cheeky_monkey

Love is a strong word..there is nothing i love about Canada..i do like however thats its easy to get around..but everywhere is so far away...i like there are lots of indoor places to go so you dont get wet or freeze to death...i like i dont get stuck in hours of traffic just going to work..and i like the top notch leisure facilties.

I do find alot of Canadians to be dull and humourless..they are less well traveled than Brits so are very insular with their outlook on life...apart from that i find them pretty much harmless.

rob28

I could be classed as out in the boonies, even though I live 2 minutes away from the downtown city core... Dryden Ontario, smallest city in Ontario.

Things which make me smile about being here - space, wildlife, lack of traffic congestion, fishing, hunting, guns, bows, boats (and all the other toys), friendly neighbors. And the mountain biking trails.

Big GG

I have only been here for a couple of weeks and here are some of my observations.

This voice mail thing is so annoying. My oven went nuts the first time I turned it on. You never get to speak to your landlord or the oven guy. They both have "paging services" for god's sake.

Home Depot people are real nice. They are knowledgeable old folks which I liked dealing with alot.

Some of the recruiters I have dealt with did not inspire any confidence in me at all. Obviously most see his added value to their real Employers (i.e hiring companies) in lowballing us, wide-eyed newcomers. This Canadian experience thing is also so annoying. It is like they think the world spins the other way around once you leave Canadian borders. It is especially ironic when you see things being done at a snail pace all around you at most times.

Realtors offer a very good service to renters and buyers. (They charge owners a fortune though)

Anyway, my quota for today's rant is up.

Cheers

JamesM

-Sweet potato fries
-Watching Soccer early in the morning and then having the rest of the day to get drunk celebrating or drowning my sorrows
-Table service in bars
-The weather
-Getting to post on fun threads like this whilst I am at work

Novocastrian

Why? I like some individuals regardless of nationality, I am indifferent to the majority of people from every country (in the sense of having no desire to get to know them well), I dislike very few, but those I do dislike are also equal opportunity.

As it happens my employer is not an individual nor a corporation, my closest colleagues include but a single individual who was born here (I like him BTW), my administrative assistant sends a yearly report on my unit to a Polish guy (who I like). His superior is a German and the highest ranked individual in the organization is Egyptian.

No chip here. I imagine this circle of colleagues is fairly typical for Toronto.

Oh, and I'm told that it was the Queen who granted me citizenship. I don't believe she's Canadian either.

Keelif

You do make me laugh. I must admit I do quite like reading your posts, you always sound like such a genuinely British grumpy old man!

(That is not meant as an insult so please dont take it as one)

Miss Clinique

^^^^^^^^^^^^^What she said^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Novocastrian

Goodness me, a new fan. I'm actually not at all grumpy, ask anyone who's met me. (Well not all of them, some of them are biased).

Niloc

First a little background. We emigrated to Canada 30 years ago, raised two sons and retired in 2006.

The following is more of what we like about living in Canada rather than about Canadians.

Likes are about where we live and Canada in general.....Not in any particular order. (Dislikes are for a separate posting...lol)

The South West Ontario town we live in. Nice settled older university town founded in 1822 which has lots of safe parks, many original stone homes, diverse industries, trails, reasonable shopping, hospital, medical specialists and retirement homes. We are about 1 hour from Toronto (at off peak traffic times) and just over 2 hours from Buffalo. Buffalo is a great location to fly from to access many of our favourite places in the USA such as the Southwest and Southeast. We also drive quite a few vacations when we prefer to have our own vehicle for extended periods.

Ethnic foods. Lots in our town and adjacent cities.

The healthier climate for us. The British Isles were bad for our allergies to moulds causing asthma, stuffy nose etc.

Good summer weather for my type of gardening. I'm interested in cacti and tropicals where we have enough heat units to make them grow well outdoors.

Summer Holidays!! As retirees we are on holidays May to October. No need to head south.

Our home. We rented for our first summer to research a location to purchase a home. We selected a 12 year old good sized bungalow which has a full basement complete with separate apartment. This layout has proven invaluable for UK visitors, our parents, a potential source of income if we hit hard times and even an apartment for a live in helper when we are older. This house was our starter home and is our retirement home. We carefully chose a house which was within walking distance to elementary and high schools, grocery shopping and green space behind us. A major consideration was the orientation of the home which enabled us to build decks and a sun room later so we have nice sunny or shady locations throughout the year.

