn't think possible, plus it has twice as much (if not more) rain.

Okanagan is overcast (so okay if you're from the UK) and is significantly hotter than the UK during the summer (like, 10-15 degrees) and significantly colder during the winter. It's not warm. (Plus it's near nowhere of any consequence).

At least in Calgary the summers are pretty good and they don't get too hot. Winter is brutal however. But at least it's sunny.

There is nowhere in Canada that has good weather year round (Victoria has tolerable by UK standards weather year round). If that's what you're looking for, Canada ain't it.

I sometimes wonder how many people who say BC is wonderful have lived anywhere else in Canada.

I also wonder how many people talk it up because they want to retire there and that's their coping mechanism for getting through the winter.

I remember when I got the H1N1 vaccine (thus surrounded by old people) I got chatting to one of the nurses and we were remarking about how many old people have retired to Calgary when we thought they would prefer BC. "Half these people so far seem to be from BC" she said to me. Which says it all.

I'm not saying BC is >snipped< but this idea that it is fantastic and the rest of Canada is so-so isn't right. I could move there next week if I wanted to, but I haven't.

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

This is another one of my pet peeves - no it's not crap. No more crap than TV generally. Who cares about the ads, I never watch them, I have a DVR. And why in God's name are you watching BBC Canada which is terrible. I don't even have it in my channels.

I always think Canadian TV is really good because they have all the best American and British shows on and locally made ones as well. And stuff in French as well.

Yes, get a VPN connection to the UK so you can watch er... Hollyoaks? Honestly what is on in the UK that is so much better than the TV here?

Last time I was there it all seemed to be American shows anyway with disjointed commercial breaks, on later in the week than they are here.

Although in fairness I loathe soccer and rugby as well, which probably has some bearing on it.

Re: Pros and Cons of Emigrating to Canada from UK
 

I thought that this forum was, amongst other things a means of trying to help prospective immigrants by advising them about different places in Canada. I live in BC, I and others describe where they live and the folks can make their own judgement, if they are sensible by visiting the target area that they might like.

People in BC are not trying to put other places down, other Provinces would be way more suitable for a lot of folks. Put your big boy pants on Steve, it isn't a competition and you often seem piqued that we describe our province in glowing terms. Perhaps that is because it is IMO a great place to live.

I am a tad surprised about your comments about retirees from BC moving to Calgary. The flow seems to me to be the reverse- the area here is full of retirees from Calgary, new neighbours are from Grand Praerie. Maybe you mean that people from Prince George and Prince Rupert retire in Calgary.. I seriously doubt many others would consider the move, why would they?
Again in the Summer, the Calgarial playground certainly extends to the Shushwap and the Okanagan.
As I have previously agreed the Okanagan does sometimes get cloudy in the Winter- but as the Ski hill is only 20 minutes away, that is easily remedied by spending your free time above the clouds having fun.

Be constructive, help future immigrants by singing the praises of Alberta rather trying to denigrate other provinces, I am sure that they would really appreciate it:cool: