fledermaus

Driving standards, horrible. No wonder Canada is in the medals table for traffic deaths

Quality of veggies in the supermarkets. Though I probably should qualify that as I have seen better stuff in other places. Probably just Peterborough/northumberland area. I was talking to someone from Newfoundland and she said it was pretty dire round here, much better in NFland.She had lived in Thunder Bay for many years and said that the quality was better there even in the winter.

Ugly cables and wires everywhere

Bizarre roadwork organisation.

Bureaucracy, nothing is ever simple or straightforward.

Ham. Cant get decent unslimey, unrubbery, unsmoked ham. What would a gammon alternative be?

Doctors paid on a fee per visit basis. Lack of GPs.

Idea that if its Canadian it must be the best, and so cant be improved, so no attempts made to improve or learn from others.

Having said all that, I like the people here, thats more pleasant.

BristolUK

1. I suppose those overhead cables make them easier for repairs in winter. Probably a good idea.
   
2. Canadian Bureaucracy reminds me of tales of the old Soviet Union systems.
   
3. My wife is Canadian. The number of times I've suggested alternatives to the way things are done (based on alternatives that are actually in use and work more efficiently)....it's like you're insulting the country to suggest a better way.

Tangram

I haven't found that. I write a blog for the work internal web. I often point out stuff and the number of people who stop me in the corridors and say 'you're bang on' is always surprising.

They could of course be getting ready to stab me in the back, but I have been doing it for over 12 months now and no knife as yet.

Steve_P

I don't like the fact that every time we have a federal election by the time the polls close in Alberta the election has already been decided.

It's like my vote doesn't count for anything and is a colossal waste of time.

Proportional representation makes way more sense but it's a non-starter in Ontario and Quebec.

If I lived in either of those two provinces I don't think I'd agree either, it's a tough issue.

lilacheart

Mosquitos.................

Being ploughed in. We wanted the bigger corner plot and suffer for it on snow days... The fact it is gorgeous here when it snows makes up for it though (just)

Like everything else

montreal mike

Probably you are right but i do remember one case, i think it was 1972, when we had to wait for the outcome of one seat in the western arctic. I think it was the trudeau vs stanfield contest.

Rich_007

^^^ I noticed it had also gotten worse since you arrived

Kelowna-specific:

Likes:
Living the outdoor life
Whacked-out BC lifestyle
The space
The bush (easy access, go off and do random stuff)
Whacky driving (makes me laugh out loud at the crazy shit I see daily)
Wild West mentality (like the 70's, in a good, funny way)

Dislikes:
Stuffy/loud/chavvy misfit Brits
The snobby set (with not much to be snobby about)
High levels of retardation

BristolUK

Do you remember there were plans to refund the 8% increase in NB Power charges last year to low income consumers but the change in government stopped it?

The original proposal was that those entitled to receive it had to save up a year's worth of bills, send them off for some admin people to waste time opening envelopes, identifying the 8% on each of 12 bills, total it all up and arrange for cheques to be sent out to the customers with the necessary mailing costs - along with any follow up from not received cheques etc.

I thought, why not program the NB Power computer to not actually bill the customer that 8%, but to 'transfer' the figures for whatever accounting procedure took care of them - either the NB Government paying it over or NB Power deducting it from the tax bill they'd otherwise have to pay.

My wife said it would never happen because that's not the way things are done in Canada (or words to that effect) and I had a similar response when I made the suggestion via email to someone in NB government.

Funnily enough, when I read recently that while NB had no scheme in place for this winter while NS had increased an allowance for their residents, I read that NS's electricity rebate scheme worked in the same way that NB's doesn't - with the rebated amount being deducted from the monthly bills.

Maybe your work colleagues are more enlightened and more receptive to ideas.

JonboyE

I think they know that 98% of the people in Alberta will vote Conservative so they don't need to wait for the actual results to work out who's won which seat.

Steve_P

But that's not the point.

We do actually vote in one or two liberals every now and again.

Craftybanshee

They didn't let us in!

They are contradictory!

Judy in Calgary

Okay, just in case anyone is going to rely on this thread for genuine information, I'll get real.

In post #6, I gave Canada a glowing review compared with Swaziland. What I said about Swaziland was true. Canada is almost in a different universe, much less on a different planet from, Swaziland.

But, if you’re sitting in the UK and wondering if you’d be better off in Canada, it’s another decision altogether. You’re already living in a First World country, and you’re trying to assess what you’d gain and lose by moving to another First World country.

If you’re in that position, I would guess that the most serious challenge you might face would be in the employment arena. Some foreigners find jobs in Canada, move to Canada, and everything works out fine. But some foreigners run into problems.

A norm that frustrates many foreigners is the way in which Canadian employers respond (or, more accurately, don’t respond) to job candidates. They don’t let you know whether or not your application was successful. Okay, in many cases job advertisements state that only candidates who are of interest to the employer will be contacted. But in some cases you get beyond the interview stage and they still don’t let you know!

I don’t really know why that is. I think it’s because Canadians like to be “kind,” and they don’t like delivering bad news. What they seem to fail to take into consideration is that not knowing hurts, and they actually would be more kind if they let the person know where he/she stood.

