Canadian job market

[stotRE]

Can any canadian members help me please.

I am putting in my application for permanent residence under the skilled worker program and want to know what the job markets really like over there.

Im a carpenter/builder and experienced timber framer and my wife is a marketing exec for the automotive industry.

I would like to live in either BC or Alberta (has to be near lots of forest and mountains )

Is Canada really in need of skilled labour or is it hype.
Would i be welcome on the building sites or would they see me like we do with Polish builders in Britain (no training and always undercutting us brits).

Also whats the land prices like?
I want to buy about a hundred acres of half forest half cleared land with maybe an old farm house or cabin so that i can do abit of subsistence farming,hunting and bushcraft

I have been to Canada a few times and i find Canadians to be the most friendliest and helpful people on the planet and my father grew up there after the war so for me this would be my dream come true.

Stu

 

[addyb]

stoRE,

I'm a Canadian, eh?

Here's my city: Nanaimo The picture of the walkway is of the seawall where I take my morning walk, every morning, without fail.

Here's Vancouver: Vancouver

The job market here, no matter what you're doing, is freaking nuts.

You see, Vancouver is going to be hosting the 2010 Winter Olymics, and because of this, foreign investors are going wild buying up property and building on it. And so, if you're a carpenter/framer, you'd have a damn good chance of landing a very good paying job. If you're into forestry, well, you should know by now that BC's main export is softwood lumber. Hell, most of BC is forest, and there's never enough loggers to go around. If your wife is a marketing exec, she'd do just fine! I'm a waiter at a hotel, and Friday morning I have a job-interview as a bartender, and I'm only 20 years old! So no matter what your trade is, you'll do fine!

Property's tricky. Here's the thing. Vancouver is just that. A city. Property there is incredibly pricey, and there's not much of an area to "buy a hundred acres." That's why I suggest Vancouver Island, where Nanaimo is located. Vancouver Island, affectionately known as "The Rock" is (I think) the largest island on the west side of North America. It's almost 500 kilometres long, and quite wide as well. It's sparsly populated, a lot of it is forest. If you were to take a 30 minute drive south of Nanaimo, there's an area called 'Yellowpoint' which is farmland. There are many large plots there, and it is entirely possible to purchase a large spot of land, and build a house. My father did just that, before I was born. In fact, I was ahem...conceived in the house that he built. *cough*

In answer to your other question "Will I be un-welcome on the buiding sites?" I'd say definately no. My 17 year old friend just got a job doing demolition work for a blasting company. He walked up the Foreman, gave him a resume, and soon after that, he was working. Like you said, we ARE very polite. If you're got the experience, you'd be quite welcome working in Canada. Because if you think about, Canada still pledges allegiance to "The old ball and chain" that lives in a certain palace called Buckingham.

Alberta's a different story. On the Alberta BC border, it's all mountains. (There's just as many mountains on Vancouver Island) Once you move closer to central Alberta, it's so incredibly flat that you can follow the car infront of you for days. Albert'a known for it's tarsands, wheat grain, and that they don't allow same-sex marraige. (I think every other province does) There's a city in northern Alberta called "Fort McMurry" and apparantly there is more oil there than has been taken from the middle east to date. Trouble is, it's all inside the tarsands, so the extraction process is costly. My Dad worked there for a while. I personally don't like Alberta. The mosquitos in the summer are so big, they'll pick you up and carry you away. Plus, winter there is as cold as 60 centigrade below zero. (Okay, so I'm biased, but what do you expect?)

BC's better, I think. It's pretty damn temperate. Summers are kindof like in California, and in winter, as long as you have your rain-jacket (it rains a fair amount) you'll be fine. Oh, and your breath doesn't turn into an icicle on the exhale!

Whew, there's my rant about Canada! God save the Queen!

If you have any questions, feel free to blast me an e-mail at: adambajan@gmail.com

 

[stotRE]

Cheers mate

I think that i'll try and live out of the city if i can and hopefully BC has plenty of other large towns that need chippies.

Vancouver island looks quite a nice place to live (good excuse to get my seaplane rating and save up to buy a supercub on floats ).

I've been to Alberta a few times in the Army and with my wife on our honeymoon(Calgary/rockies honeymoon,she's Spanish so we don't need the sun ).
There are some pretty big mosquitos in Alberta especially at the CFB Wainright training area (and some very big bison ).

