Hi! Newbie, talkin' in foreign language, so don't be harsh, please. So my main question is - how are things going in Canada? I'm interested because my friend has an idea of going there to live for some time and he's inviting me with him. He is at the moment in 'nothing to lose' situation as he just lost his job that he had for some time, has no girlfriend or dog and so he called me (a guy with quite similar 'situation') today and told me this idea. Why Canada? Because they just opened their labor market to our country and there is this program where you can get work licence (or how is it called?) in Canada for a year. So the idea is to go to Canada, get a job and live there for a year. We are both seeing it as a great life experience and also a possibility for handling our financial issues, because at the moment thanks to ignorant work of our government + global crisis, Latvia (my country) is experiencing tough times and unemployment rate is rising every day so nothing too promising for us here for some time. So how is it with Canada? How much has the global economical crisis struck Canada, how is it with unemployment? Also, just curios - what do you guys think about guys like us and about immigrant thing in general? At the moment I somehow feel a little bit like a traitor for leaving my country at hard times like these and I wouldn't do it but I'm very excited at the moment about this whole idea and mostly because I think it could help me as a bassist (yes, that's why I'm here with all of this), I'm 22 and I'm playing bass for quite some time, I am not a professional but sometimes feel I could 'jump in the last train' and achieve it. It looks like Latvia promises me tough economical situation for some time where you can survive only if you work in a day job but I would rather work less, earn less but learn and play music more, but part time job is almost impossible to find at the moment in Latvia, so I guess going somewhere where the situation is more solid could help me, just hoping that Canada is the place. So any advise here would be appreciated, also if it's about music scene in Canada or where to go (which Province, City) better, where there is a better situation with unemployment etc. I don't know the french language, so I guess that leaves Quebec out. Sorry for being so long, unstructured and boring, hopefully you will help me and my next thread will be about my tour with Bryan Adams
seriously, I've seen some people from other province, they are bizarre come to Québec man. Cool province and it's always good to know some people who know how to party .
Canada has dodged a big chunk of the economic crisis so far, mainly because we have a very stable banking system. Although things have slowed down, the unemployment rate for the last quarter was just released today. Unemployment is at 7.6% nationally. As for where to move to? Alberta, lots of jobs there. Any city/town and you should be able to find a job, but it isn't as easy as it was before. That is if you can handle the cold. It hit -43 there the other day, that is COLD! lowsound
Seriously, Alberta is maybe not a good thing... I've seen some reportage on Radio-Can on the unenployment and things like this in Alberta... I think Ontario Quebec or even Newfoundland. Newfies are great guys even with all the things we say about them. and the climate in Newfoundland is not so arch if you like rain. My two cents..
Unemployed hasn't been an issue in Alberta since like 1998. Jobs are insanely plentiful right now (will not be the case in a year). Those reports you claim to have read/heard and not only inaccurate, but blatant lies. Newfoundland? Are you nuts? He wants a JOB.
My wife and I are looking into possibly moving to Canada as well. I was wondering how that works, can we just up and move there? What are the requirements to move there, I assume we need visa's to work there? I have read it takes three years to become a citizen, but what do we do in the meantime? Thanks in advance...
it now snows every damn day ( at least in St. John's) Lots of jobs in newfoundland, however most of them are crappy pay. However out around the bay it is really hard to find a job so basically you would be forced to be in the city. In a few year newfoundland is expected to boom actually, due to the "new" oil we came across.
onyl one thign to do in canada go to halifax nova scotia and eat a donair, you ave no idea what your missing out on
hi, Niss! Welcome to Talkbass! I'm pretty sure you're the first person I've seen on here who joined in 2009. If I were in you're situation, I'd go for it! Canada is a great place (went for vacation a few years ago), with amazing people and great geography (It's really beautiful up there).
hey, thank you for all the replies and warm welcomes! So it looks good overall with slightly different opinions on the best area to go to. Hey Joey, could you comment a little bit more on this, why is it like that in Alberta, what is so different about the place that there are no problems with unemployment and why it is supposed to change? Thanks!
Canada is great, and we welcome everyone into our country, unlike ahem our sometimes cranky neighbors Alberta has a lot of jobs, but it's cold and it can be unfriendly, unlike "Back East" - the East coast or the Maritimes, where we're friendly but they aren't a lot of jobs
Alberta has oil right now, so there are a huge pile of jobs available in a booming industry, where as the east coast has lost it's fishery in the 90's, and Ontario is losing Auto jobs right now. I'm not sure about "next year" specifically, but eventually Alberta will run out of jobs cause, well, there's only so much oil.
The marijuana laws in Canada are, ahem, a bit more "relaxed" than here in the USA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_legalization_in_Canada DISCLAIMER: Of course in no way is this meant to condone the illegal use of marijuana or any other drug by this poster, whether in Canada or anywhere else. This is merely food for thought.