I definitely require high speed internet access. Other than that, I could use some help! EDIT: Mountains are not a deal breaker. Water would be nice, but sea level rise is a concern.
EDIT: Oh, Come ONNNN!!!
Port Alberni, BC
Or Merritt, BC if you want to be on the mainland
Both have all the necessary hospitals, schools, rec centers, high-speed internet, and decent access to larger cities if needed.
Alberni is amazing but I wouldn’t live there due to natural hazard risk. If there is a tsunami (and that’s not even an if, it’s long overdue) the town will be gone. And there will be no way to evacuate because there is only one way out
Natural disasters are definitely a concern
They’re overinflating the risk of that happening by a wide margin.
The last tsunami didn’t even wipe out the town, in fact it didn’t kill a single person in Port Alberni despite destroying 55 houses and damaging hundreds of others. It’s unlikely a second one would be worse considering that the earthquake that caused that one is still the strongest earthquake ever recorded in North America.
Also, the last one also happened in 1964, long before things like earthquake and tsunami warning sirens were a thing.
I’m talking about “the big one” though which is long overdue
I wouldn’t get my hopes up, you want to come here and still work for your current US employer? What does Canada have to gain from that? You’re not coming to fill a gap for us, you want to move to reap the benefits without any direct involvement.
This seems to be a non sequitur. OP is asking about where to live not where to find employment.
There are visas under the free trade agreement with the US and Mexico that enable movement of employees between the three countries. These have been in place since the 1990s.
I mean OP would be paying taxes here and spending money in our economy, while not taking an existing job. That’s pretty good.
That doesn’t really count on a citizenship application, though.
Or taking one place in the annual quota for someone that would come here to work in a field where we need people, like healthcare.
I don not get this response. OP wants to come build a life in Canada. Sounds like direct involvement. Also wants to bring their $120k annual income which will get injected into the Canadian economy. Sounds ok to me.
So anyone who wants to come build a life im Canada is welcome? Or is it as long as they have money?
Their income comes from a job that doesn’t benefit Canadians and we have immigration quotas. Anytime an immigrant comes to Canada to work remotely for a foreign company they’re taking the place of someone that could come here to work in a field where we need workforce.
Kamloops, BC?
It’s got mountains around, it’s not completely caught in the Conservative trap, you’ve got decent amenities of civilization around without the big city or suburb vibe of Metro Vancouver, (I still think it pales as a “city” compared to Toronto), but as a day trip you can head there to sightsee or pick up big box stuff.
If you want something more laid back I second Yukon.
I’m in Kelowna and loving it. We’re turning more progressive as the city grows. NDP lost the ejection here by 40 votes out of 25783 total votes, that’s pretty good considering how conservative this area used to be and how much popularity the “fuck Trudeau” style conservatism has gained and retained over the years. Can’t really go wrong with any of the small towns around here either, from Vernon to Lake Country to West Kelowna to Summerland to Penticton.
I am not looking forward to the next federal election. Trudeau is about to pull a Biden and stay in too long and hand the whole thing to the right in a landslide. If only that dummy didn’t give up on electoral reform the second he got into power. What a waste
If you, or anyone else in this thread is actually serious about becoming immigrants in another country, this is a great thread for what it will actually take to get started in making the move.
Permanent residence in #Canada is hard to obtain, though it’s far easier if you take a job, in a field where you’re in demand. By government policy, the number of people getting permanent residence each year is being cut back, so even that may not be sufficient.
I’m retired and have no hope of getting permanent status, unless Canada starts accepting asylum claims by U.S. citizens.
1/2
#MovingToCanadaMy own plan, and yes it involves privilege, is to obtain shelter in Canada and then be ready to travel there intermittently. We can visit temporarily for 6 months at a time without a visa. My choice of location is determined by how far I can go by car with a cat.
And maybe then I can find some way to help people for whom getting out of the U.S. is a matter of survival.
2/2
If you’re ok downgrading from epic Rockies style mountains to just like… Big hills (a hundred foot cliff is still pretty impressive up close, ok 😅), then the maritimes might be pretty good.
Summer and winter are much milder near the cost (although I wouldn’t call the weather good), and the east coast is cheaper than the West Coast.
If you live near to a “city” you can get good Internet. I have like 1.5gb fibre, and I live on the boundary between suburban and rural.
If you want mountains, you’re kinda limited. Vancouver, BC, has great mountains, ocean, and forest access, but COL is pretty high for Canada. Calgary, AB is the closest city to the Canadian Rockies, but is in the middle of nowhere elsewise.
