British Expats

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-   -   Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada (https://britishexpats.com/forum/canada-56/top-reasons-move-not-move-canada-932589/)

carcajou May 8th 2020 1:43 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by vjcmacrury (Post 12849681)
This is one thing we have a lot of practice with. My closest cousin is in London. The rest of my family are in the Philippines, Australia, Austria, the US and Canada.

My husband's live in the Scottish Highlands and Islands whilst we ourselves are in mainland Scotland.

To visit anybody, we need to take a 1-hr flight or go on a long drive (and then a ferry).

We've not seen anybody since Christmas.

Well, if a one-hour flight for you is a long way away, distances in Canada will come as a nasty shock. Your definition of a "long drive" is also going to change.

When we were deciding where to live post-Middle East, my wife was open to moving there, but I was not. As others noted the equation changes if the US is also an option. I have relatives in Quebec but my wife does not speak French. I have lived in Seattle; Seattle > Vancouver. Toronto is just Buffalo or Cleveland on steroids. Denver > Calgary. The Maritimes are OK but too remote; I didn't want to be a 12-hour drive from the closest city with more than a million people. Now, take that, and throw in the lower average salaries than the US, and the obscene winters, and it's a no-go.

If it's a straight-up UK vs Canada pick, then treat it like a business deal. How much more money are you getting? Will moving there let you retire a few years earlier or buy a holiday property? Etc etc etc.

So in short money and lifestyle are the deal-breakers.

carcajou May 8th 2020 1:45 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by Former Lancastrian (Post 12849699)
There are several countries but I have dealt with one in particular which shall remain nameless less I be accused of being racist etc even though the evidence and facts support this. In these particular cases the removal order is not permanent and they could always reapply for PR status once removed back to their country.

Just say it. I am also curious as to the legal aspect of what you are describing.

You're not a racist.

Don't let a handful of extremist posters bully you off making a contribution to the thread.


iaink May 8th 2020 3:00 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 
Regarding US salaries being higher, although I am paid significantly more, I am not better off. Medical expenses alone here are stupendous, both my monthly insurance copay, and the amount I need to cover in deductables and out of pocket expenses before my in$$$urance starts to pick up all the cost. On a side note my employers contribution to pay for my family health insurance is significantly more then my ENTIRE federal and provincial government tax and EI deductions when I lived in Canada, which I find mind blowing. Then I pay $650 a month out of my check on top of that each month, and still have to cover over $6k a year expenses. And Im told by others that I have a very generous package!

None of which has much to do with Canada. Carry on...

Partially discharged May 8th 2020 3:43 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by dbd33 (Post 12849822)
It is snowing here. It won't settle but it is snow in May.

It was here in Ottawa this morning but it barely settled and it is all gone now. Pretty late in the year for it.

Moses2013 May 8th 2020 4:06 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by iaink (Post 12850135)
Regarding US salaries being higher, although I am paid significantly more, I am not better off. Medical expenses alone here are stupendous, both my monthly insurance copay, and the amount I need to cover in deductables and out of pocket expenses before my in$$$urance starts to pick up all the cost. On a side note my employers contribution to pay for my family health insurance is significantly more then my ENTIRE federal and provincial government tax and EI deductions when I lived in Canada, which I find mind blowing. Then I pay $650 a month out of my check on top of that each month, and still have to cover over $6k a year expenses. And Im told by others that I have a very generous package!

None of which has much to do with Canada. Carry on...

Good points though. I often say that it's not the country that makes the difference but more the timing, at least when it comes to employment and especially property. Example: A good job during the boom often means you pay more for eveything else, so every few years you see people move to higher cost countries, they end up buying and have a huge mortgage, they lose their job and the country is crap, or have high rents and can't save. Others move when the economy is not great, but they have a job and can save (low mortgage/low rents. Unless you love the country, it mainly comes down to what you can afford and then the "lifestyle" will be great. Of course personal things play a part too.

