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Why move to Canada?

Why move to Canada?

Old Jun 14th 2006, 8:53 am
  #61  
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by Canada Bob
It's just indicative of the attitudes, too many rats in the UK box, 635 people per sq mile in the Untidy Kingdom, 6 people per sq mile in Canada.
Yes but this statistic is derived by including ALL of Canada, including the vast uninhabitable tundra in the north. The population of Vancouver for example is far denser than that of the average English county. Vancouver has 4238 people per square km for example. You wouldn't want to live in Nunavut for very long, with its low population density, would you?

Australia has the lowest population density in the world, but you can't live in most of it, so the fair way to stack these statistics against one another is to work out population density for the habitable areas only, only then can we see a realistic comparison.

Moreover, according to the Optimum Population Trust, London has 4562 people per square kilometre, while Vancouver has (according to Statistics Canada) 4238 per square kilometre. So pretty much the same, and many statistics agencies place Vancouver's population density much higher than London's. You could live in the south of Vancouver Island, where there are 139 people per square km, or North Devon where there are 83 people per square km.

In other words, the national statistics are very misleading, as you would live in a city or a town, and work there, and sleep there, and that town would have the same population density as a similarly-sized town in the UK. So really, there are way more rats in the southern Vancouver Island box than there are in the average English county box.

Last edited by Tableland; Jun 14th 2006 at 8:59 am.
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Old Jun 14th 2006, 2:31 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by IckleHelen
Hi Guys,

Well when I first started using this forum about a week ago I was full of enthusiasm. We haven't applied yet - I'm just at the information gathering stage. However, the more I read, the more I ask myself ...

'Why do I want to move to Canada?'...

* There are tornados and earthquakes (?)
* It is winter for 8 months a year
* Car insurance is outrageous
* There are few IT jobs (both my partner and I work in IT)
* Not having any Canadian work experience will make it very difficult to find work.
* We will earn half what we do in the U.K. (if we manage to get a job)

Could anyone help to restore some balance or shed any light on any of the above.

Thanks all.
No where is perfect, the thing with people leaving the UK is, most of them are looking to escape England and they don’t realise every country on this earth has its own set of problems….. Both countries have a lot to offer…. I like my life in canada but there are many things I'd like to change about this country, I many ways Canada is very behind the rest of the western world and others way ahead…… I was recently back in the UK, my first visit since moving to Canada 3 years ago and I can honestly say England isnt as bad as you people make out……….. Canada is a great country but in all honestly I find the culture very bland sometimes and a lot of things for example food expensive compared to the UK….. But you cant have everything can you!!

Last edited by celine_uk; Jun 14th 2006 at 3:31 pm.
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Old Jun 14th 2006, 2:39 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by tableland
Yes but this statistic is derived by including ALL of Canada, including the vast uninhabitable tundra in the north. The population of Vancouver for example is far denser than that of the average English county. Vancouver has 4238 people per square km for example. You wouldn't want to live in Nunavut for very long, with its low population density, would you?

Australia has the lowest population density in the world, but you can't live in most of it, so the fair way to stack these statistics against one another is to work out population density for the habitable areas only, only then can we see a realistic comparison.

Moreover, according to the Optimum Population Trust, London has 4562 people per square kilometre, while Vancouver has (according to Statistics Canada) 4238 per square kilometre. So pretty much the same, and many statistics agencies place Vancouver's population density much higher than London's. You could live in the south of Vancouver Island, where there are 139 people per square km, or North Devon where there are 83 people per square km.

In other words, the national statistics are very misleading, as you would live in a city or a town, and work there, and sleep there, and that town would have the same population density as a similarly-sized town in the UK. So really, there are way more rats in the southern Vancouver Island box than there are in the average English county box.
Yep, I know the stats don't tell it all, but like the tundra there's not many folks living in remote parts of the UK either. Yet I think the people per sq mile syndrome is indicated in the prevailing attitudes. There's still too many rats in this UK box, most of us live on parcels of land that folks in Canada would use as a dog run...

