Hi

One of the things that has been swaying me from sending off my permanent residnet visa for Canada, is the extreme weather. When the temperatures get to averaging and below - 30 deg C, do people actually go out and still go to work on those days? I have often wondered if the air would freeze your lungs when you breath. And if you can't get into work, would your boss look down on you as being unreliable? I have heard that the cold isn't as damp as it is overhere and it doesn't get to your bones as much.

During the cold snap we have recently had over here has made me think more about the cold weather, and almost put me off actually pursuing the application further. I intended to visit Canada this winter just gone to see if I could stand the winters, but due to a family bereavement, it was put off. And plus my biggest worry is the state of the economy and not being able to find a job.

I am an electrician by trade and currently work in the catering/refrigeration and laundry engineering business, and the cold and snowy weather did prevent me from getting to my work on more than one occasion, only to find my boss being very disgruntled that I couldn't get my van out of the driveway. I am home based so I get my jobs via email and phone and then drive to them. So I just wondered if it was a sacking offence in Canada?

I am hoping to visit my friends brother who lives near Red Deer in Alberta in the not too distant future, then hopefully I will be able to do some fact finding on things like jobs and pensions. And then maybe visit another time when the weather gets bad, just to experience it and then decide.

Thanks in advance

One dresses appropriately and makes it a short walk for the dog. Not much stops for cold weather here, although school recess will be inside if its less than -20 (C or F... doesnt make much difference at that point!)


If there is a LOT of snow (feet, not inches) then some allowances are made to be late or go home early or whatever, but its rare. school bus cancelations are less rare, and create havoc when both parents work and something has to be done with younger stay at home kids. Thats when you can really miss having family to call upon.

The house inspector that inspected my house told me that, when he was a carpenter, he never went home due to temperature and that he never wore gloves on site

The roofers here can regularly been seen outside on the roof without scaffolding in extreme temperatures. I went for an interview with a framer when I first arrived. They were using a leaf blower to clear the loose snow from the structural walling which had ice all over it. A Zoom Boom was scheduled to arrive on site later that day and they told me that the house would be up to roof level by the end of the day. This meant that they would have been standing on the ice on the framing for most of the day.

If you are unable to turn up to a job, don't expect to get paid. This seems to be the situation in Calgary anyway. Not being able to get your vehicle off your driveway is unlikely to be accepted here.

Depends where you live weather (sic) the winter is much of an inconvenience or not. We had very little to no snow on the ground here post Christmas, and temperatures were rarely below -5. It's not all tundra and perma-frost.

In 44 years of living here I have never been unable to get my car out of the driveway or missed a day of work because of a heavy snowfall. A few commutes were long and hazardous but I always made it to and from work.

Never? I'm impressed. I'm in the GTA as well and I reckon on 1 or 2 days a year when it's extremely difficult (if not impossible) to get to work (a commute of about 14 km by car).

This year there were none.

I was just saying to an expat neighbour last night that I reckon the UK has had a harder winter this year than the GTA.

Thanks for that particular response, and all other ones. Yes I wouldn't have expected to get paid, but I forgot to mention that I live in West Yorkshire and it is quite hilly where I live. And they don't bother to grit the roads, only bus routes, so even when I did get my van off the drive I was going nowhere except sideways, backwards, and diaganol, along with everyonelse. Bloody Power ABS and power steering, its time they put some extra switches on the dash so you can turn them off.

And don't forget, they are more prepared for snow over here than the UK. All main roads are generally cleared of snow pretty quick and everyone has snow shovels to clear their driveways and sidewalks. I only had to shovel my drive a few times this past winter and there was only one occasion where I had to do it before I was even able to get the car out of the garage as the snow had drifted so much up against the door.

It's true that it is a dry cold here and not damp like the UK. Anything down to -10 feels pretty OK; just need to really start piling on the layers if it gets much colder than that!

In the 4 years we have been here, DH has never had a day off work due to the extreme weather and only came home early once due to the heavy snow.

The kids have gone to school as well, and the only times they missed a day was if the school bus didn't turn up (but that was more down to the incompetent company that provides the school buses than the weather!).

The schools are open no matter how bad the weather is, they just don't make the kids play outside when it is really cold (below -20 C).

Really, you just dress up warm and get on with it.

Geez, and there I was thinking that -20C is a pleasant winter's day .

The education dept here reckons on half a dozen "snow days" each winter when they close the schools.

I think we had two this winter but most of our snow seemed to fall in the xmas hols or on weekends.

In extreme weather every year in Canada thousands of people perish through the cold and snow. Why else do you think that the country tries to attract quarter of a million new immigrants a year if not to replace those that the killer snow takes?!

It was jolly windy last night and lots of boats were washed up onto the beach. It actually made the local news interesting for about five minutes.

What happens in the extreme weather?

Do you still have Tamara Taggart? That was pretty much the only interesting thing I remember from local news in Vancouver (some years ago).