Hurlabrick May 8th 2020 4:58 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by iaink (Post 12850135)
Regarding US salaries being higher, although I am paid significantly more, I am not better off. Medical expenses alone here are stupendous, both my monthly insurance copay, and the amount I need to cover in deductables and out of pocket expenses before my in$$$urance starts to pick up all the cost. On a side note my employers contribution to pay for my family health insurance is significantly more then my ENTIRE federal and provincial government tax and EI deductions when I lived in Canada, which I find mind blowing. Then I pay $650 a month out of my check on top of that each month, and still have to cover over $6k a year expenses. And Im told by others that I have a very generous package!

None of which has much to do with Canada. Carry on...

Holy cr*p!!!!!

Pulaski May 8th 2020 6:04 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by iaink (Post 12850135)
Regarding US salaries being higher, although I am paid significantly more, I am not better off. Medical expenses alone here are stupendous, both my monthly insurance copay, and the amount I need to cover in deductables and out of pocket expenses before my in$$$urance starts to pick up all the cost. On a side note my employers contribution to pay for my family health insurance is significantly more then my ENTIRE federal and provincial government tax and EI deductions when I lived in Canada, which I find mind blowing. Then I pay $650 a month out of my check on top of that each month, and still have to cover over $6k a year expenses. And Im told by others that I have a very generous package!

None of which has much to do with Canada. Carry on...

On moving to the US from the UK I found that tax deducted from my US salary including health insurance costs as a quasi tax, was significantly less than the tax deducted from my previous salary in the UK. We have since switch to "high deductible" health insurance which substantially cut the premiums, by which I mean a cut of around 80% of the cost. We have then been allowed under IRS rules to take those savings tax free (about $7,000 per year between Mrs P and me) and put them in a Health Savings Account, which operates like an ISA for health purposes, allowing me to accumulate tax free funds to meet future healthcare costs without needing to use our taxed-income.

In short, there is a lot about the US healthcare system that is not understood by people who have never lived here, and often by new/ recent immigrants too, who may not have dug into the options open to them and/or not realized how health insurance alternatives might work for them. Also the media, even US-based media, often misrepresent the US health insurance alternatives that are available.

It is a source of continued frustration to me that there is so much misinformation being circulated about the US healthcare system, often using FB and other socal media, and often by people who have no personal experience of living in the US and using US healthcare.

iaink May 8th 2020 7:24 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12850231)
On moving to the US from the UK I found that tax deducted from my US salary including health insurance costs as a quasi tax, was significantly less than the tax deducted from my previous salary in the UK. We have since switch to "high deductible" health insurance which substantially cut the premiums, by which I mean a cut of around 80% of the cost. We have then been allowed under IRS rules to take those savings tax free (about $7,000 per year between Mrs P and me) and put them in a Health Savings Account, which operates like an ISA for health purposes, allowing me to accumulate tax free funds to meet future healthcare costs without needing to use our taxed-income.

In short, there is a lot about the US healthcare system that is not understood by people who have never lived here, and often by new/ recent immigrants too, who may not have dug into the options open to them and/or not realized how health insurance alternatives might work for them. Also the media, even US-based media, often misrepresent the US health insurance alternatives that are available.

It is a source of continued frustration to me that there is so much misinformation being circulated about the US healthcare system, often using FB and other socal media, and often by people who have no personal experience of living in the US and using US healthcare.

I have an HRA (work reimburses a certain annual amount that cant be carried forward) and HSA to which I contribute $x pretax per month and they front me a sum at the start of the year that be carried over if its not spent) The HSA helps to budget for the out of pocket expenses for sure, but with a wife and kids there is never anything left to carry over in any case. The company is at pains when you sign up to show you how much it actually costs them compared to our contribution. In my case its about $29k (US) a year for medical. To put that in perspective my State and Federal Taxes, Social Security and Medicare deductions totalled $15-20k and while I lived in Canada the most tax/EI/CPP I ever paid as a married father of two was somewhere around $20-25k CDN, way less than just the cost of my US medical policy.

