BS: Is life so really sweet in Canada ?

Subject: RE: BS: Is life so really sweet in Canada ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 11:18 PM

Canada is actually FREE of Shane at the moment, Ebbie. He got abducted by aliens again.

He'll probably be back, though. ;-) The best way to avoid Shane is to have no cigarettes, booze or drugs in your possession...otherwise he'll hang around trying to get you to give him some for free.

Oh, and if you're a "babe", he'll hang around trying to get something else for free...

But he's basically harmless. ;-)

People like Shane can be found in any Canadian community, specially hanging around the Beer Store, the LCBO, the Dollar Store, the place that cashes your cheques ahead of time, and the Tim Horton's donut shops. They emerge in the afternoon hours and can generally be found wandering around right after the bars close at midnight or 1 AM. They become considerably less coherent after sundown.

Subject: RE: BS: Is life so really sweet in Canada ?
From: Bee
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 11:17 PM

This weekend I met a Welsh couple, in Cape Breton (first time in Canada) to visit their cousins (my friends) who moved here as young children. My friends just happen to live in a ten acre rural paradise - rolling fields, the Highlands as their main view, river one side the property, huge vegetable garden, happy dogs and cats, swarms of friends in and out, so the visitors may have gotten an exaggerated idea of Canadian lifestyles.

But, like other UK folks I've talked with, it is the distances, the size of Canada, that astounds them. That my husband and I would drive 400+ km to visit friends for a couple days, that many of us commute 50 or 60 km. to work, that a lake might have only three or four homes on it, or none at all, that the Laurentian Shield is mostly uninhabited and could swallow Europe, are all facts hard for them to grasp. Canada is durn near empty, by UK standards.

Oh, and they were very nice clever fun people!

Subject: RE: BS: Is life so really sweet in Canada ?
From: Cluin
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 11:07 PM

Pretty sweet in the early spring when our national trees are in full flow.

Subject: RE: BS: Is life so really sweet in Canada ?
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 11:00 PM

Ha, I say. What about Shane, huh? Huh?

Subject: RE: BS: Is life so really sweet in Canada ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 10:11 PM

Oh, well, it's a very peaceful and nice society in general. That said, there are bad neighborhoods in all big cities...you just want to make sure you don't move into such a neighborhood. In Toronto, for example, there are a few areas that are pretty high in crime...such as the Jane-Finch area, for example. At the same time, the city on the whole is pretty safe as big cities go.

The smaller cities, towns, and country areas are great.

You also get free medicare here (of course, that is true in a great many of not most developed countries in the west, but not in our big neighbour to the south...).

The drug and alcohol and crime scene is basically there...if you're inclined to go around looking for it. ;-) I mean, hey, if you want to buy drugs or hang out with drunks, you can do that in any Canadian town...just look around for such people. But if you're not inclined to go looking for it, you will not be likely to have it come looking for you.

Yeah, Canada is a great place to live, no question about it. Some areas are short of jobs. If you want to go somewhere with a healthy economy, I'd suggest Alberta, I guess, and southern Ontario. London, Ontario sounds good to me. I'm not sure what the job scene is like in British Columbia, but people seem to love the place.

There's a lot of room in this country. That always helps. You can basically find the kind of place that suits you, no matter what your tastes are...unless, that is, you want palm trees.

Subject: RE: BS: Is life so really sweet in Canada ?
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 09:47 PM

No shortage of drugs or alcohol in cities I am familiar with. Quite a lot in fact. But it is a wonderful place, sometimes overly self-righteous I think, but I would live there in a heartbeat. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Is life so really sweet in Canada ?
From: GUEST,Jimmy Webb Fan
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 09:28 PM

Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Is life so really sweet in Canada ?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 09:21 PM

Cities always have the biggest and best, in Canada as elsewhere.
That includes crime as well as the best in facilities.

I am happy living in Alberta (transplant from the States). I'd say life is pretty sweet, but then I am not exposed to the drug-sex-crime scene, although it is there under the surface, as it is everywhere else.

Subject: RE: BS: Is life so really sweet in Canada ?
From: GUEST,Jimmy Webb Fan
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 09:14 PM

Thanks. My wife has a possible job offer in London, Ontario.

Subject: RE: BS: Is life so really sweet in Canada ?
From: Bee
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 09:08 PM

No, but it isn't too bad, either. Also depends on where you live, big city, small town, Maritimes, Alberta, etc. Statistics Canada has a website, you can find crime stats and many other things there.

Of course, he's quite right about the roses on the sidewalks. ;-D

Subject: BS: Is life so really sweet in Canada ?
From: GUEST,Jimmy Webb Fan
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 08:57 PM

I live in the UK and recently my wife and I have been considering a move to Canada. My wife has a brother living there for the past 6 years and he paints a picture of a crime free society with roses on the sidewalks.

I have no doubt it's a fine country, but my brother in law does tend to take any opportunity to put the boot in regarding the UK. Any time I talk to him by phone, it's "oh you wouldn't get that happening in Canada".

I know there are Canadians on the site, could you answer me this, is Canada the drug free, alcohol abuse free utopia I am lead to believe ?

Thanks.