What's it like to live in Canada?

[NewEnglander2525]

I agree that you should visit for a month or so to really get a feel for what you're getting into.

Many of us have come here thinking that we would find the place that we all think of when think of Canada - a place of vast beauty, nice people, and free of a lot of the social problems that plague the U.S. That image is shattered when we are faced with the realities of an out-of-control cost of living, low wages, unfriendly/unhelpful people, rampant incompetence, etc. The worst part about it is that Canadians themselves deny all these things; even the counselors and shrinks are blind to it and try to make it seem like it's all you.

Let me illustrate my point further about living here. I lived in Mississauga for a while. While living there my wife and I thought that our baby boy had accidentally ingested an adult-sized Tylenol capsule. As we raced to the hospital with our emergency lights on, honking for people to get out of the way, an astonishingly high number of vehicles refused to let us pass. As we neared the turning lane for the hospital, a car that was in the turning lane saw us and slowed to a crawl, refusing to move over. As we finally got through, my wife looked at the driver, who was laughing at us..

People need to think HARD before moving here. As with anything, there is perception and then there is reality. Don't buy into perception, buy into reality, and take it from someone who has spent many, many years in the US: the REALITY of living in the US (vs. the perception) is vastly superior to the REALITY of living in Canada.

 

[Line.a]

I agree that you should visit for a month or so to really get a feel for what you're getting into.

Many of us have come here thinking that we would find the place that we all think of when think of Canada - a place of vast beauty, nice people, and free of a lot of the social problems that plague the U.S. That image is shattered when we are faced with the realities of an out-of-control cost of living, low wages, unfriendly/unhelpful people, rampant incompetence, etc. The worst part about it is that Canadians themselves deny all these things; even the counselors and shrinks are blind to it and try to make it seem like it's all you.

Let me illustrate my point further about living here. I lived in Mississauga for a while. While living there my wife and I thought that our baby boy had accidentally ingested an adult-sized Tylenol capsule. As we raced to the hospital with our emergency lights on, honking for people to get out of the way, an astonishingly high number of vehicles refused to let us pass. As we neared the turning lane for the hospital, a car that was in the turning lane saw us and slowed to a crawl, refusing to move over. As we finally got through, my wife looked at the driver, who was laughing at us..

People need to think HARD before moving here. As with anything, there is perception and then there is reality. Don't buy into perception, buy into reality, and take it from someone who has spent many, many years in the US: the REALITY of living in the US (vs. the perception) is vastly superior to the REALITY of living in Canada.

I am sorry to hear about your son, i hope he's ok!!
I was floored how bad Canadian drivers are, i don't mean to strike out and be negative, but I was pretty surprised to see it being bad out here. Mainly just parking and getting onto the highway.

 

[torontosm]

I am sorry to hear about your son, i hope he's ok!!
I was floored how bad Canadian drivers are, i don't mean to strike out and be negative, but I was pretty surprised to see it being bad out here. Mainly just parking and getting onto the highway.

I agree that the traffic here has gotten horrendous. 10 years ago, drivers in Canada were courteous and respectful. Now, its very common to see people driving on the shoulders of highways, turning without proper signals and just generally being dangerous. I've seen such behaviour is many other countries around the world and am sad to see it in Canada.

 

[Line.a]

I agree that the traffic here has gotten horrendous. 10 years ago, drivers in Canada were courteous and respectful. Now, its very common to see people driving on the shoulders of highways, turning without proper signals and just generally being dangerous. I've seen such behaviour is many other countries around the world and am sad to see it in Canada.

I agree!! It is bad everywhere pretty much, I lived in the UK for 4 years prior to moving out here, and I though it was quite intense, but it was also in the suburbs of London. I am about to get my drivers license fixed out here so I can drive again, but I honestly feel a little apprehensive. It's fine mostly but when I go to Walmart it's a little upsetting to see cars filling up two parking spots even if there isn't snow on the ground lol. I just don't know why!

And then the highway, oh goodness sometimes turning on to the highway and car behind doesn't change lanes nor slows down!!

