Move to Canada??

ferdi

i think i need to get out of ireland for a while, to live and work, i was thinking Canada would be a good place, but i have no clue about the place really, i mean the reason i want to go there is because i have this impression of Canada as a place with all the good things america has, with out all the bad things america has, is this right?

can anyone give me any personal experiences of Canada?

i could read millions of web pages about canada but i think i can trust the judgement of some of the folks on here after posting for a while now to give me your stories and general impression etc: people? cost of living, accomodation, entertainment?

how up tight is law inforcement? i have this image of US cops being trigger happy right wing maniacs, how is it there?

any help would be great.

lodgepole

I'm moving to Toronto from Dublin on Friday week. From the research i've done, it seems that it isn't as heavy handed a place as the US. Cost of living looks to be about 25% cheaper than over here, that's counting the currency conversion and their wages. I'll let you know more once I move...

jetsonx

I get cold even thinking about living in Canada!

Flukey

We always think of Canada as being way up north and therefore cold. Toronto is about as far south as the south of France, making it a lot warmer in summertime than us. Of course down to New York, which is about as far south as Lisbon, and beyond they get very cold winters. The gulf stream keeps our winters very mild.

As to moving, what I would do is to remember "the grass is always greener...." idea. Go out for a set period of time and see how you like it before making any commitments beyond that. Visiting a country is one thing, having to live there is something completely different. Keep your options open.

Tom Dunne

ferdi wrote:

i have this impression of Canada as a place with all the good things america has, with out all the bad things america has, is this right?

Even though I have only been there on holidays for a few days, this is the exact perception myself and my wife had of Canada.

To give you an example - we are in the US since January and have been to many a bar. The odd time we might get the occasional "Like where are you guys from?" from the bar man (sorry bartender). In Canada, however, we spent one particular night talking to a barman for almost 7 hours! Same in other bars, the Canadian people seem more friendly, more wise to the world. Not once did a Canadian ask us "Like do you guys have McDonalds in Aye-er-land?" or "Do you have, like, trains in Aye-er-land?". The country instantly reminded us of Europe. It seems to have the chic of Europe with the convenience of America.

I don't doubt for a minute Canada has it's own problems, every society does, but the people just seem more laid back, the pace of life seems that bit slower, but the buzz of North America does seem to be there. Exactly what Flukey says - the grass is always greener, but do your research, get opinions of others (as you are doing here) and then make up your mind.

On a related matter - the Canadian Embassy in London has a v. good website and info on all matters relating to moving to Canada. If you have a Masters or PhD, you will find it that bit easier to get it, so it seems.

Iago

I'm planning on moving to Canada myself, (my girlfriend is Canadian) and we were in Toronto for 3 weeks in June/July of this year, all I can say is that from what I've experienced, and what I've been told (I've a friend who moved over there 2 years ago and is loving every minute of it), it's definitely the place to go.

Positives:
~ Fantastic Summers
~ Cost of living is much lower
~ Quality of living is much higher
~ Canadians seem to be very friendly people in general
~ Law enforcement is excellent
~ Tim Hortons coffee shops
~ Customer Service is exceptional
~ Public Transport System is excellent and reliable

Negatives:
~ Average temp of -10 for the month of December, and maybe November and/or January as well (in Toronto that is) I remember being on the phone to my gf's father last December and I asked him how the weather was "Not too bad, fairly mild at the moment, about -15"!! I'm like wtf, "FAIRLY MILD" (the weather is my big concern)
~ Salarys aren't as high as here (although that's balanced by everything being much cheaper)
~ Social life is completely different and takes some getting used to
~ Can be difficult to actually get into the country depending on what your reasons are etc.(my friend was marrying a canadian girl in canada and was moving there permanantly and it took nearly 2 years to sort out the paperwork etc)

I'm sure there are other pro/con's but my overall advice is JUST DO IT! I certainly plan to

Imposter

Iago wrote:

Negatives:
~ Average temp of -10 for the month of December, and maybe November and/or January as well (in Toronto that is) I remember being on the phone to my gf's father last December and I asked him how the weather was "Not too bad, fairly mild at the moment, about -15"!! I'm like wtf, "FAIRLY MILD" (the weather is my big concern)

-15 is not actually that cold once you have a suitable jacket. Even in a pair of jeans it's fine. That's providing there's no wind. I've felt colder in Ireland when it's been 0 to +6ish but a biting wind than temperatures of -15 with no wind.

~ Salarys aren't as high as here (although that's balanced by everything being much cheaper)

That's not a negative. You have more spending money not less.

spooiirt!!

How come this movin to canada thing ferdo? Sick of Dublin? How is that possible??? Heh you gonna go ahead and quit college? Benny seemed to get sick of canada fairly fastly.

ferdi

thanks for all your relplys

@ spooiirt!!: yeah but benny was over there sitting in front of a PC for 3 months straight with no social life of outlet, that would suck in any country, how are you any way?

on topic: i'm only 19 so this is a few years off yet, i'm going to finish college. i've wanted to get out of here for years now, there is just too much that annoys me about ireland, i love it and all but i still want out. i know what your saying about "the grass is always greener" but i wont know until i try. i think the best thing i can do i go and live and work there on a j1 next summer, a few of my friends did that and said it was da bomb.

if anyone has any more info to share....what about general social attitudes? whats canadian politcs like? unemployment high/low?(will i be able ot find work?)

thanks lads!

