dbd33

I don't think you can count the US as "abroad" for a Canadian, that's like an Englishman living in Scotland. How many actually live abroad?

Souvy

Does that include freshly minted Canadians that then push off back to where they came from? I suspect that it does.

ninaDGBCA

We watch BBC/ITV/etc. over the internet.

Former Lancastrian

While there is no definitive count of Canadians scattered around the world, some estimates put the number at 2.7 million.1 Compiling comprehensive information about Canadians living abroad is challenging because there are no complete records of the permanent or temporary exit of everybody who leaves the country. Using the immigration data of the destination countries can be difficult because the definitions of international migrants differ from nation to nation; also, each country specifies its own system of recording the in-migration of peoples across their borders. Where there are different mechanisms for recording these movements, there will be different definitions of migrants and inconsistencies of coverage.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-008-.../10517-eng.htm

MarylandNed

57% of the 2.8 million live in the US.

The US & Canada are 2 different countries. You can't just move from one to the other without going through some hoops. They are similar in many ways but also different in many ways. Even the regional differences within them can be much more striking than the differences between any 2 areas of the UK.

England and Scotland are part of the same, relatively small country - the UK. They are more akin to states or provinces than separate countries - and even then they would be considered small states or provinces in Canadian or US terms. So an Englishman living in Scotland is more like someone from one Canadian province living in another Canadian province. Again, the differences between Canadian provinces can be much more striking than the differences between England and Scotland.

In terms of percentages of the population, a similar number of Canadians and Brits live abroad. The US is the closest country to Canada, has a warmer climate (generally speaking) and allows easier movement of workers through NAFTA - so it's natural that it attracts a large number of Canadians. Similarly, France and Spain attract a large number of Brits through proximity, better weather and freedom of movement through the EU.

ninaDGBCA

As am I = non British, married to a Brit, lived in England for a good few years and now in Canada. And this is my perspective:

Brit humour is ace but I guess if people grow up in North America they won't understand it as "humour" but see it as rude. I loved it and dearly miss it.

My Nana in- law was from Glasgow and even I understood her after a while same as the Welsh relatives.

AWWWW a good Indian would be lovely..... Love Poutine though ha ha.

We watch BBC/ITV/etc. over the internet. We hardly watch Canadian telly as there is hardly ever anything on that interests me.

I am not British but have never felt more home than in England.

Scenery is nice here, health care is good(depending on your employer,though),weather is great where we live, economy better than in the UK.

dbd33

I've been to America, amazingly enough, and find it to be largely indistinguishable from Canada; dropped from space an alien would not be able to distinguish Plano from Mississauga.

So, now we have a little over a million Canadians living somewhere different from Canada. As Souvy points out lots will be in Hong Kong or the Lebanon, do we have any numbers for them?

Former Lancastrian

As per the link I provided there are no hard figures on which countries Canadians emigrate to as there are no checks outbound. They rely on other countries data and not all countries collect data the way Stats Canada does.
A lot are Canadian citizens by birth to a Canadian parent so that can skew the numbers as they are Canadian but have never lived in Canada as we saw with the Lebanon crisis a few years ago. Lots of Mennonites living in South American countries have Canadian passports but have never lived here.

MarylandNed

What point are you actually trying to make? If millions more Canadians went abroad to live, you'd claim it was because there was something inherently wrong with Canada. If the emigration rate from Canada isn't high enough for your liking, have you considered the possibility that might it be because Canada is a great country to live in and people don't want to leave? Somehow I doubt you'd want to jump on that bandwagon.

el_richo

So just short of 10% of Canadians don't want to live in Canada. Similar figures to the UK.

Its funny how people need to justify decisions to themselves and strangers. Who gives a shit.

wonderwoman1st

I agree mostly, and the American version of big brother is even worse than ours, I can't stand either of them. Turn it off! TV isn't all that great unless it's the news or the fifth estate. I actually like coronation street now! heaven forbid. I get a good film out free at the local library they get new ones in all the time and good ones at that.

wonderwoman1st

Humourless? No, their humour is quite funny actually and similar to ours.

British humour is known to be the best as is our music over here (those that even have a sense of humour who understand humour that is), though there are two types of british humour: not at all funny, and very funny. Course back in the U.K not every one had a sense of humour.

As to postcards, not mentioned by you above but someone on this thread, I disagree, I find that some of the postcards don't do the places much justice. There are plenty of beautiful places to see over here in Canada. Niagara falls for example is a beautiful place to visit and easy and cheap from here in Toronto, but not all the postcards I saw were as good as what I saw, same in Vancouver when I lived there.

History lacks here, there is some but not as strong and common as back in the U.K and Europe.

Renting in Canada is better than the U.K in that your heat and hot water at least is included, and some places as is where I live all bills are included apart from your tv and phone.

They love our British accent over here, the US do too, does not seem to matter what your accent is, they love it anyway. Not sure they would understand or love Gaelic mind, I couldn't even understand it, as they speak so fast and their accent is so strong.

MarylandNed

About 8%. I have no idea whether they live abroad because they don't want to live in Canada. People live abroad for many reasons. Some want to see the world. Some live abroad for work reasons. Some for family reasons e.g. marriage. I have no idea how many will return to Canada at some point.

By the way, about 9% of Brits live abroad. By your reasoning, dbd doesn't want to live in the UK. He wants to live in Canada.

el_richo

The confusing thing about these threads is, who's right? The ~91/92% or the ~9/8%?

Many posters imply there is a right and wrong choice that applies to everybody.

You cannot compare an entire country to another, or an area to an entire country, in this context. It's ****ing stupid to do so.

Most of the bad points banded about here, I believe, doesn't actually impact that persons every day life other than via the news or Chinese whispers. It's sad that people believe the hype.

As for Dbd. He's a pussycat really and enjoys living in Canada

dbd33

I was mildly interested to know how many Canadians live abroad.