withabix

Real good quality maple syrup (as against fake 'table syrup') actually appears to be the same price or less in the UK.

As for 'Council Tax', at my last house in the UK it was a fraction of the $6000 that I pay here in a 'standard' single family home.

The highest Band H Council Tax in the UK anywhere is less than $6000 in today's money. Even for a huge mega-mansion.

cheeky_monkey

i have no idea i only ever have a venti latte at Starbucks which is $5 here and approx $4.30 in the UK

beckiwoo

Really? I always thought Starbucks worked out the same or cheaper out here

dbd33

I'm surprised it's even made in the UK, I wouldn't have thought it was reliably cold enough.

withabix

the Canadian stuff is cheaper in the U.K....

DandNHill

Mine now costs me $0 as I'm working from home. The insurance premiums are eye watering though and I can't wait to get out of the L6 postal code area

dbd33

They don't export the real, sold on the side of the road by weird religionists, stuff. It's got no preservatives, no lot control, no verifiable manufacturing history. It just sits there next to the "$3/pint, no Sunday sale" sign. It'd have to be a factory version to be sold abroad.

Shakyuk

Do they insist you try it at the side of the road, then you wake up 3 hours later with your hands tied together with banjo strings and your pants around your ankles with no weird religionists in sight...


Or was that just my experience..?

dbd33

I've never dithered long enough to find out if they'd insist.

bgpz

That wasn't my question. I've highlighted the bit you seemed to have skimmed over in bold below

A more on-topic question: how long will it take for TTIP to feed through to getting decent cheese at an affordable price?

I can certainly get some fine cheeses here - but they are outrageously expensive, and as I understand it, that's to do with protectionist tariffs which I wonder may have to be reviewed as part of TTIP. Wasn't this one of the sticking points for Quebec? (IIRC, it's their domestic cheese makers that were getting particularly antsy about this).

Howefamily

could it be though that dairy products (I am specifically referring to milk and cheese here) are so much cheaper in the UK because the farmers are being screwed?
I have a few friends who were in the dairy industry and have had to either change completely the use of their land or supplement their income some other way due to the big supermarkets grinding the prices down to an unsustainable level for them. One told me that a gallon of milk was bought from the farmer for a mere 15p, reducing their income to not be able to cover costs...

JonboyE

TTIP? CETA surely?

dbd33

It may be that I've assimilated but fifty bucks a fortnight doesn't seem an awful lot to spend on cheese and that gets a pound and a half of raclette, two 4" camemberts, a pound of seven year white cheddar, a piece of whatever looks interesting this week and lots of PC or Balderson's extra old cheddar for cooking with. That's less than half what it costs to have a glass of plonk a couple of nights a week.

The cheese problem, as I see it, is not the cost but that there's only the St Lawrence market at which to buy it. I do pass a cheese shop on the way there but, for the difference in price on the few cheeses they have, I could take a limo to the market and back. If you're not able to go to the market, obviously not a problem from Hamilton, but certainly one from Manitoba or Saskatchewan, you're buggered.

Aviator

Everything is affordable, if you can afford it. Depends on an individuals priorities.

Agriculture (commodities that are not the smoking type) is a capital intensive, low return industry. Many folks seem to believe, ag products should be cheap. Often those who have no clue what goes into producing the food they expect to find in the grocery store.

Think you'll be in for a long wait for TTIP to impact Canada!

DandNHill

I found raclette at the Yummy Market on Maj Mac in Vaughan the other day. Similar in price to St Lawrence market but easier to get to. They had quite a selection of other cheeses too.