 

[AAL1984]

I agree that you should visit for a month or so to really get a feel for what you're getting into.

Many of us have come here thinking that we would find the place that we all think of when think of Canada - a place of vast beauty, nice people, and free of a lot of the social problems that plague the U.S. That image is shattered when we are faced with the realities of an out-of-control cost of living, low wages, unfriendly/unhelpful people, rampant incompetence, etc. The worst part about it is that Canadians themselves deny all these things; even the counselors and shrinks are blind to it and try to make it seem like it's all you.

Let me illustrate my point further about living here. I lived in Mississauga for a while. While living there my wife and I thought that our baby boy had accidentally ingested an adult-sized Tylenol capsule. As we raced to the hospital with our emergency lights on, honking for people to get out of the way, an astonishingly high number of vehicles refused to let us pass. As we neared the turning lane for the hospital, a car that was in the turning lane saw us and slowed to a crawl, refusing to move over. As we finally got through, my wife looked at the driver, who was laughing at us..

People need to think HARD before moving here. As with anything, there is perception and then there is reality. Don't buy into perception, buy into reality, and take it from someone who has spent many, many years in the US: the REALITY of living in the US (vs. the perception) is vastly superior to the REALITY of living in Canada.

Very sad to hear about your son, that is just awful. Unfortunately I can't say that I'm surprised. I don't live in Mississauga but have visited Toronto and the GTA many times, my opinion is it's a complete *censored word* hole with the worst kind of people there.


Was in Mississauga around March and was floored at how dirty it was, there were piles and piles of litter and trash all over the place, smashed out bus stops, dirty run down Pakistani shops, just a complete *censored word* hole.

I have nothing against Pakistanis but it seems all the worst kind who'd never be allowed anywhere else have gathered there, same with some other ethnic groups. Crime and fraud esp insurance fraud is rampant that's why car insurance is so high. There are also no jobs for well educated people with Canadian degrees forget about foreigners.

Yes the US has social problems. However I feel it's much better. I visit US often, my wife is from Houston Texas. Houston will never be considered a beautiful city but I find it very practical.

Great job market, huge houses ( you can get brand new 2500 sqft plus house for less than 250k in gates community) all groceries cost must less, great shopping etc..just much more practical I feel for any new well educated immigrant. Also in the US they have much better infrastructure , and people know how to drive. Downside is you must ensure employer provides a good health plan or purchase one, otherwise you'll be in serious debt if you get very sick.

Canada is very cold with a pretty bad job market too. Very tough for immigrants to get a job in their area of expertise, so you'll find lots of doctors and engineers working as security guards etcc.





Ontario- *censored word*ty no jobs very cold
Maritimes - poor provinces no ones goes there
Quebec- really large levels of corruption , no jobs and really dirty
BC- very expensive and full of drug crime, no jobs
Alberta and Sask- brutally cold, but you can find labor jobs easily. However still hard for immigrants to work in their field. Boom bust economy which relies way too much on resource extraction. Alberta is also destroying its environment due to nasty tar sands oil.

Manitoba - Winnipeg is a *censored word* hole, nothing really in Manitoba.

There you have it, I've summarized Canada for you.

 

[Rossei]

As I lived in Windsor, Waterloo-Kitchener, Toronto & Kingston and am living in Sarnia; I can compare different driving habits. In one word, it's horrible in GTA. But the rest is okay. When I drove to GTA from any of these places, I could easily feel that I'm going in right direction w/o seeing any destination board or GPS.

Diversity (as grown-ups learned driving from all around the globe), crazy traffic and bad driving schools are some reasons behind it - I assume.

Personally, I think that GTA drivers must re-evaluate their driving skills every 4/5 years (as they forget turn signals, improper lane change, turning at red lights etc.). :-X

 

[AAL1984]

As I lived in Windsor, Waterloo-Kitchener, Toronto & Kingston and am living in Sarnia; I can compare different driving habits. In one word, it's horrible in GTA. But the rest is okay. When I drove to GTA from any of these places, I could easily feel that I'm going in right direction w/o seeing any destination board or GPS.

