Tangram

Would love to hear your views, I know all the positives ( otherwise we wouldnt be looking at it ) but would like to get a balanced view altogether.

wensamjam

Hi Tangram,

we have been here for 3 weeks now and have no regrets at all, we are so happy here, just hope our house sells soon in the uk. Where in Canada are you looking at going?

Tangram

Thanks for the post. Unfortunately as you can see from the title of the thread I am not looking for people who have just positive short term experiences.

Hope everything goes well in NS.

iaink

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=231513

dewdrop

What specifics are you looking for? Have you ever been to Canada? Depends on what area you are looking? We live east of Toronto, in a small town. Don't much know about the rest of Canada. So if you want cost of living etc. let us know, have lived here since a young age, my parents emmigrated in the 70's, but am desperately trying my best to get back to the UK. My husband also works in the trades. Love to chat more.... as we can maybe answer some questions on both sides.
Deana

Tangram

I'm not looking at my own specifics as you say, I am looking at other peoples experiences etc etc as the thread says. Feel free to message me if you want any info and I will try and help.

Paul.

dewdrop

Well, some of the negatives are mentioned in another thread, that someone gave you a link, somes it up...

I also read this from one's thread, quote "the grass isn't greener on the other side, just a different colour". Oh so true...Good luck in what you decide, plus hope you like snow, we get alot of it!!
Negatives I have found true. Hard to FIND a good job. Miss the History and Culture UK has to offer. No extended family in Canada. High taxes here, crime is on the rise, more shootings, we are not exempt. If you want to know more in detail email me, as Canada does have it's positives too, just as does the UK!
good luck
Dee

JoolsG

Ok, I think we fit this bill! We have been here for just over 12 months now and are returning to the UK as soon as we can sell our house.

So, what are some of the reasons we are returning/regretting leaving the UK? Obviously some of these could be province related, some are just down to us and what are expectations are or were. Everyone is different and what will bother one person won't bother someone else and vice versa:

1. You know that you will miss your family and good friends but the reality of it can be far harder than anything you can even begin to imagine. We have young children and rationalised that hey, we will be able to chat over the webcam, they can see their grandparents, their grandparents can see them, it'll be fine, no problems. That's not the reality, no matter how good the connection or how great a camera you have, conversations are stilted at best. Children lose interest and get easily bored trying to chat. We have realised more and more that we want our children to have a relationship with their grandparents, not for them to be some face they see on a television screen.

2. Things are far more expensive here than we imagined they would be. Don't even get my DH started on car insurance! I personally find food very expensive and from talking to others I know I'm not alone in this. My husband earns a pretty good salary but we are still struggling to make ends meet each month, we don't have an extravagent lifestyle. I think we are guilty before moving out of converting the cost of items from canadian dollars to pounds and thinking it's all really cheap. However, that only works if you are earning the equivalent in C$ as you were in pounds, not many immigrants can expect to earn anywhere near that in Canada. Also all prices are quoted exclusive of taxes not something you necessarily realise until you move here.

3. Travel in and around Canada is prohibitively expensive, whereas this isn't a problem in the UK and getting to europe is relatively inexpensive and pretty easy.

4. Trying to get anything done is such an uphill struggle. We recently were looking in to having some decking put in at the back of the house. We asked around the area, friends, neighbours, to which we were told it will probably be a task in itself just getting someone out to do a quote! We eventually did get someone (only 1 mind you!) who then told us we would need the equivalent of planning permission to build a small, ground level deck at the back of our house. The red tape here is something else. There seems to be very little cross over of duties. For example when we first moved in to our house we bought a new oven, from Sears, it took almost 10 days to get it up and connected. We couldn't connect it ourselves as it would invalidate our house insurance. The guy who came out to connect it could only deal with the gas connection and it turns out that there was some problem with the electric socket but he was not allowed to touch this, someone else had to come out and sort that problem out. Unbelievable, I'm not sure if this is a knock-on effect of the "sue-em" attitude from America, which could explain the high cost of insurance?

These are just some of the reasons, there are more I could mention, perhaps we've just had some bad experiences? Perhaps it's just that Nova Scotia is not for us? We've made the decision to move back and it's been a big relief.

What will I miss? The space we have here, our house is set on 3 acres on a lake, we would never be able to have that in England. Friends we've made here, one of which I know will always be in my life. But for us we know it's right to move back. We had to do this, we had to give it a go, if not we would always have been wondering...

babsi

Been here 4 and a half years now and never really liked it. Moved to be with someone not because I wanted to live in Canada. Only went to Vancouver for 10 days before on holiday, so that was my only experience of Canada.

There are many things that I dislike but I just feel like my life is on hold now until there is a chance we can go to live in Europe (both of us not fussy where we live) but it would probably be back home unless a job comes up for my husband somewhere which really isn't the easiest thing to make happen from abroad.

Now with me being 4 months pregnant the feelings about going back are very strong and actually thinking about it is a little upsetting.

I would never choose to come to Canada in a million years but it is hard to say I regret my decision to come here as I love my husband and the baby on the way, but just wish we were living somewhere different.

Tangram

Thanks for the feedback so far. Just wanted to pop a note down so people didnt think I had abandoned the thread.

BTW Babsi, it does not say anything on the website about you living in Canada.... obviously not a highlight then ?!?!

flashman

I trust your question is being answered. Typically the reasons are either


1) Predictable and could have been discovered with adequate prior research

2) Generalisations based on a single experience or situation (Canada is a big and diverse country).

3) Trivial and not necessarily show stoppers.

4) Common to any relocation even within the same country and not necessarily specific to Canada.

Numpty

Nova Scotia seems to attract plenty of newcomers, but an awful lot of them don't stay too long so no, I don't think it's you thats the problem....obviously NS is not as attractive as it seems.

flashman

NS is a good retirement or vacation spot. As a maritime province, the lifestyle is similar to many remote coastal places and even Halifax is not a big city.

JAJ

This is true but you don't have to go as far as Canada to experience that - move more than an hours drive away in the UK and you risk pretty much the same issues.


The tabloid media in the UK are apt to do this.


Distances in Canada are much greater than the UK, so are you comparing like with like.

As for closeness to Europe, many people in the UK consider that to be a disadvantage.

Often a move elsewhere in Canada is the best solution. Peripheral provinces like NS are not for everyone. Are you sure you would feel the same in Alberta, Ontario or BC?



Are you sure you still won't wonder if you might have changed you mind had you given Canada longer - 12 months is still a short period of time - usually it takes 3/4 years to get over all the upheaval of moving and settling into a new country.

Jeremy

Tangram

I have been away on holiday for a while in California. Has anyone got anything to add to this thread as it was quite useful and interesting getting the flip side feedback ( not that we are going to get in without a job offer lol )