Hiya , I have a few questions to ask you good folk here. apologies if some of them are daft/ have already been answered elsewhere on the forum.
1 Is there an equivalent of council tax in Ontario.
2. Is Coronation St on the t.v.
3 Can you buy "proper Spaghetti Hoops" not those tiny ones you get in the States ( my eight year olds question)
4. Do PS2s work, or do we sell it.
5. Are pr immigrants entitled to child benefit , like in UK.
6. Do you forfeit rights to UK state pension once youve left the country.
thank you annie.

1. Yes, property tax, usually 1 to 1.5% of assessed property value. Usually already included in property rentals, but a big factor if buying.

2. Yes, but a little bit behind
3. Cant remember UK size, but there are a million different pasta shapes in tomato sauce. My daughters faves are alphagetti and the bob the builder ones.
4. Will work on a UK telly, but IMO its a bit too much hastle given the cost of replacing with a new one. Not really my area of experience though.
5. Yes, Canada Child Tax Benefit, its means tested and works on the previous years reported taxable income. There is an estimator program here
6. No, but its not index linked to inflation, which sucks.

Thank you very kindly Iain,

Out of curiosity, would negative answers to questions 2 & 3 have had a serious impact on your migration plans?

PS: it's OK to like spaghetti hoops - no need to hide behind a child.

Hi there, no qs 2 & 3 dont have any impact on our emigration plans and I hate spaghetti hoops, but my boy needs to know that his concerns are being taken seriously, wouldnt it be great if our only concern was about spag. hoops. Ah, if life was that simple.

I'm not entirely sure but from what I read on the DWP website, the UK and Canada (not Quebec) have an agreement on NI and pension. The guy I spoke to said that if you have at least 11 qualified years (max 40 I think) you can draw out your (pro-rata) pension when you hit retirement. However, if not you'd have to keeping contributing even if you live in the UK anymore. He did say you can get them to give you a certificate to say how many years you've contributed/paid and then send that to the local authorities who will decide whether they can add it on to your Canadian one.

These are not trivial matters!

I would willingly slaughter my (step) first-born for a decent pint of bitter. My (natural) first-born probably wouldn't fare much better.

Given the possibility of a really good pint, I'd give serious consideration to having my vasectomy reversed, creating some more borns and offering them up for sacrifice too.

If we get on to Marmite, entire branches of my family tree are in mortal peril.

Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding? Hell, they'd need a JCB to dig the grave!

You cant get Marmite in PQ? PM me your address and I'll mail you a pot of the vile stuff (but it might be classified as dangerous goods or something...biohazard!). I bought it as a "you have to at least try this" thing for my wife (cultural exchange!) and she likes it every bit as much as I do!

Any idiot can make there own yorkshire.

Beer (bitter) and a decent curry I miss, but I've learned to adapt and make my own bhajis now.

Loblaws has pretty good ready made Yorkshire puddings (as well as Marmite, illogically filed under "baking"). We can walk to Little India or even get delivery so the curry's no problem. Bitter though, we're stuck for that in pubs and have taken to brewing our own. My first registered trade name in Canada was a nostaglic reflection upon the lack of bitter, alas, everyone thought "Young and Fuller" was a whorehouse.

OK... so... just to confirm.

... you CAN get Marmite over there?



... and what about Horlicks? Ovaltine?



Wendy

P.S. What's wrong with making your OWN Yorkshire Puddings? How else will you be able to make Toad-In-The-Hole???


14 more sleeps to go

Thanks, but no need. I have a string of visitors coming over this Summer. All have received instructions.

I agree about Yorkshire puddings but the Missus has yet to crack the roast beef bit. I'm not allowed to make it (house rule; the first person to make a dish is the only one allowed to make it thereafter).

Curry is forbidden by spousal decree.

You can get Marmite and Ovaltine at the supermarket. Small jars of Marmite though and $3, so you might want to bring one of the bucket sized pots. I'm not sure about Horlicks but, if not, you'll be able to get it at the Nutty Chocolatier, a chain of stores where they keep "ethnic" stuff. I believe there's one in Pickering.

One reason for the popularity of ready made Yorkshire is that lots of people here are stuck with electric cookers and so cannot make anything that sophisticated.

Ovaltine = powdered sick. Fact.

I was interested to note, sad git that I am, that the range of foods sold in supermarkets in Quebec is quite different to what I was used to in Oakville. The fruit and veg is more limited in variety (and usually quite poor quality), it's hard to find chili, and huge amounts of space are given over to curd cheese and ingredients for fondues/raclettes (haute cuisine).

Plus, of course, I can buy booze.

The difference in goods in individual Loblaws stores is amazing just within the GTA. The one in Port Credit keeps only "white man's stuff" whereas the one near us, Vic Park and Gerrard keeps food from the four corners of the earth. I imagine that once you get as far out as Oakville, they only need a couple of shelves, one for Wonder bread and one for baked beans.

Chortle.

If I recall, it also devotes an unusually large amount of shelf space to custard. It only sells one colour of hair dye, though: blonde.