Moving to Canada

  • Started
  • Last post
  • 51 Responses
  • yurimon0

    I want to get a drivers license from canada and register my car there to avoid parking ticket jurisdiction. how can i proceed to do so?

  • ok_not_ok0

    • i love bourdain. his books are a great read as well.sea_sea
  • ThisIsMe0

    I am in Edmonton. Seems to be lots of Jobs here. It's is way to cold though. More blue-collar then calgary.

    Concerning the weekly hours. Most positions I've taken (in-house design, and small studios) have been very adamant about maintaining a proper work-life balance and try and schedule work accordingly. On occasion we have to pull some overtime. But it's always been compensated.

    I've never worked in an agency, but I hear they are all about the long hours.

  • stoplying0

    I have a co-worker who took a position up in Canada recently - he's a beast who often puts in 70 hour weeks as a CMO. His one big comment on the Canadian workers is that they are all very aware of the hours they work per week. I think he said when they get to around 39 hours for the week, they sort of indicate that they won't be available since they're almost at their limit.
    Does that make sense, and is it the case?

    • i am no stranger to pulling ridiculous hours to get a project live but there's more to lifeprophetone
    • i mean up here all you have to do is look out the window! so much to do. welcome to canada!prophetone
    • just wait until your friend buys a kayak and empties his credit card at MEC. he will soon live in the woods.prophetone
    • and build a log cabin with his bare, maple syrup stained hands.prophetone
    • Is that it? Just more recreationally minded?stoplying
    • sure, that would be part of it, maybe all of it for some. i live in a city with 3 local ski/mtb mountains + the ocean right there.prophetone
    • what city is he living in? Sounds like the west coast.Al_dizzle
    • I know a lot of people that put in big hours, what you're describing happens in the US too... think west coast or florida.zarkonite
    • When I was in Vancouver, I never wanted to leave my house because of the constant grey sky and rain...ughFawnDog
  • utopian0

    The American Dream Is Alive and Well — in Canada!

    Quick: Name a wealthy, North American country that values self-reliance, individual freedom and personal ambition.

    Sure, you could take the easy way out and say the United States. But you’d be just as accurate if you said Canada. In fact, new research shows the American Dream — the ability to improve your prospects through hard work, personal initiative and grit — is more vibrant in Canada than its native land.

    http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/t…

  • monNom0

    I bet you could kill it as a sharepoint developer in Calgary.

  • ETM0

    Oh in that case, Calgary IS a good spot. What's your experience?

    • Been doing dev full time since about 2001. Mostly php/wordpress/javasc... stuff at this point.hereswhatidid
  • hereswhatidid0

    Great info, guys! I'm actually web developer but the agency info is really good.

  • ETM0
  • ETM0

    One thing to be aware of. Saskatoon, Vancouver and Toronto are on the verge of housing bubbles busting. It won't be the US problem. But you don't want to buy a house then have it devalue a large percentage, locking you in.

    Not sure about Montreal or Ottawa, but Calgary recently have a "market correction" rather than a bust that saw some homes drop 10-15%. The average home here costs about $350k-$400k. During a recent provincial worker shortage in 2007-2009, the average home price jumped up to $475k-$500k.

  • ETM0

    monNom is right about most agencies being in Toronto. However, many have offices in Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary (in some combination).

    Critical Mass started here in Calgary. Venture Communications started here. Taxi has an office here.

    • however Toronto office will take over all big case by default.pango
    • Calgary is #2 for head offices nationally... but again, they're mostly oil.ETM
    • @pango. They're here for the oil. Toronto won't get many of those.ETM
    • oh and there used to be a qoob who works at taxi.pango
  • albums0

  • sikma0
  • vaxorcist0

    I have a college friend from winnipeg... she loved it there...

    • You can't get much colder city in the winter unless you hit NWT or Yukon! :)ETM
    • another friend called it "Winterpeg"
      vaxorcist
  • monNom0

    I've lived in a few of these places:

    Vancouver: Dull! Liberal!
    mild weather, sunny days really are spectacular, but 9mos of the year are grey, drizzling, and depressing. In general, people here are aloof, reserved, and cliquey. Tons of exotic cars around and even more homeless people to accost you -- truly a land of contrasts. Housing is ridiculous and wages are no-where near to covering those costs (ie: two 80k incomes, which is a plum job in Vancouver, cannot afford a house anywhere in the city. Avg house price is 1.2M). Video-games and internet startups are big here, as is film and television.

    Calgary: Friendly! Conservative!
    Calgary is hot in the summer, damned cold in the winter (but can warm up to +15 after being -20 the day before), Tons of jobs in the oil and gas industry, but less-so for designers. There are jobs there, but maybe less 'creative' and more corporate gigs.