With recent changes to simplify most US tax returns, unless you have crippling health care costs (which hopefully the insurance prevents) its really not worth​​​​​​ doing an itemized return for a simple salaried employee such as myself. Then you get into having to fight both the providers and the insurance companies half the time to get the bills sorted. Maybe its just South Carolina, but the whole thing sucks muchly.

Pulaski May 8th 2020 7:46 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by iaink (Post 12850273)
I have an HRA (work reimburses a certain annual amount that cant be carried forward) and HSA to which I contribute $x pretax per month and they front me a sum at the start of the year that be carried over if its not spent) The HSA helps to budget for the out of pocket expenses for sure, but with a wife and kids there is never anything left to carry over in any case. ......

Well I have a wife, plus one, who has a potentially life-threatening allergy, and enough accumulated in our HSAs to fund maximum annual OoP healthcare expenditure for at least five years even if we didn't contribute a penny more to our HSAs. In practice our IRS-capped annual contributions mean that it would take about 20 years of maximum OoP payments to drain our HSAs.

I agree that my employer contrubutes generously to the cost of my health insurance. :o

bc2015 May 9th 2020 12:19 am

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12850231)
It is a source of continued frustration to me that there is so much misinformation being circulated about the US healthcare system, often using FB and other socal media, and often by people who have no personal experience of living in the US and using US healthcare.

There is also a mental tax to pay. I happened to sit through a presentation on US benefits a while ago and found the whole section on healthcare to be overwhelming in terms of choices between picking plans based on deductible/co-pay and then deciding how much to put away in HSAs and FSAs. And the plans can change every year? That's even before you get to making sure you are treated by in-network doctors etc. And the whole healthcare tied to employment thing is just wrong on so many levels.

Compare that to Canada where the most stress I had was making sure I had personal details correct on one form.

carcajou May 9th 2020 12:48 am

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12850231)
On moving to the US from the UK I found that tax deducted from my US salary including health insurance costs as a quasi tax, was significantly less than the tax deducted from my previous salary in the UK. We have since switch to "high deductible" health insurance which substantially cut the premiums, by which I mean a cut of around 80% of the cost. We have then been allowed under IRS rules to take those savings tax free (about $7,000 per year between Mrs P and me) and put them in a Health Savings Account, which operates like an ISA for health purposes, allowing me to accumulate tax free funds to meet future healthcare costs without needing to use our taxed-income.

In short, there is a lot about the US healthcare system that is not understood by people who have never lived here, and often by new/ recent immigrants too, who may not have dug into the options open to them and/or not realized how health insurance alternatives might work for them. Also the media, even US-based media, often misrepresent the US health insurance alternatives that are available.

It is a source of continued frustration to me that there is so much misinformation being circulated about the US healthcare system, often using FB and other socal media, and often by people who have no personal experience of living in the US and using US healthcare.

I pay thousands more each year for the universal system in Australia, then I did my last year in the US, when I had no employer insurance and was 100% in the private insurance market.

The answer to your question Pulaski is there are some posters on here who think that having something funded by taxes makes it "free." As well, paying at a time and place other than the point of use, also makes it "free."

As you noted, the proper comparison is to look at the whole system and potential costs. Yes people who have never lived in the US or utilised its health care love to pontificate.

dbd33 May 9th 2020 2:05 am

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12850279)
Well I have a wife, plus one, who has a potentially life-threatening allergy, and enough accumulated in our HSAs to fund maximum annual OoP healthcare expenditure for at least five years even if we didn't contribute a penny more to our HSAs. In practice our IRS-capped annual contributions mean that it would take about 20 years of maximum OoP payments to drain our HSAs.

