I have today, yet again, been the victim of the petty vandalism and degredation of the society we live in.
Some little scrote from the estate down the road, damaged my wifes car, as I was walking up the road. I saw the whole thing. I collared the little g*t and brought him into my house where I called the police.

My wife and I were then subjected to a torrent of the foulest language and abuse, threats of physical assault from the perpertrators friends and family, threats to my children, property and livelihood. I was called evil, a molester, a pervert and many other names I would not care to repeat. This young lawyer also informed me that I was breaching his human rights.

On arrival, the police took the boys name, and it transpires that he already has a criminal record as long as your arm for criminal damage and other related offences. The police constable informed me that he has been doing this for the past four years, but had yet to receive any "real" punishment.

This little b*****d is twelve years old.

There seems to be a total lack of parenting done by many of the responsible adults in this country. I have two sons, 15 and 11.
This weekend, the eldest is at an Air Training Corps camp, attempting to pass his Junior Non Commissioned Officer course. The youngest has been playing with his friends under the supervision of my wife and I. Apparently, the usual reason given by these kids for their behaviour is boredom. "there is nothing to do around here". Well, get out there and become unbored.
It seems to me that whenever poeple on this board talk about their offsprig, the things they are looking for are educational, sporting or the like.
From what my brother in law has told me, poor behaviour is much less common in Canada than it is over here. Children are much more supervised and entertained by parents/societies/clubs than you would ever find in the UK.(PS, when we come over permenantly, my son and I will become involved in the Canadian Air Cadets)

Am I right, or have I missed a point completely here?

Sorry for the rant, but I am at the end of my teather.:lecture:

Crime was the most significant "push" factor for me from the UK. Almost as bad as the crime itself is the chronic failure of the police.

It's much better here. In 5 years I have been a victim of one single crime in Calgary: someone made off with my $30 (it was one that has a lighted socket - from Canadian Tire) block-heater extension cord.

I was angry for about two days - which shows how little other criminality there is to worry about here.

We have similar types of crimes by kids here in Canada too. Due to the "Young Offenders' Act" in Canada, the Courts can't do too much with kids until they are 18 years old. Having said that, it would appear that this problem is significantly worse in England.

Just to let you in on one funny story regarding crime by a kid in Alberta, one guy I know saw a kid go over his fence in an effort to steal a bicycle out of his back yard. He ran out of his house and grabbed the kid. To hold the kid so he could go back into his house and phone the police, he clamped the kid's long hair in a vice in his work shop. When the policeman came and saw the kid bent over struggling to open the vice and free his hair, the cop started to laugh hysterically. He told my friend that it was perfectly legal to hold the kid like that. All the kid got was no more than a slap on the wrist. My friend knew that would be the case, so he waited a little while before he phoned the police.

I am quite fortunate, as my wife is an ex member of the Metropolitan Police, so we know just how far you can go.

If you used the method of restrain expressed above in the UK, you would be in court the next day charged with assult.

Over here, the burglar can sue you if he hurts himself stealing your television!

From my experience of Canada I'd say in general this type of behaviour is much less common than in the UK, and there is also more of an acceptance that it is wrong.

The all-pervasive yob culture in the UK seems to regard anti-social behaviour as "cool" and something to be emulated.

It's a toss-up. The difficulties of finding work in Canada, and other problems of living there, are well documented elsewhere on this board.

My personal view is that if, and it seems a big if these days, you can find a decent job in Canada with decent pay, then you will likely experience a significant improvement in quality of life.

You are absolutely right.

I may seem negative on Canada - that's absolutely not the case. What I've said on this group before is that nobody needs to sell Canada. Just take a holiday, look at the statistics...it sells itself.

What I try to do is point out areas that a lot of people - I know many personally - don't think about carefully enough before they do move, and that's mainly employment. Paradise isn't much fun if you have a crap job.

Quite a few, are under the illusion that once they arrive, they will be earning the same in CND dollars like they did in the UK, and tend to be quick to do the conversion from £ to $$$$$$.

Have got news for you folks, that ain't the case, if you get a job that offers you half what you earned before, take it, or should that be grab it with all fours.

Yes canada is very scenic, and there is a lot to see, but even petrol cost $$$$$, and car insurance is a different thread

Yes, that definitely seems to be the crux of the matter.

Things have sure changed over the last last 25-30 years. I remember talking to a British expat tool and die maker working at Budd Automotive in Kitchener, Ontario in the mid 1970s. He told me that in Britian he could earn the equivalent of 5-6 thousand dollars per year (Canadian), but in Kitchener he was making 30 thousand dollars per year (with overtime). He said in Britian, there was lots of work but no money, and that Canada was way better. It would appear that this differential has disappeared. Comments?

There are lots of jobs to be had in Canada, but a lot of them are low paying. It has become more difficult over time for immigrants to get access to the good jobs.

Here's why I'm moving to Canada:

My marriage broke up in 1999 after 16 years of being together. In 2001 I got married to my Canadian wife who moved over to the UK and we live with my three daughters from my first marriage, and just recently we had our first baby together.

We still live in the home that I own with my ex wife that needs to be sold so that she can receive her share. It's a small house here in the South East that is worth a ridiculous amount of money for what it is, however once sold we have no real chance of affording anything bigger elsewhere in the UK. The simple fact is that in Canada we can do much better. We can go out there and purchase outright a reasonable house and leave ourselves without a mortgage. We can make a new start. It's risky because there's no easy way back but on the other hand we'll be committed to our new life and we'll have to make it work.

My eyes are wide open to what we might find out there. I expect it to have crime, unemployment, high fuel costs and so on. It just happens to fit in very much with what we want to do and it means my wife will be very close to her family again. To me Canada gives us an oppertunity that we don't have here but paradise on earth it isn't. We'd be foolish to think that it is.

I am in agreement with much that has been posted here.
Eyes wide open is the ONLY way to think about moving. I do not think that Canada will be a land flowing with milk and honey, and an easy $50,000 job for every immigrant.


Yes canada is very scenic, and there is a lot to see, but even petrol cost $$$$$,
Quote by mickj

Yes there are always costs, but that one is about 30% of the UK!

We know that it may be necessary to volunteer to make the contacts and get that all important job, but what I was trying to get at when I started this thread was that there appears to be a different value system in place in Canada.

Parenting actually happens.

I am sure that there will still be some pathetic individuals that cannot marshall their own lives sufficiently, and find that joining in with like (simple) minded groups helps them to feel big. But from what I have learned from here, and from direct communication with people who live in Canada, it is a much smaller problem than we have in the UK.

I work hard, and I am proud of what I have done, and what I hope to do for my family. We have nice things, take nice holidays, my children go to a nice private school. For these things in the UK, it is thought to be alright by some that they can steal your things because you have the money to replace them. To abuse (verbally) your children because they go to a snobby school. To damage your car, because they do not have one as nice.

This is not what I want for me, or for my family.

oh my god liftman, youre brave!!!!! there was a guy near where i lived i nthe uk who got killed for doing that!!