I'm not saying that my circumstances are typical, but our when we lived in Nova Scotia, we had a 4,900 sq ft bungalow on 1.5 acres of land, at the entrance to Halifax Harbour, a great place to live. Now that we're back {as the BBC says, "for reasons beyond our control"} we live on a street with 18 houses on 1.3 acres of land, 35 miles from the ocean.

Here's the thing, both houses cost the same, and I don't live in London, we're just outside of Wigan, go figure... There's a massive premium on land here, even if in some areas we don't live in each others laps, it still affects our psyche... as an example... try turning you car around on someone's drive here in the UK... some folks will throw a wobbler, just because your back tires touched THEIR driveway {they're mental}... but I believe that's the rats struggling for their own patch.

There's a lot of folks in Canada that own properties with well over an acre, some with 20 or 30 or more acres, and they aren't Millionaires, but you'd have to be to own that much land in the Untidy Kingdom...

I mix in the same circles at the same social levels in the UK as in Canada, but almost all of the folks I know in Canada are living a better quality of life than those I know in the UK.

I know lots of folks over here who are unemployed, some of them like me getting on a bit, not all of them though, so I do see the impact of unemployment, whereas in Canada none of my friends, family or associates are on the cobbles...

The best move I ever made in my life was to emigrate 24 years ago, believe me I don't OWE any false allegiance to ANY Country, they all like to slide their hands into the workers pockets. What used to be Taxation is not more like Confiscation world wide, but the opportunities that Canada {and it's people} offered to me weren't on the menu over here. I wouldn't polish Canada up and say it was the best Country in the World if it hadn't been for me, and for just about every ex-pat I've ever come across.

Canada takes in 250,000 folks a year, about the same as the UK takes in, but those who go to Canada are motivated to work for a better life, many of those who head here are motivated by the DHSS.

If I'd not have gone to Canada in 1982 I'd be living in a semi, or a {smaller} detached with 4 bedrooms, none of them fit to swing a cat round in... that's how my mates live here now, life wouldn't have treated me better if I'd stayed here.

Canada Bob.
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Old Jun 14th 2006, 2:43 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by tableland
So really, there are way more rats in the southern Vancouver Island box than there are in the average English county box.
Aye, but look at the view the Vancouver Island rats have

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Old Jun 14th 2006, 2:54 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by Canada Bob
I'm not saying that my circumstances are typical, but our when we lived in Nova Scotia, we had a 4,900 sq ft bungalow on 1.5 acres of land, at the entrance to Halifax Harbour, a great place to live. Now that we're back {as the BBC says, "for reasons beyond our control"} we live on a street with 18 houses on 1.3 acres of land, 35 miles from the ocean.
Most houses on our street are 12' wide, they're terraced and have no parking. They fetch about $350,000 and, since people generally cannot afford the whole house the basement is typically rented as an apartment. The housing density is greater than that on council estates in North London. I don't think it's reasonable to see Canada as uncrowded; most of the country is uninhabited while the strip along the US border is crammed with people.
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Old Jun 14th 2006, 4:08 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by dbd33
Most houses on our street are 12' wide, they're terraced and have no parking. They fetch about $350,000 and, since people generally cannot afford the whole house the basement is typically rented as an apartment. The housing density is greater than that on council estates in North London. I don't think it's reasonable to see Canada as uncrowded; most of the country is uninhabited while the strip along the US border is crammed with people.
The 12ft wide works here in the UK too, mind you you'd struggle to buy much in Wigan let alone London for $350,000 / aka 165,000 quid, the ex Council houses in Wigan are listed for that, a tad less if the bloke next door is dealing drugs... {it helps to have a sense of humour ore here}...

As far as uncrowded, well, let's take these facts... 95% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S. Border {according to Stats Can}, so for the sake of round numbers lets say that Canada is 4000 miles East to West and 100 miles North to South ? {it's more than that, but let's call it that}.

