Hi Paul.
I must be living in a different Canada than some people on here....I am also a Design Engineer who lives in Ontario (Whitby area) i work in a small/med sized company in the Markham area.
I also have the benefit of traveling to Europe quite often for work (I was in England in Dec) Anyone who says the cost of living is the same here as the UK has not been there in a while. I lived in a SMALL semi in South Wales, drove a beat up old Ford Sierra and seemed to live paycheck to paycheck. Here i live in a 3500sq ft house we had built less than 2 years ago, i drive a year old $50k+ truck.

According to family still in South Wales they are paying £1.11 a Ltr for petrol, thats $2.17 cad, i paid $1.20 a ltr this morning. Going out for dinner in the UK was a treat for birthdays, over here we do a couple of times a week. I have a lot more disposable income here than i ever did in the UK. This is only my experience, i am sure others have different thoughts. Contact me when you get here if you need anything.

I have been here coming up thirteen years and have gone home regularly to the UK in the last two years. Visiting will not tell you a thing about really living in Canada, other than to help you pick your geographic location. The cost of day to day living (with children) is higher in my part of Canada, than the UK. Comparable houses (made of wood and paper here, fall down after twenty years) cost the same as (brick built, last until you die) houses in the parts of the UK I would live in. My mortgage is the same as it would be in the UK. Food bills for a large family take up about one whole pay check (two weeks pay) now. I get paid much less, in real terms, than I earned years ago in the UK. (Look at the Stats Canada website; wages in BC have stayed the same for about twenty years). I am taxed about the same, I think, on reflection. I destroyed a good career in the UK by coming here, one I am discovering that I am too late to fully recover in the UK. There is limited consumer choice outside of Vancouver and my experience of the education system here, has not been positive. Health care is no better (sometimes worse) than the UK, essential monthly prescriptions for my asthmatic kids cost $$$. These are not covered fully by my health plan, and I work for the provincial government. The day to day plod is tedious beyond belief, nothing exciting to look forward to, and I can't afford short break family holidays as I did in the UK. I am excruciatingly bored here, I feel partially retired/dead in fact, and always feel so alive back in the UK. Some people love it here. Good for them, I am not knocking it as such, each to their own. Toronto is actually not bad, I have been there many times. Truly, I could kick myself for giving up a good life to come here. I was stupid, near sighted and oblivious to the PR b***ocks I had fallen for. Yes I would go home in a blink if I could sort out the housing ahead of arrival. Watch this space.

Gazruss,

Its refreshing to hear what you have reported on there, my friend who has been living in Oakville the past 3 years says almost exactly what you have said....having the disposable income to do things you enjoy (like eating out) driving a nice car...(truck) and live in a spacious house. Hes also recently brought an ATV!
"Rip off Britain" has been a quote made by the media here for the past 5-6 years now, but its only the last 9-12months things have changed radically, mortage rates mostly, household fuel bills, and diesel/petrol prices (which have done globaly) but we have a sickening amount of tax added to that, that no other country does!

All I know is at the age of 37, I have never had so little money, ive had to down grade my car, go to interest only on mortgage payments, and drastically cut down on my social life and I still cannot pull myself out of debt, fuel is going up at least 1p per litre per week now. I just seem to get the feeling I am not living life now, more so existing. Glad to hear you are living life! I know as you say though these are just your experiences, circumstances differ for individuals ie what one does for a living combined with the location in Canada they choose to live etc. Im not expecting a financial Utopia.... just having the oppurtunity to live! as opposed to "exist" would be an achievment!

Thankyou for your offer of help if need be when I get there, I am heading over there in September for a holiday, maybe we could meet up for a beer and a bit of a chat? Im keen to try and line some job oppurtunitues maybe you know a few company names I could write to? Im over for 2 weeks (to hopefully land if I have my visa by then) before returning to UK to tie things up, then hopefully head out to Canada early next year.

Cheers

Paul

Sure Paul.
I Have a few contacts in the Engineering business. Can give you a few numbers.
What type of stuff have you done?. Any idea's on where you want to live, or are you going to stay in the Oakville area. (that's close to the Ford plant at least)
Would love to go for a few beers....send me a PM with timelines of your visit

Hello,

You have made some interesting points there...you wouldnt think so many differing and opposing views could come from people who once lived in the Uk and now live in Canada. But we and our needs are all different, I suppose its a combination of your proffesion and the location you choose to live? what do you do for a living? is it more sort after in the Uk? - 13 years is a long time, something must have kept you there for that length of time, how come you have never considered moving back before?

Im certain that I have to live there before I can form any opinion, visiting is jsut a holiday nothing more, all I can go from is what my friend has told me, he certainly does seem to be living a very good quality of life though.

When you say you cant go for short weekend breaks....I think the cottage breaks I have had there have been fantastic - inexpensive, and surely the kids would love being out in the wilderness? and it doesnt have to be that remote, ive been to some near to fairly busy towns if you fancy company, in fact I dont think Ive ever been to such beautiful locations as some of the cottages I have stayed in next to lakes, and I agree if you enjoy cities Toronto is great!, but with all cities the world over - not cheap.

As you have probably seen on my other post, I am finding very hard to live life here in the UK at the moment, certain things have always been expensive, but the cost of living and the economy her have took a turn for the worst very quickly, amongst other things. Again like you have said with me visting Canada, you in turn are a vistor to the Uk now, and it could be very easy to view your native land thro rose tinted spectacles, I was always a very big patriot of my country, still am in many ways, however sadly its a very differnt country to what it was 13years ago.....