Diversity (as grown-ups learned driving from all around the globe), crazy traffic and bad driving schools are some reasons behind it - I assume.

Personally, I think that GTA drivers must re-evaluate their driving skills every 4/5 years (as they forget turn signals, improper lane change, turning at red lights etc.). :-X

Agreed 100%, poor infrastructure, cheap ethnic driving schools plus tons of 3rd world drivers is a recipe for disaster, and the GTA is a disaster no doubt.

 

[NewEnglander2525]

I appreciate all of your words of understanding. It turned out that my son hadn't swallowed the Tylenol, but it was a close call.

For sure, the GTA is a very nasty place. There are other areas in Canada where the more positive aspects of humanity are apparent, and where the cost of living is more reasonable, etc. Northern Ontario is such an example. We moved to the Sudbury area recently, and though not an aesthetically beautiful city, we do find it much more tolerable than the GTA.

I still contend that the reality of living in the US is superior to Canada. I've lived it and several of you have also made the same observation.

 

[AAL1984]

I appreciate all of your words of understanding. It turned out that my son hadn't swallowed the Tylenol, but it was a close call.

For sure, the GTA is a very nasty place. There are other areas in Canada where the more positive aspects of humanity are apparent, and where the cost of living is more reasonable, etc. Northern Ontario is such an example. We moved to the Sudbury area recently, and though not an aesthetically beautiful city, we do find it much more tolerable than the GTA.

I still contend that the reality of living in the US is superior to Canada. I've lived it and several of you have also made the same observation.

Agreed, glad your son is ok!

I think in terms of US only issue is many immigrants find it tough to get a greencard, process is very complicated and long. If tomorrow US opened up a skilled worker program, I think you'd find immigration to Canada decrease in a heart beat, essentially no well educated immigrant would come to Canada.

 

[steaky]

I was floored how bad Canadian drivers are, i don't mean to strike out and be negative, but I was pretty surprised to see it being bad out here. Mainly just parking and getting onto the highway.

That's just an exceptional case. I remembered I was in Yellowstone, I saw an Albertan plated car was about to park at a parking stall but then a Texan plated car raced and parked the stall instead. The american driver laughed at the Albertan driver and its passenger. I was pretty surprised to see it being bad out there. But there are many american drivers who were very nice and courteous.

 

[orly]

I agree that you should visit for a month or so to really get a feel for what you're getting into.

Many of us have come here thinking that we would find the place that we all think of when think of Canada - a place of vast beauty, nice people, and free of a lot of the social problems that plague the U.S. That image is shattered when we are faced with the realities of an out-of-control cost of living, low wages, unfriendly/unhelpful people, rampant incompetence, etc. The worst part about it is that Canadians themselves deny all these things; even the counselors and shrinks are blind to it and try to make it seem like it's all you.

Let me illustrate my point further about living here. I lived in Mississauga for a while. While living there my wife and I thought that our baby boy had accidentally ingested an adult-sized Tylenol capsule. As we raced to the hospital with our emergency lights on, honking for people to get out of the way, an astonishingly high number of vehicles refused to let us pass. As we neared the turning lane for the hospital, a car that was in the turning lane saw us and slowed to a crawl, refusing to move over. As we finally got through, my wife looked at the driver, who was laughing at us..

People need to think HARD before moving here. As with anything, there is perception and then there is reality. Don't buy into perception, buy into reality, and take it from someone who has spent many, many years in the US: the REALITY of living in the US (vs. the perception) is vastly superior to the REALITY of living in Canada.

out-of-control cost of living - depends where you move to. I see you mention Mississauga...living in the Greater Toronto Area is known to be expensive. Same as if you moved to New York City over some town in Missouri.
low wages - Don't think so. The average wages in Canada are very competitive with other countries.
unfriendly/unhelpful people - Not experienced this myself. The people are generally as friendly and helpful as anywhere else I've visited or lived
rampant incompetence, etc. - No worse than anywhere else. Except maybe Citizenship and Immigration. They're pretty poor. When I was doing other stuff like getting health cards and SIN cards it was all rather simple and handled efficiently. The company I work for strive to be efficient and competent (we do web related services). You'll get idiots in every line of work but to imply the country is plagued with "rampant incompetence" is wide of the mark. If that were the case it wouldn't be one of the highest regarded countries in the world with people trying hard to move here.

