Canada..........advice from Canadians or expats in Canada

[inthepink]

We live in the Middle East at the moment but we have been thinking of moving on and we thought we might like Canada as a place to live and work, my dh is a chef and we have 1 ds who is 4. Would appreciate some advice from Canadians or expats who have moved to Canada, where is the best place to live (bearing in mind we don't speak French!), education, housing, cost of living,etc, the good and not so good of Canadian life.

TIA

Vancouver, Vancouver, Vancouver................

You need DaddyCool - He's Canadian, isn't he? And NQC?

I worked on and off in Toronto for 3 years and really loved it. Very cosmopolitan, good quality of life, nice people, lovely places to get to, big tourist and international business traffic, so presumably a good place for chefs.

I always thought Vancouver too but the cost of living there seems very high.

Check out the discussion forum on discovervancouver.com . There's a lot on there so it's best to use search or post your own question.

Vancouver is also a long way from the UK whereas Toronto is closer (shorter - cheaper? - flights). I shifted to Toronto but then DH is in IT and jobs in IT seem very thin on the ground in Vancouver.

hello! I'm from the Toronto area and lived there until I was 21. I've been in the UK for the past 9 years though. i went backpacking and never got around to going back home.

the biggest thing to look out for in Canada is the employment situation. Unemployment is high in Canada and the 'real' jobs are concentrated in the cities but of course city living is pricey so commuting is almost a must.

toronto is highly industrialised and built up. Some would argue that Ontario (the province where toronto and the majority of the population reside) is just an extension to the US and part of me would agree... but it is quite nice.

Very harsh winters (up to -35), very hot and humid summers (up to 35).

Vancouver is beautiful and is booming with many jobs available it seems but very pricey to reflect the high standard of living. Don't forget Vancouver Island. It's a lovely place to live with a growing economy and a cheaper price to live than mainland vancouver. Vancouver is what you mostly associate canada with - big mountains and lakes and majestic scenery.

We're currenty trying to sell up in the UK to return to Canada. Ontario is where we are going with a view of checking out vancouver as a holiday.

Canada and Canadians can be a bit 'hillybilly' and close minded to anyone outside north america though and beware of professional arrogance or non-recognision of your husband's qualifications and experience outside North America. I'm finding that a particularly difficult thing to come to terms with and I'm having to do my homework on the net to determine how much my UK qualification really is recognised.

As well, beware of the 2 weeks holiday just like the states! it can sometimes be a little 'live to work' mentality like the US, unlike the UK or Australia.

Thanks so much for all your replies, we are thinking of going on holiday there first off to check things out, but it is such a long flight from here but seems worth it. Will do more checking and will check out that website Gem13. Lots of thinking to do......

DaddyGhoul, forgot to say that I think the winters would be hard to deal with for me, dh would love it, he likes the cold!!! It is still 40+ degrees here,it has been a very long and very, very hot summer this year

Daddyghoul, does the two week holiday thing apply in Vancouver, too?

I love Vancouver, and when we were on holiday there had various dreams of moving...

yes, canada, like the US, has a standard 2 weeks holiday. It kind of works like this most the time:

statuatory holiday time is 2 weeks (10 days), with the company over 5 years, 3 weeks, with the company over 10 years, 4 weeks... and I think it kind of caps there. the additional weeks are completely up to the employer and aren't mandatory. This also only applies to some of the bigger companies.

They're big on loyalty over there. My plan is to do contract work and take big chunks of unpaid time off in between contracts.

just a small warning re the immigration process... our application took 2 years to process (by which point our lives had changed and we decided not to go..). We were planning on going to Victoria which is truly beautiful with a fantastic standard of living.

My brother lives in Vancouver and loves it, I can find out more inform for you if you like ? I have visited once and thought it was a great place. He frequently goes skiing in Whistler if thats your thing.

Daddyghoul, I am understanding this right, that you only get 2 weeks paid holiday per year, I've never heard of this but then again I don't really know that much about Canadian/US rules.
Golds, we have never been skiing but would love to learn and we want ds to learn and he is probably at the right age for it, he would probably be much better than us. p.s. they are building an indoor ski slope/resort type of thing here in Dubai so may be able to see how good (or not) we are!!!

Two weeks is standard in Canada, all over. The vacation allowance is really poor.

If you don't speak French, and you want reasonable weather, I think the coasts are your best bet - either New Brunswick/Nova Scotia/PEI or BC. The first three are cheaper, but less multicultural, I think. Lovely terrain, probably not so good for skiing, good weather, quite cheap.

I think state schools are pretty good.

I would find living in Canada again hard, as people are quite alarmingly direct about things. If they think you're doing something wrong, particularly with your kids, they just come up and tell you!

But the food is better than in the UK.

NCQ - apart from the quality of the schools it sounds alot like Germany . Funnily enough I'm thinking of Canada as my next stop after Germany in a few years time....but not if takes 2 years to get a work permit residency visa thingy.

You want to CAT Cadmum, she's over there at the mo and has lived all over the shop!

We're on our way there (Nova Scotia) after 8 years in Ireland. Literally we're moving there next week! There is quite a long immigration process, could be up to 18 months. I'm Canadian and had to sponsor my husband through a "family class" application, even though we're married. Where did you live, NQC? I wouldn't say that Canadians are any more direct than British people...

A good website for jobs in Atlantic Canada (the nicest, and cheapest part) is careerbeacon.com; it has listings for other areas too. Good luck!

I lived in Montreal and Toronto - they're where I went back to this summer, to be alarmed by people talking to me about my parenting choices rather too much.

I live in London here, and people are just much less in your face. I'm sure it varies, region to region here, like anywhere else.

I LOVED living in St Albert Alberta and that was a real shock because I grew up on Vancouver Island.

I love the entire West Coast and your DH should find it possible to find work there as there are more seats in restaurants than there are people who live there (tourism accounts for this strange phenonmenon.

I currently live in Ottawa and I am not enjoying life in Ontario so cannot recommend it. Atlantic Canada is beautiful as well but does have harsher winters than the West.

I would be happy to answer any specific questions about any of the areas where I have lived. (Victoria, Vancouver, St Albert/Edmonton, Ottawa) I am also familiar with Calgary, Banff, and Halifax from summer vacations...

Sorry, I am typing with one hand as I try to amuse DS2...

im sorry to hijack but im looking for cheap flights to Toronto, any websites that you could recommend would be appreciated.

Absolutely! ZOOM. Their service is fantastic as well! Will find a link.

Zoom

Thanks, it looks great unfortunatley they are sold out. Gem13 recommended them earlier.

When are you planning to travel?

Its for my friends husband hes got 2 weeks holidays , anytime from 22 december. He doesnt mind flying out xmas day etc. My friend, his wife is out there for 2 months visiting their families.