Canada vs USA - where to live

Aeridus · Post by **Aeridus** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:16 pm

I'm strongly considering moving to Canada one day since I like cold weather and Nova Scotia at least is absolutely beautiful. I've read up on immigrating into Canada and it seems that there's just a few documents and you have to make sure you meet certain requirements (such as the ability to work a continuous year at a full time job and enough money to move there). Of course, there's also the "get invited by family" option, but the only relatives I have in Canada are distant relatives and I'm not sure that counts.

Anyway... what are the pros and cons of living in Canada vs the US? And what is your favorite Canadian province / US state? Wherever I end up living one day, I'm considering somewhere in New England or along the east coast of Canada, so it's less expensive to visit my more immediate relatives.

Xero · Post by **Xero** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:36 pm

Canada

province: BC
pros:
Best weed in the world
easy to get along with people(minus Vancouver*)
Lower cost of living
higher minimum wage(cad = 0.94USD so its moot to compare)
universal health care**
fucking beautiful
decent public transit in cities

cons:
Vancouver -- arrogant asians and east indians that feel they own the city -.- if you can get by that its not a bad place to live, just expensive
close to wash. state so you get a lot of tourist Americans asking where the igloos are(srsly)
drunkard public officials
minority government being total tools atm
duopoly on cable/phone/internet

*Vancouver, if you can live with being a visible mininority surrounded by idiots its not that bad, but the east indians and asians are very cliquey(most of them) also depending on what part of vancouver you live in your car is at high risk of being stolen(surrey)

misc stuff
no dmca but they're pushing the government to do it
already put in anti caming laws, and here I though they had better things to do than appease US corporations /(R|M)PAA /

alberta
good luck finding a place to live and hope you don't mind mind boggling flat

sask, same as alberta but flatter less jobs more places to live

manitoba
your guess is as good as mine, they don't complain they don't praise, more flat land with a bit of east/west conflit 'cause they're right in the middle

the off the maritimes because the territories are pretty much on their own and ont/quebec are america junior and french, north ont to my understanding isn't that bad but toronto and co. may as well be part of the USA
quebec whines to much

newfound land is full of cool people but a bit weird

scotia is less weird than the newfies

new Brunswick no idea

and I'm going to bed now so I might finish this off tomorrow

**health care, basic stuff is covered, specialty drugs for kemo and such may not always be covered, neither is dental

Churba · Post by **Churba** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:12 am

The Answer is, of course, Australia.

LeftTentacleGreen · Post by **LeftTentacleGreen** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:36 am

Churba wrote:The Answer is, of course, Australia.

I'd considered Australia, but I hate spiders and you've got one of the worst - that nasty funnel web spider.

so I think I'll defect to Canada... or maybe New Zealand.

Churba · Post by **Churba** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:17 am

I'd considered Australia, but I hate spiders and you've got one of the worst - that nasty funnel web spider.

Well, don't move to Sydney then. Its a hole anyway. They're pretty much only in small parts of new south wales - I've never seen one in real life. Hell, I'm madly phobic of spiders, and I get along 98% of the time without ever seeing one bigger than a millimeter.

LeftTentacleGreen · Post by **LeftTentacleGreen** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:07 am

Can you raise pythons for the leather in Australia?

Aeridus · Post by **Aeridus** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:51 am

Xero wrote:newfoundland is full of cool people but a bit weird

I can handle weird.

So... currently a tie between Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. I shall have to find out more about these. I like the general area where they're situated, especially since I like the ocean. I really think Newfoundland would be awesome to live in but it's a bit farther from home than Nova Scotia is. Though either way, I'm sure the cost of flying would be similar if I lived in the southern part of Newfoundland. I do like the cold, but I don't think I want to live extremely high up north.

Sucks about the dental not being covered in the national healthcare, but at least the basics are there. So I guess if you have a bad case of the flu or something it's free to go to the doctor and have a small checkup and a couple pills to make it better?

Pyretimeth · Post by **Pyretimeth** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:00 am

close to wash. state so you get a lot of tourist Americans asking where the igloos are(srsly)

I grew up in Washington and I've really enjoyed the times I've visited Canadia. I suppose I prefer America... for all its myriad faults. I think it boils down to your political views, though. I mean, it's not just different conservatives versus different progressives. I think you're even playing with a slightly different deck of cards.

In my defense, I've never asked anybody where the igloos were. I always thought they were in Alaska.

So I've been lurking awhile, and finally registered just now. Hi. Let's skip the ubiquitous "Love Everything Here" post and get straight to teh raepage, plz.

Kittyboymuffin · Post by **Kittyboymuffin** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:12 am

Yay! *pouncesnugs pyretimeth*

MistressMaggie · Post by **MistressMaggie** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 11:11 am

aeridus wrote:
Xero wrote:newfoundland is full of cool people but a bit weird
I can handle weird.

So... currently a tie between Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. I shall have to find out more about these. I like the general area where they're situated, especially since I like the ocean. I really think Newfoundland would be awesome to live in but it's a bit farther from home than Nova Scotia is. Though either way, I'm sure the cost of flying would be similar if I lived in the southern part of Newfoundland. I do like the cold, but I don't think I want to live extremely high up north.

Sucks about the dental not being covered in the national healthcare, but at least the basics are there. So I guess if you have a bad case of the flu or something it's free to go to the doctor and have a small checkup and a couple pills to make it better?

