JonboyE

I agree its sunny where you live. In Kent we get 1800 hours of sunshine a year and quite dry. Last year I remember we had 3 months without any measurable rain, which allowed me do do a of of outside jobs i.e painting, roofing, but did stress the garden plants.
We need rain at present, winter been very dry. In February we had only 22% of the expected rainfall. You could not send a bit of rain over here.

Hudd

I am trying my best.

You'd rather live in the DTES than Langley?

Yeah, that's a good combined salary.

Presumably you mean those on benefits because of mass (and rising) unemployment? I suspect most would rather work ... Though the minority of spongers there would probably equally fit in here.

Saying that is actually quite insulting to the OP, people don't decide to move to another country just based on what they see on TV or in Newspapers, it's often first hand experience.

Also not sure what you mean about there being no evidence of problems in the UK. Nationmaster's top 10 list of statistics for the UK paints a story that pretty much matches up with the OP (e.g. 2nd highest in the world for teenage pregnancy):
http://www.nationmaster.com/country/uk/Top-Rankings

Always being one who appreciates a link to support an opinion, I followed yours.

Unfortunately the link is first of all not directed at your claim.

Secondly if you dig around a bit on that site you can find this...

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/he...rst-childbirth

...which does not state that the UK is 2nd in the world in teenage pregnancy rates, but rather that the UK is second in the world for the highest average age of women giving birth to their first child.

Are you perhaps confused?

While I think it's admirable that people want to stand up and defend the UK, I think many don't realise the extent of the problems that face the UK at the moment, none of which have any foreseeable solutions. Here are some of the most significant (there are more, but I think these are the biggest).

Economy. The UK has one of the largest external debt to GDP ratios in the world, at around 400%. That means we owe the rest of the world around 4x what we produce in a year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._external_debt

In addition, we have one of the largest public debt to GDP ratios, at over 85%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...by_public_debt

Combined public + external debt is nearly 500% of GDP. This is one of the highest in the world, and will cripple the economy for a generation.


Energy. North Sea gas is almost gone, and there is no action plan to replace it. The current energy policy, which assumes that 31% of the UK's energy will come from renewables by 2020, is laughable. Instead of building nuclear capacity (which is the only sensible option available), the UK is simply importing oil and gas to replace lost North Sea production. By 2020, energy security will be a major concern, and energy prices will be through the roof.


Society. You don't have to be a Daily Mail subscriber to agree that there is something fundamentally wrong with UK society. There is widespread segmentation, with very different parts of society that never intermix. In many of the UK's cities, it is almost to the point of ghettoisation. Last year's riots were a good demonstration of the underlying tensions (I know Vancouver had riots, but that was just one city, and it was essentially drunk hockey fans).

If you can afford it, you can very easily live in a nice comfortable tucked-away village, and never see or interact with the rest of the country. But is that what you want?


Canada is by no means perfect, and has its fair share of problems. However, if you look at the current situation, and extrapolate 10 and 20 years, I know where I'd rather be.

To the op.

Whatever your reasons are for wanting to move - for you, they are at this time the right ones.

Why not write down a list of pro's and cons (and be brutally honest.)

Things you don't like about the uk, why you don't like your lives there, finances, opportunities etc. But really really do be honest, please don't let the excitement bubble of a prospective immigration make you undersell the UK and oversell Canada.

Remember you haven't been here yet - so any 'pros' are really going to be based on shiny picutres on the internet and your percieved idea of life here.

Don't get me wrong I am in no way attempting to put you off - i'd tell anyoe to go for it - I love it here.

But - I wouldn't tell a family with no real idea of life here to jump in ill advised. The posts on here that explains how and why shit went wrong, are very real, and can mess up lives - and you state you want your children to be able to have more opportunities? If you move on a whim you may get lucky, but if it goes wrong it can tear families apart.

If you are a strong, outgoing, resilient family with lots of friends already then i'd say you have a head start on getting on here.

If you want to move because you have few friends in the UK, kids are miserable, job sucks etc etc - sometimes (just sometimes) you may need to look a little closer to home for the cause of the problem rather than blaming the country. A whinging pom will always be a whinging pom no matter where you live - and no-ones likes those lol.

Canadians don't welcome you with open arms - you are treated with politeness and indifference here until you prove that you are worthy of their friendship and trust. They don't need you remember, however you sure as hell need them when you turn up with no-one.

If after considering all of this - you still decide to do it - then jump in feet first and don't look back.

Good luck
xxx

If you take your eyes upwards to the top right hand side of the page on the beigey coloured bar, the last one says "Site rules".

I could be totally off the mark but that might just be the one you are after.

However

If you have dodgy home and away eyes, that don't work properly - heres the link http://britishexpats.com/site-rules/

You are more than welcome.

+ 1

Yes I would

Why don't you reread what I actually said.

What an awesome post this is, well researched, presented and 100% bang on!!!!!!

There are many on here who will defend the UK, most of them live in Canada now and have done for years so where they get their information from on day to day life in the UK is headscratching!!!

Also as stated, there are many wonderful idyllic village locations where you can get away from the uglyness of the UK and pretend it doesn't exist. The way it seems to me is if you are fortunate to be in the "upper class" well off brigade then the UK is a great place.....for now. If you are in the working class then Canada will seem like paradise, which it isn't but compared to the place I lived in the UK I prefer it by far here and would never move back.

I also worked in the renewable energy business for one of Britain's biggest companies so I am aware of the UK's grim outlook for energy circa 2020.

Also Mandymoochop's advice is very much spot on, do not come here believing Canada needs you and will welcome you with open arms, if you prove your worth then Yes, if you refuse to fit in then hell no!!!

Bottom line come here with open eyes, a willing to start at the bottom attitude and prove yourself and a willingness to fit in and you will love it here once you settle in.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or bad, but ghettoisation is the policy of the government of Canada. Aboriginal people are housed on reservations but, beyond that, policies that support multiculturalism, rather than a melting pot, mean that each culture has a neighbourhood and people of a specific culture live there. The people in Chinatown don't intermix with those in Little India because the first speak Cantonese or Madarin and the second Urdu or Gujarati. If you see voluntary separation in this manner as being "something fundamentally wrong" then Toronto, perhaps Canada in general, isn't for you. It may be, however, that you're happy in a British enclave, making excursions in search of curry, in which case it might work well.