Canada Looks Good

Mikebits said:

And when you get sick of looking at pasty face Canadians, you can move to sunny San Diego... j/k

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Hey! We prefer the term "melanin challenged".




Torben

Not every small town is going to be good and unless you are retired there is that problem of finding a decent job.

The only two things I really miss are the variety of restraunts and quick access to a home supply place like Lowes or Home Depot.

Torben said:

That's true in many ways but in many of the more remote areas some costs are higher--housing might be lower, but food, fuel, and so on can cost quite a bit more because of the effort needed to truck goods in (hey, there ya go, Arrie!). Heating can be more expensive too during the winter due to the often harsher climate. You also may need to buy more fuel because of the distances between places.
Torben

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I spent my middle school years in a place called Henrietta Texas, population was something like 700 at the time. My dad thought this would be a great place for us to live. I remember the once a month trips to Witchita Falls Tx to buy groceries and other supplies. If we were lucky my dad would treat us to Zeno's Pizza ( I still dream about that pizza). After a trip to the Sears store and Piggly Wiggly supermarket, we would head back home.

At home our idea of fun was putting bacon on the end of kite string and fish for crawdads. For the majority of the year, we spent our time wading through flooded out dirt roads, hiding in the cellar as the tornado sirens blew. As a kid, all I could think about was getting to the city. And hence here I am in San Diego, and I love this city. 5 minutes from the ocean, 1 hour from the mountains and deserts, and 15 minutes to get downtown for a little nightlife. So for me, I am a city folk.

Reminds me of that tale about the city mouse and the country mouse

BTW, my dad and oldest sister still live in Texas. Nice place to visit, but...

3v0 said:

It seems cost of living is directly proportional to popularity. Last I checked VC sucked in that regard.

If you can find a job a smaller community in a less popular climate can net you more money in the long run, even at a lower wage. Do your homework.

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I took a particular interest in Kamloops, there are also some seemingly worthwhile jobs there. Does anyone know any more about the place, seems much smaller than Vancouver and Victoria, but not too small either.
Climate seems cool too.
I'll still check out the IT jobs in the area as well, just in case.

Torben said:

That's true in many ways but in many of the more remote areas some costs are higher--housing might be lower, but food, fuel, and so on can cost quite a bit more because of the effort needed to truck goods in (hey, there ya go, Arrie!).
Torben

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Told you work has to be good for transporting business.
Plus, there is a major shartage now, and will be in the future as well, at least for 7 or 8 years, so I think, very good business opportunity.
It's just to get into the market there, and of course, being accepted into the country.

arrie said:

Told you work has to be good for transporting business.
Plus, there is a major shartage now, and will be in the future as well, at least for 7 or 8 years, so I think, very good business opportunity.
It's just to get into the market there, and of course, being accepted into the country.

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Trucking those roads up there is a tricky business as someone quoted fuel cost long distance. A lot can happen in that distance especially when it's freaking cold enough to freeze the (00) of a brass monkey.

Then you have to deal with exactly the same thing you will have no respect until they have learn your there for the long hall.

Some of those rural area's depend on what is coming in cause there is nothing where they are at sometime it could mean life or death. When you start talking 40f below you'll wish you were back in South Africa as 3v0 said do your homework my brother was in the trucking business.

I grew up around tools and big trucks and long hauling. But I damn sure I couldn't tell you much about Canada's industry from the sounds of it it's more like the gold rush of California. For every ounce of gold you make they take %70 of it and you are nothing more than a hired slave.

Displacing the family is a hole different thing to talk about still a lot is happening there with much opportunity.

kv

There is a vast differance between small towns. You have to pick the right one. Tornados, humidity, and heat are the reasons we did not go futher east or south.

The speed limit is 65 and 75 here. Unless weather is bad you can drive the limit (maybe a bit more) most of the time. In terms of time I am about an hour away from reasonable shopping, that is not much different then the daily drive to work in many large cities.

Most kids will tell you their life sucks. The kids here have so many things going between school, church, and such that it is difficult to find time outside of class for them to do additional activities. If you ask them there is nothing to do and life sucks in a small town. We even have drugs here. What town does not.

As an adult it can take decades to overcome the hatred and dread you felt as a kid.

The toughest part about moving is leaving friends and possibly family behind.

