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But overall, one thing that drew my attention was your posts in the Aussie forum about despising (I get it that you might be exaggerating your feelings here but I can't think of another word at the moment) people you feel don't work enough but still maintain at least a middle class lifestyle. I think this might be a thing that you would not like about Canada. Canadians in general don't feel that way. That we pay higher taxes in order to support social services even for people who might be lazy doesn't really bother us. At least not enough to talk about it the way I see it talked about by Americans.
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Yeah, I'm not sure Canada would be the best choice for OP if those are his feelings. I'm not sure why anyone who feels that way, would want to leave the US and come to Canada. Women in the US are back at work 2-6 weeks later because they can't afford to stay home, here we go back at 12 months or later and it's paid. We are much more socialized than the US in that manner. Smoker has lung cancer? You will foot the bill. Daycare too expensive? You will pay additional taxes to put other people's children into daycare at a subsidized rate. Here in QC, people who don't work can put their kids in daycare $120/month full-time subsidized by the government. This IS Canada, after all
Well, I for one wasn't aware of your feelings towards your own country and its issues before this thread. I therefore took the liberty of checking out some of your other posts, including on the Aussie forum.
Speaking for myself, it isn't my intention to dissuade you or even discourage you from attempting to immigrate here if that is what you want. People are sometimes born in countries where they just don't feel they fit.
But I would like to encourage you to read Canadian newspapers online, particularly in the areas of the country that you now think might suit you. Regular readings of local newspapers can give you a feel for an area and its people and issues and just what kind of a 'vibe' there is.
But overall, one thing that drew my attention was your posts in the Aussie forum about despising (I get it that you might be exaggerating your feelings here but I can't think of another word at the moment) people you feel don't work enough but still maintain at least a middle class lifestyle. I think this might be a thing that you would not like about Canada. Canadians in general don't feel that way. That we pay higher taxes in order to support social services even for people who might be lazy doesn't really bother us. At least not enough to talk about it the way I see it talked about by Americans.
So I see at least a possibility here that some of the very same things you don't like in the US but which we generally DO like as Canadians in Canada (our social safety nets, our universal health care) are things you might resent here, only the names of the players changing (despising plain old poor people instead of illegal immigrants as one example.)
That Canada isn't invading other countries as regularly as the US is not due to moral superiority but the fact that we aren't a big player on the world stage. That happens to suit me just fine. I was the kid who liked to sit in the anonymous middle in school - neither at the back where the bad kids sat, nor in the front where the hand-raiser "I know!" I know!"-ers sat. But a position of moral leadership on the part of Canada it is not. It's never a compliment to a person or a place to commend them for resisting temptations they have never have faced.
And secondly, yes, to me as an outsider and to a lot of other outsiders, it looks like pure chaos in the US but to think that some kind of worst case scenario happening in the US wouldn't have an impact on Canada as well is naïve. And in that worst case scenario picture of the US you painted, I would imagine a lot of Canadians would feel like myself - we wouldn't want immigrants flooding into our country spreading paranoid ideas and possibly sending our government into a similar kind of chaos. I don't think any country would want that.
I am not saying that YOU are that type. I don't know what type you are - but I have seen people with some of your expressed views, and some people who see Obamacare as the ultimate in communism or antichristism (I invented that word) stating around the last US election that if Obama won they would move to Canada. While it is always nice to be liked, it is also clear that people who posted things like that knew nothing about Canada because Obama is pretty conservative to most of us Canadians and we have the universal government healthcare that south of here is often called socialism.
Socialism is not a dirty word here. Neither is liberal. And politics is not as polarized. And voters seem to see no contradiction between voting for the NDP (our 'pink' party, as in our most socialist party) during one election, and voting for the Conservative party (our most conservative party but more equivalent to the Democrats in the US than the Republicans) in the next. We have no real equivalent to the Republican party.
And of course you can raise a family here in many safe communities and there are many outdoor activities to enjoy.
So by all means read, ask questions and think hard about whether you'd really want to be here.
As I said before it was not my intention to start this post as a Canada vs. US thread and I consider it disrespectful to start a thread in the Canada section and then do nothing but complain about America. However since others are bringing up points about America I'd like to address them.
The above bolded quote.......my problem is not with people who don't work enough but people who don't work at all, many of them illegals. The US has been inundated by illegals from mexico, central and south America. many of these people do not speak english, do not work, do not pay taxes yet they draw from our social welfare programs that I in part pay for and live comfortable lifestyles while native middle class families struggle to get by. I'm told that if I object to this phenomena I am racist or heartless. From what little I have learned about canadian immigration it seems that Canada would not allow millions of people to flood in illegally and add nothing to society. I would think Canadians if they took the time to see what's really going on in America would sympathize with me on this point.
Aside from the illegals there are a lot of people in this nation that game the system. They are lazy and don't want to work so they have figured out how to collect a government check for doing nothing. It makes me angry that I have to subsidize their lives.
I think many of you that are Canadians are making the mistake that many of us on the right in the US are opposed to all governace which is a mistake. We are opposed to self serving, corrupt governance which all many of us have even known.
I doubt if I moved to Canada that I'd be talking about politics every day like I do now mostly because the problems will have been removed but also because you've told me that it would not be well received.
Aside from the illegals there are a lot of people in this nation that game the system. They are lazy and don't want to work so they have figured out how to collect a government check for doing nothing. It makes me angry that I have to subsidize their lives.
They would be better off in Canada, actually. You can feel how you wish about illegal immigrants/a welfare state, that is of course your right, but I think us Canadians are just boggled as to why you would want to live here, where social programs are actually quite a bit better - and who pays for that?
Have you read the tax rates here compared to New England?
