Well, it’s been 3 years now since moving to Vancouver, BC (well suburbia). My gripes are already well documented and I’m sure that the ‘Vancouver/Canada lovers’ are already circling like vultures ready to pick at any perceived criticism of the beloved adopted home.

There are lots of people, who moved here just because they like it, and the associated lifestyle. Anyone who moved here a few years will have done very well out of any property they bought and benefitted from good exchange rates at the time etc. Anyone moving here now or recently will not be in that fortunate position.

Me, I moved here for my family (OH is Canadian). I always liked visiting here, but living here has been a very different scenario. The entire reason for moving here (OH’s work) went t*ts up very quickly and she was treated very poorly by the people concerned. I have struggled with work, and I’m pretty much doing the kind of work that I was doing in the 90’s. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but we jumped too quickly without really thinking it all through.

So what lies ahead? Mental breakdown – possibly. Without a doubt, had I been here on my own, I would have left about a year ago. Life is more complicated when you have a family. Things definitely have got to change and some risk taking needs to happen. I can apply for citizenship in about 6m. It’d be foolish not to get it, but once I do and if life isn’t any better, we are going back to the UK – no mistake.

The good (IMO – Not facts !!)

-The scenery, summer weather.
-Pretty clean place with nice parks and open spaces.
-If you like outdoor rec. walking, skiing etc is great.
-Good restaurants.
-People are polite (but see below)
-I can see why people like it here, but it’s just not for me.

The bad (IMO – Not facts !!)

-Cost of living is pretty high, availability of jobs and wages don’t match up.
-Lack of opportunity, competition.
-Taxes are high, at least as high as the UK if not higher. Look at the deductions from your pay check, it’s frightening - tax, CPP, EI, Union fees , superannuation etc, but so much else to pay for, which would be free/cheaper in the UK. MSP, car insurance, prescription costs, etc. Nickel and dimed for everything, whether it’s cable, banking fees. There is always a fee and a tax on top of that.
-Yes, people are polite, but I think that they are very hard to get to know well. Skin deep human interaction doesn’t replace long established friends/family and I miss that.
-Endless suburban sprawl, architecturally it’s a very bland city with little to no history – Anything with any historical value has probably already been razed to the ground.
-Turgid, puritanical, protectionist bureaucracy: BC/local government, Unions etc, raison d’être is seemingly to protect a certain few and their interests. The rich and powerful run a closed shop. BC is a good place to come if you enjoy banging your head against a brick wall.
-The best place on Earth? World’s greenest city? God, how I hate all the smug arrogant attitudes of a not insignificant percentage of the populace who think this place is the dog’s do-daa’s, yet have never travelled further than an outlet mall in Washington state. This attitude is perfectly exemplified by the top politicians, Campbell/Robertson etc. Seriously, Vancouver is what it is, stop trying to make everyone believe it’s some sort of utopia.
-Media, newspapers, TV etc all bland, pointless and utter garbage. Where are the investigative journalists? Why do people not question anything and blindly accept it? Can you imagine the Iraq war protests or poll tax riots in Vancouver, no neither can I.
-Crackheads/lunatics/street alkys. Everywhere. The average BC’er might be pretty clean living but this lot really try to make up the numbers. The UK equivalents at least hang around their council estate and are not in your face everywhere you go. Begging, hassling people, sob stories etc. Just FO.

Why wait for citizenship? Given your dim view of the place, I'd doubt you would be back. Of course, UK it utopia

Because, my family are Canadian citizens. If we left, who is to say that things might not be different in the future and we might want to return? Doesn't have to be Vancouver, there's a lot of Canada out there, that I haven't been to and it could perhaps be more to my liking? I certainly don't want to have to go through snail's pace Canadian immigration ever again.

I never said that the UK is utopia. I'm well aware of the pro's and con's of living there, unfortunately some people think Vancouver is utopia.

Perhaps it is to them. Just as you are not content here, others are. Don't think its utopia, think I've been pretty frank with the nature of the place. I agree with some of your comments, such as dull media, pricey re and lack of jobs, but it's hardly the depressing place you make it out to be. No offense, but it does seem that you look for the bad in everything and you come across as bitter and negative, even miserable. Life is what you make of it.

Not according to Fledermaus

Offence taken. I have lived in a hell of lot of different places and countries and nowhere have I been quite as miserable as here. Why is that, as Vancouver certainly isn't the worst place in the world on the face of it? Obviously some of my experiences here are tainting things to a degree, but the winter rain and the overall blandness of the place do not help either and I have put some positive things in there as well. One thing is for sure is that if I come across as bitter and negative, I can assure that I wasn't like that prior to moving here !!

