Everyones experience will be a little different.

For me initially I had no great plan to leave the UK, but I was offered a job in Canada out of the blue. No family to think about or house to sell back then, so it was easy to take a chance.

Why do I stay here?

Its not overcrowded, so there is not as much unavoidable "other people are arses" related stress

I can afford a decent house here on my income in my area (something I would have had to save up for years for and work my way up the housing chain in the UK, where after too many years as a student I was still just renting with no end in sight)

I can just about get by on my Engineering salary so my wife can stay home with our two small kids. When they are older and she goes back to work, financially we will be better off, but we both like that she can be there to give them a solid stable foundation in their formative years. Realistically in the UK that would be impossible and they would have been doing the childcare thing while we both worked to pay the mortgage.

I like the pronounced variation in the seasons, snowy winters, hot summers, beautiful autumns.

There is very little petty crime or traffic where I ended up coming for the job, so very low stress levels for me.

I like the laid back, no so "in your face" nature of most canadians. Contrary to rumour, they do have a sense of humour, at least I think so.

I like the "liberal" politics...public healthcare, more of a social safety net of the US, but more of a free market attitude maybe than the UK (at least when I left it ten years ago)

So there are a variety of reasons, some general, some very specific to where I was lucky that the job offer brought me.

There are of course downsides to Canada vs the UK too...Absent family, Winter is a bit too long, the cost of living is not as favourable as it once was, the holiday allowance is abysmal, it costs too much to fly anywhere from here, etc. But on balance we have it pretty good here, and visits back to the UK and conversations with family and friends there have done nothing to convince me I want to go back.

Oh no they're not! I track real estate prices through my old home town newspaper. I couldn't afford one there, a hovel is about all I could get for what my home in the lower mainland of BC would sell for.

Leafy Surrey, UK ?

You could try a semi in Huddersfield....?

R.

why did we move? we came out about six months ago and I think someone said in their reply it was to 'escape' but now that we are here, it is getting so hard to stay motivated to stay. My OH just got shafted by his company after six months and no warning - so what now? The UK is in a recession so isn't looking so attractive either but at least we have family there...in the end, people move for such personal and complex reasons - we came out believing that we could make more of ourselves here and give our daughter opportunities that she wouldn't have in England but now that we are here and everything that could go wrong, is going wrong, the life we had in England is looking more and more attractive. We didn't move because we had any issues with being there, we just thought we could work towards something better here in light of the so-called opportunities, better work life balance etc etc...sorry this is turning into a bit of a personal missive...but suffice to say, right now I am not entirely sure why we moved - if you had asked me four months ago, I would have not hesitated to say it was for a better quality of life and maybe, if we are still here in a year, I will be able to say that again!

Welcome to the "Canadian employment experience".

To those observersa, don't say you have not been warned ("buyer beware"). Oh it'll never happen to me, they protesteth.

What doesn't kill ya, makes ya stronger !!!!!!

R.

That house is in Raymond AB. It would be about a 3 hour commute to Calgary.

Out East there are definitely still bargins to be had... Out West, it's a different matter entirely... vancouver and victoria

That would be 3 hours on a good day.

What is interesting is that Microsoft Virtual Earth puts it just north of Turner Valley.

Right. You never know when those August snow storms are going to hold you up

Decent weather, proper seasons, an average guy can attain things like a pool or some decent toys to enjoy life plus you get way more for your money real estate wise comparing to a similar geographic area of the UK. People are way friendlier! Country is way cleaner, way more space, quality of life increases at least ten fold! Way more disposable income for the fun things in life! Canadians arent all doom and gloom! more to life living here than just going to the pub, in the UK the average man works to exists, here he works to live!

Plus If your a single guy here the canadian women love the accent

Long live the North American Dream!
(Can I get a job with Canadian Tourism?)

And you can hunt with dogs.

jajajaja Believe me, Canadian women seem to like any accent

Oy, what are you saying about Huddersfield...?!

Have you been to Huddersfield lately?

Ha i was only kidding! yes seems fairly good valve!potential if your in to renovations!