I agree that my employer contrubutes generously to the cost of my health insurance. :o


Even if one saves heavily, it is still possible to incur bankrupting costs. I lived for many years with an American in Canada. Her step-father is a doctor in the US so, when she was sick, she phoned him from the hospital (Toronto East General) and said "they're going to do this test and that test" which impressed him because, he said "no way the HMO would let me do all of that". Eventually she returned to the US where she became seriously ill and had an extended stay in hospital. The bill was in the order of $800,000. That is beyond the means of many people but not an unreasonable cost for, say, treating someone unsuccessfully for a COVID-19 infection. I know from working for health insurers, including Aetna US Healthcare, Tenet Healthcare and Delta Dental, that many policies have epidemic exclusions; if lots of people are ill, no one gets paid. Today's costs likely fall on the individuals who are sick (or their families if they are not cured).

If you've made good use of HSAs you may have a million dollars towards hospital costs and that's fine if only one of you becomes seriously ill. Still, illness is a risk in the US to a degree that it's not in other countries. Here the problem is that illness means no income, I don't get sick because I can't, but it doesn't mean no income and huge bills.

I wouldn't avoid living in the US because of the risk that getting sick means losing the house but it's unrealistic not to acknowledge the risk.

dbd33 May 9th 2020 2:09 am

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by carcajou (Post 12850348)

The answer to your question Pulaski is there are some posters on here who think that having something funded by taxes makes it "free." As well, paying at a time and place other than the point of use, also makes it "free."
.

Go on then, show as an example of a post that supports that contention.

carcajou May 9th 2020 2:49 am

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by dbd33 (Post 12850362)
Go on then, show as an example of a post that supports that contention.

No, you go do it. This site is littered with about a gazillion examples.

As one instance, I recall a heated health care argument a few months ago with another poster in Australia, a longtime poster, who argued with me and had no idea that the "free health care" system here is funded through personal income taxes. Where do people think governments get money to fund these things? The Health Care Fairy? The flip side to Pulaskí's Theorem is the same people who don't understand the US system also often don't understand how universal health care works either.

I deleted my previous post about bankruptcies due to the complexity of the issue and the risk of making sweeping statements. In my state, your comment about losing the house over medical debt is simply wrong. The family home is protected in family bankruptcies and can't be sold off as part of a judgment. Many other states are the same but I'm going to refrain from saying a blanket statement about national bankruptcies. The vast majority of medical debt is unsecured, non-priority debt that often gets discharged which is why health care providers are so quick to sell outstanding bills to debt collectors for pennies. This is why I always advise people with substantial medical debt, to seek the advice of a bankruptcy lawyer and see if that option will work for them.

I have one relative who, some years back, spent several nights in the hospital at the tune of $50,000 a night. He paid zero because of his plan. I have another relative on Medicaid, a very poorly understood program by many, whose hospital visits are capped at $75 per stay and doctor visits are capped at $4 per visit.

The health care system in the US is actually a reason I would consider moving back there, from a universal health care country.

TheAwesomeMatt May 9th 2020 5:47 am

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by bc2015 (Post 12850339)
Compare that to Canada where the most stress I had was making sure I had personal details correct on one form.

I would say there are many other issues finding a family doctor is almost impossible, I've been a resident of BC for almost a decade and have given up, and wait times are apparently very long (though I have no direct experience, fortunately).

DarwinCharles May 9th 2020 11:50 am

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12850231)
On moving to the US from the UK I found that tax deducted from my US salary including health insurance costs as a quasi tax, was significantly less than the tax deducted from my previous salary in the UK. We have since switch to "high deductible" health insurance which substantially cut the premiums, by which I mean a cut of around 80% of the cost. We have then been allowed under IRS rules to take those savings tax free (about $7,000 per year between Mrs P and me) and put them in a Health Savings Account, which operates like an ISA for health purposes, allowing me to accumulate tax free funds to meet future healthcare costs without needing to use our taxed-income.

In short, there is a lot about the US healthcare system that is not understood by people who have never lived here, and often by new/ recent immigrants too, who may not have dug into the options open to them and/or not realized how health insurance alternatives might work for them. Also the media, even US-based media, often misrepresent the US health insurance alternatives that are available.