Mikebits said:

I spent my middle school years in a place called Henrietta Texas, population was something like 700 at the time. My dad thought this would be a great place for us to live. I remember the once a month trips to Witchita Falls Tx to buy groceries and other supplies. If we were lucky my dad would treat us to Zeno's Pizza ( I still dream about that pizza). After a trip to the Sears store and Piggly Wiggly supermarket, we would head back home.

At home our idea of fun was putting bacon on the end of kite string and fish for crawdads. For the majority of the year, we spent our time wading through flooded out dirt roads, hiding in the cellar as the tornado sirens blew. As a kid, all I could think about was getting to the city. And hence here I am in San Diego, and I love this city. 5 minutes from the ocean, 1 hour from the mountains and deserts, and 15 minutes to get downtown for a little nightlife. So for me, I am a city folk.

Reminds me of that tale about the city mouse and the country mouse

BTW, my dad and oldest sister still live in Texas. Nice place to visit, but...

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Kamloops

I wiki the place nicely situated right between Vanc and alberta. If you wanted a place I would have chosen it too !


kv

I hear what you say KV.
That's why I started this thread to ask questions and prove myself into some thinking.

I already know about the conditions, and believe all drivers will require special training for sleet and ice conditions. I'm still not sure about the diesel cost up there, except that it's slightly more than petrol, but in RSA diesel takes approx. 40% of our turn-over (We do have older vehicles).

the cold will be a new challenge, diesel is bad news when really cold, we also experience slightly less than freezing here during winters, but have not had any trouble with starting vehicles that stand out in the open, one just has to plan a bit differently for those conditions (and learn along the way).
Regarding the gold-rush theory, I do not know.
I think it's a booming industry, and Canada may not lean itself towards trains that well.
I mean, these guys are talking about 254 cubic km of oil that needs hauling still, that excludes the oil soil. You'll need some serious transport for that.

Maybe people closer will know more, I'm relying on information off the internet.

Our opportunities in RSA is getting less and less.
Our new president, Zuma, yesterday said that affirmative action will be stepped up drastically. Where does that leave me, because companies are penalised if their figures are out of shape. So I'm out.
Then we have the corruption, we have already suffered greatly because of that in our business, and that can partly be blamed to our demise as well.
The idiot in charge of allocating trips to contractors were being bribed.

I would like a fair chance in making a life, and as things stand, I do not know if I'll get that chance here. I'm unfortunately not that young either (not too old either), and it more so affects my parents and other family, they are considered dead already.

I grew up in the cold. There is a reason I did not retire there.

diesel is bad news when really cold,

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If it is cold you warm them with an engine block heater of some type. If it is really really cold you only turn them off to service.

Winter fuel is #1 instead of #2. Not such a big deal. Just different.

3v0 said:

There is a vast differance between small towns. You have to pick the right one. Tornados, humidity, and heat are the reasons we did not go futher east or south.

The speed limit is 65 and 75 here. Unless weather is bad you can drive the limit (maybe a bit more) most of the time. In terms of time I am about an hour away from reasonable shopping, that is not much different then the daily drive to work in many large cities.

Most kids will tell you their life sucks. The kids here have so many things going between school, church, and such that it is difficult to find time outside of class for them to do additional activities. If you ask them there is nothing to do and life sucks in a small town. We even have drugs here. What town does not.

As an adult it can take decades to overcome the hatred and dread you felt as a kid.

The toughest part about moving is leaving friends and possibly family behind.

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My wife wants to know. Are there tornado's in Canada? (Not the military aircraft)
The distance is not an issue to me, I'm a driving kinda guy. Also very happy to stay around home.
From what I understood, the smaller places are the ones where you are more openly welcomed as well, and alien treatment not so bad.
From my pilot buddy, he says the people are really nice and warm hearted compared to say Australia.

Luckily we do not have too many friends left here, most of them already far off. The family will come to accept it, just my parents, I would like to get something successful going and involving them again.
They have a need for purpose, and I doubt will ever sit back and say it's time to do nothing now.

There is a band called tornado alley that runs from the gulf of Mexico up into Canada. If you live in that band you will see some mostly in the fall. A few fall outside the band but they are rare.

The frequency and severity depends on where you live. As a threat I would rate them far below hurricanes. Each one only effects a comparatively small area. The season is short. If you have a shelter (hole in the ground) it is easy to be personally safe from one. No mass evacuations. Unless you live deep in the tornado belt they are not a major factor. The frequency seems to drop off by the time you hit the northern tier of states in the US so I would expect that they happen much less often in the Canadian section of the tornado belt then say Texas or Oklahoma.