Unfortunate circumstances with your kid but I imagine once you reached the hospital you received suitably world class treatment?

 

[MyCanadaPlan]

The key is to prepare yourself for the cultural differences, and understand that you will go through a period of adaptation yourself. If you understand the culture then you can better succeed in work and the community.

I have met a lot of happy newcomers to Canada, and some downright depressed. The same can be said for Canadian-born.

Best of luck,
Lisa
mycanadaplan.com

 

[AAL1984]

Basically the overall reality on the ground is far different from what people perceive abroad. Just in talking to foreigners abroad I get an impression that they still hold the false notion that soon as they get here they'll start making tons of cash, everything is perfect etc.

Lots of well educated immigrants waste their talents here and end up taking jobs they didn't think they would. Canada is just a boring and backward nation compared to other Western nations. Just look at how much people pay just for cellphones. Canadians are overcharged for everything.

Country also has limited economic growth as there aren't many large multinationals here, just subsidiaries of US corps many of which are consolidating operations back in the US.

I think US would be a much better option for serious minded immigrants to pursue. You notice an immediate change when you go there. Just drove from Alberta to Montana a while ago and soon as you cross border the roads are much better, their well lit, nice rest stops etcc

 

[emamabd]

I think US would be a much better option for serious minded immigrants to pursue. You notice an immediate change when you go there. Just drove from Alberta to Montana a while ago and soon as you cross border the roads are much better, their well lit, nice rest stops etcc

It makes sense that the US is better (not to mention the population is 10x more) but one can not sit around forever waiting to be selected for a DV, it might not happen at all. At least Canada's immigration programs are based on specific skills which are in demand - so one does not need lots of luck to be selected if he meets the basic requirements are met.

 

[Bargeld]

As an American, when I hear that there are simply more opportunities in the US, the first thing that comes to mind is they should be immediately dismissed or laughed at.

The US is a nation that lives on debt and credit -- credit used for job creation is attained extremely easily, no lesson was learned about this late last decade, in fact, fundamentals now are far worse than before the market plunged in 2008. In Canada debt and bubbles are starting to become a little more of a problem (although in Canada it's a bit more isolated in the housing market), but Canada's market is more realistic as it's a country that relies on exports rather than currency manipulation as a worldwide reserve.

The US cannot sustain the vast and encompassing market that is, in an economist sense, phony. The US government needs to perpetuate reckless debt financed stimulus (one form being QE that won't cease) to even keep the illusion that it's market is only teetering on small amounts of growth that comes in the form of creating part time retail jobs. Once the naive lenders of US debt realize they'll never get their money back, they'll cut their ties with the US and it's currency, and the US' market that people talk about being so great will sink back down to reality, plummeting even further, since rather than change their policy of not giving a crap about debt, they just worsened it, ruining their currency in the process, and what a harsh reality it's going to be.

In short, US economic fundamentals are in terrible shape, their healthcare system is in utter disarray (on top of not having universal), it is not a place, having an education in macro, and having spent 95% of my life in the US, I'd want to invest my future into until things do a 180 there. There's many European countries alone I'd recommend way before the US. Canada's fundamentals with debt and their market are in far better shape than the US.

In many ways to me Canada is a hybrid between the US and European countries, just larger. It is very important to know what industry you're in, and move to the part(s) of Canada where your chances are higher at success. Because Canada's market isn't artificially propped up, it is indeed quite vulnerable to periods of normal recession. Only those who excessively rely on the American market will really suffer when the US market that relies on excess debt financed consumption logically goes belly up.