It is a source of continued frustration to me that there is so much misinformation being circulated about the US healthcare system, often using FB and other socal media, and often by people who have no personal experience of living in the US and using US healthcare.

This is so interesting. My ex MIL has trouble affording health care and her co pay can be a struggle too. I wonder if this would help her.

Thanks for this info.

Hurlabrick May 9th 2020 11:56 am

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by TheAwesomeMatt (Post 12850389)
I would say there are many other issues finding a family doctor is almost impossible, I've been a resident of BC for almost a decade and have given up, and wait times are apparently very long (though I have no direct experience, fortunately).

The availability of family doctors clearly varies according to where you live. We got a family doctor within 6 months of living outside Ottawa, then again within 6 months when we moved to London.

dbd33 May 9th 2020 12:37 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by carcajou (Post 12850369)

I deleted my previous post about bankruptcies due to the complexity of the issue and the risk of making sweeping statements. In my state, your comment about losing the house over medical debt is simply wrong. The family home is protected in family bankruptcies and can't be sold off as part of a judgment.
.

Even if one is in a jurisdiction where that is true, it's a technical consideration. If one has no income due to illness and huge medical bills, the effect will be the loss of all assets. It doesn't matter if the house can be directly seized by one's creditors or if they take everything else and the house is sold for food.

Here's a piece explaining the obvious:

"Although the tipping point is often the loss of a job, sickness or injury often precede it. Sickness and injuries make holding a job difficult, which leads to income declining and homelessness for those without a safety net. Due to the mostly employer-based health insurance coverage system in the U.S., no job means no health insurance. The combination of unemployment and poor health can then lead to financial ruin. "

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...ically/458871/

If you don't get ill, then the lack of a healthcare system in the US is an advantage because you're not supporting people who do get ill. It's only if you're subject to illness or suffer from a minimal social conscience that it's worse than having a single payer system.

carcajou May 9th 2020 1:07 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by dbd33 (Post 12850477)
Even if one is in a jurisdiction where that is true, it's a technical consideration. If one has no income due to illness and huge medical bills, the effect will be the loss of all assets. It doesn't matter if the house can be directly seized by one's creditors or if they take everything else and the house is sold for food.

Here's a piece explaining the obvious:

"Although the tipping point is often the loss of a job, sickness or injury often precede it. Sickness and injuries make holding a job difficult, which leads to income declining and homelessness for those without a safety net. Due to the mostly employer-based health insurance coverage system in the U.S., no job means no health insurance. The combination of unemployment and poor health can then lead to financial ruin. "

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...ically/458871/

If you don't get ill, then the lack of a healthcare system in the US is an advantage because you're not supporting people who do get ill. It's only if you're subject to illness or suffer from a minimal social conscience that it's worse than having a single payer system.

Sickness and illness leading to loss of a job, and associated financial problems from that, is not something unique to the United States and happens plenty in Canada and the UK. In the US, the unemployed and uninsured can go to, for example, the specially-designated Community Health Centres that exist specifically for low-income, uninsured people who don't fit other programs. They charge a personalised rate on a sliding scale based on income, unique financial situation and number of dependents and it is often free. HHS's web site keeps a database that anyone can access to find one by entering their zip code.

I am not sure what your point is about asset disposal. Anyone in financial distress has to deal with that. Most people who are middle-class who lose their jobs, with their house being exempt, don't have assets that can be disposed of for creditors in bankruptcy proceedings. Things like laptops and electronic devices up to a certain value are also usually exempted and transportation often is too, as are essential goods. They don't raid your closet and confiscate your jeans to sell at the flea market, or make you sell your refrigerator and tell you to dumpster dive. They will probably make you get rid of a Lexus but they will hold back a certain amount from the sale so you can have access to alternate transportation like a used car. Again, avoiding generalities, that is my state but the others differ usually by shades and not palettes.

