Life in Canada

Outline

Outline

Outline

Associate
Joined
4 Nov 2010
Posts
801
The emigration thread running around at the moment is ever so interesting, but I wanted to get some more specific posts, as this is of interest to me.

What are people's thoughts/opinions/experiences on living in Canada, and whereabouts is best? It's a rather popular destination for us to move to, and I'd like to hear some of the reasons for this.
 
I lived in Ontario Canada for a year while I studied there. Great place to live. Winter though, -20 for most of the time, -25 in montreal when I was there...

would recommend
 
I've been out there a few times for 1-2 week trips - definitely would be one of my top places to live other than the UK. British Columbia is a popular destination and very awesome if you like the outdoors life - yes it gets very cold in winter but life tends to be geared more around it. Southern parts of BC like Vancouver can get depressingly rainy at certain times of year (even by UK standards) which some people don't like tho I don't mind it myself.

Lots of Ontario is actually very flat which took me by suprise I've always thought Canada to be all mountainous and also as far south as France which also wasn't my perspective of it - so it often gets blistering during the summer and freezing in the winter.

Most of the people I ran into were pretty relaxed and easier to get on with than I've found on average in the UK and life in general seemed a bit more down to earth.
 
Last edited:
Rroff said:
Thats because its as far south as Paris :D (and near the sea) you don't have to go far inland and its a very different story.
Click to expand...

Canada is so huge though that it's worth pointing out there can be huge variations in temperature - it's also worth remembering that something like 90% live within 300 miles of the American border.

I lived and worked in Vancouver for about 3 months a few years back and briefly visited the other side to see a mate (Moncton/Shediac sort of area) and B.C. was fantastic. I'd highly recommend Vancouver but it depends what you like - it's a busy city, not on the scale of London but still busy, it's fairly close to lots of outdoor activities (kayaking/sailing/snowboarding/mountain biking/hiking etc), it's quite multicultural and generally the people were very friendly. That's not to say it doesn't have problems or downsides but I'd happily go back.
 
scorza said:
Heard it can be quite cold in winter.
Click to expand...

So many people have said this to me when they know that I'm moving there. For the most part, it's true, but I'm heading to Vancouver which has very similar temperatures to the UK.

In fact, yesterday it was 0 degrees here and 7 degrees in Vancouver. Toronto on the other hand was -7, very cold!
 
ScarySquirrel said:
So many people have said this to me when they know that I'm moving there. For the most part, it's true, but I'm heading to Vancouver which has very similar temperatures to the UK.

In fact, yesterday it was 0 degrees here and 7 degrees in Vancouver. Toronto on the other hand was -7, very cold!
Click to expand...

Pffft -7?? try growing up in a remote northern ontario town where during the winter the average winter temp was -15c to -20c;). Now that was ****ing cold coupled with snow blizzards during the night so that when you woke up, you were either trapped indoors and couldnt go anywhere because you literally had a 6ft snowdrift keeping you in:p. But the great thing was people just got on with their lives, spent many a cold wintery morning or afternoon shovelling snow.

Anyhow OP i spent almost 20 yrs of my life living there, born here but grew up in Canada...still got my canadian accent too:p

As people have said depending on where you live, it does get very cold in the winter but wouldnt worry too much about it as the houses there are built for the winter. None of this boiler and radiator combo to heat your house but rather a gas furnace downstairs and big aluminum pipes that go underneath the house to heat the house via floor ducts that pump out hot air.

Summer time?? can get quite warm and humid again depending on which part of Canada you live in. I spend a lot of time in Toronto myself as my brother, sis in law and his kids live there. Winter is cold there but not as cold as the more northern parts of Canada and summertime can be very hot and humid there.
 
Cousin lives there with her husband and kid, they seem to like it, looks cold but they managed to get working visa's to live there properly.

Seems to like it, especially as the driving test is a lot simpler than here, shes failed the uk one 6 or 7 times now (lots of speeding) and the big bike test twice. Not sure she's cut out for driving....
 
Just Skyped with a friend who lives just outside Montreal.
It's been as much as -30 and lots of snow recently.
Today it's -20 and snowing.
It's a much more relaxed way of life over there compared to the UK from what I have gathered.
 
I suppose things that stick out in my memory from living there are the following:

- The weather and terrain... of course this varies depending on where in Canada we are talking.

- Outdoor activities all within easy reach of a capital city.

- People are just genuinely more friendly. Be it in a shop, or wherever. It was actually one of the first things I noticed when readjusting to moving back to the UK, as to how miserable and often unhelpful people can be.

- I find that Canadians have a different vibe to Americans, but their rivalry is quite amusing.
 
quite warm at -11 here. You do get used to it quickly and once the wind drops, it doesn't feel cold.

Also we're still getting used to having to add tax onto all the prices.

When you're out of the cities there is a lot of space. It's the second largest country in the world and has a population of 32M, so about half the UK.
 
Lived in Toronto for 3 years. Twice i withdrew 100 dollars from the banks cashpoint on payday and walked off with just my card, forgetting the cash. Both times someone took the money and went into the bank and handed it in lol.
 
Its like living in the USA but better because you get healthcare and most likely the people arn't as selfish as the yanks.

And you can still hang a picture of Her Maj in your office if you like.
 
Outline said:
It's so tempting to just up and go.
Click to expand...

Do it! If you're under 30 you can get a 1 year working holiday visa really easily. Applications are due to open any day now, and when you get accepted you receive a letter which is then valid for 12 months, so you don't have to leave straight away.

http://www.canadainternational.gc.c...xperience_canada_experience/index.aspx?view=d

My girlfriend and I just decided randomly one day that we'll do it. A little over a year later and it's now 35 days until we leave!
 
randomshenans said:
Just got a JD about a position in Quebec, as it happens. Not sure I'd fancy Canada, or Quebec. Not that I know much about it there, mind.
Click to expand...

Depends on how good your french is, although Canadian french is a strange animal.

[edit] Just seen that you're in France already. Mrs deej grew up in France and is completely fluent, but has trouble with Canadian french. They don't seem to follow the rules and it seems to her that sometimes they just make stuff up.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom