What made you decide to make the move to Canada
Jan 30th 2021, 3:04 pm
#77
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Joined: Jan 2011
Location: Orton, Ontario
Posts: 2,032
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
Perhaps could mention where you live in the GTA area in Ontario?
Septic / Propane / Water would normally only be applicable for someone living outside of a City... in the wilds of the country.. you mention 'town' so I'm curious!
No property tax for rentals.. by the way, OP!
Septic / Propane / Water would normally only be applicable for someone living outside of a City... in the wilds of the country.. you mention 'town' so I'm curious!
No property tax for rentals.. by the way, OP!
Jan 30th 2021, 3:08 pm
#78
BE Forum Addict
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,363
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
With internet, cable, and cell phone prices in Canada if you take more than 1 service with a company haggle and bargain with them.
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https://forums.redflagdeals.com/roge...thread-785331/
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/roge...-plans-933329/
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/roge...thread-785331/
Jan 30th 2021, 5:57 pm
#79
Dive Bar Drunk
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Toronto
Posts: 8,649
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
I moved here for lifestyle improvements. I know you can be active in the UK but in the UK you can't go snowboarding every weekend during the winter, getting to golf courses from central London was a pain and the pubs don't offer table service making drinking beer a traumatic experience on a busy night. It just seems less of a hassle to go and do things when I want to do them.
Why I'd leave Canada? It's very expensive (everything but fuel) and unless you work for the government you will likely have a better salary back in the UK. There are two Canada's- the army of workers who are employed by the three tiers of government who enjoy great salaries, benefits, pensions and fantastic vacation time and then there is the rest of us subject to "at will" employment with no vacation time, rubbish benefits and pensions that are fast disappearing. Canada's economy is unsustainable and despite leaning more liberal myself the liberalness of Canada (in regards to wasting public money) really will drive a person crazy.
Why I'd leave Canada? It's very expensive (everything but fuel) and unless you work for the government you will likely have a better salary back in the UK. There are two Canada's- the army of workers who are employed by the three tiers of government who enjoy great salaries, benefits, pensions and fantastic vacation time and then there is the rest of us subject to "at will" employment with no vacation time, rubbish benefits and pensions that are fast disappearing. Canada's economy is unsustainable and despite leaning more liberal myself the liberalness of Canada (in regards to wasting public money) really will drive a person crazy.
Jan 30th 2021, 6:19 pm
#80
Dive Bar Drunk
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Toronto
Posts: 8,649
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
You're paying way too much for those services. We pay $60 for the primary cell and $40 (+ HST) for the secondary with unlimited calls in Canada, unlimited texts, voice mail, caller ID and 5 gb of data per line
Internet is $48 + HST per month unlimited at 150 mb/s speed.
You need to shop around on those services, play one company off against another and threaten to leave to get the best prices.
Internet is $48 + HST per month unlimited at 150 mb/s speed.
You need to shop around on those services, play one company off against another and threaten to leave to get the best prices.
It's $50 per month for a 1 Gig.https://www.beanfield.com/residential/internet
It's only available downtown though.
Broadband in Canada is competitive. The cell phones not so much- especially if you require new hardware although hardware is more expensive everywhere too.
TV prices are hard to gage these days. It depends what you are streaming- most people have cut the cord and don't have cable.
Last edited by JamesM; Jan 30th 2021 at 6:25 pm.
Jan 30th 2021, 7:15 pm
#81
SUPER MODERATOR
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 88,022
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
We pay around $650 per month...includes Internet, TV for 2 properties and 2 phones with unlimited data.
We moved to Toronto because our daughter was here. It was a trial run. Unfortunately life’s events got in the way and we are still here 7 years later. No chance of going home in the foreseeable future, although hubby would be on a plane tonight if we could.
We moved to Toronto because our daughter was here. It was a trial run. Unfortunately life’s events got in the way and we are still here 7 years later. No chance of going home in the foreseeable future, although hubby would be on a plane tonight if we could.
Jan 30th 2021, 8:15 pm
#82
Dive Bar Drunk
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Toronto
Posts: 8,649
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
We pay around $650 per month...includes Internet, TV for 2 properties and 2 phones with unlimited data.
