Shard

Sounds like those Albertan trails are paved with gold. Is that all industries or mainly construction and oil?

christmasoompa

Out of interest Steve, how long ago was it you lived in the UK? It's just an unusual view that Canada is cheaper than the UK for cost of living.

There are other things that weren't on your list that most agree cost more in Canada, such as mobile phone bills, internet, groceries etc.

rivingtonpike

We've only been in Canada for a couple of years permanently, but we've been back and forth to the UK for the previous 2 years as well and I would say the cost of living for us, anyway, is cheaper in Canada than it was in the UK. We have a larger house here than we had in Britain and I would say our mortgage is half what it was. Petrol is cheaper too - by a lot! I have just this morning filled my car at $1.10 a litre and using my credit card I get a 2% cashback and using the local Co-Op garage I get a further 5c per litre off at the end of the year.

Being in BC we can't buy booze at the same time as general food shopping and that means we can't just chuck in that bottle or two of wine that's on special! Having to go to the Liquor Store separately and shell out hard cash certainly sobered me up! We don't really buy British "substitutes" and have adopted a diet that encompasses whatever is fresh and available in season. On the whole I think our weekly shopping bill is cheaper as a consequence.

christmasoompa

Oh, no disputing that gas is cheaper in Canada (although there are cashback credit cards in the UK too ), but then car insurance is more expensive, etc.

I guess that's why most on the forum say the cost of living is about the same in both countries, some things are cheaper and some are more expensive so it tends to even out.

huddm

Shard

In 1998 oil hit $11/barrel, so many engineering jobs just disappeared in Calgary in a few months. I have looked at employment tracking in Alberta since 1950's and they seem to have 10 year up and down employment cycles. We did move to Ontario at our own costs which I ended up as an Operations Manager in the nuclear industry.

The £30K move back from Ontario was what we spent selling our house in Canada,, shipping back to the UK(including the cat), buying back in the UK- house, house hold goods/electrical good etc. I would really think about moving overseas seriously and would you have the means to recover if it does not workout. I read that out of 1.8M people moved overseas over 1M return with 10 years, so there is at least 50/50 chance you return to the UK and you should plan for this as back up.

Regards
Hudd

Shard

Hudd, that's a fascinating statistic isn't it. It would be interesting to break the repatriation rate down into those who emigrated with intention to make it permanent and those that were simply emigrating for work opportunities.

It's true that economies can switch very quickly. We now read of brain drain in Britain, whereas back in the 90's (as you say) it was Canada reporting the brain drain. Of course that phrase is more journalistic hype than anything else, but the labour markets do seem to be inversely correlated at present.

Out of curiosity, which did you prefer Alberta or Ontario.