ClareBC

some activities do cost appendages, but others are majorly cheaper than in Britain (eg skating and swimming inc the lessons) check out the prices at a community centre (most have this info online)

If you have kids going to summer camps keep the receipts!! In BC (not sure about the other provinces/territories) this is TAX DEDUCTABLE!!!



Clare

Glaswegian

It's only tax deductable in Alberta if both parents are working.

dingbat

Hmm. I would respectfully suggest that you put a safety plan in place for when the novelty of not working in a decent job wears off. You may have a house that is paid for, but you still have property taxes every year, house and personal insurance, phenomenally expensive car insurance, income taxes, groceries, hydro, cable/satellite, expenses. Travelling outside the country is expensive too.

dingbat

If you have kids going to summer camps keep the receipts!! In BC (not sure about the other provinces/territories) this is TAX DEDUCTABLE!!!



Clare [/QUOTE]

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t778/t778-03e.pdf
Are you sure? The primary purpose of the camp has to be daycare over the summer. If it is a residential type camp where the kids do a whole whack of stuff....no deductions can be taken. CCRA wrote to me last year and refused my deduction for Stillwood Camp in Cultus Lake.

xunzi

The first job I had paid $10/hr that was exactly 11months ago. I'm still with the same company but moving onwards and upwards - now on $12/hr woohoo

Bleech

I know what you're saying mate. I'm very lucky because I'll be able to continue to earn the same wage over there as I am over here, but like I say it'll only be for about 2-4 years (that's if all goes to plan and we get over there by next summer). In those few years the plan is to get as many material things as possible ie. some new furnature, cars etc and save like idiots!
I do understand that the novelty value will eventually wear off, but I'm not at all interested in a carear path anymore, life's too short!
I'm not one of those people who think that just because we move to a new country that everything's going to be plane sailing (Have you seen 'A New Life Down Under??' ) even though the romantic idea of living mortgage free by a lake can sometimes take over your life, but I'm not stupid and realise we'll probably both have to work eventually. I have no interest in earning the big bucks, sucking up to bosses, office politics, meetings about meetings etc. I've recently been talking to my mates about this and I think it's something that happens when you get to your 30's, work becomes something that gets in the way of your spare time. I think I'm turning into hippy!!

RIDD

That is so true, especially the meetings about meetings bit - standing ovation for you Bleech!!!!

liftman

There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but with Proper Preparation, research and networking, it IS possible to live the dream.

My wife and I already have interviews lined up for September.

Fortunately, we are both in industries that are in demand, rather than many people who seem to be in trades/careers that are well staffed in Canada. ie IT/computers/etc.

wazowski

Thanks Drew for a considered and well-informed response. I found it v.helpful and encouraging in a way.

I just 'stepped off the plane' so to speak, with 11 years technology experience, expereince of running three two consultancies and one busienss and a number of technology certifications...and "can't get no satisfaction"! Well, a job, anyways


I've applied for various jobs from entry-level (stuff I did to get started in this 11 years ago) to mid-shelf stuff that would use current skills and stretch me a bit. Results so far...diddly! Not even a phone call, email, fax. Zip, nada, nish, nowt, nothing.

I currently have ten applications in progress and my wife, a qualified Social Worker and Probation Officer with over 10 year's hard core on-the-job experience is currently training to become...a school bus driver! Go figure!

I strongly believe there is a disjoint (and MPs here seem to acknowledge this...) between the "come to canada,we really want you, eh!" message of the government and the "Welcome to Canada. Got any Canadian experience? No? Sorry, buddy. Can't claim any benefits yet? I'm sorry, that's why we. uh, checked to ensure you had 'sufficient funds' when you landed at LBP airport. GOTCHA!"

"Volunteer!" you say? I'd enjoy doing that, but it doesn't pay the rent or the bills..and no, I don't have a TV or Rogers Cable...just internet to keep in touch with nice folks form the old country!

Sorry peops, I'm not bitter; it's the murphy's! I will get a job

wazowski

Thanks Drew for a considered and well-informed response. I found it v.helpful and encouraging in a way.

I just 'stepped off the plane' so to speak, with 11 years technology experience, expereince of running three two consultancies and one busienss and a number of technology certifications...and "can't get no satisfaction"! Well, a job, anyways


I've applied for various jobs from entry-level (stuff I did to get started in this 11 years ago) to mid-shelf stuff that would use current skills and stretch me a bit. Results so far...diddly! Not even a phone call, email, fax. Zip, nada, nish, nowt, nothing.

I currently have ten applications in progress and my wife, a qualified Social Worker and Probation Officer with over 10 year's hard core on-the-job experience is currently training to become...a school bus driver! Go figure!