So "this Populated Canada" has 400,000 sq miles for {say} 30 million people to go at,.

Here in GB {so we're not counting Norther Ireland} we have 84,000 sq miles to go at, for 57 Million of us to share out... remember though that I'm counting ALL of GB, including the remote areas...

So, in the strip that I'm calling Canada there's around 70 folks per sq mile, I think, if me math is correct ?

In GB we have near 700 folks per sq mile ?

Not exactly "scientific" as they say, but it gives you some idea of the push and shove factor.

I know we all have our own thoughts on it, and that few things are less reliable than "what folks think" measuring things is a better way to go, the more things you measure the more accurate your results are likely to be...

Take a look at these stats... Canada comes 14th and the UK in at 29th, yea, I know, we didn't have out best team out

http://www.economist.com/theWorldIn/...3372495&d=2005

Or to see how happy them rats in Vancouver are, read this...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4306936.stm

Or this more comprehensive review...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index

As we say ore here "at the end of the day" what it boils down to is one mans meat is another mans poison, hence the stats don't fit all sizes, but they do give a good indication of what's really what.

Few of the lads round here would enjoy life in Canada, there's no betting shops and "the ale aint the same", so what works for me don't work for them, what can I say.

Canada Bob.
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Old Jun 14th 2006, 4:11 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

one mans meat is another mans poison

Or, "one man's meat is another man's poisson", as they say in Quebec.
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Old Jun 14th 2006, 4:17 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by Canada Bob
As far as uncrowded, well, let's take these facts... 95% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S. Border {according to Stats Can}, so for the sake of round numbers lets say that Canada is 4000 miles East to West and 100 miles North to South ? {it's more than that, but let's call it that}.

So "this Populated Canada" has 400,000 sq miles for {say} 30 million people to go at,.

Here in GB {so we're not counting Norther Ireland} we have 84,000 sq miles to go at, for 57 Million of us to share out... remember though that I'm counting ALL of GB, including the remote areas...

So, in the strip that I'm calling Canada there's around 70 folks per sq mile, I think, if me math is correct ?

In GB we have near 700 folks per sq mile ?
This analysis is fundamentally flawed as people are clustered in small areas along the border, not distributed evenly across it. The population density in the GTA looks to me to be about the same as the southeast of England. I expect Montreal and Vancouver are similarly urban whereas no one lives in the middle bit. The effective width of Canada is more like 400 miles than 4,000.

We do have betting shops, btw, off track betting is big business here.
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Old Jun 14th 2006, 4:27 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by dbd33
This analysis is fundamentally flawed as people are clustered in small areas along the border, not distributed evenly across it. The population density in the GTA looks to me to be about the same as the southeast of England. I expect Montreal and Vancouver are similarly urban whereas no one lives in the middle bit. The effective width of Canada is more like 400 miles than 4,000.
So either:
A: the population density is the same, but you dont have to go far to get to a less populous area

or

B: The population density in Canada is less.

and he does have a point about not being able to buy bugger all in the UK for what you could cash your chips in here for.

On the other hand there is a much shorter shovelling season in the UK

When all is said and done and the excitement of moving acress the Atlantic is done, life here is just the same shit in a shinier bucket anyway.
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Old Jun 14th 2006, 4:33 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by dbd33
This analysis is fundamentally flawed as people are clustered in small areas along the border, not distributed evenly across it. The population density in the GTA looks to me to be about the same as the southeast of England. I expect Montreal and Vancouver are similarly urban whereas no one lives in the middle bit. The effective width of Canada is more like 400 miles than 4,000.

We do have betting shops, btw, off track betting is big business here.
I mentioned that it isn't scientific, it's simply indicative.

You're right that people are clustered and not distributed evenly in Canada, oddly enough... it's the same thing here in the UK.

I guess if we accpet your logic that Canada is effectively 400 miles wide, then the population density for both countries would be the same.

Not sure how that balance would tile it I applied the same reasoning to account for Cornwall, much of Scotland, Wales or even Yorkshire ?

