Hi All,

I've had another chat with Lydia (my wife), bringing up the subject of moving to Canada. I asked if we could have a simple chat sometime soon about the topic of moving to Canada without any implications of me wanting a Divorce so I could jump on a plane and move out there myself. She said okay.

For no reason at all I've picked Alberta (Calgary, Edmonton) as the first places to research. I've found a few tourist orientated web sites, but what I'm after is some sort of real life web site. One that has some photos of what life is like there for residents (I'll pass on photos like one I saw earlier on this forum of some homeless guy pissing from a bench ).

Can anyone help?

I need as much info and material as possible ready in advance of our chat. I hope this one goes better than the first one.

Cheers

Chris

Hi, We've been looking at Canada for about 2yrs now and we started with Alberta, there was a progamme on tv where a couple got help to move there. They moved to Bragg Creek and it looked lovely. So as we wernt too sure where to start looking we thought we would start there. Since then we have moved our search to Nova Scotia, it's nearer to the UK, the crime rate seems low, the weather seems o.k and the house prices seem good.

Before you sit down and discuss it maybe you should change your Homepage on your computer to www.coldwellbanker.ca ( a real estate site for Canada ) so she can raise the subject like 'Have you seen how cheap houses are in Canada'. We have www.google.ca as our homepage.
Also www.pin.ca is a good site if you want to buy a business in Alberta.
We also use www.thecarmagazine.com

They may help.

[QUOTE=jason1969]Hi, We've been looking at Canada for about 2yrs now and we started with Alberta, there was a programme on TV where a couple got help to move there. They moved to Bragg Creek and it looked lovely.QUOTE]

I may have saw that one (I didn't realise it was Alberta). Was the man a paramedic with disaster training (or something like that)?

If it is the one, I do remember them discussing housing and the wildlife, and a story of some sort of wildcat jumping through a plate glass window in an attempt to grab a toddler. That freaked me out, but if true it has to be a one in a billion chance. Apart from that the place looked fantastic!

Chris

A very quick Internet search brings up this web site that seems to have photos that are quite representative of Calgary.

We have heaps of photo albums, but have only recently started using a digital camera, so unfortunately I don't have many photos in electronic format that I could share with you.

Various Alberta posters (Hangman in Calgary, Calgal and Frankieforehead in Cochrane, R2D2 in Edmonton, etc.) have posted photos in their messages at various times. Unfortunately not all of those photos are grouped together conveniently, in one place.

If you click on the Photo Gallery link at the top of the British Expats screen, you'll find some (but not all) of the photos I'm talking about.

If you're after information as well as photos, a word search for Calgary or Edmonton will bring up lots of previous threads about jobs, the school system, grocery shopping, commuting to work, health care services, real estate, etc., etc., etc., in each city. In fact some of those topics have been resurrected again just in the last couple of days.

In a previous thread, ClareBC, who lives in Vancouver but who seems to have a good handle on all of the Brits to Wherever forums, posted a link to the following forum for Brits to Calgary:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/immigrationuktocalgary/

I don't participate in that forum myself. First of all, I don't know if it would be as tolerant of a non-Brit member as this forum is. Secondly, so help me, I already spend enough time on this forum. :scared:

ClareBC also provided a link to a forum called Alberta Immigrants. [From the name, I'm guessing it's not Brit-specific.] ClareBC stated the moderator of that forum lived in Edmonton:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Albertaimmigration/

Some months ago Hangman provided a great list of links to information about Calgary.

Anyway, I hope that gives you a start.

[QUOTE=chrispar

I may have saw that one (I didn't realise it was Alberta). Was the man a paramedic with disaster training (or something like that)?

If it is the one, I do remember them discussing housing and the wildlife, and a story of some sort of wildcat jumping through a plate glass window in an attempt to grab a toddler. That freaked me out, but if true it has to be a one in a billion chance. Apart from that the place looked fantastic!

Chris[/QUOTE]

It was that one! Bragg Creek is in commutable of Calgary, BUT we didnt like the place when we visited, cochrane and canmore are MUCH more attractive possibilities

I don't think so but i'd like to see that. This was on channel 4 about starting a new life abroad. The two presenters looked for an ideal place for this uk couple to live. Arranged a job for the husband and helped the wife and kids settle in and the at the end they could stay or return to the UK.










[QUOTE=chrisparr]

Thanks for all the links. That will really give me something to get my teeth into.

Cheers

Chris

I know the one you mean (and the one I mean). One is called "Get a New Life" and the other is called "No Going Back", or something similar.


Chris

Another one to check out. What did you not like about it?

FYI: Wikipedia seems to be a good site to find info on places.

Cheers

Chris

Thank you so much for the mentions Judy, you are a true ambassador for this site in general and Calgary in particular. Karma on its way if it'll let me.


Chris,

Here is a link to a photo-site where I store some of my pictures there are some of Calgary and vicinity I hope they will be of some use to you.

Also if you use the search function at the same site and just type in the name of a place it should come up with a couple of hundred images of each place. Not all will be what you are looking for but at least some should be useful.

Cheers
Steve

Cheers Hangman,

I'll check it out.

Chris

Hi there

There is also one called Living the Dream which used to be on BBC2 I think. I'm sure that's the one with the paramedic who could only get a job if he went into emergency planning/disaster recovery or something like that. I also remember seeing one about an electrician who made the move too but can't remember the show.

Keep watching Sky to see if there are reruns but its only No Going Back that's on and it hasn't shown Canada yet.

Scotschick

Something you may have come across in your searches through this forum, Chris, is one of the many references to the Multiple Listing Service's web site. It's a web site on which you can look up properties that are for sale. Many of the listed properties are accompanied by photos.

The reason I didn't mention the MLS web site in the first place is that I've seen many complaints on this forum about the photos. Okay, the photos often are taken by real estate salespeople (or perhaps the owners of the properties?). Judging from the results, they aren't often taken by professional photographers. The lighting conditions, etc., are not always ideal.

Also, I've seen several complaints on this forum about the ways in which Canadian home interiors are decorated. Some people think the curtains are too heavy, too frilly, too this and too that. Some people think there aren't enough curtains, and that makes the interiors look cold and unfriendly. Go figure.

Anyway, for all the photos' technical limitations, and for all the criticisms of Canadian taste in interior decorating, I still think the MLS web site is a good source of photos of the exteriors and interiors of Canadian houses. So I've decided to mention it after all, in case you haven't already come across it.

Thanks Judy,

Quick question:

Does 'Judicial Sale' mean the place was repossessed?

C

For all practical purposes, yes.

When a mortgage is in default, the lender can ask the court to sell the property and apply the proceeds against the mortgage.

Here is a web site that lists real estate terminology in Alberta. Since schooling, obtaining a driver's licence, health care insurance, real estate law, etc., differs a bit from province to province, it's safer to make enquiries by province (and in the case of schooling, by city).