We've just moved to the southern end of the Okanagan Valley in BC. For light and sunshine, I doubt anywhere else in Canada can beat it. The nearest town is Penticton which claims to have more sunshine per year than Honolulu. Over the duration of the summer, it has more hours of sun than LA and is nick-named the Napa valley of Canada.

Mountains, lakes and big, big blue skies. Lots of vineyards and fruit orchards are testiment to the amount of light this valley receives.

People do confess that for about two months over the winter the light does fail dramatically but thats nothing compared to the rest of Canada. But England can be quite gloomy for long stretches.

Work is the big question as with all immigration. I'm not sure how buoyant the job market is here (my wifes job got us here and I'm staying at home with the kids for the forseeable future). I think it's okay though. Your best option would be to start searching in Kelowna.

Personally, I can't understand why more people don't live here.

What about greenery? It's often overlooked.

The only virtue of overcast Vancouver in winter is that at least the terrain underneath the cloud cover is lush and green.

The prairie provinces, even Ontario, are lovely shades of brown throughout their (much longer) winters.

Maybe because it is so far to the major centres and where the majority of the work is.

Hi,

I have to admit that we find the number of 'sunny' days here in Canada a huge bonus. Even in winter, so long as you are wrapped up, it's a real pleasure to get outside, put those sunnies on and do something active. I am not a big fan of grey and drizzly and it really did stop me from getting out and about as much in England (silly I know but...). As a family with two young uns we find we lead a much more outdoorsy life here in Canada.

That's just my personal opinion of course!

When I first moved from Winnipeg to the UK, sunshine, or lack thereof, wasn't something I thought too much about. I was too distracted by the excitement of being in a new country and challenges like learning to drive on a hill. Over the years though the dreariness of the weather really got me down. I longed for a crisp winter day, the snow sparkling like diamonds. It's amazing how much happier people are when the sun is shining, even when it's -30C.

Which is why it wears a hat!

Well yes, that's because with cheap air travel they've all left Calgary and gone to the 'peg!

In defence of Calgary, I've been visiting Calgary for years and years and has never struck me as remotely 'American'. It's extremely proud of its heritage. And absolutely you could live there without a car. It has major arterial routes around the city, and I think the public transport system is great (but then I live in Edinburgh!). I lived there for a few months many years ago and you can go all over the city on its fantastic cycle path network without going near a main road. The C-train transit system and buses are integrated in that you can buy a ticket on the bus which is valid for 90 minutes and you can use on the C-train and vice versa. And public transport is free in the central downtown area.

Has great museums in Glenbow and Fort Calgary.

This thread had me thinking of Sunshine Village


BRING ON THE SNOW!

One thing you'll learn about Canada is that it's a large and diverse country, and the average Canadian has only really travelled around their own region, but rarely to other parts of Canada. As a result, there are often a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes about other parts of Canada. "Calgary is an American city" is one of those misconceptions. Those who perpetuate that idea probably have never even visited because Calgary's no more "American" than Toronto, and socially and culturally? It's Canadian through and through. The only reason I think Canadians think Calgary's an American city is because of the oil economy.

It's true that Canadian prairie cities tend to be more sprawling and car-dependent than elsewhere due to the flat geography and the abundance of cheap oil - much like American cities. And Calgary has the cowboy/ranching and agricultural heritage which they openly celebrate. But it's definitely a part of the Canadian culture there. Canadians from elsewhere might not recognize it as a regional Canadian prairies culture and just see it as American Texas culture. You know - cowboys, horses, ranching, oil. Texas, right? Except unlike Texas, you don't have evangelical Christians lurking in Alberta (contrary to what Canadians living elsewhere might be led to believe). Most of Alberta's Canadian population are actually descendents of Scandinavian and Eastern European farmer immigrants who moved there before WWI. Again, these are subtleties and I know I've totally babbled here, but whenever you hear "oh, so and so place is an American city", take it with a grain of salt. Or simply ask, "Oh, have you been there?" Chances are they'll say, "No, but..."

One of the reasons people tend to think of Calgary as an American city is the fact that we have the only American Consulate presence here outside of Ottawa. At one time (and I haven't checked lately!) we also had the largest group of American Expats living here, again due to oil. As others have said though it does have a distinctive Canadian culture. A friend who's son came to visit from Toronto recently said he was surprised that not everyone was wearing cowboy hats and driving a pick-up truck!

We have a consulate in Vancouver on Pender Street

And we (Toronto) have a very big one on University Ave. Not that that's necessarily a good thing.


Edit: Oh, look, we're not alone....

http://www.consular.canada.usembassy...tes_canada.asp

HaHa I stand corrected, I'm sooooo out of date!

Without exaggerating, I reckon I can count on 2 hands the number of days it's rained here this YEAR.
If I'm wrong, I cant be far off.