Why Canada?
 

Interested to know why everyone decided on Canada in specific, has your expectations been met?
Would you choose Canada again if you had the choice? :confused:

Re: Why Canada?
 

We fancied a change and New Zealand is too far away.

Eventually.

Maybe not, we'd have stayed put.

Re: Why Canada?
 

Wife wanted to give it a go.

No!

Over my dead body!

Re: Why Canada?
 

Didn't want to stay in the UK and too lazy to learn another language
didn't really have any expectations
yes

Re: Why Canada?
 

It looked nice in the pictures, it has exceeded my expectations and I would definitely choose Canada again.

Re: Why Canada?
 

I liked Canada's strong historic ties to the UK...so in someways doesn't feel "foreign"

I love the lifestyle Canada offered, and still do.

Eastern Canada (Ontario) is only a 7 hour flight from UK, (maritimes are even closer) unlike NZ or Austrailia.

And yes I would still choose Canada (although I would love to see NZ and Australia one day as a visitor)

Re: Why Canada?
 

My wife had been making the odd sounds about moving to NS to be nearer her parents, though nothing serious.

I work in financial services and, around 2012, there were a lot of changes in the UK which resulted in my suffering two redundancies in the space of a year. So, I said to the wife, "sod it, let's put the application in for Canada".

Words I wish I could take back in some ways because I went self-employed whilst the application process was going on and ended up being pretty successful pretty quickly. We had some debts to clear up and decided to take a gradual approach to moving over but, by the time I left, I was thinking it was going to be a huge mistake. My wife was too involved emotionally by this stage so it could not really be called off.

We are in Nova Scotia, where we have been coming since 2000, but I never thought I would live here. In terms of expectations, I didn't have many to begin with, but came here with that great fear I would never get back to the position I left in the UK. In the event, I have managed to get into a fairly decent position which, with a bit of hard work, will put me in a similar position to what I was in back home within 5 years.

NS is certainly different but I can tell you straight away I do not miss the drunken debauchery of the average UK city on a weekend, nor do I miss the roving bands of bored, feral youth causing havoc. Wouldn't mind a decent curry though.

Would I chose to move here again? No.

Re: Why Canada?
 

Husband works in academia- he finished his PhD and was looking for post-docs.
We both decided he wasn’t going to look for positions in the UK- we’re from Newcastle and just felt the place wasn’t really suited to us anymore- we wanted to see what the rest of the world had to offer instead. After spending our late teenage years in Asia we wanted to make our lives easier by looking at an English speaking country.

He applied for a post-doc that came up in Calgary & got offered the job.

We’d never been to Canada before. Turns out we absolutely love it. It has everything we need and enjoy! So going to apply for PR this year- so yep- we’d definitely do it again.

Re: Why Canada?
 

We will have been here 50 years in August.

We'd spent a year south of the line, not ready to go back to the UK or really wanting to. OH applied for positions in universities in US and Canada. UBC offered him what looked the ideal job, so he took it. We came for 2 years initially, before thinking of moving on to Australia or NZ, returning to the UK slowly but surely becoming a "not for us, thank you very much"

We both found "our" jobs, and "our" place, and became citizens 5 years later. He's looked for other jobs, got on short lists, but the tugs for and from UBC and Canada always won out over other enticements.

Would we go back?

Not on your nelly!!!!

Would we be willing to move on to another country??

Probably not at our age, but Australia and NZ have always been attractive, and OH did arrange sabbaticals in both countries, and we could have lived permanently in either one.

But age, and our family all being here, plus the potential difficulties in moving after the age of 70, AND the fact that we still enjoy Canada.

We no longer even feel British ................ we go back to the UK as tourists, not as returning Brits. We're immigrants here, not expats from the UK.

Re: Why Canada?
 

I worked for a Rolls Royce subsidiary Company in Newcastle upon Tyne and my job had brought me to Canada 6 times on various contracts. Rolls Royce then made the decision to open a factory in St Catharines and advertised back in the Newcastle factory for experienced people interested in moving to get the new factory up and running. I applied and got a position.
It will be my 27 year anniversary, of coming to Canada, on 6th April. In a twist of fate my Son who was 2 year old when we brought him to Canada has moved back to live in Newcastle and says he loves the UK so much there is no chance he will ever come back here. He finds the people much friendlier, work opportunities much better. He has also reconnected with cousins and aunts and uncles that he didn't really know.

Re: Why Canada?
 

yes

Re: Why Canada?
 

Try Curry Village 1569 Dresden Row, Halifax, NS B3J 2K4, not quite a UK curry but we enjoyed it.

Re: Why Canada?
 

Tumbling_Dice

Re: Why Canada?
 

Wife chose Canada, I wanted NZ. Either way could not live in the UK anymore so moved here 2009. Started in Fredericton NB, then two years ago moved fully to Nova Scotia.

Made some good friends in Fredericton but very glad we moved, or the answer to the question about expectations and would we choose Canada again may have been very different.

I suspect this is us now, we will not be moving again for many years and am now glad we chose Canada.

Re: Why Canada?
 

Anxiously awaiting Oinks answer :rofl:

Re: Why Canada?
 

I felt like I needed a change.

In some ways expectations were met and others they weren't.

Knowing what I know now I'd choose something else. Do I regret it though-probably not.