If you’re looking for good internet, though, you’re going to want Vancouver or Toronto. Those are the tech hubs of Canada.
We’d need to know what they mean by high-speed but I think it’s mostly everywhere nowadays. Just the very remote won’t have it. I know farmers with high speed internet.
We have really good internet in Winnipeg. We currently have 1.5 gig fibreoptic for our home. Winnipeg has a decent cultural scene, but no mountains, I’m sorry to say. Cost of living is one of the better options, at least for western Canada. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, there is a lot of racism towards First Nations here.
If you’re good with cold, you might enjoy it. We were literally coldervthan Mars recently. Not a great city for your car, especially if it rides low to the ground, lol.
Love Calgary and Edmonton. But the UCP is ruining this province. Please don’t come here.
Man… if I could I’d move to Whistler lol
Living in a resort town isn’t as good as you might think. You get annoyed by tourists very quickly and eventually you end up taking the place for granted anyway
I mean, I don’t really have mountains where I live at all. While I would enjoy a property at Whistler, I wouldn’t mind just having a good view out the window. Maybe Squamish? Anywhere within an hour or so drive of Whistler
If you can afford that, you can jump in your helicopter and go wherever you want.
Ugh, I was looking at prices like “these aren’t that bad”. Then I saw the 1/8-1/10 ownership…
Don’t come to Canada. If I was able to leave this country, I would. We have so many of the same problems as the US. I would go to Europe
Immigration is exchanging one set of problems for another. If immigration is a vast improvement, those problems are in the background. But if it isn’t, then it takes a lot more work on your part to work through them.
This might surprise you, but Canada has angry dumb rednecks too.
You did not read the article. This is WAY beyond being a dumb redneck. This is systematic dismantling of our entire system of government, to maintain the oligarchy and ruling class in perpetuity.
While much less embedded in Canada, the same forces that are pushing Project2025 in the US are also trying to do the same here in Canada. So far they’re not nearly as advanced, and they are still facing strong pushback on their regressive plan, but they are still trying. That shit is leaking over the border.
Fortunately, for now, Canada is nowhere near as far down that fascist path as the US is.
But if you’re trying to escape it, I would recommend against Alberta.
What’s the justification (yes I know, logic might not be a factor).
But some argue that US was always a Christian stage but Canada clearly never was.
Edit: turns out nope, Canada was founded on similar principles…
Wtf mate.
Not surprising. Canada has a legacy of sheltering shitbirds, so they’ve been around a while. Canada took in the Confederate leaders after the civil war. Jefferson Davis was allowed to live his life in comfort in Toronto after he betrayed his country. Canada along with Britain even aided the Confederacy by providing them with a fleet and supplies.
If you go to Southern Ontario, you find plantation style homes that were built by the Confederates after they came here.
I mean, didn’t them States have and still have the right to cecede? I thought the whole idea of the USA was that it was a commonwealth of states that had the freedom to leave any time.
So how did Jeffers D betray his country? I’m not able to check wikipedia right now, but may I trouble you to clarify?
There are literally thousands of books and articles on the subject, in at a bit of a loss at this question
Humour me, please
Yes, USA is in a for a really bad time, and Canada definitely looks better in comparison. And while it is, as a Canadian I still fantasize about trying to move to europe. Grass is always greener.
Just don’t expect to escape all the nonsense automatically by coming here because for all we know we’re just lagging behind a few years. I have had the disspointing experiences of finding some of my Canadian friends were in favour of the Trump victory.
And then the housing prices.
Many of us are quite familiar with American politics. If you emigrate, you’ll figure out why.
I would go to Europe
Lol, as if the right isn’t on the rise pretty much everywhere and WW3 is brewing in our own back yard…
Capitalism is decaying in to fascism globally and rapidly. Wherever you go in the world, you WILL be up against varying levels of the same bullshit, and while I understand less bullshit is easier to live with, without active resistance, it becomes more bullshit real fucking quick, and you’ll be back where you started.
Atlantic Canada. Cheap cost of living compared to the rest of the country, beautiful environment, lots of nice small communities.
Lol this happens every US election.
I think they are cracking down on it though so maybe it’ll work…or maybe you’ll end up waiting for so long another president takes over. Mixed blessing. Cuz in Canada you get stuck with turds for prime minister for life. Their bipartisan is locked in way harder than in the US. But at least they have a seat system to keep it somewhat in check so there’s that.
Are you vegan? I’m looking for a vegan roommate and I live downtown city of a hundred thousand and fifty ish.
Very much not vegan, sorry about that!