Further to Pulaski's points, about ideological leanings superseding practical information when it comes to health care discussions - I have never, ever seen anyone on BE, ever discuss things like Community Health Centres; and if I was going to make a list of US-based media who were out of touch and out to lunch on what health care is like in the US, The Atlantic would be right near the top of the list.

This is now extreme thread drift. If you want to continue this, please start another thread in TIO.

TheWorldIsMyOyster May 9th 2020 1:25 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by iaink (Post 12849693)
Larger housing OK up to a point, but taken to extremes its just more vacuuming to do, more bathrooms to clean and more grass to cut. Ultimately its just "stuff" innit.

Winter? Long, cold, snow on the ground between mid Dec and March, sometimes April. Lows down to below -20C many mornings, months without the temperature peeking above zero. But mostly sunny, and there is fun to be had learning to ski and such.You do need to embrace it or else you will go nuts. That said I'm in my third year in the Carolinas and there is much to be said for wearing shorts in February instead of a snowpants and not having to clear the snow off your car to schlep to work in the slush, or better yet driving roof down in a convertible most of the year round. Summer in Ontario was an eye opener, very hot and humid, but I guess that helped acclimatise me for southern living to some extent.

PR doesnt help get into the US but you can be a Cdn citizen after three years + and that can get you into the US job market (although there are some downsides to Nafta "TN" visas that I wont bore you with).

That's true. Though I will admit that the thought of not having to trip over my husband's tools everyday is something I really look forward to. Dinky wee flat with no storage. :thumbdown:

The sun is also one factor, not a big factor but it's there. A few years ago, I didn't see the sun for more than a month. I'd go to work at 7 before the sun rose and finish work at 5.30 after thr sun has set. Gales every weekend. The darkness was grim.

TheWorldIsMyOyster May 9th 2020 1:28 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by Former Lancastrian (Post 12849696)
That is a question I cannot honestly answer. There is the option to move back at anytime seeing I have dual citizenship. My question is Why would I want to move back? I will shortly be retirement age so looking for a job would not be high on my priority list if I chose to move back. My parents live in Canada and I have 2 adult children both in Canada. Yes I have cousins, nephews, nieces still in the UK that I haven't seen or spoken to in 32 years so close family is also not a reason.
For every positive I could find to move back I could equally find a negative. I own a nice condo here and wonder if I could even get a similar property in the UK for the same price? Too many what ifs and buts for me to consider and at the moment no desire to move back but could if I wanted to.

:goodpost:

Btw, you mentioned something about a sane government that actually works. I'm really interested in that. Can you elaborate?

dbd33 May 9th 2020 1:30 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by carcajou (Post 12850369)
No, you go do it. This site is littered with about a gazillion examples.

.

Back on topic, a reason for not moving here is the difficulty in communication consequent upon the lack of common expressions. At work recently I was asked if someone was likely to complete a project he had undertaken "nah" I said "he's all mouth and trousers". There was silence on the phone. I tried "all hat and no cattle" but it was plain that no one was familiar with the idiom. "All fur coat and no knickers" evoked laughter but no better understanding..

Abroad can be a lonely place. Conversation doesn't flow easily.


TheWorldIsMyOyster May 9th 2020 1:31 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by iaink (Post 12849771)
Typically though Tornados in Ontario are more of a "once in a generation" event, rather than an annual reality that you hope not to get caught up in. I don't recall ever doing a tornado drill at work in Ontario. Down here thats a real thing on the schedule now.

Googling tornadoes in Canada :typing:

TheWorldIsMyOyster May 9th 2020 1:34 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by DarwinCharles (Post 12849791)
We're Brit Canadian but not lived in Canada yet. My brother in Law gets to go because of my sister but it's me and him with the passion for something different. We've been in Calgary and Edmonton only but the house size, space and nature was enough to put up with the cons of Calgary being stuck in the 90s.
Didn't find many greasy cafes which I'll miss or the amazing food choice we have here everywhere.. especially as I love the veggie choice here. Having said that for aroynd the same cost.. The space alone would be mentally healthier for all of us. We get a lot of rain in our part of the UK so we're stuck in Oct to end March anyway.

