rae

1. education, the standard i want for my daughter is not available to me here for financial reasons, unless i live in a hovel and take on 2 more jobs. both of these obviously then have a detrimental effect on the second reason and third reason.
2. more and better time with my family, find myself working endless o/t to have good quality of life, and no thats not fancy cars and holidays, its a lunch out every now and again and making sure we are not in rags.
3. providing opportunities in a better environment for my daughter as she grows, not in teen pregnancy capital of europe, highest % of u.18 to use cocaine, 22nd out of 23 for educational standards in developed world (canada 12th), binge drinking capital of europe, the list goes on and is well reported on before i am asked for links.

good to have a cathartic release. i am having to land on my own in a few weeks, leaving my wife and daughter behind to travel alone and sell the house. despite all this and the stress and anxiety it causes, when second doubts set in, remind yourself of the reasons, i hope they are good ones, going for a bigger house isn't one.

woodywoodside

Could not agree more 100% with you

Danny B

Less PC, you gotta be kidding me!
Are you living in Canada at the moment or still in Britain?

Canuck Fan

I lived & worked there for a year until 2006 & returned numerous times since due to my partner being canadian.

When I say PC, I mean Canadians don't seem to worry quite so much as we do about speaking out about what they believe in, particularly when it comes to be patriotic. When we're told to take down the flag of king George then things have gone way too far. A true Canadian would not stand for this, they are passionate about their country.

Souvenir

For me the decision was a snap one based on the fact that Souvette had little choice but to return to Canada. It was move or say goodbye. The factors that many other people consider have only come into play since I got here and I am aware of them when I make trips to the UK.

The "great scenery" thing is overblown. I wrote on another thread about this. Most Canadians live nowhere near the great scenery and are unlikely to ever visit it. Most people in the UK are within range of great scenery (if not mountains).

Canadian cities are largely ugly and soul-less. Places like Brighton (where I'm from) just don't exist.

The UK is horribly expensive, particularly when it comes property.

Despite these and other physical factors, the thing that really strikes me, the one that makes me happiest to come back to Canada, is the way most people treat each other. Polite, considerate and friendly. That appeals to my mentality and I really don't feel it when I go to the UK.

Here is one small example to highlight how I see the difference. On a recent trip to England I passed through passport control. The person flicked through my passport, grunted and nodded that I should continue. On my return, the passport officer in Ottawa greeted me with a smile, made jokes about confiscating my Toblerone etc etc.

Street hockey. Little kids playing hockey in the street. They do not get mown down or shouted at by drivers.

Canada has been described as big, beautiful and boring. I'm quite liking the boring bit.

dbd33

<giggles>

Which true Canadian? William Shatner, Pamela Anderson, Avril Lavigne, Jean Chretien, Dudley Laws, the Khadr family, Michaëlle Jean? I think you're behind the times, mate.

Anyway, we came for cheap housing.

dbd33

Boring is the entire case for Canada. Nothing much ever happens. Peace, stability, reasonable order; it's like an uglier Switzerland.

Souvenir

Is that a bad thing?

loafy

MMMM, sounds like i might just get some peace and quiet then.
Well for me all reasons for not staying have to be the lack of respect their is now days and the fact that most of the younger generation are a load of free loading hoodie wearing uninteresting T--ts who think we owe them something for there being there, thou not all hoodie wearers are in that group some actually do some sort of sport and not just cruising in there pimped up vauxhall corsa's and the like.
Never mind eh.
LOAFY...

dbd33

I didn't say it was, I said it was the case "for".

However, thinking of the Pogues singing about New York "the wind goes straight through ya, it's no place for the old", one would have to say that Canada is no place for the young, too dull, nor for the old, too cold. Perhaps Canada is essentially middle aged, Canada is never going to be anything very much but is benign and comfortable with what it is; Canada, a country one settles for.

dbd33

Education is something that worked for us here but it did because things in Ontario are so PC. Catholics have their own schools by way of compensation for past discrimination and francophones similarly have their own schools. If you're prepared to declare your child a Catholic francophone that child can be in a school with small classes and high academic standards and can play in sports leagues with kids from schools which have similar class sizes and standards but without the positive discrimination, all of which are fee paying.
Adjusting your religion can give your kids a jump here which, in the UK, only money can buy.

Souvenir

For the very young, it's probably ideal.

For the young (20-30), yes it's probably dull.

For the middle aged, it's great.

For the old, there's Florida.

dbd33

Agreed.

Canuck Fan

I don't know who you are or what you are, and to be honest I don't know why you're even in Canada as you appear to slate the country so much.

It's rather extreme emigrating for cheap housing, you could of moved to the outer hebridies for that.

True Canadian? Well obviously you're not.

Canuck Fan

...and for people like dbd33....there's no pleasing.