Canada help please!

[hockeypuck]

Vaguelly thinking of one day pursuing our dream to relocate to Canada for 2-3 years short term.

Is there a website with information of what skills you need to get a work visa. My DH is in design engineering, I either wouldn't work and would study there or try and pick up some low paid work there.

Any help greatfully appreciated!

No, its always good to get the downsides of a place.

Europeans are generally far more aware of what they eat than North Americans (intensive beef farming in the States is horrific) and Britain is second to none on farm animal welfare. Any ideas why Americans and Canadians don't worry so much about the way their food is raised? Do you have GM crops in Canada as I know it is pretty big in America now?

i miss miss miss the snow
there was about an inch of snow on the ground and it was almost magical (london)
hate that my kids won't know what real snow is, and snowforts, and snowfightrs, and snowdays sigh

(sorry slgiht hijack)

hmm
don't agree with that callisto - that na aren't as 'food aware' as europeans. My sibilings certainly are ( in Canada)

Sorry Hana, it was a dreadful generalisation I must admit - I base it on my experience of Americans and what my yankee friends are like (and what I know about US farming).

Snow is something I long for too, and space. Britain seems so crowded.

Depends where you live in the States as well. Here in Colorado they're very much into Organic everything and it's much much cheaper to buy organic produce than in the UK. Alberta is supposed to be fantastic my best friend from Scotland has just moved to that province form Saskatchewan (she loathed it there). And another friend is contemplating moving there from here. My Scottish friend used an Immigration lawyer and they got visas within 3mnths and have now permanent residency in 18mnths. It's expensive but it's certainly a way to go. If you got french another huge plus as are IT skills.

alipiggie, where do you buy your organic food from?

MYsister lives in Littleton and is struggling to find decent food

Alberta appeals to me too. Your friend must have gone over on a work visa and got PR through PNP because the current wait for skilled worker residency is four years and rising. My partner and I are going down the work visa and PNP route. Just need to find a job first.

a generalisation yes but nobody i've met here is even aware of the GM thing and it's not so much the raising of the meat, it's all the horrific chemicals they put in things.

we spent about 1/2 hour the other day looking for lard. we eventually found it, on the shelf beside the cake mixes, not refrigerated. the package said 'pure lard' but when i looked at the label it was full of 'BHT/BHA' which is a big nasty carcenegenic chemical added so they don't have to refridgerate it. and it's the only thing available. msg, tartrazine you name it and don't even get me started on the cream. it's almost all U.H.T. which various chemicals and preservatives added.

alberta v v popular at the moment, is v cash rich province

and hana, what I find is that everything here in extremes so using your siblings food awareness as an example... a small amount of people here will be very aware and it will be a big part of their life, the other majority will not be aware at all and completely oblivious. there never seems to be a middle ground ie: people who are aware enough to make some well informed decisions at the grocery store like 'fruit good, tartrazine bad'

Callisto yes she did. Her dh is an HGV driver and they're in short supply in SK and Canada in general. Probably a lot to do with the distances travelled. What kind of jobs are you looking for? She's a registered Mental Health Nurse and has requalified for Canada.

Spykid, surprised your sister in Littleton can't find decent food. My Safeways stock's great organic food and reasonable prices. You want the more expensive option - Whole Foods or Wild Oats are the places to go. Definitely if you want fish.

Sorry for the hijack.

alberta is booming big styley. quite a place to be right now.

yes
agree daddycool

Good luck - it took my sister about five years and a marriage to a Canadian to be able to work out there!

when we were home lasy year was v v hard evev yto find organic produce

Yeah, I find organic stuff harder to find in Montreal and Toronto than in London, for sure.

There were some quite alternative Californians who were visiting a neighbour, and thought our local Budgens was a specialist organic store, because it stocks so much organic stuff (nb: it hasn't got much! Some milk, cheese, yogurt)

And yeah, there are some very aware people, and lots of not-at-all aware people.

just back from lunch with dw and she's the same as me. Just doesn't know what to do. should we stay or should we go. who knows.

i wqould love to move back
but grass is in't always greeenre i knwo

Hana - i'm in my little office right now, 100 yards from lake ontario, just watching the birds floating on the waves, 6 inches of snow down to the shoreline. it's very nice. very very very difficult to make a decision.

I'm in Cobourg btw about 1 hour east of Toronto.

Alipiggie - partner is a manufacturing manager so is looking for a production/operations role. There are plenty of manufacturing companies in BC, Alberta and Ontario so hopefully something will come up and a company will want DP enough to go through the rigmarole of LMO's, visa's etc. The biggest problem is building up a network of contacts in a country you don't live in as most Canadian vacancies are filled by word of mouth.

Sadly there is almost no manufacturing in Britain any more so even if we wanted to stay and DP meeded another job we would probably have to look abroad. Luckily my job means I can work from anywhere as long as I have broadband and a laptop.

Alberta is booming and is set to do so for the next decade from all I have heard. I have also heard that Manitoba is currently suffering a massive labour shortage as more people are leaving than arriving. Anyone else know anything about that?

Meeded a job? Hmm.

Callisto, would you like my friend to keep her eye out in the local paper for any Manufacturing Mngr positions, she can email them to me and I can do likewise??

dc
sounds lovely

That would be very kind of you Alipiggie. How do you want to do the RL contact as I am a bit reluctant to post my email address on here and not sure how cat-ing works. We can private message on expats if you get yourself a profile (its free).

daddycool, you didn't mention housing. Don't you find housing much cheaper than the uk (except for maybe vancouver/toronto/calgary). How do you think it compares. I don't know how we coudl ever afford a house in the UK but we can get a big house and land in canada. Coburg is lovely by the way. I agree north america has a work too much culture that is killing us. But if you don't buy into it, and some of us don't. As to the food, we are waking up to the additive problem in our food. I find uk fruit and veg so juicy and fresh over here compared to canada. but you can find fresh stuff especially in the summer if you go out to the farms and buy it fresh. And our fish is wonderful.