Canada - British Expat Forum

Canada is a wonderful place the scenery is beautiful the people are receptive, polite and courteous.
however like everything, it does have drawbacks:
some immigration lawyers fleece you and give false information.
kids do smoke outside school grounds,
there are doormen standing inside and outside of clubs.
TV is a bit iffy
But all of the above is done in a nice way

Back up a second.....people are receptive, curtious and polite? Surely you are exaggerating a bit here? Am not saying most people are, but when was the lat time you met a kid here in Canada that said their please and thank you, or even adults for that matter?

People are more receptive in big cities, and that is becuase everyone is an immigrant really, but that is not the case in most small town Canada. I know the UK has gone down the gutter at the moment, but Canada is not far behind really.

Am not moaning and whinging, am just telling it as it is. I have been lucky to have jobs in my field, and I moved into a brand new house towards the end of last year, a far cry from my own flat back in the UK.

rb wrote:Free local calls here Less signs of vandalism Feel more secure Kids swear less !

Hmmmm.....let's see. On the vandalism bit, that might be because you pretty much have to drive everywhere, and Ontario is bigger than the UK as a whole. Feel more secure? People in Mississauga, Brampton, Scarborough will beg to differ.

Kid swear less, but they use drugs and booze a lot, and not forgetting access to guns from the US

I worked in Brampton and Mississauga for 26 years before moving to a tiny village in Nova Scotia just over five years ago, so I know the city, the small towns and the villages. Brampton and Mississauga are very comparable in terms of living standards and lifestyles. Mississauga is the safest city in Canada - see "Mississauga Safest City In Canada - Seven Years Running" at http://www.mcpa.on.ca/news.html Having said that, other towns and cities are little different. There is crime and all the other issues that exist in the U.K. but at a much, much lower level.

I have seen the difference first hand in my many visits to southeast England. We have also had many visitors from England and Scotland to both Ontario and Nova Scotia. They all comment on how Canada and Canadians are so much more friendly, clean and civil. Sad for the Brits, but there you are.

The use of guns is confines to a small group, in most cases,and gun crimes invariably are these groups shooting at each other, generally in specific neighbourhoods.

The arrest and charging of a British Visitor in a gun related murder has focussed a lot of attention in this area.

Kids can be kids,, and certain kids are rude,certain adults are rude, but generally that is not an issue here.

The opportunity is always there to focus on negatives, we Brits are famous for that, but anywhere is what you make it, and overall, life is so much better here.

Drugs are used by a lot, but frankly, I am in the camp to legalise Pot and outlaw Alcohol.

As regards crime...sometimes I feel it is relative. When we first moved to Nova Scotia (rural area...small town), my husband locked the car in the driveway. People who saw it would laugh (me included). Now, 5 years later, he never even thinks of locking it in the driveway of a house. We do lock at the shopping centres though.

We heard recently that 2 cars had been broken into during the night in owners' driveways, and husband said we should start locking again, but we haven't done it.

A car accident which involved fatalities made the radio news, and a group of young people fighting with another group was featured on local tv news. Not earth-shattering stuff, I admit, but when we lived in BC nothing short of a murder would even be considered news.

We don't live in a bubble, and I'm sure in time as the world becomes smaller the crime will catch up to us.

As for politeness, I agree there are both childrne and adults who have never learned the basics. On the whole I want to believe that people are basically good and likeable, and generally I find it to be true.

Let's not forget also, that the UK has twice the number of people in Canada in a relative small space, in which Ontario has a province, is bigger than.

Size is not always what matters, but the quality that results from that size does.

I think you missed the whole point there. Take the US for example with 300 million people, you are bound to have all sort of troubles, Mexico city, sao paulo brazil, list goes on

Weather warm enough to eat watermelon every day ! Yum!

Firepits in the back yard with beers to drink and tree frogs to listen to.

Roll on Summer!

I fell in love with Toronto the first day. Beautiful sunshine in early March, different coloured squirrels running up the trees, a very clean city, diverse and interesting, homemade quarterpounders!!, and i saw my first racoon on the porch.