AIBU to think life would be better in Canada?

[ButtercupsAndBluebells]

I've always been very happy with my life in the UK, but I am starting to feel so disillusioned (as many others are too, judging by several other threads I've read today). My brother moved to Canada (Calgary, Alberta) a few years ago and is currently staying with us for a visit. Although he hasn't been openly critical or boastful, it's obvious that he's been taken aback by how things have deteriorated here. He seems to have such a wonderful life, and it's left me feeling very flat about my own.

I know I shouldn't compare, but it's hard not to. DH and I have similar jobs to my brother and SIL. They have the huge house and cars, a fantastic family doctor, a mobile home that they take into the mountains most weekends, access to the most incredible wilderness despite living in a city. In contrast, we have a small 3 bed terrace without any parking, disposable income is shrinking month by month and let's not even mention the state of the NHS. We live in a really nice area, but there's still litter everywhere and it's like nobody cares about their surroundings.

I have done some reading online and I think we'd have a good chance of being accepted to migrate ourselves, but would it really be that different? I'm tying myself in knots thinking about it. Please can someone either talk me down or give me some encouragement!

Can’t speak to Canada but I live in the Pacific Northwest (just below Canada). We moved just before covid. Our standard of living is way higher. DH and I do the same things we did in the UK. He is paid 2x, I am paid 1.5x, both work fewer hours, same amount of vacation. We do pay for healthcare, £10k/year for our family in total (with very low further costs even if we needed very expensive hospital treatment) so nowhere near the difference in salary. Difference being if I want to see MY doctor, who knows who I am, knows my DC, my mum, my aunt and half the rest of my extended family, I can easily get a same day appointment. Our house is bigger, it’s actually insulated, we can bike or walk everywhere… we don’t have commutes as WFH very common… can get to the mountains in 45 minutes, ocean in 10 on the bike… I have no regrets about leaving London.

Canada definitely has different challenges, but a lot of similarities with the PNW especially with respect to access to the outdoors.

We have family there .its a beautiful country, but cities like vancouver are very busy and take about 2 hours to drive into.the cost of living is fairly high and justin trudeau is not very popular. So good and bad really

I didn't say "the same as."

But in trying to describe the political culture to someone in the UK, yes, Alberta is more like the US in many ways. Albertan politics has a very different flavour than much of the rest of the country.

Calgary is very expensive to live in and the winters are very harsh. Work and money are prioritised over everything.

I really wanted to live somewhere that had a Mediterranean spring and summer, a New England autumn and a Proper Winter. Kelowna was suggested by someone I know who lives in Vancouver. My only concern is that there might be too much winter. (I don’t mind severity, but I hear it goes on a bit!)

When DD leaves home I am making a plan to retire early and bum around in a campervan for my active retirement years. I want spend time in the UK (which we already do a lot) and Europe, but also America, Canada, NZ and Aus. I’m sure I’ll find somewhere I want to spend my dotage.

Legalized cannabis is not all it's cracked up to be, IMO. I was fairly neutral about the change, I now wish it hadn't.

For whatever reason a lot of people seem to have interpreted it as meaning it has no health implications at all. It's super common at my kids school for parents to buy their middle school kids cannabis. When I drive through the local First Nations community, the main street is just one place after another selling cannabis. Every crackpot thinks it is the solution to every health issue. And if you live in something like an apartment and your neighbour is a smoker, he's probably not going to feel obligated to be discrete about stinking up the whole place.

I've lived there and I can tell you that many of the problems we have are the same there. Cost of living is huge. Medical insurance expensive. Car insurance expensive. Drugs are prolific. The admin is painful for visas bank accounts etc. Everything is far - because its so big everything is spaced out popping to the shop is pesky. You really need to drive every where. Its wet or it was in the bit I went to. But the air is so clean an

I'd never live in a country where parents can be arrested because they won't call their son a daughter.

Or where a business can be closed down because a woman won't wax a oerverted man's genitals.

Very expensive, didn’t like the food quality, long drives, lots of other bad points too. It isn’t perfect.

I don’t like Trudeau, but those complaining about him being authoritarian are usually deluded nut jobs.

As to the OP’s questions, it is really hard to give an account of what living in Canada is like, as it varies so much from place to place (much more so than in the UK).

In Vancouver and Toronto, you’ll likely work longer hours than in the UK, but for better money. Unfortunately, everything is also very expensive, particularly housing. There’s also a lot more visible homelessness and drug use than in the UK.

There are numerous small towns that could be pleasant to live in, but the country is so vast you can be very isolated.

