Myself and family(wife and three children)have received our immigration visa`s last week.We have had a spell of six months working in ontario back in 1999 on a work visa.For immigration we are looking at British Columbia.I am a skilled cnc machinist/toolmaker and have had contact with employers and see no problem finding work.However I do have a gripe.How do people manage with two weeks vacation?I have a skilled trade but if I worked for the public sector i.eHeath Service/University I would get at least four weeks.Having read peoples complaints about Canada none of them mention lack of vacation.Can you take time off unpaid?I am fortunatley enough with my house sale to be able to afford this.Does anybody do this.I do like my holidays and spend time with My children.

Apparently, yes you can take leave unpaid. As far as I understand, holidays work completely different in Canada. You are paid extra in every wage packet for your annual 2 weeks vacation. For that 2 weeks you don't get any wages at all (as you've been paid for it over the course of the year). I think you can take extra days on top of this, but you don't get paid for it full stop.

Hello there,

The fact that we don't complain about the amount of vacation, means that some of us have learnt to live with it, when in Rome and all that !

Some of us have family to, and love our vacation, but you just have to make do with the 2 weeks, and the amount of unpaid and paternity leave you get.

Back in the UK, i use to have 5 weeks paid holiday, sometimes six when i stay behind and work on company projects, long gone are those days, and i miss it.

Welcome to Canada Mr Dell

Is it worth sacrificing holidays for a nicer living environment however? After all, even in Britain for 48 weeks of the year you're not on holiday!!

It depends on years of service which vary by employer. My wife gets 5 weeks plus the Stat Hols but she's worked for the same outfit for 30 years.

Yep, its frustrating all right.

All this country to expore and no time to do it.

Not many companies encourage unpaid leave, as it costs them to get someone to fill in, do overtime or whatever in your absence. I certainly wouldnt recommend doing it as a new empoyee thats for sure.

The way to survive is to make the best of weekends etc, canadians work hard and play hard. And remember that even if the holidays allowance sucks in only 5 years you may get another week!

Oh, yeah and I forgot , you have to remember that the other benefits of the place far outweigh the downside. If I added up all the time i dont spend in my car compared to the UK, thats probably worth another couple of weeks on its own

Iain

It is something to think about if you get a decent job and are negotiating salary/benefits etc. I know quite a few people at my work who negotiated extra holidays as part of their package rather than trying for a higher salary or stock options and all those other points.

Drew

Being used to five, I can't imagine being able to settle for two weeks, I enjoy travel and after going through all the trouble of getting over to Canada I wouldn't want to have to work for 50 weeks of the year. If that means contracting or job hopping, then so be it, I need my yearly month break!

Like some other fella in this thread, house sales and the like, and the fact we're a two income couple currently without the financial burden of kids, means if there's any sort of choice, I'd gladly swap pay for unpaid time off.

Coupled with that, my partner is a Physiotherapist and research indicates unionised medical professions fare quite well in BC, it looks as though four to five weeks holiday a year is likely in any employment package. I'd need to be able to equal that!

Am I right in presuming there's an awful lot of statutory "bank" holidays in Canada. Do all employers honor them?

Cheers, Iain

Hello there,

These are the holidays ( bank ) that you get over here:

New Year's Day -- January 1
Good Friday -- the Friday of the Easter Weekend
Victoria Day -- May 24 or the preceding Monday
Canada Day -- July 1
Civic holiday -- first Monday in August
Labour Day -- first Monday in September
Canadian Thanksgiving -- 2nd Monday in October
Christmas -- December 25
Boxing Day -- December 26

Days on which services and businesses are most likely to close are:
New Year's Day, Christmas Day, and Good Friday

Some government services are also closed on:
Remembrance Day -- November 11

If you are needed to work on this day, its a matter of choice, in my company it is, and you can be rest assured that you are going to get paid overtime.

Good luck

They are different for each province

Northwest Territories: 10 days

B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nunavut and Yukon: 9 days

Ontario, Quebec: 8 days

Manitoba: 7 days

Nova Scotia, New Brunswick: 6 days

Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island: 5 days


Also, some companies do not let you have leave until you have worked for them for a full year!

I do so miss my uk allowance

Clare

Don't we all clare ! The fact that you could just book a long weekend and just pop over on to the continent, prague, brussels, vienna, calais etc

I miss all that, and when you think you get paid for it too, how i miss those days

It does depend on your company, my husband gets 15 days a year which isn't too bad.

I like to go to Europe a little bit but if I had a job here I just wouldn't be able to do it, so that is why I work from home, if I am Europe I can do exactly what I am doing now.

I think the longer you work for a company and show loyality the more time you will get.

In Saskatchewan you get a day and a quarter a month. That adds up to three weeks holidays and in every job I had over the past 30 odd years I got paid for my holidays. I never got paid holiday pay every pay cheque. My son did when he was working casual at Sears. But that is the only time I have heard of this happening.

In Saskatchewan I believe after 10 years the statutory annual vacation is 4 weeks. They can give you more but they can't give you less.

If you want to have the same amount of holidays as you had in England, then I suggest you go back to England. Otherwise, as someone else said "when in Rome" and all that!!!!!

I know this is an old thread, so apologies for ressurecting it.

We've actually applied to migrate to Canada and Australia, and are as yet undecided about where we'd like to end up. We have an exploratory trip to Oz lined up in May. We have visited Canada previously, and loved it but dread the thought of having only two weeks annual leave!

However, when speaking to a colleague of mine at work he suggested that if you work for yourself you can have as much time off as you like (or afford). Or perhaps consider working part time?

Can anyone advise whether Canadian employers are open to employees working three or four days a week?

Thanks