Even if you manage to secure the job, you’ll probably find that the entire interview and hiring process is much slower than it is in the UK – and I really mean much slower. If a Canadian employer says, “I’ll get right back to you,” it means they’ll get back to you in a couple of weeks, if you’re lucky. What it usually means is that you can call them in a couple of weeks and find out how things are going.

Some employers, especially those who operate in not very lucrative fields and who are struggling, can be downright dishonest. I have relayed the story of one employer’s treatment of a new Chinese immigrant in Calgary. That was just before this current oil boom, when things in Calgary were tighter than they are now. This new MBA graduate from China came in for an interview. My employer told her that he wanted to give her a hypothetical case study so that he could assess her capabilities. He then gave her a real life case study that one of his clients had commissioned him to do. She went home, did the case study, came back, and delivered it to him (for free, of course). He submitted her case study to his client, billed the client for it, and didn’t hire the Chinese MBA graduate after all.

During this recent oil boom, Calgary employers have been forced to hire anyone who could fog a mirror. But I was in Calgary during the tougher times, between the previous oil boom and this current one, and I can tell you that Calgarians really circled the wagons during that period. They didn’t let in outsiders very easily, not even outsiders from other parts of Canada, much less from overseas.

I found Calgarians (and most Canadians whom I’ve met) to be very tolerant on a relatively superficial level. That is, they are usually very tolerant of people who have different skin colours, practice different religions, speak with different accents, wear different clothes, etc., as long as they encounter those people in a supermarket, on the street, or at a bus stop. Giving those people an employment break during tough economic times is a different matter altogether.

The one good thing I have noticed is that the second generation, the children of immigrants, are accepted without reservation. From what I have seen, young adults who are ethnically Chinese or ethnically East Indian or ethnically whatever, but who speak with a Canadian accent, attended Canadian universities, etc., are totally integrated into the “in group.” So that bodes well for our children, but it may not bode well for us immigrants, at least not in our early years in Canada.

Another thing that I have noticed amongst Canadians is a tendency to think that they are at the leading edge in technology, work practices, etc., when they sometimes are not. They are not receptive to suggestions, and in fact may react to them quite negatively.

So, if you really want to come to Canada, these are my suggestions:

• Accept that Canada is 10 – 15 years behind Europe. If you can’t handle that, don’t come here.
  
  
• Read the Wiki articles about job hunting. Take the information in those articles and multiply your imagined timeframes by a factor of ten. If you manage to get a job more quickly than you imagine, consider it a bonus. And, if you don’t get a job as quickly as you think you will, this tip may prepare you for reality.
  
  
• When you reach Canada, do your best to be a team player, both at work and in your community. Refrain from making suggestions in the beginning. You can make suggestions much later, when you have earned your membership of the team. Do a good job at work. Volunteer in the community. When you have really earned your stripes, you can start making suggestions.

I actually think that the new immigration legislation, if it survives the October 14th, 2008 election, is a good thing. It makes it almost impossible for people in the skilled worker stream to immigrate to Canada if they don’t have a job offer. This is kinder in the long run, because it will save people from coming to Canada and finding out once they’re here that they cannot find work. When I was new to this forum, there still were a lot of forum members who had gained permanent residence without pre-arranged employment and who were having a devil of a job finding suitable employment. Some of them went through some very tough times in Canada and ultimately returned to the UK. And it would be worse to be stuck in Canada without the means to return if one wanted to do so.

Oh yes, I’ve just thought of another thing, the current global economic meltdown. I don’t know what’s going to happen in Canada. If economic conditions deteriorate to a significant extent, I would expect Canadians to circle the wagons again. Trust me, expensive cheese, poor TV, rude and incompetent drivers, rough roads, ugly haircuts and even a shortage of organic food will be the least of your problems.
x

LotteW

For me the worst things are the crap TV (kids TV is even worse than the adults from what I can see - 90% of it is crappy cartoons, but maybe it is just the things my kids like to watch?)

Also the lack of decent bacon anywhere - decent back bacon is impossible to find - all you can get is extremely fatty streaky.

High costs of Dairy/cheese doesn't bother me too much cos I am allergic to milk, but being able to eat out and get something dairy free is a bit :curse: It is almost impossible to get something that isn't either cooked in butter or doesn't have cheese all over it, or doesn't have about half a pint of cream added at the end!

Poor driving.... most people don't seem to know how to drive safely.

montreal mike

I suspect there was actually method to this seemingly inefficient bureaucracy. Although your route makes perfect sense, after all it is very logical and the technology is in place to make it work, there is another school of thought.

To my mind the powers that be intentionally put the onus on the entitled consumers to put in a claim, with all the paperwork, so as to be paid. Many may not bother, others are unaware of the rebate plan and so they lose out.

Meanwhile the government is not going out of its way to help.

retsujou

Hello

Might you please expand a little on that. When you are speaking of Europe are you talking about the United Kingdom or European countries on the continent such as Italy, Germany and so on?

Having been in Canada about every 4 months for the past three years I have my own ideas, but I would like to hear your ideas please.