my friends and I were discussing moving to canada

were american, never left the US before, SERIOUSLY deciding, and i wanted to know a bit more about the country. how does the government work, compared to the US (the electing etc, not that we have shitty presidents, we know!) whats the summer temp like? basically, from ppl that have been to america, how different is canada? and whats the best area to scope out?

 

BC and Quebec= awesome.


If parties and music and general crazyness are your thing go to Montreal. Toronto ok too, although less my personal style. Montreal is a ggood time. Halifax is supposed to be pretty awesome, good folk music, apparently very friendly people...BC is the shit! it's beautiful and has chill people and ocean and mountains...I like Nelson, Golden, Victoria all very good... I like everywhere though and have been all over the place. I would say avoid Alberta, but there are of course good people there too= just harder to find...I live in Winnipeg, not many people think it's very good but it has LOADS of good music and I like it...

Weather is different all over...everywhere is pretty hot in the summer...west coast and east coast have rainy temperate winters, praries have COLD winters...

Gov't=evil/useless douche bags...not to sound to cynical

 

the weather varies from province to province.
Basically it is not that much different from some of your northern states. In central Canada, the summers are hot... but the season is not as long as somewhere like Michigan... Our leaves have all fallen off the trees and the snow is gonna fly any day now ... in the US you've still got your leaves...
As well, spring starts later and not last as long as the seasons do there. Summer and Winter seem to be drastic in weather... not much middle ground here where I am from.

Winter likes to stay long for some weird reason.

The country is so large its hard to compare weather.

Be prepared to pay taxes taxes and more taxes... however if you need an operation or a hospital stay you will not have to pay on your way out.

 

just do it pussy...move here already.
you won't regret it.
and if you do the you can just piss off right back to the states.
that's the beauty of being an american living in Canada...you can visit home often.

 

If you want to learn French with a unique and very special accent, move to the province of Québec, but avoid Montréal... the French and English population are quite 50/50 in this city, which is not the case anywhere else in Québec.

I'd say Québec city is the best to learn and admire a beautiful historical 400 year old city. better come in the summer though... the city's much more beautiful and the temperature of course is a lot more interesting.

 

Canada's an average place, some places are hot, some are cold... free health care, more cultural/religious... freedom than the us. stronger beer for the most part, I believe.

It will probably have the same pros and cons as anywhere would, so it's really up to you.

 

I came to Canada from the USA and have never regretted it. Moving here _legally_ is nearly impossible though: I only got in thru an immigration amnesty in oh, 1973 or so.

Do you live with snow where you are? Then you could probably go anywhere and dig it. For me, it's BC. The Gulf Islands.

 

just a little bit of snow, missouri.

 

The elections are a lot different than the US. We vote for a member of parliment (MP)which would be similar to your house representatives. The party that wins the most seats forms the government and there leader becomes the prime minister. The senate is not elected, it is appointed. We don't vote for the prime minister (unless you live in the riding that he runs for as an MP) because he isn't the head of state. The Queen is the head of state. We don't elect judges or sheriffs or anthing like that. Elections don't have fixed dates (except local in some Provinces). Federal, Provincial and local elections are at different times.

Weather is different in different areas, but it will usually be worse winters than in Missouri. Summer is shorter, winter is longer the farther north you go. The BC coast has the mildest winters.

Imigrants that have university education are let in more then uneducated applicants, so your chances would be better if you are educated.

 

... Come on up We're real laid back kinda folk I recommend east coast. We're real hospitable

 

2/3s of Canadians live 100 miles from the USA border. So, for the most part we are a lot like Americans, and we travel often to America.

If you decide to live here, it's best to come here with a job. Becoming a citizen requires that you have a certain amount of skilled labour, a spouse and such to come in with you. If you have a work Visa, applying to resident status would be good, and then once you have permanent resident status it's pretty easy to become a citizen.

Finding work under the table is a lot harder here than in the USA, and I wouldn't recommend coming here unless you have a job lined up.

 

1 more thing about kanada, we don't have all your fancy ass burger jointery like carls jr, sonic, white castle, jack n the box and them. But we do consider gravy to be a beverage and taco bell features fries instead of taco chips. i could probably wax eternal on the lack of a variety of chicken shops, and i think i will. Just jokes, but on the reals wheres my popeyes and those salivatingly tasty biscuits. i of course will be dining on my veggie samosa with my veggie old lady, but i can dream right(wrong)

 

Move to the region called Alberta. Everybody is saying don't, but this province needs more people like you. You just need to find the right people. Below is MY Alberta.

 

right with ya eddie
woooo hooo wilderness

 

that's a pretty sweet camp set-up you got there man, nice hot-tent

 

we don't have the fancy burger joints, but we do have Tim Horton's

 

tim hortons may or may not be the devil in beige pants

 

man if you move up hear be prepared for the unpredictable winter. some years its nothing but sometimes its really cold other than that we are a freer slightly colder America. Although Firecrackers are illeagal which sucks for me but you can buy them on the res so it doesnt really matter. kinda rambling now.

 

think about this...california and canada are roughly the same population......35 mil. give or take.... so each of us here knows pretty much everyone else...when you get here keep an eye out for a 97 green ford windstar..thats me...I will show you around and if you are not insane you and your friends can crash at my place

there is actually 2 97 green ford windstars here...mine is the one with the rust over the back right wheel..the other guy is a dick

 

First off.. ROLLINGALONG's post is the best... lol

Winter, as has been mentioned, is cold and snowy, summers are warm and short. The warmer weather comes along with massive amounts of mosquitoes and blackflies, if you are in the country.

Beyond that, things are generally a lot more safe up here (in regards to nature).

It depends where you are of course, but here, there are virtually no tornadoes, there are no earthquakes, hurricanes, flash fires are rare, flooding is rare beyond the occasional road being washed out. There are no seriously poisonous critters like snakes (we have snakes, they just won't kill you), scorpions or the like. The occasional bear, wolves or lynx may wander by, but in general they'll leave you alone if you do likewise.

In terms of legal/illegal immigration. If you try the illegal route, you have to keep in mind that if you ever get picked up for something, no matter how minor, you will likely be sent back home and charged. In most places though, nobody is going to really care where you are from unless you cause problems. There will be things that are blocked to you of course, such as legal jobs, healthcare, driver's license and so on.

I know years ago, it was a snap to slide back and forth across the border pretty much at will. This, however, is a different world today... lol