ToxicPaddy

Imposter wrote:

-15 is not actually that cold once you have a suitable jacket. Even in a pair of jeans it's fine. That's providing there's no wind. I've felt colder in Ireland when it's been 0 to +6ish but a biting wind than temperatures of -15 with no wind.

This is true.. Was in Canada 2 years ago and was up in the Rockies and it was
-15 a few days there, the sun was shining and to be honest it didnt bother
me in the slightest.. When I got off the plane back here in Ireland, it was
about 3 degrees, the wind was blowing and with driving rain, now that was
bloody cold..

One thing you will find about Toronto is that although they do get extremes in
weather unlike here, 40 degrees in summer with 90% huimidity and up to -30
degrees in winter with windchill, they are much better prepared for it.

It will be a complete culture shock when you get there as you wont find
people racing to the pub every Fri and Sat night to get drunk, they tend to
be a bit more civilised with going out. More house parties, dinner parties,
barbeques in summer etc etc..

They dont earn anything half as much as we do over here for equivalent jobs
but things there are a lot cheaper and if you live away from the city centre
in Toronto in some of the surburbs such as Oakville/Mississauga/Burlington
are all easily reachable using the 401 highway which goes downtown or using
the Go Train, a much more comfortable and better run version of the DART
which again goes right to the heart of Downtown Toronto.

Id personally move to Vancouver as it had a milder climate and all in all Id say
is a nicer city than Toronto as it had more parks, etc... They have developed
the Marina there and it now looks fantastic. The fact that its so close to
the Rockies and Columbia Mountain ranges means that weekends of skiing are
very do-able in places like Whistler, Banff and Lake Louise are only a few
hours drive away..

Living in Canada is something I definitely want to do and hopefully sooner
rather than later.

There is an option to buy a working Visa from USIT that allows you to work
there for a year without all the hassle of paperwork that you would have had
to go through a few years back.

Workpermit.com

Tox

Seanie M

I am from Canada, and I have been back since I moved here.

Great weather in summer, almost always snows in winter, they love Hallow'en and Easter (and you dont get ripped off for Easter eggs), got Tim Hortons (for the best and biggest muffins), fireworks are legal and the shows spectacular, and everything is cheaper then here except house prices - which are about the same!

2 types of police force (can't remember names of them), so you'll be quite safe. Like any place, grass always looks greener on the other side, but Canada does have its unemployment, its crime, and its laurels.

Oh, they speak Canadian, which is similar to English, so you should do fine!




Seanie.

ferdi

Seanie M wrote:

everything is cheaper then here except house prices - which are about the same!

are you serious????

that may change things.....one of my reasons for moving is the fact that i'll probably never be able to afford a house here....

ro_chez

Flukey wrote:

As to moving, what I would do is to remember "the grass is always greener...." idea. .

To right, it's decriminilised over there aint it, think I might pop over there for awhile mesmelf :cool:

ferdi

heh, i swear, its medicinal.

michaelanthony

The people seemed kind of short in Toronto - there are a lot of Greeks and Asians there. At the same time, it was a bit depressingly American mid west with little of a European feel to it. Ottawa was ok - a bit quiet and conservative. Somewhere to move to when you're ready to settle down I suppose. Montreal was nicer than Toronto aor Ottawa. It was like France ie. very cultural but strangely American with the skycrapers. There are a LOT of homeless people in Canada.

Flukey

I was in Canada in July 2002 for about 2 weeks, mostly in Toronto. If you remember, that was the really wet summer here. Over there it seemed that they had got our share of sun and we had got their share of rain. It was hot. Humidity is something too. I remember one evening standing waiting for a bus to go into town at about 10pm and the sweat was pouring off me. Sleeping was hard too because of the heat. Of course over a period of time you'd get used to all this. We had a great time while we were there and it is a lovely country. Outside the city, driving through the rural areas, it looks very like Ireland with green fields. Toronto is wealthy in parts. Flying in to Toronto as we looked out our windows we could see a lot of blue rectangles outside houses. They were swimming pools!

N_Raid

I was over there in 2001 for a month, just outside vancouver and From my experience I gotta agree with pretty much everything that has been said. America with a lot of the pluses and very few of the negatives.

To answer your question about the cops over there, from what I saw and from what my uncle was saying (he's been living there for about 20 years now) they are far from the right wing trigger happy maniac perception you have of american cops. They are a lot more easy going in general - I was talking to an on duty cop for about half an hour. He was asking me about Ireland etc. but it wasn't the American type - "You're from Ayerland? COOL! So where's your pot of gold?" - but they will do their job and they will enforce the laws. (wearing seatbelts was one thing I noticed they seemed to make sure of.)