If you like mountains and your job is remote then why not try and live in somewhere in Alberta? Canmore is right next to Banff and is absolutely gorgeous. That being said Alberta is pretty much the America of Canada meaning their politics is pretty right wing. If you want to live in a province that’s more left wing you can try British Colunbia which is on the other side of the rockies.
Yeah right wing is a hard no for me
couple of details though: Canada right wing is a long ways away from US for the most part. Also AB almost got NDP elected last election which is, after 40yrs of unbreakable concervative hold on province is telling. So yeah right wing is correct but you’ve got to pay attention to nuances. Calgary and South of Calgary are good places to live with decent infrastructure. You go most places BC you’ll be surrounded by a lot of conservative minded folk. In both provinces I’ve been surrounded by conservative minded folk which were persistently calling POTUS45/47 a nutcase. So… don’t get too hung up on labels.
Alberta had the NDP and kicked them out after one manager and now they’ve elected a conspiracy nutjob… The NDP government was an anomaly, they’ve had a conservative government in power for the past 100 years except for one NDP government.
Canada’s about to elect our own right wing version of Trump. So if you’re looking to escape that by moving here… don’t be too optimistic.
BC almost went conservative provincially in the last election. Alberta and Saskatchewan are batshit insane conservative. Manitoba used to be but they’ve gone centre left. Ontario conservative corporate. Quebec… I’m not going to touch that one. And then the east which I don’t have a ton of feedback on personally.
Quebec… I’m not going to touch that one.
Damnit now I’m curious.
In the 1970s there was a domestic terror group who wanted to separate from Canada so bad they started assassinating politicians and our current PM’s dad, who was also PM at the time, had to call in the army.
Their provincial politics are confusing because it’s not liberal/conservative spectrum - you also have to throw in the Quebec nationalists (separatists) too. Like their ruling provincial party right now is conservative + Quebec Nationalist to the extreme that businesses must provide public advertising/public facing services in French only.
“they started assassinating politicians”
One of them, not intentionally, and they took full credit for it as if they had intentionally murdered him. They kidnapped a second one that didn’t die.
Quebec Nationalist to the extreme
The current ruling party is Federalist and no more nationalist than any other provinces’ party in the way they are with the federal government and in the way they act towards people of other culture, in other provinces they just do it covertly.
businesses must provide public advertising/public facing services in French only.
That’s false, advertising must be in French first and French service must be available but nothing keeps businesses from offering service in any other language they want.
If all your knowledge of Quebec comes from the racists on /r/Canada you can just keep your opinion to yourself.
You know as well as I do that if you’re not a French speaker in Quebec that you’re a second class citizen in the eyes of the government (and many of the population).
You try living anywhere else in Canada without speaking English and come back and tell me you’re a first class citizen. Get off your high horse.
NB (the only bilingual province) just got rid of a premier that was the member of an anti French party in the 90s: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Brunswick_Confederation_of_Regions_Party
In 1985, Higgs handwrote a brief and presented it to the Guérette-Smith Commission, starting it by praising the United States for being "united under one flag, one government, and one language,” adding that “we will never achieve such a level of loyalty and unity when at the same time we embark on a process supporting two different cultures.”[9] In 1989, Higgs ran for the leadership of the CoR Party.[3] In his bid for the COR leadership, Higgs “complained about francophones ‘who can speak the common language, but refuse to’”.[14] He also supported an elected Senate, opposed the Meech Lake Accord, favoured fixed terms for government, and stated “We do not have an obligation to cater to those people who can speak the common language, English, and refuse to do so”.[15]
Which province has the highest level of bilingualism? Quebec. Not New-Brunswick. Quebec.
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016009/98-200-x2016009-eng.cfm
So do you really think we’re not accommodating enough?
Oh. I must’ve hit a nerve. Truth hurts huh.
Tabernac!
Lies and ignorance hurt a lot more than truth.
Je parle français my dude. J’ai étudié le français jusqu’au niveau universitaire comme mon mineur.
What 22% of Canada is bilingual? I’m one of them.
I made my effort. But as I said above you don’t win hearts and minds by angrily jumping down people’s throats on the issue.
I’m just saying I disagree with the language laws I have Anglo friends living in Quebec, born in Quebec and it is very difficult for them - like the commenter said, they do feel like second class citizens at times. She’s gotta get updates from her kid’s daycare in French only and run them through Google Translate. It’s a lot. It’s like if you were sending your kid to daycare and the caregiver and the parent both spoke Dutch. I really don’t give a flying f if the daycare caregiver chooses to give an update to that parent in Dutch. It doesn’t concern me. But in my understanding they’re not allowed to - it has to be French. Happy to be corrected on that.