    Toronto: Smog! Wages!
    Toronto is the center of the universe in Canada, virtually all ad-agencies are run out of there, so there's plenty of work surrounding them. Housing is recently inflated, but more reasonable than Vancouver. GTA is a big big area, I used to commute across the city, scarborough to mississauga, and it took me 2hrs(one way) in rush hour some days. 30 min off hours.

    Montreal.
    Only ever visited, but it seems nice. Really humid/hot in the summer, really cold in winter. Everyone speaks french, but not in the classy Parisian way. Houses are dirt cheap (compared to the other big cities), but the economy is a bit shakey and may cease to be part of canada. Much work would be french language I'd suspect.

    Ottawa if the center of governement, wages are high on average bu that might be the civil servants skewing things. Never lived here. housing seems reasonable. A solid choice I suspect.

    Nelson BC (since it was mentioned): good luck finding a job there! This is a popular pit-stop for people looking to make a better life. Not many stick with it more than a few years. Great location, really out of the way, super chill people, very liberal.
    My home-town so I have a fondness for it, but any small-town is going to be tough as a designer unless you can basically work anywhere remotely.

    • I sound a bit like a bitter vancouverite. If you love the outdoors, Vancouver is the place to be. otherwise steer clear.monNom
    • steer clearmonNom
    • how do you like the idea of snow boarding and going to the beach on the same day? *vancouverpango
    • Vancouver is great, if you like mild weather, but are okay with rarely seeing the sun.ETM
    • you go to the beach on a day like today? that's dedication!monNom
  • i_monk0

    Ottawa? I hope you and your wife are bilingual, if you want to work there.

  • ETM0

    In addition to a previous post of:
    Calgary=oil money, lots and lots of dirty oil money

    We also have no sales tax and a flat rate 10% provincial tax. The only province with these advantages. Thanks to the dirty oil money.
    There is not as much character and culture here, both being a newer western city, and on the prairies. But the culture is getting better by the year. If you like winter sports, we have some of the best powder in the world only a few hours west in the mountains. Much of BC has this same advantage of course. We also have a man-made hill in town for some basic skiing/bording. We have numerous winter facilities from when we hosted the '88 winter olympics.

  • hereswhatidid0

    Well, I'd say I'm leaning toward Ottawa at this point, any particular neighborhoods to be checking out? I'm planning on going there for a few weeks to scout it out in February/March.

    • Ottawa equals government related work... boring. Lots of hoops and processes too.ETM
    • Life their is easier if you speak french as well. Not required, but helps for the bilingual government stuff.ETM
  • pango0

    Just don't bring guns trying to cross the boarder into Canada. Every year there are hand full of idiots trying to bring guns into Canada. One even shot the boarder officer not long ago.

    • obviously! I've never had a gun, never will, somehow they thought I was a gun freak?!?vaxorcist
    • Guns are a part of the reason I'm leaving, so no problem there :)hereswhatidid
    • ya.... all yankees are gun nut to canadian... lol better take extra precaution.pango
    • I know some Canadians who have guns... they're hunters in northern Ontario....vaxorcist
    • maybe the border guard shooting explains their "guilty till proven innocent" mindset about americans....vaxorcist
    • Of course we have guns for hunting etc. You can have hand guns, although it's very difficult/particular... Assault weapons, good luck.ETM
    • weapons, good luck. Concealed weapons, no.ETM
  • vaxorcist0

    My ex was Canadian, and we thought about moving to Toronto and Montreal a few times... never did... but we crossed the border quite a few times.... with varying results...

    If we made sure that the Canadian border guards saw her passport before they saw mine, there was usually an easier time, but if you're too obvious about it, they may suddenly start asking you all sorts of questions about something called a "CWP" which I had never heard of until then, they looked at me like I was an idiot for not knowing, and they started to search the car for guns... I've never had a gun, I figured out a CWP is a "Concealed Weapons Permit" ... so there were a number of "should we let this barbarian into our paradise?!?" monents... I learned to ignore it after a while, especially as some of the Canadian side border guards seemed like they had formed an image of me that nothing I could do would change... then a french canadian official was very nice and apologized for his colleagues, saying they had watched too much TV....

    ...and sometimes nothing at all happened, they just let us through... once they went through the car and took everything out but were very apologetic about it all, after basically smiling a lot but treating us like possible drug dealers...

    On the way back to the US, it was usually easier.. strangely so, as you hear that tons of illegal immigrants come from Canada....

    RE: Housing.. when we looked in Montreal and Toronto many years ago, it seemed houses in Toronto were much more in need of repair than those in Montreal, and the Toronto houses were often about a hundred years old and possibly had been made in a hurry....

    • Interestinghereswhatidid
    • The few times I've been to Vancouver it was much easier coming back in for sure.hereswhatidid
    • hahaha it's the other way around for me. i think it depends on what passport we held.pango
    • A confederate flag in the car window doesn't help, I've found.hereswhatidid
    • lolETM