Life in general seems a lot more easy-going too.
And everything is way cheaper. The one thing I remember I was amazed by was the Slush Puppies, slushies I think they call 'em over there, Anyway I got one in a 'Gas Station' It was over a litre for a friggin Dollar and seven cents! And it was a coca-cola one too.

Anywho yeah the House Prices. There's not a lot of difference between price of an average house over there and the average house over here. The difference is though, The average house over there is Massive compared to the dublin houses. The house my uncle is living in was was worth about €280,000 (when I was there anyway) cos there were houses exactly the same in the area going for about that price. The whole family lives on the top floor - There's that much room. There's three bedrooms,a bathroom, a kitchen and a dining/living room knocked into one. And that's only the the top floor! There's another bedroom downstairs with a living room and a garage that could easily fit two cars and two more bathrooms. And then there's the basement which has a games room, a bedroom and a bar!

And don't forget, if you're going over the legal age is 21 so if you do go over for the summer be prepared. (I mean be prepared to not drink, I wouldn't suggest anything as illegal as a fake I.D.! )

I was doing all the touristy stuff I know but there seemed a to be a hell of a lot more to do within a reasonable distance too.

Iago

ferdi wrote:

are you serious????

that may change things.....one of my reasons for moving is the fact that i'll probably never be able to afford a house here....

House Prices are cheaper, while in Toronto there were apartments going in the city centre from C$140,000 which is only about €100,000...houses in the suburbs ranged from C$300,000 to C$750,000 depending on what you wanted...

As well as that the salary range over there, while being less than over here is still enough to have a realistic chance of a mortgage, for example the salary range in TO for my area is between C$77,500 and C$97,500 so this makes buying an apartment/house feasible unlike Ireland...

also they have a great system over there were you can rent an apartment for say C$1,500 a month but C$800 a month of that is actually going towards the purchase price of the apartment!

tovalee

ferdi wrote:

how up tight is law inforcement? i have this image of US cops being trigger happy right wing maniacs, how is it there?

any help would be great.

its really just as big a stereotype as the drunken/ill tempered Irish sterotype. I know alot of cops from all over the states and there are good ones and bad ones like there are everywhere. Somewhere on the politics board(sorry i cant remember the thread) someone said (paraphrasing) that most Irish people form their opinions of Americans based on the rich tourists who visit Ireland or on the ones they meet while on Holiday in places like New York or other large cities. Neither of these groups fairly represent the TYPICAL American. The vast majority of the country live in rural and suburban areas. The idea that everyone has a gun or that its not safe to walk down the street is silly too. Anyway, i'm really REALLY not trying to start a huge debate or ruffle anyone's feathers. Please dont attack me!!! :eek: I just wanted to help clear up some misconceptions. oh , and i live in Ohio,and once you get out of the big cities and into the suburbs, houseing prices really aren't too bad. In the area i live in, you can have a nice 3 bedroom house with about a half acre yard for less than $80,000. you may have to drive 10 or 15 minutes to get to work, but well worth it in my humble opinion.Especially since cars and fuel are quite affordable.

Waltons

All this sounds great. Hell, I might end up going over myself. The missus has been over for a bit, and she has very few bad things to say, and a lot of good things.
Go for it ferdi!

Basq

Was in Calgary and British Colombia a few years back on holiday - amazing country!!

Would really recommend it!

Was in Las Vegas too, which i didn't like at all!

Am planning to go back to Canada for a long holiday after i've finished my Degree.

cerebus

ferdi wrote:

can anyone give me any personal experiences of Canada?

Lots of good advice/comments on this thread so far.

We did something similar about 4 years ago - moved to Vancouver, BC and have not regretted it at all. Currently getting all psyched up for the new ski season

I'd suggest applying for that USIT one-year visa thing. We met an Irish couple last weekend who have just arrived on one and are hoping to get landed immigrancy afterwards.

I think it would be a good way to try the country out and make sure you like it. If everything works out well and you like it here you can apply for an immigrant visa - if you decide that it isn't for you, then just head home.

spooiirt!!

Off topic: Hey ferdi, im now officially a student at Bonn University. Thats actually the college that Joseph Goebells went to! How bout that eh? No other real news. Got a bird yet?

On topic: If you really wanna do it, go ahead man! Try and arrange a job BEFORE you leave Ireland tho, dont do what i did!

Good luck

Superman

spooiirt!! wrote:

im now officially a student at Bonn University

Hey spoirt, hope its goin well for you, no news from here, Nearly got to see sinead the other week but wasn't able to get into d|two, so had to go to red box, it was "deadly buzz"

Anyway ...... back on topic.... Ferdi I think you should defo try and get a job first cause I was talkin to a few lad's that went and one guy went in a group of 12 but 8 had to come back, no jobs! well not in vancouver!
I also think you would like it alot more than Benji did cause he did not make use of his time there, plus he was in the sticks.

See you round man

karlh

anything to get out of this greedy, rude, backward, angry, money-grabbing kip of a country.

go for it!