Originally Posted by jandro (Post 10674637)

Who's to say what your experience of returning will be like. I'm Canadian and sponsored my OH from the UK some years ago before moning to Vancouver. In hindsight I wish I remained in the UK. Life might have been better and easier in Canada in the 1980s but not now imo. One of the big negatives for me is work - trying to find and keep a job is tougher. Also general workplace culture I find isn't that great. I haven't had great experiences working here since I returned.

If you have an okay life with decent jobs etc. and you still want to go to Canada maybe you should have a backup plan of returning to the UK if it doesn't work out rather than think 'I'm going back home for good'. Also don't underestimate reverse-culture shock if you've been away from Canada for a while.

ps. I had family who lived in a small village in north eastern Yorkshire and visited a few times - beautiful place.

Originally Posted by Steve_ (Post 10676913)

All I know is, my friend from Sudbury thinks North Bay is a s--thole.

Originally Posted by CanadaJimmy (Post 10675064)

I don't think you can apply that to the whole of Canada, however in the context of Vancouver, BC I do agree with that. The job market is an employers market - very oversaturated with people because it's a popular place to live in Canada. This is particularly hard on unskilled/labour workers, I've heard many stories about people just not getting paid and not paid on time. The 1980s was a boom-time for Vancouver, and I think a lot of the people who were part of that boom feel like they've been forgotten about.

In my opinion the future of Vancouver is out in the burbs, I expect more businesses in Surrey, Langley and Abbortsford to open up and with that will slowly come better hiring practises and better treatment of staff. We'll see though.

Originally Posted by floatsy (Post 10676553)

Can you elaborate a bit on this please?

Originally Posted by Steve_ (Post 10676913)

All I know is, my friend from Sudbury thinks North Bay is a s--thole.

Originally Posted by CanadaJimmy (Post 10663094)

In the UK it's not impossible to live that way, the UK is much smaller and more condensed, so you can find a nice house in the country and then commute to work in the nearest city, however in Canada things are much more spaced out, the "country" here can be a 4 or 5 hour drive from a city that has jobs.

Originally Posted by jandro (Post 10678581)

Well, I've found everyone seems to work really hard to keep there jobs and as a result they get stressed, work at home, work on the weekends etc. There's little camaraderie. Maybe that's because you're co-worker may be gone the next day. Also some managers seem to think they hold all the cards. I still keep in touch with people I worked with in the UK after 10 years but not so in Canada.

Originally Posted by jandro (Post 10678544)

I think generally job security is lower across Canada compared to the UK and the process of getting a job is harder (in my experience). I worked for an employer in Ottawa who tried not to pay me for about 4 weeks of work. I had to persuade him to drive to a bank machine and he only paid me half what I was owed. I doubt hiring practices will get better as the lower mainland grows. There's always a ready supply of eager workers willing to accept whatever the employment standards may be.