Talk to me about what it's like to live in Canada

[GabrielleChanel]

DH got made redundant earlier in the year - I WFH in digital marketing - could do it anywhere have 1 DC at high school and three in primary.
Just really thinking about changes we can make in our life and whether now is the time to do it.

Sponsorship is only possible either via a spouse or immediate family member or a job. Basically if you don't have a spouse or immediate family member who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who is eligible and willing to be a sponsor - and I don't know if or how that would work for a married couple plus kids - you have to be in an shortage occupation and get sponsored by an employer who has to show that they can't find anyone in Canada to do the job. There is a points based express entry system but the points are skewed towards younger people who are in relevant skilled occupations, again I don't know if or how it would work for bringing a whole family here. I think for that one you also have to apply to a specific province and get nominated by them if you meet all the points criteria. I'm not trying to rain on your parade but I think you need to do a lot of research and figure out if you meet the eligibility criteria for any of the entry programmes.

Re. the prices, my car insurance is $2000, for a relatively new Outback and an F150. That's with AllState taking into account my 15+ years no-claims from the UK. My cellphone contract with Rogers is $80 per month. I took the attached photo last year to show a friend in the UK the supermarket prices here, nearly $10 for a small piece of smoked cheese and $6 (sale price!) for a cauliflower at the local Co-Op 😭😂

No it’s as cheap as it can be for our car. The old system used to be that NC in the UK wasn’t recognized in BC, but now it’s years driving over all and that’s it. So I’ve had a licence for over 20 years and there’s no more discount- unless I wanted lower protection or liability cover etc which makes a tiny difference but not so much as it’s worth it.

look i know that at times fresh produce is scare due to the trans canada shutting down but cauliflower at that price is rare.
www.walmart.ca/en/ip/cauliflower/6000191272323
$3.97 today.
and the applewood smoked gouda is a pricey item but costco has an excellent selection of cheeses at half the price.
inner city toronto is pricey but within a reasonable distance you would find amazing places for 1M canadian.
www.realtor.ca/real-estate/21924998/3084-similkameen-place-kamloops
amazing view and lovely city...not TO but this was up on my fb page.

It's that price pretty much all the time at that supermarket, it's our closest one and I'm there several times a week. I know Wal-Mart is cheaper but I don't like the quality of the produce in the stores near us. Even at $3.97 (£2.33) though that's still 2.5x the price at Tesco (89p on their website) and it was the relative prices that I was really referring to - having moved relatively recently from the UK I really was shocked by how comparatively expensive good quality fresh food is here, and I'm not trying to feed a family. I spend a much higher proportion of my income on groceries here than I did in the UK to get stuff of equal quality, and I don't find the selection of many products nearly as good as in the UK. There are lots of things that I think are better about Canada than the UK, but the cost and range of groceries isn't one of them.

I think the price of cauliflower isn't the OP's priority so much as finding out if it's even possible for them to gain entry though so I do apologise for the tangent 😄

The cost of food here is high for most items. The range I feel is similar (depending where you are), though most of our grocers don’t have as many lovely own-brand prepared items, but raw ingredients are fine. I’m vegetarian, so good fruit and veg is important to me. Cheese is hella expensive for sure.

I drive an older Honda, I didn’t realize it was that much more for a bigger/newer vehicle.

Outside coastal BC friends tell me you’re likely to pay a lot in fuel costs to keep warm through most Canadian winters.

Fallfallfall, that link looks like it’s to Kamloops. There wouldn’t be anything for OP’s hubby to work on and they’d be stuck in Kamloops. Maritimes are nice, but not sure what work he could do there unless he could parlay his experience into government work?

Do people still get extra points for speaking both official languages? That used to be the case.

My DH worked in Montreal for a while in his 20's when he could bum around being a ski instructor and loved it.

Last year we did a 3 week road trip from Calgary to Victoria via Banff, Whistler and Vancouver for his 40th.

We had similar thoughts about moving but the reality when we looked into it was:

(a) It would be harder than we thought to get a visa

(b) Everywhere that was a reasonable price to buy the big Canadian homes we dreamed of had little in the way of employment

(c) Everywhere that had decent employment prospects was horrendously expensive (and we live in commuter belt land in Hampshire so not exactly cheap here)

I'm wondering if you could move further out OP?

We live 1hr 15 from London at the end of a mainline route and it would most definitely not cost £2M here for 5-6 beds.

We have a 4 bed detached for £535k, gorgeous Hampshire countryside, quaint villages with thatched roof houses, excellent schools...

@GabrielleChanel Nova Scotia and PEI are very small isolated communities, beautiful for sure but nothing more than that. Employment may be a big problem but even just finding like-minded people as there are many humans in general around there. I will never forget the funniest thread from quite a few years a ago of a brit lady who moved to NS and had the shock of her life. She tells her story with such great humour, I think it was on this website britishexpats or MN, can't remember now..

By the way, this website is the go to place if you are getting serious, you'll find some very detailed info there:

britishexpats.com/forum/

I know you are quite far off moving, but if you do start planning seriously I would not commit to any place without having a proper visit first, see and feel it for yourself (although short visits can be deceiving as you only scratch the surface)

Shopping for fantasy properties is my hobby too, amazing what you can find around the world for the price of an extension around here... I "moved" to Costa Rica once, to a beachside with a pool and a garden full of palm trees for 200k.

NS and PEI are entire provinces! Not “communities”!
Maybe the OP would enjoy New Brunswick?
Dream away OP, it’s a huge country.

Halifax/Dartmouth Nova Scotia (across the bridge from each other) have a population of around half a million, so not that isolated. I’d move to NS in a minute if I didn’t have adult kids in BC. NS looks gorgeous and affordable (not likely OP’s hubby could get a job there, but for anyone with sponsorship it could be viable).

Hi, fellow Canadian/Brit here.

Nova Scotia and PEI are entire provinces, but they are tiny and they do have a community feel. It’s hard to convey just how closely knit these places can be.

Halifax is lovely, but it’s a glorified village. If you fly to Halifax from within Canada, everyone on the flight will be chatting with each other. Don’t be surprised if people invite you to their house.

This sort of community suits some people, but definitely not all.

I’d be very surprised if you could find a half decent 8 bedroom house, even in PEI, for £100k.

As for posters commenting on hockey being front page news- yeah, like football isn’t just as consuming in Britain.

@Yellownotblue not like hockey. The topic lives in the sport section, where it belongs. it's rarely a national from page news unless some manor incident or England won the World Cup!

I lived In New Brunswick for a short time and loved it.
the summer's are proper summer's and the winters proper winters.
food is more expensive and not as good quality .
leisure time is good and feels v relaxed

Happy Canada Day!