montreal mike

That ain't enough. Every little bit helps. don't rely on QC.

BristolUK

You may well be right. I fear that in NB, those in control just don't know better, though.

Judy in Calgary

I've never lived in the UK or Europe, and have only visited the UK and several European countries as a tourist.

But even coming from South Arica, where my then-husband and I worked in the 1970s, Canada was behind in some work practices. I don't know how much you know about South Africa, but it was home to some pretty good skills and practices at one time, especially in the mining industry. My husband, an electrical engineer, was not impressed by some of the work practices he witnessed in Canada. Also, Chris Barnard performed the world's first heart transplant. And another thing, however minor it may seem. Those South African houses that had bathrooms had bath tubs and toilets in two separate rooms. That's not a very high tech innovation is it, but it's one that has yet to make its way to Canada.

My comment about Canada being 10 - 15 years behind Europe was a broad brush strokes comment based on my regular participation on this forum since February 2005. I bet you I now know some things about the UK that some British people don't even know about the UK.

Britons living in Canada regularly make comments on this forum about Canada being backwards. The UK is more advanced in having eliminated many chemicals, artificial dyes, etc., from packaged foods. Organic food is more readily available in the UK. The UK is more advanced in having elminated unnecessary packaging from products. There are more and cheaper options when it comes to phone service in the UK. Banking is more sophisticated and cheaper in the UK. Drivers are better in the UK.

Environment, health and safety (EHS) standards are more advanced in the UK than they are in Canada. I feel qualified to comment on that, because I worked in that industry in Alberta until recently, and we all knew we were below par, by the standards of other First World countries (behind even our much maligned neighbour, the USA). Certainly, members of this forum who work in arenas in which EHS is important have stated that Alberta is 10 - 15 years behind the UK.

I've visited Eastern Europe (whose residents actually think of themselves as Central Europeans). I've been to Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Actually Serbia and Hungary are the countries in which I've had the most "real" and the least touristy experience. I have relatives in Hungary and close friends of my family in Serbia. So I visited lots of people's private homes in Hungary and Serbia, and got what I think was a fairly accurate idea of how they lived. In Hungary I also stayed in self-catering accommodation, went grocery shopping, and so on. That too gave me some additional insights.

At the time that I visited Eastern Europe in 2004, my cousins told me that Serbia was the way Hungary had been 10 - 15 years previously. Hungary, in turn, was behind its neighbour, Austria (which I visited on the same trip).

I've also been to the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany and Italy. I've stayed in friends' houses in the UK and France.

But, no, I am not qualified to answer your question about the validity of my statement that Canada was 10 - 15 years behind Europe and how Europe, in that statement, compares with the UK. As I said, it was a very broad brush stroke opinion that I had picked up from numerous posts on this forum.

On this forum I have seen Britons over and over and over and over and over and over and over again being distressed by the same list of features of Canadian life.

In real life, I have friends from former Warsaw Pact countries who have gone back, bought property in their countries of origin, and now are splitting their time between those countries and Canada, where they invariably have Canadian children-in-law and grandchildren. Even those people say that Canada has faults, and some of them regret having come here at all. They say that they had expected something much better. Back when they were living under the Communist system, they had thought that "The West" and "democracy" would be better than they actually turned out to be.

The point of this thread, I thought, was to warn forum members who were considering coming to Canada of the things that might not like once they got here.

In my opinion, the element of Canadian life that, in most cases, has caused the more serious cases of distress that I've witnessed on this forum, has been the workplace. It has not been a problem for everyone, by any means, but it has challenged enough people to merit a warning. I stand by my original recommendations that, in essence, were:

• Be prepared for Canada to be behind what you're used to.
• Be prepared for prospective employers to take a long time to get back to you.
• Be prepared to shut up until you have earned the right, in Canadians' eyes, to comment.

