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Opinions on Canada?
Jumpy Guy - 6/4/05 at 03:25 PM

Guys, been kinda offered a job near Calgary, starting in about a year or so.

ive been on Snowboard holidays in Bannf etc. and it seemed great, but i know that the tourist industry is a world on it own...

so, whats it like to live in, work in etc??

it would seem to offer- decent summers, proper winters, laid back attitude....



all opinions welcome!!

tom_loughlin - 6/4/05 at 04:27 PM

i wanna go to canada in a year or so - im finishing uni this summer, i need to save some money for a flight, then go work in canada for a year, then new zealand, then home.
then i can decide where i want to settle.
i love the look of it, but dont know a lot about it - im interested as well to hear peoples oppinions.
tom

MikeR - 6/4/05 at 04:59 PM

Well all i can say is an ex is going to live there - she's on the waiting list for a visa and has been warned it could be up to 5 years...........

so either they don't like her (which i could understand) or its a good place to be and too many people are trying to get in.

Whats the worst that could happen if you went for the job?

Russ-Turner - 6/4/05 at 06:16 PM

At the end of the day mate there's only one way to find out.

MikeP - 6/4/05 at 06:28 PM

Bah, not enough trees, I wouldn't be caught dead in Calgary.

just kidding of course. I live across the country in Ontario near Toronto, but I've visited Calgary many times - I have friends and a brother in law there.

I think it's great - a smaller city, not hopelessly urbanized yet. Very close to the rockies for site-seeing, camping, skiing, trips to the interior of BC, but you already know that.

It's in a boom right now, should continue and even increase if oil prices keep going up thanks to the Alberta tar (oil) sands. No provincial sales tax and IIRC a debt free or at least deficit-free provincial government thanks to the oil industry. If I had the opportunity I'd move there myself.

Deckman001 - 6/4/05 at 07:36 PM

I've got a brother + family in Red Deer and a sister-in-law + family in Montreal, I'd move there tomorrow if i had the chance, saying that me brother has offered me a job,,,,,will wait and see,,, Lovely country, very laid back, very friendly people as well, sooo much space !!! made me feel claustrophobic when i came back from visiting !!


Jason

Jonr - 6/4/05 at 07:42 PM

I'm in the oil industry and went over to Canada for 4 months, ended up staying 4 years. I would still be there if I did'nt get sent back. Spent 2 years in Newfoundland, 2 in Edmonton, just north of Calgary.

GO!!

Great place to live, people are great, cost of living is low, summer is great. Winter is long and cold! Really cold, though Calgary is weird, when you get up in the morning it will be -15C, a Chinook, wind will come in over the rockies and by lunchtime it's plus 10C. Layering is the way to go. Problem is it melts everything then it freezes!!

Cars all have block heaters, small element fitted into the block. When you park, you pull out the extension lead from the bonnet and plug the car into the . Weird thing is everywhere you go there is a socket, at home, at the grocery store, pub, hotel, everywhere! Also get very cool remote starts, just a key fob like any lock, but it starts your car, so when you get in it's nice and toasty. No salt either as it gets to cold for salt to work!

Climate is very dry, takes a little bit of getting used to, humidifiers in the h ouse, moisturisers etc.

GST/PST equivalent of VAT. Government sales tax, Provincial Sales Tax. Any thing you buy has to have these both added, but Albertas government is well enough off from oil revenues that they don't need to charge it, it's usually about 6-7%, so you only pay GST which is similar, so Alberta is 7% cheaper than the rest of canada.

I could go on for ages, but better if you ask or U2U. Where near Calgary are u going and what do you do?

Jonr - 6/4/05 at 07:58 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Deckman001
Lovely country, very laid back, very friendly people as well, sooo much space !!! made me feel claustrophobic when i came back from visiting !!


Jason


Ahhh space, I remember that! Canada is BIG, really, really BIG.

I used to do a lot of driving in my job, drive ALL day in a straight line! Once you get into the prairies, w Alberta, Saskatchewan it's really flat (you could watch your dog run away all day!) so they build the roads dead straight! The main cross country road is HWY 1 and they built it following a line of latitude, but the earth isn't flat so the road needs to curve a little. Surveying at the time wasn't good enough to build a very gentle curve. So you drive for 6 hours dead straight then you hit rumble strips, flashing lights, warning signs and the road just stops and does a 90 degree turn, goes that way for a 100m or so and then turns another 90 degrees back the same way and you drive for another 6 hours without steering! Etch-a-sketch across the country!

Used to play cruise control racing. Next car in front of you will be a few Km's away. Set your cruise control at what you think is a notch above his and spend the next few hours trying to catch him! Sounds boring but it's a big enough country that it helps while away the hours!

spunky - 6/4/05 at 10:50 PM

I'm jealous as hell, I've travelled around a fair bit and canada is by far the best country I've stayed in.
As mentioned, great standard of living, friendly natives, proper seasons and loads of space. BC is the ultimate playground, and only a few hours from Calgary.
Get yourself away and enjoy....

John