RRSPs. We have used them since we came here which has enabled us to retire at 54 and 55. I had a regular job and my wife was a homemaker, so it's possible if you don't have a high $$ burn rate. We have always taken good varied holidays and visit the British Isles regularly.

Our Vehicles. We currently own a full size domestic car and a domestic minivan. Both of these were researched purchases with cloth seats, simple steel wheels and manual air conditioning The car returns 7.7 Litres/100Km and the van 8.7 litres/ 100Km on highway trips. We will not buy offshore foreign built vehicles, preferring to keep our money circulating in N America as much as possible. These vehicles have low tech, pushrod engines which use 10W30 oil, regular fuel and are easy to service. (I do all my own service and most home repairs)

Pressurized natural gas fueled hot water showers with a good reserve in a well-insulated storage tank.

Duct forced air heating and air conditioning. Our home is evenly heated and cooled at a reasonable cost.

Simple top loading washing machines. 3 years ago we replaced our old one which was the original in the house since 1968! We chose a simple N. American brand machine which has no digital displays or electronic circuit boards.

Roof Shingles. Such a selection to chose from to match brick colours, location, etc

Canadian Tire, Princess Auto, Tech Surplus Stores, Thrift stores.

Tim Hortons....where else can you socialize for a few $$ with no yobs?

Native Culture. We have developed an interest in N. American native art and traditions.

Very few Canadians have BO!

We have found Canadians not to be nosey, almost not interested in small day to day gossip.

Screens on windows keep out pesky insects.

Tidy countryside properties and farms in S Ontario

Right turns on red traffic light permitted.

The Great Lakes. They are wonderful with their beaches, fishing, boating, wild life etc

Canada not being an island. Can hop in the minivan and drive for thousands of kilometers visiting natural parks and experiencing many diverse climates in N America.

My benefits from my employer. The medical, drug and out of country plan is excellent, even for a retiree.

The Banks! They didn't lend money to those who could never make the payments. That meant our sons did not lose money on the homes they bought.

Service Canada! We sponsored our parents to Canada when they retired. After 10 years they qualified for ¼ of Canadian OAS plus GIS to bring them up to the same level as anyone who lived here all their lives. My mother who is 90 receives this as well as her doctor visits and all her drugs paid for by the Ontario Plan for Seniors.

CanadaJimmy

The stability.
The opportunities, more jobs and cities are newer so you feel like you can be more than just a slave to an already established system.
Proximity to the United States.
Slower pace of life.
Better customer service.
Fuzzy peach candy.
Ginger ale.
The fact you can hang the national flag (or any flag) publicly without people thinking you're a rascist.
The active effort made to improve undesirable areas instead of letting them deteriorate.
The fact there's always government money for new schools, libraries, hospitals, etc.

FlirtyKnickers

I'm not sure how racist the whole of the UK is but I grew up in Northern Ireland, we are not racist, we just hate everyone ....

I can only tell you how I see it and i'm shocked by it and how comfortable they seem to be with insulting other cultures, it's almost as if they don't understand what they are saying, it's shameful and brutal..

I was brought up to look past colour, religion and the rest of the crap, my parents didn't drag me up, they brought me up to respect others and value them regardless of differences.



On a lighter note, I love Dairy Queen...

dgagitw

And old joke, but here it is:

A jewish guy decides to visit Belfast to see what all the trouble is about. Naturally he heads straight for the Falls Road. Half way down he's stopped by a pair of tough looking Irish fellows who, confused by his yarmulke say,
'Excuse me there, but are you catholic or protestant?'.
'Neither,' he replies, 'I'm jewish.'
'Right, but are you a catholic jew or a protestant jew?'

FlirtyKnickers

NessieOggy

Thankfully, many of us were.

vagabonding

I rarely write on this forum but felt the need to as I am also from sunny SOUTHPORT
I've been here for just over 7 years, and its been a rollacoster, but very happy to say that...at present...I LOVE living here...although its not always been the case as in previous posts.
The main reasons I love Canada are
1. A job I love and good money which I could not do unless I was in London
2. Cottage country. You cannot possibly replicate the feeling of leaving the city on a Friday afternoon heading up to cottage for a weekend of relaxtion. Of course its best in summer but even in winter its still a brilliant experience.
3. Stability.......there is more of a sense of security all around in Canada, especially compared to Europe and the U.S
There are of course a lot of things of frustration including high car insurance, expensive groceries, booze etc but on an overall basis Canada is a fantastic place to live