We moved to Toronto because our daughter was here. It was a trial run. Unfortunately life’s events got in the way and we are still here 7 years later. No chance of going home in the foreseeable future, although hubby would be on a plane tonight if we could.
We moved to Toronto because our daughter was here. It was a trial run. Unfortunately life’s events got in the way and we are still here 7 years later. No chance of going home in the foreseeable future, although hubby would be on a plane tonight if we could.
TV shouldn't really cost extra for two properties- you just need an internet connection and you should be able to sign into your account and watch your TV content where ever you are in Canada.
Jan 30th 2021, 11:43 pm
#83
Banned
Joined: Apr 2009
Location: SW Ontario
Posts: 19,879
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
Currently my household has Ignite unlimited internet + TV, 2 phones - 10GB data on one and 6GB data on the other - with unlimited everything else nationwide / US - including 2c a minute calls to the UK. Totals around $280 - $310 a month (in the midst of changing tv package).
Last edited by Siouxie; Jan 30th 2021 at 11:47 pm.
Jan 31st 2021, 11:35 pm
#84
Sidecar Falcon
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,504
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
With internet, cable, and cell phone prices in Canada if you take more than 1 service with a company haggle and bargain with them.
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/roge...-plans-933329/
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/roge...thread-785331/
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/roge...-plans-933329/
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/roge...thread-785331/
I avoided using Rogers the last time I was in Canada though because they used to limit usage on their internet to crazy levels and I didn't really need cable TV. I'm guessing/hoping that data caps aren't as much of an issue anymore though.
Feb 2nd 2021, 4:16 pm
#85
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 60
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
I have no idea about current childcare costs, been there done that many moons ago. I've heard from younger mums that it's not cheap.
Average rent in our small town in Ontario is about $2,000 for a 3 bed house but very few available and they get snapped up very quickly. Same with apartments, very unusual to see them listed for more than a week.
We pay about $250 a month for our two mobile phones, both have unlimited texts, calls, data.
Broadband is around $100 a month.
Car insurance is around $1,200 a year per vehicle with a few adjustments here and there for age, location etc. I'd imagine your costs would be a lot higher as you don't yet have any years of NO claims.
Gas is about $1.08 a litre at the moment, has been as low as 80 cents a while back.
Home insurance, we pay about $1,000 a year, that's for buildings and contents.
Property tax is about $3,000 a year for our property, this goes up or down depending where you are. For this, they collect the garbage and plastics once a week.
Hydro is about $100 a month, only two of us in our property.
Propane (gas) for the furnace is around $70 a month, we have forced air heating.
For water we pay $100 every 4 weeks to fill our tank, it has to be delivered to us as we are off the 'city' limits.
The septic is emptied once a year, that's about $300.
Not sure how others manage to feed themselves for so little but we regularly spend $180-$200 a week on shopping.
No taxis in our town so if we go out, one of us has to drive and so NO drinking for them.
As you can see, it's not cheap, it all adds up to about $4,500 a month. I suppose you could tweak things a bit here and there but that's a rough estimate for us two.
As we used to say in my area of London, UK...About $53,000 a year before you've had a 'cup of tea'
Average rent in our small town in Ontario is about $2,000 for a 3 bed house but very few available and they get snapped up very quickly. Same with apartments, very unusual to see them listed for more than a week.
We pay about $250 a month for our two mobile phones, both have unlimited texts, calls, data.
Broadband is around $100 a month.
Car insurance is around $1,200 a year per vehicle with a few adjustments here and there for age, location etc. I'd imagine your costs would be a lot higher as you don't yet have any years of NO claims.
Gas is about $1.08 a litre at the moment, has been as low as 80 cents a while back.
Home insurance, we pay about $1,000 a year, that's for buildings and contents.
Property tax is about $3,000 a year for our property, this goes up or down depending where you are. For this, they collect the garbage and plastics once a week.
Hydro is about $100 a month, only two of us in our property.
Propane (gas) for the furnace is around $70 a month, we have forced air heating.
For water we pay $100 every 4 weeks to fill our tank, it has to be delivered to us as we are off the 'city' limits.
