Elaine B.

Got ya

Dave+Jules

Fredericton Drivers!

They have to be the worst in Canada.

I was rear ended yesterday but this entry is not a knee jerk reaction to that. Anyway the lady was an immigrant

The drivers in Fredericton all seem to think they are driving on a deserted road in an 18 wheel truck! Road positioning is awful, gas price has reduced the speed down from 70kph to below 60kph on the old trans canada highway. There are very few passing points so it is often worse than driving behind a school bus (at least they pull over when the queue gets to 7)

gingnut

The single wors thing has to be winter. I don't care how dry the cold is, -40 is still effen cold, and 6 months of winter in intolerable.

A few thing for honorable mention are lack of catalogues. Here I only have Sears and Ikea to flip through for fun. Lack of places to get a good curry and fish and chips. Of course Jaffa Cakes.

dbd33

Order something from L L Bean, then you'll get theirs, Land's End Yacht Company, Orvis, loads of them.

Tuppence

Gotta agree with you there. They are bad in NS, but nothing compared to some of the driving atrocities we saw in NB

Hope they didn't make too much of a dent?

geedee

I'm in Quebec (thanks MBRealtor!). I haven't done a grocery shop in Ontario yet, but I'm pretty sure the petrol stations sell it there too.

Every supermarket, with the exception of Wal-Mart for some reason (another good excuse to avoid it!), sells beer& wine (apparently "cheapo" stuff, but works well for punch / sangria!), and lots of it, usually a couple of aisles at least. Loblaws has a massive section.... even Costco sell it (35 bucks for 36 pack of Bud, which isn't bad for here). I usually get Boddingtons / Caffreys / London Pride from IGA, which carries a good choice.

Most of the petrol stations have big cold rooms at the back where you can shop for beer until you get too cold!!

So don't they have that in other provinces??

Tuppence

Only place to buy anything alcoholic in NB and NS is in the liquor store (and I know of one specialty wine store in NS which isn't government run).

Elaine B.

The only places you can buy booze in Toronto (at least) are The Beer Store and the LCBO. Oh yeah and the Wine store that only sells Canadian stuff (I forget the name).

geedee

Crikey, I didn't realise!

The SAQ (government booze shops) sell the good wines, spirits, champers etc., but they shut at 5pm on Saturday! Really handy

Sounds like QC has some good things going for it after all!

Elaine B.

When we moved from Montreal to Toronto I found the booze cheaper here, not sure if that's still the case.

geedee

Probably. Booze isn't cheap here. Not at present exchange rates anyway. 4 x 440ml cans of Boddies will set you back $8.99 in IGA. The local stuff is a bit cheaper, but it is lager. I don't know what it costs in Toronto.

Getting back on topic, the biggest thing that pees me off about Canada, to date, is the tax and what you get for it. Income tax is phenomenal compared to the UK, and council (municipal) tax is a rip off. I'm paying over 6 grand a year, and for that I get a "recycling" empty once week and a "general rubbish" once a week. No street lights. No tarmac on the "road". No mains drainage. No mains water ( it's a well), just loads of effing useless "councilors" who bleed us dry and do nothing for it. The roads are a joke. The schooling is p*ss poor compared to the UK, the power shuts off at the slightest breath of wind or snow.... I'm paying 500 bucks a month plus to get my sodding bins emptied!! And where on earth my income tax goes, God only knows. It certainly isn't invested in the infrastructure or the general betterment of our society.

But the Canadians will just sit back, watch the game and let it all drift over their heads. After all, Wal-Mart has 10% off on rib-eyes next Monday. So life MUST be good, eh?

gingnut

Let me get this straight. In -40 weather with snow up to your chin, what your really bothered about is when the liquor store is open and how much is costs?

G77

I dunno how much you used to pay back in the UK, but the levels are certainly similar now from what I've seen and if you only have one half of a married couple working, the other half can claim their tax free allowance - you can't do that here.... Things might be different in Quebec though, but can't be that much more surely?

Elaine B.

From what I remember of living in Quebec (Montreal) it's the most highly taxed province in Canada.

dbd33

The idea of having the bins emptied without taking them to the dump sounds like luxury to me. Still six grand is a lot, how many acres are you on?