Cabbagetown

Any regrets about coming to Canada?

Anything you missed strongly and couldn't live without?

Any difficulties finding a job? - Thousands of job interviews and no success?

Has your standard of living improved? Was it all worth it?

Dashie

Settling in was fun, and great, really enjoyed the first 3-4 years actually. Hubby had a job to come to, I found a couple of part time retail jobs over time, which turned out to be crap, but they are what they are I suppose. A lot of jobs seem to be looking for specific occupational training, which is the responsibility of the applicant - such as medical office assistants, many bank workers, insurance workers, who need to do a specific course etc. Without doing something like that, being in an area where graduates and postgraduates are churned out by the thousands, I didn't have any luck getting anything good with just a UK degree without taking more courses. Then we had children so I do that now instead anyway.

Improvement in standard of living is very subjective and really dependent on what's important to you. We have a bigger house, and can fill it with more stuff and crap if we want, but we would trade it in for a smaller house in the UK tomorrow if it meant that winter would last less than the 5 months it has seemed to drag on for so far. It's hard to be on foot pregnant with a 5 and 2 year old in sub zero temperatures for that long, but we can't run to a second car at the moment to make that any easier. For some people, that won't be an issue and they'll love winter. We prefer the school system and ethos of the UK (that idiot Gove withstanding...), and would prefer it for our children, although there will be many who feel the opposite too.

What do we miss? Banter. Better radio/TV/music. More worldly people. Some foods, but you can find most if you're willing to hunt and pay. Proximity of Europe and cheaper travel. Accessible history, castles. Family activities/holidays that don't require a second mortgage to go out for the day, more that's free, it won't cost $25 for a family to go swimming in the UK. Better drivers and road manners. Again, this will be completely subjective and probably vary from person to person.

Was it worth it? Completely. Do we regret it? Nope. Are we staying forever? Doubt it, and hope not. We place a high value on experiences, whether they turn out to be for the better or not, and would be completely different people had we not done this, and it has definitely altered our perspectives and values. That's the same for most I would think.

MillieF

I don't regret coming to Canada...I regret coming to this 'bit' of Canada...I just can't take the climate.

There's nothing I can't do without, although I wish that Canada would wake up and realise that it has great food and ingredients and is just doing a piss poor job with them; they don't think half enough about what they are eating.

The employment situation varies wildly from province to province.

My standard of living has definitely descended...but I'm hoping that we will ultimately think it was all worth it in the end

Simon Legree

Any regrets about coming to Canada?
No
Anything you missed strongly and couldn't live without?
No
Any difficulties finding a job? - Thousands of job interviews and no success?
No. I was brought to Canada by someone who needed a skill that I had.
Has your standard of living improved? Was it all worth it?
Yes, I believe so. Was it worth it ? Well next week will be 45 years in Canada so it must agree with me. I have never had any wish to return to the UK to live.

MarkG

No.

No.

No.

Our kitchen is the size of the place I used to live in the UK. And I was thinking of buying a Porsche last week, but can't imagine driving it in the snow here . Probably have to settle for a Subaru.

JonboyE

No.

No.

No.

The two are not inextricably linked IMO but yes and yes.

Piff Poff

We have a bigger house, a larger income and more family time, but enjoy life less. We will move, but are unsure as yet of our next destination.

Shard

Really good post, the only thing I would point out is that Britain is not necessarily cheaper for family fun. Swimming is £20 (£16 off peak) for a family ticket and the Zoo (London; family of four) is £75 for a day!

Dashie

Depends where you go I guess

For the local 'Day out with Thomas' train ride, it would cost $100 for 4 of us to go on a single 20 minute train ride on a plastic covered diesel. Last time we were over, it cost us £30 for 4 of us to ride 4 different proper steam trains as many times as we wanted for the whole day.

Shard

True. The castles are certainly better in Britain!

Dashie

Mmmm... castles and a decent doner kebab (yes, they do exist...)

The4BellsLondon

I hated it 10 months in and had severe depression . . but love it now

BristolUK

Seems to be enormous variation in prices.

$15 for a family swim here.
$5 for Baseball (if so inclined)
FIFA's women's under 20s world cup matches - $10

On the other hand gigs seem very expensive. The sort of acts I was paying £12-£16 for in Bristol are nearer $50 here.

Of course, it often depends if one compares the price to the exchange rate when you arrived or now.

$2.20 to the £ when I moved. Last year when it was around $1.50 things looked a lot more expensive but that was false if you have Canadian income.

Oink

Really? Who are you seeing, Elton Johns? Last gig I went to was $16.00 plus fee and tax.

BristolUK

I saw quite well known bands doing a full set on the same bill at Bristol Academy in 2004 for half the price of a ticket here just to see one of them.

Gigs are probably the one thing that I have found very expensive compared to the UK. That and the price of cheese of course.