I strongly believe there is a disjoint (and MPs here seem to acknowledge this...) between the "come to canada,we really want you, eh!" message of the government and the "Welcome to Canada. Got any Canadian experience? No? Sorry, buddy. Can't claim any benefits yet? I'm sorry, that's why we. uh, checked to ensure you had 'sufficient funds' when you landed at LBP airport. GOTCHA!" (Not necessarily true, but that's how it feels...)
We have funds, but they are dwindling for every day someone ain't working.)

"Volunteer!" you say? I'd enjoy doing that, but it doesn't pay the rent or the bills..and no, I don't have luxuries like a TV or Rogers Cable...just internet, telephone and a boom-box to keep in touch with folks from the old country and the world at large!

And to add to the angst, I got a previous employer in the UK who doesn't care that I'm in Canada and is offering at least $300 equiv a day to come over to work for them! Angst? A little. I wanna start gaining work and life experience 'over here'...but if I have to, I guess I'll have to become an international contractor to pay the rent. Angst? somewhat. Is it worth that to leave my family in anunkwown environment? Missing the kids' bedtime readings, cycling through the local park and lake, sitting on the stoop in the cool evening in a peaceful neighborhood? Angst? A WHOLE LOT!

Sorry peops, I'm not bitter; it's the murphy's! I will get a job...or make one! For those of you in a similar position, hang on in there and do what ya got to do to get what ya want (within the law, please!)


Happy 137th Canada Day!


Waz

P.S: Anyone got a job? hehehehe

wazowski

Apologies for some obvious typos in my last post...'fore I get flamed with helpful comments like, " And you wonder why you can't get a job?" hehehehe.

l8r

waz.

simonhouse

The inablity to obtain gainful employment is a bigger problem than most people think. However, if you try talking about it on this forum, it's only a matter of time before you get shot down and told how great a country Canada is (and along come all the comparisons to UK).

How dare you not want to work for $5.90 /hr (the min wage in Alberta) !! Of course the minimum wage is in fact $0 /hr, given how you're expected to volunteer - amazing how many positions here now come under the umbrella of 'volunteer'.

wizzard

The biggest problem I had was lack of experience. Had I been in the right industry (i.e. not IT) then possibly I would have been in a better position. I only graduated form university about 6 months before I moved to Canada so I didn't have time to establish any career in the UK. So in a way I would have been ok in Canada as I was starting from scratch in either country, the problem was that the bottom fell out of the IT industry half way through my degree so theres pretty much nothing for Canadian IT graduates never mind ones from other countries and I can't even bargain with years of top level experience because I haven't got that far in a career yet. The only advantage I guess, and possibly the reason I have found it easier to adjust to working yoru way up is that I wasn't coming from a high paying established career in the UK, I was coming from £2,750 a year in student loans so even $9/hour seems a lot when you used to have to choose between a text book or lunch. Good old Higher Education funding, but that's another post.

So even in my situation Networking was no good because there was nothing there to network for. I have a good friend of my wife's family who works for ATI and is fairly high up and hires etc. and back before I got married in say 2000 ish he was telling me how he'd easily get me a graduate job with ATI and he hired new graduates all the time. Of course by the time I finally graduate and arrive in 2003 they have been in a 2 year hiring freeze and only hire people with years of experience.

In fact the job I got was though networking, even for the $9/hour job. The guy I work with is my wife's uncle via marriage (ie married to my father in laws sister).

Incidentally we are opening a store in Oakville which isn't too far from Brampton. There will be about 200 jobs there from the basic cashier backroom etc. to kitchens and cooks and bakers meat and seafood, butchers and manegement etc. Dunno if you have any expereience in any area of retail.

Drew

wazowski

Thanks for the tip-off. Where do I send, bring my resume?
Let me know when you are hiring: [email protected].
A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

liftman

I am not knocking any of the undoubtably well qualified IT professionals out there, (without whom we could not be chatting on this board!) but there does seem to be many of you out there, without jobs.

Was this from optimistic viewing from across the atlantic
- of course they will need more IT guys -
fantasy tales from immigration consultants
- they DO need more IT guys -
compatibility of qualifications
-that certificate/diploma/degree is not recognised here-
or sheer bloody mindedness
-you are an immigrant, we will give you a job.... one day-

Do you think that people in the Uk still see Canada as an easy mark when job hunting? Do the immigrants think they have to be better than the local workforce because they are from the UK? Do we train people better?

I know that I will have to take an exam to obtain my A licence for elevator mechanics, and to do that I will need to know the US/Canadian codes as opposed to the UK/EU ones, but that is just a matter of study.

My wife has paperwork at the College of Licenced practical Nurses in Halifax to exchange her UK qualifications for Canadian.

I find it hard to believe that people would sell everything and move between 4 & 8,000 miles from home, on what appears to be a poorly, or non researched whim!

Or am I being naive?

Come on IT guys, tell me i'm wrong, because I am hoping that you guys have been delt a poor hand by someone, and there aren't thousands of out of work ITers flipping burgers across Canada!