Since you obviously know Europe better than I do, you're in a position to draw some distinctions between the UK and Continenal Europe if you care to.
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retsujou

Thank you that is a very well thought out and thorough answer. I was asking becaue I am not born and bred in the United Kingdom. I moved here a couple of years ago and in my humble opinion and that is a very personal opinion the United Kingdom is "behind" on some issues when compared to my home country of Austria. That is by no means me trying to be patreotic, it is a personal assesment. When it comes to labour laws and labour standards, when it comes to the quality of living and the finish o houses and lfats, build quality and overal social services I feel let down by the UK and I am prepared to accept that when starting my life in Canada.

I am in the lucky position that I make a fair chunk on money (and I also would in Canada) so I can compensate with my own income for many of the afore mentioned issues.

When it comes to publoic transport, eve though I live close to London, I find it less than optimal and apart from the service I have had in the GTA I find it even worse in most parts of Canada. Especially the bus service in Vancouver strikes me to be rather.. well.. sporadic

As mentioned before when it comes to the quality and the availability of fresh foods I agree with most people on here. I would think that one of the issues is the fact that the average income in Canada is not exactly high and that necessitates the availability of cheap, packacged and pre-processed food to make it a possibility for somone to have a family and still be able to pay the bills.

In comparison to my home country the health and medical system in the UK and in Canada are very poor (in comparison I said), however I believe that can be compensated for and I am very lucky that I am rarely if ever sick.

As to the hiring process I can only say that is so true. It has taken my current prospective employer almost 2 months to get to the place where they are now finally checking my last references so that they can make me an offer. They also do not like to keep you in the loop, so sometimes I sat at home gnawing my fingernails not hearing from them for three weeks.

I cannot comment on the waiting to comment bit. As my partner is Canadian and her family has already accepted me in their life I feel I have earned that right by proxy. In my job it is my duty and what I get paid for to make constructive comments, so I am wondering how that will work out

With all that in mind, Canada is still the country which I feel has some of the most potential for a First World country and I want to be one of the people that can make a change. By bringing my experiences, a part of my culture and my willingness to grow with my partner into being an asset to the country.

macmike41

Things I don’t like—
Driving leaves a lot to be desired – driving with one hand on the steering wheel and talking on a cell phone in the other how the hell can someone possibly be focused on driving their car on a busy road in commuter traffic. Also - not being racist just realistic - but when I see a young Asian lady driving a car I pull way way back.

Crazy cost of car insurance.

Wiring code that allows ceiling lights & wall sockets on the same ‘line’ and the way the lights dim when the a/c or furnace fan comes on.

Technology – as Judy said, a bit behind the times. I tried to have three house phones (separate numbers) put on one account with Rogers but they could not handle it – wanted me to have two separate accounts for the phones as “we can only bill 2 phone numbers per account and you will need a third account for the internet”. Bell managed the 3 phones but OMG what a carry on with customer service trying to get a long distance calling plan on one of the lines. Guaranteed they had sorted it 5 times and I have 5 confirmation letters to prove they sorted it. BUT 6 months down the road I still get bills telling me I haven’t paid for my long distance calls - my ‘calling plan’ calls to the US. I contact customer service and they remove the long distance calls from my bill and assure me its “ok now” but guess what – yep, still there on my current bill. I guess a lot of Canadian companies have grown very quickly and their technology (software?) just hasn’t been reviewed/planned to keep pace with their expansion.

Tall and narrow Globe & Mail newspaper – maybe ok for a crowded commuter train but just not readable for me.

Display price of goods/services not including relevant taxes - so what you see aint what you pay.


Things I do like—
Friendliness of the people.

Laneway kids play groups – basketball/hockey

Distinct & separate seasons, tree colors in the fall are breathtaking.

No smoking rules.

Pedestrians given the right of way crossing the road.

Well organized and free school buses.

Lower road speed limits than the UK – top speed on a 'motorway' is 62mph.

All year round local kids sports, indoor winter & outdoor summer – soccer, ice hockey, swimming etc.