They would be better off in Canada, actually. You can feel how you wish about illegal immigrants/a welfare state, that is of course your right, but I think us Canadians are just boggled as to why you would want to live here, where social programs are actually quite a bit better - and who pays for that?
Have you read the tax rates here compared to New England?
Yes but isn't it a prerequisite of the Canadian social welfare programs that you actually have to be productive and pay into the system before you can benefit from it? I'm fine with that. From what I've learned about Canadian immigration so far it seems as if Canada is very selective with who they let in and they're not letting in people who want to come there to do nothing other than collect social welfare benefits. It's my understanding that Canada expects you to have a job lined up before you emigrate there. In America it's more like "oh you snuck across our southern border, you don't work or have plans to and you're collecting benefits? oh well you're here now so there's nothing we can do about it."
Again I think most of you are assuming I'm opposed to social welfare across the board. I'm not. I'm opposed to it when it's done the wrong way as it most certainly is in America. in fact I think it is ecumbent upon a civilized society to help it's citizens when they sometimes are incapable of helping themselves. I'll give you an example......My father who is a legal American citizen worked all his life, paid taxes and contributed to social security. he lost his job at 63 due to it being an old industry. He was diagnosed with cancer shortly later but had no income coming in as he hadn't started collecting social security yet. For someone like him I believe he should get government assistance because he helped build the system his entire life. Contrast that with someone who has come into the country illegally who has never worked or paid taxes. if that person gets sick do I owe it to them to subsidize their expensive healthcare? i say no.
Yes but isn't it a prerequisite of the Canadian social welfare programs that you actually have to be productive and pay into the system before you can benefit from it? .
No. Not at all.
Come to Canada if you like, it's just not a utopia compared.
How would you feel if your dad was on a socialized health care system where the operation/treatment was free, but he might die of the disease before he could get it? Despite his decades of hard work and contribution? You have to consider the flip side of the coin - sometimes it's free care for nobody, depending on the issue.
My son is currently 3.5 years old with autism. The critical treatment period is age 3-5. In the US, with decent insurance, he would have been under treatment around age 2. We are currently in the midst of an 18-24 month waiting list. Do the math - the critical period of treatment will be over before he gets in to the system.
We're currently researching our options and probably heading to Vermont (Burlington) to access good private care.
Don't get me wrong, I love Canada and we are very happy here. But since you are wanting to move a family here, you need to come with eyes wide open.
That's a very good point aliss. There are no perfect places. I understand that and will definitely be doing my homework. I'm sorry to hear about your son and I hope he gets the treatment that he needs. Where in Burlington are you going? I know that in Hanover NH, which is just a little further, there is Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital. it's a very good hospital and thye have a pediatric nuerology dept that treats autism.
I'm not quite sure yet as we are also waiting for possible private options here, they are just far fewer in number than in the US.
FWIW, all things aside, the Okanagan is a very nice place. Alberta is too apparently, but I have never been.
I have to agree with all the information shared in previous posts, aside from reading and looking at all things Canadian, it might give you answers too, if you look at our history, it is very different from US history... yes we have a Queen but she really has no jurisdiction over us, we don't pay her any money she is a figurehead and I personally like our historic ties to the 'old country'
As for Thanksgiving our reasons for having this holiday in October is that it is the end of harvesting and time to celebrate good crops with friends and family.
However ,I think you have to understand that BC and AB are very different, one is mountain territory and coastal living and the other is wide open prairies and foothills to the Rockies (except for Banff where you are right in there!) I came from the east (Nova Scotia) to the west and it was a bit of a culture shock, but not too bad, and then I decided to head back east and camped in Alberta and began touring about, I loved the spaciousness and feeling of freedom ...as I traveled more south (couple of hours from the Montana border)
'( my son visited and was overheard describing it to his friend back east as 'this is wild man, you can watch your dog run away for 2 days! )
The winters are less severe than Calgary and it is just an hour or so away, there are small towns where I can get any everyday things and 45 min more south is another city where all I ever need is available. Then there is the blessing of no high traffic no rudeness (maybe some. but I've never heard it) and everyone is helpful and pleasant to deal with..
I have lived on the coast, and in the interior of BC and prefer the interior mostly because it gave me at least less rain and a bit of winter to boot I was in the Shuswap area and loved it.
I am in Alberta now, and love it here as well it did take a bit of getting used to.... I had never seen so much sunshine or wonderful blue skies even in winter before, I like it is not dampish like the coasts east and west ,and the unbearable humidity in the more central provinces.
I learned a valuable lesson early in life when we moved from Montreal to Atlantic Canada and I was always comparing what we had there to what we didn't have here... needless to say I had no friends and after crying ( about age 10) to my dad he told me to stop looking for what was not the same and to start looking for what I really did like... that made the rest of my life a joy, because I never thought of what I left behind, only what new wonderful things I would learn on my new journey
I have been blessed to live and \ or work in all provinces but 2 while I didn't fall in love with them all I did find something to love about them all....
I, like many of my fellow Canadians ,do not share my political choices, I was taught this was a private matter between me and my conscience and so it was with religion or my personal belief system.
I was not allowed to denounce another for their thoughts or beliefs either but encouraged to understand them.. I have to say this early teaching has served me well over the years,
So come out to the provinces you are interested in, and see them both with an eye to possibilities, read newspapers for jobs, do not allow any preconceived notions enter your minds, look at the adventure as a new chapter in a lifetime of chapters and know always that you can always return to the US in 5 years...
The sun will come out tomorrow (esp. in Alberta,) and Chinooks in the winter are fun!!)
Yes it is a big decision, but not written in blood or stone! Just come and try out happy !
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and Chinooks in the winter are fun!!)