The septic is emptied once a year, that's about $300.
Not sure how others manage to feed themselves for so little but we regularly spend $180-$200 a week on shopping.
No taxis in our town so if we go out, one of us has to drive and so NO drinking for them.
As you can see, it's not cheap, it all adds up to about $4,500 a month. I suppose you could tweak things a bit here and there but that's a rough estimate for us two.
As we used to say in my area of London, UK...About $53,000 a year before you've had a 'cup of tea'
Feb 2nd 2021, 4:17 pm
#86
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 60
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
Perhaps could mention where you live in the GTA area in Ontario?
Septic / Propane / Water would normally only be applicable for someone living outside of a City... in the wilds of the country.. you mention 'town' so I'm curious!
No property tax for rentals.. by the way, OP!
Septic / Propane / Water would normally only be applicable for someone living outside of a City... in the wilds of the country.. you mention 'town' so I'm curious!
No property tax for rentals.. by the way, OP!
Feb 2nd 2021, 4:19 pm
#87
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 60
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
Not all towns have full services - the town of Erin, for example, doesn't have a municipal sewer. They are planning on putting one in, a plan that is about as divisive in the town as Brexit has been in the UK. Other thing to note for the OP is that you do need to take account of where people are located when they tell you their home internet and general utility costs. Rural areas are generally a lot more expensive for a much poorer service. We pay $90 per month for home internet in a rural area and it doesn't work for at least part of every day, we like to consider it character building.
Feb 2nd 2021, 4:24 pm
#88
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 60
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
I moved here for lifestyle improvements. I know you can be active in the UK but in the UK you can't go snowboarding every weekend during the winter, getting to golf courses from central London was a pain and the pubs don't offer table service making drinking beer a traumatic experience on a busy night. It just seems less of a hassle to go and do things when I want to do them.
Why I'd leave Canada? It's very expensive (everything but fuel) and unless you work for the government you will likely have a better salary back in the UK. There are two Canada's- the army of workers who are employed by the three tiers of government who enjoy great salaries, benefits, pensions and fantastic vacation time and then there is the rest of us subject to "at will" employment with no vacation time, rubbish benefits and pensions that are fast disappearing. Canada's economy is unsustainable and despite leaning more liberal myself the liberalness of Canada (in regards to wasting public money) really will drive a person crazy.
Why I'd leave Canada? It's very expensive (everything but fuel) and unless you work for the government you will likely have a better salary back in the UK. There are two Canada's- the army of workers who are employed by the three tiers of government who enjoy great salaries, benefits, pensions and fantastic vacation time and then there is the rest of us subject to "at will" employment with no vacation time, rubbish benefits and pensions that are fast disappearing. Canada's economy is unsustainable and despite leaning more liberal myself the liberalness of Canada (in regards to wasting public money) really will drive a person crazy.
Feb 2nd 2021, 4:29 pm
#89
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 60
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
We pay around $650 per month...includes Internet, TV for 2 properties and 2 phones with unlimited data.
We moved to Toronto because our daughter was here. It was a trial run. Unfortunately life’s events got in the way and we are still here 7 years later. No chance of going home in the foreseeable future, although hubby would be on a plane tonight if we could.
We moved to Toronto because our daughter was here. It was a trial run. Unfortunately life’s events got in the way and we are still here 7 years later. No chance of going home in the foreseeable future, although hubby would be on a plane tonight if we could.
you mean $650 for just TV and phone or that is your household bill per month not including rent?
It isnt always so easy to "move back". This is why I want to be sure before leaving the UK. One day I am ready to move, the next I am not. We have time to decide though so hopefully time will make things clearer for us.
Feb 2nd 2021, 4:40 pm
#90
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,504
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
Many mobile networks in America can also be found in Europe e.g. T-Mobile, Virgin etc. but in Canada that is rarely the case although it is slowly improving. It's not just telecomms either. Milk and some dairy products in Canada are generally more expensive than in the US or the UK because they have less capacity to produce it and flat out refuse to import it over the US border. Cheese is horrendously expensive by all accounts but I hate it so that doesn't really affect me.