Darwen

So...you're moving?

dbd33 May 9th 2020 1:35 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by TheWorldIsMyOyster (Post 12850500)
Googling tornadoes in Canada :typing:

It's usual to see them here, minor ones, "dirtnados" the locals call them. About once a year there's a tornado that destroys buildings and occasionally, maybe once a decade, there are very serious ones "the Barrie tornado" is an example. Still, it's not Nebraska, no one has a shelter or makes other precautions.

Hurlabrick May 9th 2020 1:36 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by TheWorldIsMyOyster (Post 12850500)
Googling tornadoes in Canada :typing:

Shouldn't take you long. There was one nr Ottawa a couple of years back that flattened several houses. Had a tornado warning a couple of times last year in London area, although none touched down.

Former Lancastrian May 9th 2020 1:37 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by TheWorldIsMyOyster (Post 12850497)
:goodpost:

Btw, you mentioned something about a sane government that actually works. I'm really interested in that. Can you elaborate?

Sure you have the right poster? I have only made 5 posts in this thread and not one of them talks about a sane government that actually works.

TheWorldIsMyOyster May 9th 2020 1:38 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by cheeky_monkey (Post 12849813)
For me the number 1 reason was that i could earn lot more money in Canada doing the same job ...second was the myth that quality of life is better for kids/family etc.
i went back to the UK in 2014..then came back to Canada at the end of 2016 for the same reason as number 1..it was the best bet to gain financially security for when i finally retire and go back home in 20 years.

don't get me wrong i enjoy living in Canada but i equally enjoyed living in the UK as well

Oh I'd be interested in a clarificationof that myth as I have a child. So quality of life is on par with the UK? Is that province-specific or nationwide?

R I C H May 9th 2020 2:52 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by TheWorldIsMyOyster (Post 12850506)
Oh I'd be interested in a clarificationof that myth as I have a child. So quality of life is on par with the UK? Is that province-specific or nationwide?

Quality of life is surely defined by what makes you happy, which will mean entirely different things to different people.

Siouxie May 9th 2020 4:36 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by Hurlabrick (Post 12850504)
Shouldn't take you long. There was one nr Ottawa a couple of years back that flattened several houses. Had a tornado warning a couple of times last year in London area, although none touched down.

Ontario averages around 12 Tornadoes a year.
https://www.ontario.ca/page/tornadoes


Third Ottawa tornado inside year a "statistical anomaly:" Environment Canada
June 3, 2019
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...onment-canada/
Interesting - from 2009...

Despite the absence of prolonged heat and humidity this summer, Ontario faced some of the deadliest and most destructive tornadoes in its history. It was a long tornado season, beginning on April 25 and ending on September 28. Ontario witnessed 29 tornadoes in 2009 which tied the record for the most tornadoes in one year set in 2006.
https://ec.gc.ca/meteo-weather/defau...n&n=627B5C83-1
:)

Pulaski May 9th 2020 5:53 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by DarwinCharles (Post 12850457)
This is so interesting. My ex MIL has trouble affording health care and her co pay can be a struggle too. I wonder if this would help her.

Thanks for this info.

Maybe, maybe not. It works best if you are younger and are not a heavy user of healthcare services yet. If you are already a heavy use, and/or close to retirement, while using "high deductible insurance" and salting money away in an HSA might work, the benefits aren't as great as if you had started younger. ..... And there is the "first year problem" when you switch to high deductible insurance - if you have a big claim in the first year you don't have any savings yet to draw on to meet the "high deductible".

iaink May 9th 2020 6:57 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by TheWorldIsMyOyster (Post 12850495)

The sun is also one factor, not a big factor but it's there. A few years ago, I didn't see the sun for more than a month. I'd go to work at 7 before the sun rose and finish work at 5.30 after thr sun has set. Gales every weekend. The darkness was grim.

