phr1

1 - cheaper, calmer, safer, cleaner, life-work balance, relaxed, pretty, french...that was the motivation anyway and what we thought would be the meaning of living here.
2 - moved to Toronto because we had some connections and wanted to be relatively close to Europe (vs BC or Alberta say..) Also thought Toronto can offer more culture and interest than other parts of the country.
3 - No. A bit disappointed actually. We work hard, not a serious work-life balance, its expensive, properties are insanely ugly and overpriced, its all a bit backwards and lazy, boring, nothing too exciting ever happen, never hear the news about the world anymore. Feeling bored and isolated and we want to go home.

dbd33

I don't feel this at all. I have the radio in the car tuned to the BBC World Service (via Sirius) and I read the Gruniad online. To me, it doesn't matter that the Canadian news sources think that "world" means Canada+Buffalo.

Novocastrian

I couldn't agree more. I find it amusing that dorks like Evan Soloman on CBC Newsworld are always rabbiting on about how (e.g.) Canada should respond to what's going on in Ukraine.

As if anyone outside Canada (and outside a tiny minority within Canada) gives a shit.

So I read international newspapers online.

Harrisonasa

Thanks......really a mixed bag of pros and cons. It is a lot to consider. Thank you. The cons are a bit worrying but I guess we won't know if we have the same cons without trying.....it's a gamble ovbviously

dbd33

I'm bombarded with news from the Ukraine, thanks to a continuing Facebook friendship with Anchorage from GU. Uselessly, it's nearly all in Russian.

What I don't get is news of Canada, if anything's happended in Canada lately it hasn't made the BBC.

rivingtonpike

I have world service on Sirius in the car too. The international papers are all online too. Canada has very little international news or impact that I can see; but that's fine. It always struck me that Britain presumptuously stuck its nose into far more affairs than necessary.

Novocastrian

Oh, it's the same almost everywhere. All countries are self obsessed. I think one of the major advantages multiply mobile expats derive is that they have the opportunity to see through and reject the brainwashing.

Aside from the US, I think Canada is the most blatant example of this and at least the US has a recent history of having substantial influence on world events.

Former Lancastrian

Once Canada has introduced Tim Hortons to a few more countries then we can say Canada is having an impact on world affairs and its place in the world eh.

Jericho79

Apart from 2, I feel pretty much the same.

phr1

Well yes, I agree.. this is exactly what I mean and we are doing the same thing. Without the BBC and the Guardian I would be totally lost for hockey scores and concussions, local weather and arbitrary bits of news.

If you to rely on the CBC/ Globe and Mail etc.. to deliver your dose of international perspective and updates you will never know anything about the world anymore.
Basically its up to you to source your news. Not a big problem obviously with the internet on all your devices BUT a big cultural problem! Canadians are simply not that interested.
Thats how I feel anyway.

..and by the way Canadian TV is just rubbish. I think I watched about 4hr in total since I arrived here. We very quickly had to figure out a technology manoeuvre for our TV content fix (rather complicated but totally legal!!) to have the BBC/4oD/itv etc in our living room. Even for the winter olympics we only watched BBC sport.
And I miss going into the office on Monday morning say, and exchanging notes on the latest great comedy we watched over the weekend.. (anyone up for an episode of "The Mighty Boosh"?)

januarymix

I rely on streaming services for entertainment

izzi81

Really? Although Canadian TV isn't great I thought the coverage of the Winter Olympics was excellent. My OH is a big sports fan and it was nice to not have him yelling at the commentators as often happened with the BBC sports coverage!

humanist

Cut the cable and get Netflix, you can configure it to get UK.USA content which is definitely worth it. That's all you'll ever need, other than live sports etc.

humanist

By the way, after reading all your posts phr1, you should without a doubt head back to the UK.

scotsnerd

An excellent post and interesting take on the perceived lifestyle vs the reality...

I have yet to make the jaunt. Fruitless job search so waiting for the IEC program to reopen in December. For me, I love Scotland, but I am bored and feel the need for a bit of an adventure. Clearly the recent winter in Canada has been poor, but the prospect of an actual summer entices me...