I can handle the TV – we use Star Choice and the best part is the ‘cross country’ channels so if you miss something on one channel you can see it later/tape it earlier on another province channel– miss the UK footy (Mrs. wont go for the pay sport channels) although I can get some games on UKNova.

Rich_007

Fussy Brits, so uptight about so many things. Always trying to tell everyone what's wrong.

Chill the hell out.

R.

retsujou

You like that? Drives me insane! For once there are roads which you could safely drive at around 100 to 110 mph, if not faster and then you are limited to hell back and forth.

Especially in Alberta where you go 8 hours in a straight line :P

Judy in Calgary

Thanks for explaining the context. It helps to understand the point of view from which you asked your original question.

In Budapest we repeatedly arrived way too early for appointments. We'd go to a bus or tram or underground train stop, thinking we needed to allow for waiting time. But a bus or tram or train would arrive within a minute (at most two minutes). In the three weeks that we were there, we simply did not get used to the excellence of the transit system (reverse culture shock, I guess).

May the force be with you.

I tend to agree with that. If the things we hear about global warming are true, I think Canada may suffer less than many other countries.
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montreal mike

The cops will tolerate 110 kph (68 mph) on most highways. After that, any faster, one is taking chances.

geedee

Mike, 119 will get you past a mobile radar without being stopped. 121 depends on their mood.... or their quotas! A few weeks ago I was driving back from Quebec City on the 40, and came across a police car doing about 115. I snuck in behind (feeling a little guilty), but it didn't stop many others who slowed down, but passed. Nobody got stopped...

Back on topic.... don't like about Canada? Well...

Abysmal TV... it's not so much the programming as the mind-numbing ratio of advertising to content. In the UK you'd get about 5 minutes of adverts in 2 blocks in a half hour show.... except on the beeb, where there is no advertising. Here, it's got to be about equal.... 5 minutes of show followed by 5 minutes of embarrassingly awful adverts!! It absolutely ruins the whole viewing experience... I'm looking now at scrapping Bell and just downloading content from iTunes. It'll be cheaper, and much better. And no ads!!

Milkshake is hard to find, for some reason. Weird! Even Burger King don't sell it here.... it's the highlight of the "meal" in the UK!

Roadworks that go on for months and months, and you never, ever see anybody actually working.... just closed lanes, lots of cones and mega traffic jams that go on for tens of kilometres.

That's enough whining for one night....

Steve_P

Actually it's pretty hard to go anywhere in Canada in a straight line for eight hours if not impossible. But you knew that.

Speed limit on divided highways in Alberta is 110kph and as others have said you can go faster and get away with it, the upper limit is about 19kph over the limit.

printer

[QUOTE=Rich_007;6867820]^^^ I noticed it had also gotten worse since you arrived


Sorry bro but i didn't mean to pull across in front of you. I pulled away a bit quick and noticed the hound in the rear of the truck nearly fell out and whilst looking in that direction i spilled my coffee on the poodle sitting on my lap. He then yelped and bit my other hand, the one holding the cell phone, and this shot out of my hand and knocked over my box of Timbits. It was whilst trying to retrieve the Timbits from the footwell of my lifted Mega Cab that i accidently swerved across the highway.

Steve_P

Actually if you bother to time any one hour U.S. shows on TV you'll find the actual show runs about 43 minutes so that sort blows the 5 minutes of show to 5 minutes of ads theory right out of the water don't it.

Now the ads are pretty mind numbing I will concede that, but then that's what VCR's and PVR's are for.

geedee

No steve, I really can't be arsed to sit there and time things like that. Let's just say it feels like 50/50, shall we? Whatever the clock says, there is a massively noticeable difference between the ratio here and the one in the UK. And it really, really, makes watching TV a bore, which is why I'm on the internet now, and not watching an old re-run of CSI, broken up, frequently, by "tackyads".

Steve_P

Just to make it clear I've never bothered to time a show either but I do download the odd one I miss when it airs, from Usenet and of course they come commercial free and run about 43 minutes on average.