Purley

Back a couple of pages I said something about Dingbat and if she (I think it is a she) didnt like it then go someplace else. She obviously thought I meant on some other board. I actually meant if she doesn't like Canada then she should go someplace else.

However, her response about the non-custodial parent dictating where the children live must mean that she is being forced to live in BC becuase that is where her children's father insists that she lives.

That really surprises me. I worked for lawyers all my life, but actually in Saskatchewan and we had lots of cases where the mother moved against the father's wishes. We actually had one case where the mother from Regina met a man on the Internet - moved to Edmonton to be with him, taking the daughter with her, much against the wishes of the father. The courts said she could. Then, to make matters worse, this relationship didn't work out and she met another man on the Internet who lived in New England somewhere and the matter went to Court. The father tried to get the mother to leave the daughter in Canada, but again the courts said the mother could take the daughter with her. Now, I know the husband was a client of our office, but he seemed like a perfectly nice man who had a successful business of his own. I wonder why it appears to be different in BC?

I know this is a bit off topic but I just thought I would respond to Dingbat. My sister lives in Vancouver and a few years ago her husband's ex took him to court to get some extra child support. The judge awarded the mother child support for one of the sons who was 24 years old at the time and hadn't live at home since he was 18!!

I know this to be true because she sent me copies of the order.

Go figure. You sometimes have to wonder if judges have brains!

crazydaisy

Hi Daisymoll - you made a comment about 'a certain weather statistics page' being inaccurate - were you referring to the post I placed about the weather almanac? If so I'll remove the post as I didn't mean to cause any offense. All I was trying to do was give folks back home some idea of the warmest and coldest places to live, for instance your average Brit would say 'oh Canada, lots of snow there' and many are surprised to find that it gets hot and sunny in some places and barely gets below freezing in other areas. Obviously there will be extremes and I wouldn't know if wind chill is taken into consideration. One thing I thought it quite interesting is that out of all the 'extremes' the US came off worst for the most snow in the season, the most snow in 24 hours and the strongest winds (when you look at the Canada weather compared to the world page) and that came from the Guiness Book of records. Canada came nowhere in the extreme weather stakes so it goes to show that it ain't all bad. and besides - I like statistics

daisymoll

Don't worry crazydaisy I wasn't, I can't remember what it was we looked at, I will have to ask hubby and see if he can remember but it was nothing you put up and I am certainly not offended...

Apparently it was an Environment Canada website that we go tour info from.

ClareBC

When you do come over be prepared that the phone system sucks, sucks big time. Slow, bad connections, useless directory enquiries, inaccurate information, and goodness - Telus for the internet ... just don't go there

You know on the North American films they have people pounding the cradle to get a clear line going out. I thought that was a film affectation until I experienced the 'joys' of the phone system first hand.

Mind you, I like the fact that it is cheaper to chat to my family now I'm in Canada then it was when I was in Blighty!!

Clare

Keith

No complaints here in Ottawa. This is a large country and I don't think you can generalize.

We have Bell as our provider. And I only pay $25/mth for my home service and $10/mth for my cellphone. I use Yak for my long distance calls. For my broadband internet service I use Magma, it cost $ $31/mth.

Interested

Yeah we don't have any probs in Toronto. We use bell as well and Rogers for cable.

goatee

reading with interest the replies to the question what is it really like to live in canada?
i know if you are there and missing family in Uk it must be hard but if you left a few years ago you probably dont know how tough it is here!

unemployment is rising , expect to get fired every 18 months , salaries dont rise and inflation is low but we have lots of new taxes recently that make an average family about $5000 a year worse off

we all work long hours , 45 hours plus 10 hours commuting is common , more companies expect us in on saturdays as well

house prices are shooting up as land is so short , which means you have to commute further that eats into salary and time again

time has become a luxury here
our 3 bed bungalow cost us $700,000 , we have one bathroom , no basement
it costs us $90,000 dollars a year for a modest lifestyle, excluding foreign holidays
the reason for this is high tax , having pay for private schools, medical cover, dentists , huge mortgage repayments , pensions, local taxes
our tax bands seem to start lower than yours , even people on modest salaries get caught for high rate tax , inheritance tax , capital gains tax
stamp duty , which is 2.5% of your new home value payable to govt makes it hard to move , for new jobs imagine paying 2.5% of 700k for the privilige of moving ontop of estate agents fees and legal
it is hard to be entrepreneurial here because of red tape and the pound is so strong in europe exports are diving and we are losing work to cheaper neighbours

we live in constant fear of terrorist attack , mostly biological , we
have to be careful what the kids see on tv as theres so many warnings they have nightmares

many of us feel basic things like a roof over your head , education and health care are are struggle to provide , theres no security no matter how hard you work

we do believe if life gives you lemons make lemonade
but sometimes you have to cut and run

we know NO WHERE is perfect
looking forward to the wide open spaces of sask!