But as you stated in your post....each to there own... we all have our own needs, I know I have to do it as I would certainly regret it if I didnt, and although you dont see it now, I think you may have too if you had never tried it?

I love how people can look at something and have totally differing opinions of it. I totally agree that the houses over here are not built as "permanent" as in the UK. While this seems a negative, i see it as a way of not getting into the "Ghetto" mentality you can have when houses are long lasting...... I come from a town where a lot of the houses were over 100 years old. They were not nice to live in even though they might have been nice to look at..... I went to school in a castle for gods sake... my Canadian wife loves to go look at it whenever we go back and says how quaint it is, and how it must have been wonderful to go to school in a castle.... all i remember was the smell of damp, and the drafty windows... Takes all sorts i suppose

The cost of living and economy have taken a turn for the worst everywhere, be it UK or Canada.

As for eating out now, we don't eat out that much anyway since we have not been able to afford to, but on TV News in Ontario there are reports that folks are cutting back eating out since they are spending the money on petrol for their cars. Restaurants have seen a noticeable down turn in their business. Eating out for us will remain the same since it is only now and then.

LOL..you obviously haven't seen the poorer neighbourhoods and the forty year old shacks that should be condemned. People live in these s**holes, because they have no choice. The very first house I lived in here, in Surrey, had to be sealed off after we moved out, as it had that dangerous black mould. My eldest son got so sick he was hospitalized. I was paying $1250 a month for that pile of crap. It was less than fifteen years old. They pulled it down in the end, and built a town house complex on the adjacent lots. That complex is now a ghetto, in the truest sense of the word.

It is a question of investment for me - why would I spend $400,000 on paper and wood, knowing that the house has a short shelf life, when I can get bricks and mortar for the same price? (here in Canada too, just not around here).

My wife and I are thinking of going back to the UK, from the US, in a couple of years.

I'll miss the 5 minute commute into work and being able to come home for lunch. I'll miss being paid more and my outgoings less, currently we don't have any kids. I'll miss the big open roads and the mountains just 30 minutes away. Generally I'll miss the day to day lifestyle. I'll also miss the feeling that if I lost my job at my current company I'd be able to move to another company quickly and without moving apartment.

However, my parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc are all in the UK. Spending all week waiting for the saturday calls and then feeling depressed when they were over and pretty much spending all the time on the phone saying how much we missed everyone.

If we stay in the US we regret the time missed with the family. If we go to the UK we'll miss the day to day life in the US.

I suppose it's a matter of picking what's important to you and then run with it.

Hello. This is my first post. I moved back to the UK 3 years ago after living away for 15 years and it has been a horrid time. In the UK now, people are more miserable than ever before. The government is everywhere and growing like a cancer. There is no area of life where the government isnt trying to stick its nose in your face. Taxes are outrageous and inflation is understated and economic statistics in general are manipulated. Youths are angry, see no future ahead, and relieve their boredom and frustrations by roaming the streets. There is little incentive to earn more than 34,600 a year because after that you get robbed 40% of your income. Of course then there is the 17.5% sales tax, the parking fees, the subpar healthcare system which I use only in dire emergencies because they leave you feeling worse than you did coming in, the bland food, video cameras everywhere even though they have proven to not actually reduce crime, police EVERYWHERE. In the guise of environmentalism and global warming they are pushing all kinds of ridiculous price increases to squeeze peoples standards of living. Just lately grocery stores are rationing plastic bags.....I plan on leaving the UK and never returning.

Where did you stay for 15yrs when you were away from the UK, and why did you leave there? Where in the UK are you staying now? And where do you plan on going?

I lived in the USA for 15 years and I left there because I fell out of love with the country. When I move I plan on moving to a European microstate, one with a small government and few tax laws. Possibly Andorra.

I can relate to your dilema. UGH! It's so confusing. I do know that I will not stay in the US forever. I just can't imagine it.

Moved back to London in 05 from Vancouver (got there '98) and regretted it soon after. Ended up living in and working in the same areas i did before. London seemed twice as crowded and so aggressive. Its been a nightmare and far worse than the angst i had in Vancouver. Now my wife wont go back so its a double bubble nightmare!

I moved back to the UK after 5-years in the US in '05. I moved after being laid off from my job and receiving a good job offer in the UK.

I basically hated it. I reached a point where I wasn't miserable after some time, and enjoyed being with familiar friends and of course family, but after about 18-months I quit my job and returned to the US.

Why?

I detested working my arse off for the "privielege" of maybe one day affording a 2-bed semi for my family. Traffic was annoying - just took so long to get anywhere. And the culture… when people in the US get stroppy about something, people often try to change it.

People in the UK seem so content to just accept the status quo. No one asks "why is sales tax 17.5%?"… "why is income tax 40%?"... people just grumble a bit, but then just carry on. The company I work for sells certain equipment to the UK. I noted prices for them were more expensive than for the US. When I asked why, I was told by sales "because the market in the UK can withstand it - you always price items for what people will pay, not what they are worth". That sums it up for me… people in the UK just put up with it. Houses costing 7 or 8 times an average income… why not!?

So now I live North of Boston. I earn more and I just bought a 4-bed detached with a one acre garden, for LESS than the 2-bed semi I moved out off in Hampshire (I was renting, but it sold soon after I left and I know how much for). I'm near a good school and I feel able to comfortably provide for my family.

There are certain things I love about the UK, but I could never and will never live there again.