Well, short winter sunlight hours can aso be also a factor here, but at least most weekends although its cold it will probably be Sunny. Unless you make plans of course, in which case a storm will mess with them:)

iaink May 9th 2020 7:00 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by TheWorldIsMyOyster (Post 12850497)
:goodpost:

Btw, you mentioned something about a sane government that actually works. I'm really interested in that. Can you elaborate?

That was me, and I was comparing to the US. Hopefully I dont have to explain how abjectly dysfunctional politics there is and how utterly crap Trump is?

Government is relative, sometimes you don't know when you have a good thing. Canada has a good thing.

iaink May 9th 2020 7:08 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 
As the poster that raised healthcare in this thread I was certainly not under the impression it is "free" in any way in either Canada or the UK. My point was simply that its a not inconsiderable expense even with insurance, and that it was incomprehensible to me that my employer pays more for healthcare premiums every year than I paid in total taxes in Canada, which of course funds healthcare provision and so much more.

Dont get my wife started on the level of service as a "woman of a certain age" either. Shes spitting daggers about her experience, but thats a whole other can of worms.

Tumbling_Dice May 9th 2020 7:12 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by dbd33 (Post 12850498)
Back on topic, a reason for not moving here is the difficulty in communication consequent upon the lack of common expressions. At work recently I was asked if someone was likely to complete a project he had undertaken "nah" I said "he's all mouth and trousers". There was silence on the phone. I tried "all hat and no cattle" but it was plain that no one was familiar with the idiom. "All fur coat and no knickers" evoked laughter but no better understanding..

Abroad can be a lonely place. Conversation doesn't flow easily.

That made me laugh. This week I had another example of asking someone a question, pretty damned specific as well, and they wrote back with a wonderful answer to a completely different question. Happens so many times.

carcajou May 10th 2020 3:23 am

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 
In reverse: last week I used "if ifs were skiffs, we'd all be sailors" which I first heard used by Denis Potvin during a hockey broadcast a few decades ago. The Australians I said it to did not know what I was talking about even after I broke it down.

Pulaski May 10th 2020 5:46 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by dbd33 (Post 12850498)
Back on topic, a reason for not moving here is the difficulty in communication consequent upon the lack of common expressions. At work recently I was asked if someone was likely to complete a project he had undertaken "nah" I said "he's all mouth and trousers". .....

Maybe that's because the expression is "..... all mouth and no trousers." :unsure: Even Google/ Chrome prepopulated that as the complete phrase when I had typed in "all mouth and " to check that I wasn't misrembering the phrase.

dbd33 May 10th 2020 5:57 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12850963)
Maybe that's because the expression is "..... all mouth and no trousers." :unsure: Even Google/ Chrome prepopulated that as the complete phrase when I had typed in "all mouth and " to check that I wasn't misrembering the phrase.

Were people familiar with the expression, I'm sure they would have corrected me. As, I'm sure, would have carcajou had she, or he, caught the dig.

carcajou May 10th 2020 9:30 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by dbd33 (Post 12850969)
Were people familiar with the expression, I'm sure they would have corrected me. As, I'm sure, would have carcajou had she, or he, caught the dig.

I caught the dig. I simply ignored you and responded to Tumbling_Dice. Whenever a political radical takes a shot at me, it means whatever I said wasn't far off the mark.

dbd33 May 11th 2020 12:39 pm

Re: Top Reasons to Move (and Not Move) to Canada
 

Originally Posted by carcajou (Post 12851036)
I caught the dig. I simply ignored you and responded to Tumbling_Dice. Whenever a political radical takes a shot at me, it means whatever I said wasn't far off the mark.

Chuckling at "political radical". I think my positions, that Trump is an evil narcissist and Johnson a bumbling fool, the welfare state and especially socialised medicine are good things, are very much in the mainstream. They also represent a good reason to move to Canada. At least Trudeau isn't going to kill you for the profit of his mates.


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