At least here in Ontario, the cost of the visit to the doctor and emergency room is covered. Any prescription meds are not, but a lot of doctors will give you some of those free samples they get from the drug reps if you don't have supplementary insurance. So you don't have to pay for your annual physical, bloodwork, or any visits to the doctor/ER due to illness/injury unless you require prescription meds.
That said, I believe that New Brunswick has a rather large French-speaking community, as does northern Ontario. I had a friend who tried to move to PEI last summer and only lasted about three months before he was bored out of his mind.

Canada is a great place to live, overall. I'm quite happy here. If you live in a college or university town, be prepared for a large asian population. I don't really know why so many chinese people come to Canada for their education, but they do. Stay out of Toronto and Vancouver and you won't have gangs to worry about.

Apologize to people who run into you and you'll fit right in.

Xero · Post by **Xero** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 11:23 am

MistressMaggie wrote: At least here in Ontario, the cost of the visit to the doctor and emergency room is covered. Any prescription meds are not, but a lot of doctors will give you some of those free samples they get from the drug reps if you don't have supplementary insurance. So you don't have to pay for your annual physical, bloodwork, or any visits to the doctor/ER due to illness/injury unless you require prescription meds.
That said, I believe that New Brunswick has a rather large French-speaking community, as does northern Ontario. I had a friend who tried to move to PEI last summer and only lasted about three months before he was bored out of his mind.

Canada is a great place to live, overall. I'm quite happy here. If you live in a college or university town, be prepared for a large asian population. I don't really know why so many chinese people come to Canada for their education, but they do. Stay out of Toronto and Vancouver and you won't have gangs to worry about.

Apologize to people who run into you and you'll fit right in.

some prescriptions are paid for depending on your income level as well, and if you need them to live they're usually at least subsidized, BC that is, but you do have to pay for most of them, but its not that expensive if you take care of yourself

as for the asians, my bet is its from the old rail road, they come in through family that came over in the first place and now we're stuck with them; and at least in vancouver many of them are arrogant, ignorant, and dirty, but theres always exceptions.

oh and BC is right by the water too
Vancouver island is a really nice place to live, its still pretty cheap to live here too

Honor · Post by **Honor** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:06 pm

Were it not for one thing, I probably would have emigrated to Canada already...

Whenever you say something needs fixing here in the States, some conservative fuck is always right there to say "If you don't like it here, why don't you move to Russia / Iran / France / Canada!"

Well... I feel it's my responsibility to stay here and reply... Because that's not how our political system works, you thick-necked, empty-headed trogladyte. Here in the US, we vote. We get involved. We stand by what we believe in. We -fix- problems, rather than running away from them.

At least that's what our 'Founding Fathers' did.

But... I -am- getting tired.

Pyretimeth · Post by **Pyretimeth** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:36 pm

Honor wrote:Well... I feel it's my responsibility to stay here and reply... Because that's not how our political system works, you thick-necked, empty-headed trogladyte. Here in the US, we vote. We get involved. We stand by what we believe in. We -fix- problems, rather than running away from them.

I think there's something to be said for "voting with your feet." If the battle can't be won here, but it's already over and done with over there...

Seth Marati · Post by **Seth Marati** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:55 pm

But if we stay, at least there's still some domestic opposition. The last thing we need is an America left in full control* of the neocon nutcases.

*I know, I know... But still.

Pyretimeth · Post by **Pyretimeth** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:44 pm

Seth Marati wrote:The last thing we need is an America left in full control* of the neocon nutcases.

To be fair, it's not like the neocons have a monopoly on nutcases.

Aeridus · Post by **Aeridus** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:14 pm

*tentacle rapes pyretimeth* Welcome!

I love your avatar, that's my favorite mathematical equation of all time.

As for why I'm considering moving to Canada, it's largely more because of the weather and the cleaner air. Though I won't deny that I have a few elemental problems with the political system of the USA... it's not so much any politicians in particular, the entire system is due for a rehaul. But I digress.

And MistressMaggie, I already apologize to people who run into me, I guess I'm all set.

Lulujayne · Post by **Lulujayne** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:21 pm

I'd just like to interject and say that I'm ignoring the fact that you just called my home city a hole, Churba.

*shakes fist*

MistressMaggie · Post by **MistressMaggie** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:33 pm

Honor wrote:Were it not for one thing, I probably would have emigrated to Canada already...

Whenever you say something needs fixing here in the States, some conservative fuck is always right there to say "If you don't like it here, why don't you move to Russia / Iran / France / Canada!"

Well... I feel it's my responsibility to stay here and reply... Because that's not how our political system works, you thick-necked, empty-headed trogladyte. Here in the US, we vote. We get involved. We stand by what we believe in. We -fix- problems, rather than running away from them.

At least that's what our 'Founding Fathers' did.

But... I -am- getting tired.

...but we're nicer to lesbians up here!

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:34 pm

When I was in Canada this summer, I looked at a foreboding government building. As my eyes crawled the structure, I noticed that Canadian flag at the top. Any sense of intimidation washed off of me that instance.

It's very sad that I'm intimidated by the expectation of my own nation's flag.

I don't think I'll leave my homeland permanently, anytime soon, but I do think nationalism makes as much sense as supporting a particular sport's team.

MistressMaggie · Post by **MistressMaggie** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:35 pm

Have you listened to our national anthem? It's like it was written as an afterthought.. "oh, canada!"