Personally, I wouldn't jump on someone's post and label them in such a way, as I don't think it's helpful to the person concerned. I'd rather not say anything at all frankly, but then I was rather expecting this as I mentioned at the beginning.

If you don't want a response, don't post, simple.

Point is that say what you like about the content of the post, but no need to get personal. Seems reasonable to me.

Seems to me dboy was commenting on the CONTENT of the post. He said (to paraphrase) that the POST suggests you are bitter and look for the bad in everything.

Do you deny the negatives in brizzles post? Seems pretty spot on to me.

Even joking about a possible mental breakdown is no simple matter of coming across as bitter.

Rant away brizzle! And so what if you paint a more negative view than others might think, like to read, or agree with? We all view things differently, through the life experiences that made us who we are. Vancouver, to you - it is what it is ...

Well done on three years and good luck with the future, wherever it lies. I hope it brings stability, a calm contentment and less rain

Actually brizzle, you and I have more in common than I realised. I also came here for OH. I have also travelled and lived in a lot of countries. I agree with most of your negatives, except the one about smug attitudes. I mean, yes, there is smugness, actually HELL YEAH but I find Van values to be more in line with my values than any other modern city I've lived. I can't stand the 1960's backwards urban sprawl thinking of much of Australia and New Zealand (lived in Melbourne for 4 years) or the hopelessly corrupt system over there. From that respect, Van is light years ahead of a lot of other cities in my opinion.

And I like the climate.

But yeah, the mainstream media sucks, however, there is the Georgia Straight, the Tyee.ca, etc. to provide some of the debate missing from the Asper family newspapers. Slightly OT but I hope they have to break up the company...but that's another thread.

OH, and I think you need to get out of Coquitlam. I suspect being in the centre of big box store stepford development hell isn't helping.

But otherwise, no arguments here. I think you nailed a lot of the downsides to living here. I am finally at a point where I don't give a rats' ass anymore about the lack of genunine interest 'Couves have in other people, but it's taken 7 years to get here.

Yeah. Have you checked out the Tyee? It just won a journalism award and it actually does investigate stuff in BC, which is SO CRAZY.

More people need to read it imo.

I agree with "The good."

Real estate, for sure.

I have never found getting reasonably paid and reasonably interesting work a problem, though I think I set the bar for "reasonably paid" lower than some.

Taxes about the same as UK IMO.

You are never going to replace family, or life-long friends, in three years. That goes with emigrating anywhere in the world. I've been here quite a bit longer and have made some very good friends.

I hear you on the urban sprawl. I just keep my head up and look at the mountains. There is history around but it does take some searching out.

There is quite a bit of that about.

I disagree, there is a lot of opportunity.

It is just politicians' puff. Nothing to be taken seriously.

A lot, agreed, but not all.

But much politer and easier to co-exist with than street people in other parts of the world IMO. The care in the community experiment failed here, just as it did everywhere. The BC Government has certainly fallen down in its obligation to recognize this and do something about it.


It certainly makes sense for you to hang on until you can get your citizenship, but maybe another part of Canada would suit you better. After that there is no law that says you HAVE to like living here, or anywhere else for that matter. Life is too short to be miserable if you can do something about it.

Anyway, congratulations for sticking it out for your (first?) three years.

Actually, I do agree with a number of them, some more than others, and some are down to personal experience/perceptions, some I acknowledge but don’t care about, but certainly see the value of them on a forum for those that may; however, I have little time for whiners, everyone is allowed a vent or two, just think Mr BRIZZLE is overdrawn. I tell those I come into contact with if I think they are moaning too much, and I accept them to do the same. I see continual moaning as a human failing.

I think I’ve been pretty frank about the place. Life is a funny thing, and sometimes it just doesn’t fall into place, I found the same thing in the US, which I suspect is as much about where you are in your life at the time and what is going on in it, than the entirely where you are at the time. I’ve come to realize from being on BE that I never really gave the UK a good shake and my memories of the place are colored by having not being able to find decent work and living in what amounted to poverty. I feel a bit cheated actually. I miss family now more than I did before, a few have died, others born, sure have missed out on a lot.


You have to accept life or do something about it, moaning doesn’t help if, anything it just makes you more bitter and poisonous. I think I’m hypersensitive to it, given the negativity of my job.

On another note, after living in Coquitlam for 6 months myself, I concur with Kiwilass that at least some of his perceptions may be due to that. Vancouver proper is very, very different. Crap job and a house in Coquitlam, been there and done that, I would have left too. The winter rain while living there just about did me in. I liken it to living in the middle of a giant shopping mall, surrounded by few English speaking people. Nice enough place but nothing to do, very soulless. Very North American with the sprawl and dependence on the auto.

I too wish Mr Brizzle luck, life is a journey after all.