Interested

Well wait til you get to Canada and only get 2 weeks holiday a year!!!! This is one aspect of life here that really does suck and so do the taxes on everything.

Oh well, the good things still outweigh the bad though

Int

glasnidouglas

I agree, we are now coming to the end of our 3 year stint over here in Vancouver, fortunatly I don't have to work, but my husband does and the two weeks holiday per year is a joke. Vancouver is a great place for sightseeing and sports but as for transport it is a bit of a nightmare, especially the Canadian drivers (some, but not all) they have no conception of distance. The pedestrians are worse, they have no idea how to cross roads and when they do they dawdle (funeral march). There are lots I could add but I don't really want to put anyone off coming here. Come and see for yourself - but make sure you have enought money for the flight back!!!

Corky

How come you only get 2 weeks holidays? Is it because you are new to the job? Hubby gets 5 weeks holidays, well he did before he took early retirement!
I guess if you are new to a company you will have to take the 2 weeks then gradually go up to what every level they offer. Interesting......

Interested

Hi corky,

Most people get 2 weeks holiday, although in some companies the higher the position the more holiday you get, HOWEVER many are discouraged from taking it due to work loads and the importance of being there at that level. So that 5 weeks will probably onkly equate to 2. This may not be the case for everyone, but a large majority.

Int.

crazydaisy

Hi - it's the same here in the U.S. Before we came over hubby asked someone what the holidays were and they said 4 weeks - little did we know that the guy had been with the company since the year dot and it's more like 2 weeks until the first 5 yrs then maybe another few days are added. The first year we were here it was fine but the second year the company decided to close over xmas and a couple of days over Thanksgiving and 4th July and then had the cheek to take those closure days out of people's holiday allowance which meant we were left with about 3 days to go an see family and friends - that really sucks when they're a whole continent away. I guess out of all our ups and downs of emigrating the lack of holidays is the one that riles me the most And we don't even celebrate 4th of July - or Thanksgiving

Daltrey

I have lived in both the UK,US and Canada
and the UK does generally have/offer more vacation
than North America.

However,in the US to have 1 week vacation
after 5 years is pretty average,in Canada to
have only 2 weeks vacation after 5 years would be average.

To have only 2 weeks vacation after 10 yrs in Canada or the US
you would have to be working a pretty menial job.

Remember also that Canada has a 1 year paid maternity
leave for women while the US has about 6 weeks.

There is a rather large difference between even Canada and the US,but,yes generally you will get more vacation in the UK.

crazydaisy

Phew - if Canada is an improvement on the US then we're making the right move then (even if Europeans get more!) I think I saw a survey once where they said even the Japanese get more time than the Americans these days - it's shocking :scared: However - hubby does already get 2 weeks which seems pretty similar to what the others are saying they're getting in Canada (for the first 5 years anyway so seems much the same to me!) In fact I don't know of anyone getting only a weeks pay here. One thing I've been surprised at is in Tennessee they're not legally obliged to supply a work contract but I think it's different depending on the State you're in. Are work contracts a statutory right in Canada like they are in the UK? And by the way - I wasn't trying to pull Canada down to US standards - just saying that the measly holidays seem to be similar from this side of the world as compared to Europe (and not just the UK!)

Daltrey

Also in Canada there are around 11 public holidays
which are all civic holidays,i.e you do not work them
(there is even a Victoria day)

Even in menial jobs almost no one works them so if you have 2 weeks vacation you really have closer to 4 plus weeks off if you consider 2 weeks to be 10 working days with week-ends
included.

In the US you have all kinds of civic holidays such as Columbus day,President's day,Martin Luther King day etc,but,most people actually work these and you end up with about Labour day,Thanksgiving,and Christmas off and that's about it
maybe Easter I forget as it's been a while.