I wouldn’t begrudge someone who serves Vietnamese clientele to have a menu and signage primarily in Vietnamese with English or French smaller on it (or even not at all). Things like this don’t seem to be allowed under the law but I’m happy to be corrected.
If they were born and have lived in Quebec all their lives then they can get any service they want in English, by law.
What’s their excuse to not know French at this point, right? Hell, Anglo Quebecois is the group that declares itself the most bilingual at something like 88%! Don’t tell me it’s hard to learn or hard to practice or any of that bullshit. I come from a region where 2% of the population speaks English first and I have top level bilingual ratings at my job.
Signage and menus need to be in French first, that’s it, you can have any other language on them as long as French is the most prominent.
It’s funny how Anglos are all about helping minorities and guilt trips about colonization EXCEPT for the French Canadian minority.
It’s funny how Anglo Canadians were flipping out about Cantonese/Mandarin signage in BC not too long ago but if Quebec does something to prevent it beginning an issue then they’re flipping out about Quebec oppressing minorities.
Sure and why is that? Because English is a very useful language to know. Why is that because of America, till it implodes collapses whatever it is the driving force in the world as it has the biggest economy by far.
So all cultures should disappear and everyone should just start speaking English, that’s what you’re saying?
I mean… Yeah, the official language is French, any other language is provided at best effort. The only places that are officially bilingual in Canada are New-Brunswick and the federal government, and even that would be a stretch. Would you expect to be treated as a first-class citizen while not speaking a word of Italian in Italy?
Not just best effort but any other language is actively discouraged and hindered by the government.
Which happens naturally with English in all other provinces without any governmental intervention and against the government’s will in Quebec because English is the language used by 360 million North Americans who have a media megaphone that spreads their culture all over the world at the expense of all other cultures.
*Laughs in Francophone in New Brunswick… *
The CAQ (ruling party) are NOT extreme separatists, and the law 101 that has french be prioritized in public advertising and facing services has been passed in 1978 to protect our cultural heritage. Otherwise yeah politics are spicier because of the separatist background which is still an ongoing question, but the whole thing still takes place on a very recognizable pattern of centre right liberals, conservatives, and libertarian-ish parties, with the occasional left leaning but still center crew.
Little did you know that the separatist movement is largely a left-wing one, driven mainly by the PQ (center-left) and QS (left). The center-right (CAQ, PLQ) and right (Conservative) parties oppose the separation of Québec and want to stay in Canada.
You seem to think that we are some kind of crazy schizos that want to eliminate every foreign person around, and its absolutely false. We just want to be able to keep our language and culture alive. 8M people in Québec vs 400M in Canada + USA, and the rate of french-speaking people is declining at an alarming rate. Think about that for a second. All the people saying we are racists and whatnot don’t seem to realize that being a minority is not reserved for people with dark enough skin colour. In the end, you are the racist ones, trying to assimilate us for 400 years. Bunch of hypocrites.
The Coalition Avenir Québec is a Quebec nationalist, autonomist, conservative provincial political party in Quebec.
I said nothing of the sort actually. Just facts about the history of the FLQ and October Crisis at the extremely basic and factual level. I’m quoting Wikipedia on the CAQ.
None of what you built out is what I actually said. And if I slipped on a word QN vs separatist I apologize. Obviously you’re a separatist (independentiste). Good! Separate if you guys want to. Wish you all the luck. I have no skin in the game.
However your reaction is why people are hesitant to engage with anything related to Quebec and learning about it. The rigidity and inflexibility does push people away.
“just facts”
Which actually weren’t true.
Just invent a bunch of racism towards the French Canadian minority and you’ll have an idea what most Anglo Canadians think of Quebec for daring to protect the French Canadian culture.
Ever heard of Lord Durham? You would believe the guy is a freaking hero to them.
All of canada seems to be shamed for trying to protect its culture to be fair. The government actively tries to guilt trip us
As an US-Canadian dual citizen who grew up and was educated in Canada/Europe, I’m not gonna lie, I don’t get this argument. Canada as a confederation is 157 years old, we haven’t had the time to carve out a unifying cultural identity.
Ask any Canadian, hell ask yourself, “What is Canadian culture?” Rick Mercer has done so many street interview segments about this (we watched them during history class for funsies). It always boils down to “We’re different from/not as bad as America”, “We’re kind of like Europe” or “hockey”. The answers were also very different if you asked francophones in Quebec, francophones outside of Quebec, Acadians, or you know…Indigenous people.