I'm not trying to rub you up the wrong way, if we see things differently then that's fine, we are both entitled to that, and I don't want to upset you DBd33, I appreciate the debate and counterpoint, it gives us something to contemplate.

Re betting shops, I've never seen one in 24 years, but maybe we moved out of Ontario before they came in, there's none in Nova Scotia that's for sure, none in PEI or Newfoundland or even New Brunswick that I've even heard tell of. But here in the UK betting shops are a way of life, and there's Thousands of them.

I like a bet, and when in Rome I do as the Romans do, but it gets at me to see the same lads {skint as usual} in the same betting shops they were in 30 years ago, you'd never get these lads to move from Wigin to Bolton, let alone ever think of emigrating... life is tough here for the folks in the lower ranks.

All the Best,

Wigin Bob.
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Old Jun 14th 2006, 4:35 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by Novocastrian
one mans meat is another mans poison

Or, "one man's meat is another man's poisson", as they say in Quebec.
LOL ! consider it stolen

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Old Jun 14th 2006, 4:35 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by iaink
So either:
A: the population density is the same, but you dont have to go far to get to a less populous area

or

B: The population density in Canada is less.

and he does have a point about not being able to buy bugger all in the UK for what you could cash your chips in here for.

On the other hand there is a much shorter shovelling season in the UK

When all is said and done and the excitement of moving acress the Atlantic is done, life here is just the same shit in a shinier bucket anyway.
B is true for the country as a whole but it means very little if you're in a populated bit. A is true with the caveat that everyone else is trying to do the same thing at the same time so a short distance doesn't mean an easy trip. Same shit...... is absolutely true.
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Old Jun 14th 2006, 4:39 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by Canada Bob
Re betting shops, I've never seen one in 24 years, but maybe we moved out of Ontario before they came in, there's none in Nova Scotia that's for sure, none in PEI or Newfoundland or even New Brunswick that I've even heard tell of. But here in the UK betting shops are a way of life, and there's Thousands of them.
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Old Jun 14th 2006, 5:06 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

I see what you mean, but these aren't betting shops as we know them in the Untidy Kingdom, they're more like the places in Vegas where you are in a hotel or a bar and can put a bet on, not quite the same way of life that exists ore here.

To put it in perspective a local bloke that I know {Fred Done} has over 500 betting shops, and intends {with Arab backing} to double the number of shops. William Hills have around 2,300 betting shops, and so on, there's around 8,500 betting shops in the UK, again not a scientific analysis of the society, but indicative of it.

As to the extent of this addiction they say that some £8 Billion has been bet on the World Cup already !

It seems the annual turnover in the UK is close to half a Billion quid !

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/e...e/takeabet.htm

Of thing I've noticed {in the years I've frequented the Bookies} is that I've yet to find a Bookie living in a Council {or similar} house, but most of the punters live at that level...

Again though, it aint the density of the population, or the number of bettings shops that make or break a country, nor is it our opinions, if we really want to know we should consider the surveys done by folks like the U.N. they don't start out with a bias in mind and try to take in as many aspects as reasonably possible.

All the Best,

Wigin {for the time being} Bob.
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Old Jun 14th 2006, 5:17 pm
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Default Re: Why move to Canada?

Originally Posted by Canada Bob
I see what you mean, but these aren't betting shops as we know them in the Untidy Kingdom, they're more like the places in Vegas where you are in a hotel or a bar and can put a bet on, not quite the same way of life that exists ore here.
I'm from London. An uncle was a settler for the local turf accountant. I've been in a bookie's. There's no big difference between spending your dole money at William Hill's in Burnt Oak and spending it at the East Chinatown OTB in Toronto; either is a smoke filled room with minimal facilities. The practical difference being that, at William Hill's, you can bet on the World Cup or Miss World or whatever over the counter whereas here the only locally legislated bets are on horses; everything else is bet over the internet.

It may be that less people here choose to bet but, for those who do, the life is the same there as here.
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