Canada really appeals to me in the sense that you can go out into the bush and do manly things without some liberal do-gooder inventing laws to stop you having fun.
Britain is a country where you cannot hunt but you can drink yourself to death with 24 hr drinking
Also to buy a house now you need to be earning alot more than you can get paid and to buy land is out of the question.

Job wise i am a hard working carpenter but i haven't worked for six weeks now, contary to what people think the building game in Britain is in decline again or the firms only employ foreign labour (just look at the wembly stadium ).

Anyway thats my rant over,Canada here i come.

I can smell those pancakes and maple syrup.................ummm maple syrup

 

[addyb]

haha no worries man. Yellowpoint's pretty rad. If you go north of Nanaimo for 90 minutes, there's a huge mountain that's the island's local ski hill, called Mt. WashingtonOne Mile High

See, the further north you go, the less populated the island is. Courtenany, where Mt. Washington is, well, it's reaaaaaalllllly small. The only things it's known for is CFB Comox, (air force base) and it's outdoor ganja growing operations that's the cops don't bother with. (Too many of 'em) ((heheheh j/k))

Nanaimo's the middle of the island. You go south, you get more people. You go north, you get less people. Either or!

And the seaplanes....oooh here's the good part: They're DeHavilland Canada DHC Beavers, and the last one came off the assembly line in something like 1957. Yep. They're still flying! That baby is powered by a 450hp nine-cyliner Wasp Junior Radial, and they're STOL. The best part? For $50 bucks, you can fly from Nanaimo to downtown Vancouver in....get this: TEN MINUTES. You hop off the Beaver in downtown Vancouver, walk up the street, hop on the sky-train (sortof like your underground, 'cept it goes above and below ground) and poof! Business central!

The other option from going from the island to the mainland are the BC Ferries:
Old and slow Takes about 90 mins to go from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay. (close to Vancouver)

A.

 

[stotRE]

Cheers mate for the info.
Seems that i have a lot of homework

 

[running bare]

mmmm.memories wainwright and suffield

happy days

tom

 

[Kane]

What about the east coast? Not sure how it stands for mountains but you can get 100 acres of part cleared land with a house for around £20/£40k

Here's a recently sold place http://www.homesteadsforsale.com/larry.htm 104 acres plus off grid house for less than £37k

Kane

 

[Tony]

Ahh, memories… I lived out east for a couple of years, New Bruswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland…It’s beautiful out there, although a bit cut off from the rest of Canada. If I had money I would be tempted to move there again.

I went to Alberta and BC this summer to have a look about and visit loads of family there. There is quite a bit of work there (I did eastern BC and western Alberta) in BC there’s a few nice towns, my favourite of which was Revelstoke. In Alberta you’ll want to be right out west near the mountains to get any good hills etc, although there is the odd area that’s nice.

If you can earn an ok living you can live a good life there. Keep in mind though that it’s not a lot cheaper than living here, food’s about the same, I think that clothes are more there (Tesco is cheaper than WalMart on clothes) What is cheap is the outdoor gear, they have so much more of it that the price is much better than here, if you want to live an outdoor life, go for it!

 

[Povarian]

What nobody mentioned Tim Horton's yet? Mmmm fruit expolosion muffins...

We were thinking of emigrating back in 2001, but didn't for various reasons - elderly family here, job opportunities there (IT), SWMBO having to re-qualify before being allowed to do anything she's able to do here etc.

Property - I'm probably out of touch here, but when we started looking, the cost of property was much cheaper than the UK. By the time we went for an exploratory visit in Summer 2002, Vancouver had pretty much caught up and Calgary was catching up fast.

Jobs - can't talk for building trades, although word had it there was high demand especially in Calgary which was expanding so fast, but IT was very much in the doldrums. CHC in London was fast-tracking applicants with IT skills, only for them to find there weren't the jobs available. One bloke I know moved to Calgary because he loved the city and having the rockies playgrounds 20 mins away and then had to commute to Edmonton - not such a happy bunny.

Anyways, things have probably changed a little in the last three years, but make sure you do thorough research *and* do a fact- finding visit for yourself to the area you're planning the move to. Everywhere has it's problems as well as attractions.

... and if / when you do go, I'm sure there'll be plenty of green faces here.