Re: Why Canada?
 

We expected mass bilingualism. That expectation was not met.

Choose it again? Probably, but I've had enough now, the children have grown up and moved on and it's too cold; I'd like to go somewhere that has a four season climate and supports an outdoors lifestyle.

Re: Why Canada?
 

Married a Canadian. Until I had met and married a Canadian moving here was never on my radar, heck even visiting wasn't on my radar and I was content living in California.

I would not choose Canada.

Re: Why Canada?
 

Quite simply, I fell in love with a Canadian who had no choice but to come back to Canada, so I tagged along.

I wish she'd been from a warmer country.

Re: Why Canada?
 

We wanted to get out of the rat race so moved from SE England to rural NS.

Expectations were met for the first two years then life got very tough. Things are improving slowly so new expectations have been set.

We would do it again as the kids are happy here. If it was just me I think I would move back to France instead.

Re: Why Canada?
 

This is pretty much my experience and thoughts, except that my Canadian didn't have to come back, she wanted too so I tagged along. Although to be fair, I don't live in Canada, I live in Newfoundland. ;)

Re: Why Canada?
 

I don't live in Canada. I live in Quebec.

Interesting thing about Quebec. Look up what happened the Easter weekend of 1918 in Quebec City. That stuff is not taught in school. My missus had never heard of it.

It explains a lot of the animosity and the birth of separatism.

Re: Why Canada?
 

Will do. Thanks.

Re: Why Canada?
 

You've just summed my feelings up to a T! Other than I too fell in love with a Canadian, but wished I'd moved to a warmer bit of Canada, and will do once son and heir's schooling is finished.

Re: Why Canada?
 

I found very few job opportunities in the UK after graduating from uni, and people seem to be getting ruder/grumpier in Kent making it very depressing place to be so wanted a change (just my opinion). Canada offered the same climate (west coast) and better opportunities for work. I definitely made the right decision. Met my wife here and have a much better job.

Re: Why Canada?
 

seems to have more opportunities

kinda of does..but not really

would i do it again...nope

Re: Why Canada?
 

Oregon?

Colorado?

Cote D'Azur and inland?

Re: Why Canada?
 

Cote d’Azur please.

Re: Why Canada?
 

Sisteron, Tende or maybe Menton would suit me.

Re: Why Canada?
 

Vancouver has an outdoor lifestyle and five seasons.
There's the summer season for a couple of weeks in July/August. The winter season which is a fortnight somewhere around January..... and the wet season, a wetter season and the wettest season...which you can pick from the rest of the year.

Re: Why Canada?
 

Haha... that's 2 seasons more than Britain!
I'm loving the proper seasons here... months of 30+ and then months of skiing. Very little rain and no mud. Perfect!

Why did we choose Canada? Mainly the work/life balance, the space, the outdoor lifestyle.
Expectations definitely met, though we're only 8mths in. We miss friends, family and English pubs but our life here is so much better.
Would we do it again... without a doubt!

Re: Why Canada?
 

I like shovelling snow in April

Re: Why Canada?
 

Not last year!!!

Vancouver (and BC) had sun from the end of May right through to close to the end of September. Total rainfall during those months was less than 5 mm in the coastal areas, but 0 mm in most areas.

That's why we had the worst fire season ever recorded.

Just heard on the news tonight that the long range forecast is more or less the same for this coming year, along with as much dry timber.

Vancouver is after all considered to be in the temperate Rain Forest, with most precip falling in the winter months.

Re: Why Canada?
 

I spent many summers down that way. Cap d’Agde, Marseillan, Sete. Didn’t like Saint Tropez. Way too touristic.
Aawww to feel the sun on my body again! Friggin snowing here again today!!

Re: Why Canada?
 

We're off to Normandy (via Holland & Belgium) on Tuesday. I'll think of you. :nod:

Re: Why Canada?
 

I had a two week holiday there, early 80s, without knowing anything about the naturism before going. :lol:

Re: Why Canada?
 

Why Canada?
Back in 2003, the company I worked for had many north american clients, one of the biggest being in the Toronto area, so they decided to open an office in Canada. I was asked if I wanted to relocate, with the option of going back to the UK and retaining my job if at any point I didn't like it here.

It sounded like a good opportunity, so I took it, and I'm still here today.

Did it meet my expectations? Well, I did not really have many expectations. I'd visited the US quite a few times, though mainly for work purposes, so had a bit of an idea of what it would be like. Obviously there are differences between the UK and Canada, and there are still the odd things that annoy me, but there's nothing that can be done about them, and in the grand scheme of things, they're silly.

Would I do it again? If provided with the same opportunity, and the situation was the same, I probably would. However, I'd probably change the location to Australia, just for a giggle.

Re: Why Canada?
 

People say this to me in passing every so often.

Other than the ability to boat or go on large lakes in some form and it being slightly easier to do snow sports I'm curious what the further opportunities are meant to be?

Re: Why Canada?
 

I live in Cote d'Azur. That's what my neighbourhood is called (that explains the street names). We have bright sunshine today.

The comparison ends there..............

Re: Why Canada?
 

It's too expensive to move back to UK. Plus we like it here. I must admit we live in a lovely area and have good incomes, so in that respect Canada has been good to us.