In Vancouver, the climate is broadly similar to the UK’s, and you won’t often see snow. Other areas of the country will be snow-covered for parts of the year and you might see -40.

If you’re living and working in Quebec, it’s obviously quite culturally difference than the Anglophone provinces.

I think that, if you’re serious, you need to figure out which areas of the country you might want to live in first.

@Eeksteek If that's the climate you want then wouldn't the east coast be better? That sounds like Ontario/Quebec to me. The west can be very wet and grey. (I used to live in the US but on the Quebec border and that was exactly our climate. Absolutely glorious but I love the long winters because I ski.)

@ChilliPB I thought you might say somewhere in Scotland After a decade up here I cannot imagine living in central/southern England. I even find it claustrophobic visiting.

Good news! Neither of those things happen in Canada.

In the first case you reference, a father was not jailed for misgendering anyone, but for persistently releasing their teenager’s personal (including medical) information, in breach of a court order.

In the second case, the courts ruled against the trans woman in question and in favour of the salons.

Why did your daughter choose the UK?
OP- when did you last visit them in Canada? If you are brave, then do it

Not the Okanagon. It’s a high desert climate. It’s full of vineyards, although I believe closer to the coast that’s the case. I’m very much looking forward to researching all the possibilities very thoroughly, though!

My son, age 30, has spent the last 9 years working between the U.K. and Canada….he got PR after 3 years and finally has his citizenship ceremony next week so will be able to apply for a Canadian passport as well as having U.K. one….he lives just outside Edmonton….he’s bought a house ….he’s about 3.5 hours from Jasper in the Rockies…..he loves the Rockies….goes a lot in summer and winter ….we’ve only visited in Summer……he works away in Fort McMurray …he gets flown out by his company to work…he works 2 weeks on…2 weeks off….free accommodation and food whilst in work….lso often comes home on his 2 weeks off. I’ve seen more of Canada than he has ….he prefers to spend his time off visiting other countries or coming home to U.K. ….he has no interest in any other part of Canada…..he’s been to Vancouver but apart from that has never been out of Alberta…we loved the Rockies but Edmonton and Calgary are a bit meh…… didn’t mind Toronto but nothing special….liked touring rest of Ontario tho….want to visit PEI next time we go visit him.

I wouldn’t believe about the fantastic health care for sure, Canada is in a real mess health care wise. So much so that we’ve put off our plans to move there, and dh is Canadian. Taxes are high and if you get good health care I’m ok with that but most provinces have a health care worker shortage and you wait forever for appointments that is if you even can get a doctor. In Nova Scotia the wait to get a GP is Three years!! Not even one you like, mind you, just any GP available!

I’m in the States and I can see a health care provider the same day if I need to. I’m having some health concerns at the moment and I can’t imagine waiting even a week to get an appointment!

What kind of work are you in?

I live in Victoria in BC, it's really fucking expensive here... a flat costs $500,000 minimum, my shop for a family of 4 is $270 per WEEK. There are 900,000 in BC with no access to their own family dr. Yes it's beautiful, but there are downsides too

still cheaper than London though

Where on earth are you? Not everywhere I'll think you'll find! I'm in West Sussex near the South Downs and it's very pleasant thanks.

It is a little cheaper than The City.

However, a problem is that the surrounding areas are rarely any cheaper.

Vancouver is more expensive than Victoria. If you want a detached home, you need to be at least a millionaire. If you were working in London, and we’re not rich, you would buy or rent outside of the City and commute in. Even if you move 1.5 - 2 hours outside of Vancouver, the housing is only slightly more affordable (and you probably spend a lot of the difference on the commute).

I have a lot of family in Canada. My experience from visiting, which may not be entirely well-rounded, is that the food quality is pretty bad compared to here, it’s either boiling or freezing and that no one actually comes from there. Virtually everyone I’ve met is from another country originally. The lack of ‘old’ buildings and other cultural things we take for granted also messed with my head more than I thought it would.

Obviously it almost certainly varies throughout the country, but I find most of the food in BC to be far, far better quality than in the UK.

Some things (like cheese) are a lot more expensive though.

Where the fuck do you visit then?🙄
I live in a lovely little market town in NW….I’m 1 hour from the Lake District….one hour from Wales….30 mins from Liverpool and 45 from Manchester….keep your shock for your own country….. it’s just fine where I am

My dd moved to Alberta a few years ago, she loved it at first but is now desperate to come home (to Ireland). Property is cheap and summers are fabulous but the winters are very harsh and she is sick of the cold and the snow. Wages are similar to here and she actually feels she would have a better quality of life back home.