In many small towns you are new unless you have 3 generations buried in the cemetery. Mine is like that. But just the same we have been made welcome. Wife is in garden and quilting club, redhat.

In the US people on the coasts and large cities tend to be less friendly. I do not think Canada is much different. I have only been to a few places so the members from there could better speak to that.

arrie said:

My wife wants to know. Are there tornado's in Canada?

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Never in BC. A few rare ones in Alberta and east of there. Edmonton (Edmonchuck) has had a couple in my memory.

EDIT: Found this. Seems there have been a few (very few) in BC.

I've been offered a temp support job in Johannesburg, pay is okay.
I'll take it and get stuff sorted while there.
It seems I still require a few points for entering Canada, but I know exactly how to get them.
Thanks for all your replies and advice, seems to me that Southern BC is the place to be in Canada.

arrie said:

I've been offered a temp support job in Johannesburg, pay is okay.
I'll take it and get stuff sorted while there.
It seems I still require a few points for entering Canada, but I know exactly how to get them.
Thanks for all your replies and advice, seems to me that Southern BC is the place to be in Canada.

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So how does that point system work? Is it skill level, education, stuff like that?

arrie said:

My wife wants to know. Are there tornado's in Canada? (Not the military aircraft)

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Arrie, you are getting a lot of misinformation, especially from the Americans. I have lived in southern Ontario, northern and southern Manitoba, and Vancouver.

Tornados occur very seldom. I've never heard of one in Ontario and never in BC; infrequently but deadly in the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Very infrequent Hurricanes in southern Ontario but not at all when I lived there for 10 years.

Housing is very expensive in coastal BC because everyone wants to retire here because the weather is so good (except for 9 months of rain or showers per year). The temperature is moderated by Pacific currents. there is hardly any snow, and some years only for a few days. No tornados or hurricanes, just occasional wind storms that blow down coniferous trees. The temperature is about 10 degrees lower than San Francisco in northern California. We have the warmest average temperatures of Canada here if you don't mind rain. Get a hundred miles from the coast, and the weather changes: cold snowy winters but much less rain in the interior of BC. Southern Ontario weather is as nice as the US northeast New England area. That's because the Canadian/US border dips way south of the 49th parallel there. One Christmas day, my Dad has us kids doing landscaping because it had not snowed yet that year.

There are good paying jobs in Fort McMurray Alberta, but housing is expensive and hard to find. It is farther north, so expect -30C in Winter. Trucking jobs in BC? They don't pay well at all if you are an owner/operator of a dump truck. Expect to go bankrupt. There is too much competition from high school dropouts and immigrants from India/Pakistan.

Bob Scott said:

Arrie, you are getting a lot of misinformation, especially from the Americans.

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If you are going to call people wrong you should be specific.

arrie said:

I took a particular interest in Kamloops, there are also some seemingly worthwhile jobs there. Does anyone know any more about the place, seems much smaller than Vancouver and Victoria, but not too small either.
Climate seems cool too.

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Kamloops is in the dry interior of the province. Not such a bad little town. I've been there many times. Worked there a bit. There's some of the world's best rainbow trout fly fishing in the hills (mountains?) around that area and up toward **broken link removed**, and not too far north is the Chilcotin area with even better fishing (lots of mosquitoes too!).

Fly Fishing.

futz said:

Kamloops is in the dry interior of the province. Not such a bad little town. I've been there many times. Worked there a bit. There's some of the world's best rainbow trout fly fishing in the hills (mountains?) around that area and up toward **broken link removed**, and not too far north is the Chilcotin area with even better fishing (lots of mosquitoes too!).

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Yup are biting just when the fish are biting. It's the bears I might be a little worried about. I've already done the close encounter of the bear type. Momma sow about 350 pounds I kept clacking two rocks together while standing in the middle of a small creek about 15 feet wide saying......

you don't want me.... you don't want me.

Lucky me she swung her head back and forth for a minute ( It was a very long minute to me) then she charged up a hill. Man those things are fast.

Later I found out that she was looking for her cubs.

kv

Mikebits said:

So how does that point system work? Is it skill level, education, stuff like that?

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Yes, more or less.