Actually Rick Mercer might have been the closest thing we had to Canadian culture. And we did nothing to protect him 😞
My take has always been that we have strong regional cultures over a unified Canadian cultural identity. The U.S has a little bit of this as well, but not in the same way/with more stuff to point to in terms of national identity.
Edit: Actually, here’s a good experiment for anyone who wants to think about this more. Take a look at some of the Canadian TV shows and movies that have actually been successful, and people abroad may point to as representative of Canadian culture. What about them is distinctly Canadian, over [x]-Canadian? Can start with the obvious (Trailer Park Boys, Letterkenny, Schitt’s Creek, Kim’s Convenience, FUBAR), but I’d bet folks may find this holds across some less obvious ones too.
Yeah, OP would be better off trying to move to Scandinavia
Coming next there too
Québec: the only province expected to NOT vote conservative in the next federal elections. Also the province expected to vote for a center-left government for the next provincial elections. But go on I guess…
I like Quebec but it is preferred to learn French (I am horrible at spoken languages, I’m having enough trouble with English let alone another language) and I don’t like their secession movement.
Interestingly, all of my heritage on my mother’s side is French Canadian. Unfortunately, the last one born there, according to the family history I could find was prior to 1900, so that probably doesn’t really help me much at all.
There was a huge exodus at the time with French education becoming illegal in some provinces and French Canadians not being allowed to work (similar to what happened to the Irish), my grandfather learned he was born in the USA when he got his passport at 65 y.o., his parents just came back while he was an infant and they never talked about the years they had spent in the USA to work.
There’s right wing and then there’s MAGA. Have you read up on Project 2025? Is abortion legal in Canada?
Hah for now it is….
You also have Danielle Smith (Alberta Premier) cozying up to Tucker Carlson, Poilievre (National Conservative Party leader) and the convoy, India and Russia.
And GOP operatives who coincidentally, I’m sure, also supported the convoy.
Canadian right wing influencers caught up in the Russian payment scandal.
I don’t believe for a second that Pierre and elements of the federal conservative party wouldn’t want to get rid of our rights in Canada. It’s just unpopular to say that part out loud.
I mean, Pierre already said he’s going after porn, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out.
Pollievre is a snivelling rat man, but anyone who claims he’s equivalent to Trump needs to turn off their screens
He is, but the same forces that are pushing project2025 and are puppetering Trump are also active in the CPC.
You’re talking about the guy who said he’d use the notwithstanding clause? Sure, maybe you like the idea of longer sentences for criminals, but I would still question whether you should love that more than respecting the constitution.
Accessible abortion rights will almost certainly be back on the chopping block next election.
I don’t think we’ll have it nearly as bad as America because our political system works a bit differently but the conservative leader/party definitely have the hallmarks of trumpism with white nationalism, climate change denying, anti-women and anti-trans issues. They’re going to play the same “we’re better for the economy” game as well.
Quebec… I’m not going to touch that one.
Yeah you should have just not mentioned it and not replied a second time instead of telling lies.
The east coast has some very affordable housing especially compared to Ontario and BC. For example, there are suburbs or small towns within 30 minutes or less from Moncton and Halifax. Gives access to city resources without having to live in the city.
That Pierre Poilievre is such a walking red flag. The way he talks down to journalists is very telling of his personality. Dude rolls his sleeves up and smiles in ads but he’s unhinged
Might I recommend Milo Alberta? Super cheap. They use an air raid siren every day to announce lunch (the town is closed other then the restaurant 12-1).
If you want something with mountains, you likely can not afford that.
Try Drummheller if you have not seen it its in the badlands. Looks like this
As a siren enthusiast, I love when towns still carry on the traditional noon siren blasts. That doesn’t happen much here in Ontario anymore.
FYI, Milo’s siren isn’t an air raid siren, small sirens like Milo’s (a Federal Model 2 in this case) are typically fire sirens used to summon volunteer firefighters to the station during a fire call. Milo’s is on the fire department, so it’s probably the fire siren. They’re usually tested daily or weekly to make sure they work when needed.
Odd they always called it an air raid siren, but I also know it has been replaced a few times now. Might have been one at one point.
A lot of people just call every siren an “air raid siren” even though no siren has been built for that purpose in 40 years in North America lol. It’s entirely possible they had an actual air raid siren at one point, probably built by Canadian Line Materials.
My guess is I was and then changed out over and over until people just assumed like you said that it is an “air raid” siren.
