canada vs australia

[url][/url]hi,
i am a canadian moving to aus from montreal. just wanted to know honestly, do canadians feel there is a drop in the standard of living compared to canada. i used google street view to view pretty much every town of aus and for some reason i feel houses in oz on the outskirt of cities are inferior
to canada and also the stories that i hear on this forum that you cant have high speed internet or subscription tv evrrywhere
scares the shitmout of me. i am not being pessimistic but is aus more backward compared to canada? do people have regrets?
sure people get paid more and make money but someone settle down in aus permanently as opposed to canada? while answering this question i would expect you to assume that you dont have family in either of them and so family connections at all.

i am a canadian moving to aus from montreal. just wanted to know honestly, do canadians feel there is a drop in the standard of living compared to canada. i used google street view to view pretty much every town of aus and for some reason i feel houses in oz on the outskirt of cities are inferior
to canada and also the stories that i hear on this forum that you cant have high speed internet or subscription tv evrrywhere
scares the shitmout of me. i am not being pessimistic but is aus more backward compared to canada? do people have regrets?
sure people get paid more and make money but someone settle down in aus permanently as opposed to canada? while answering this question i would expect you to assume that you dont have family in either of them and so family connections at all.

I have been traveling here to the Melbourne Area since 2008 and have been living here since March of 2011 and I have to say that most of what you said are false rumours. The Standard of living is a big step up compared to most places I have been to in Canada (outside of Montreal of course). Now of course the rural communities here are pretty much the same as in Canada.

As for your fears about highspeed Broadband, Mobile phone and Television..I live approx 2 hours outside of the Melbourne CBD and we have a great ISP (granted it is not a 50mb connection that Videotron would offer.. max here is about 8mb), Mobile Phone service and subscribe to Foxtel Cable service which does both Cable and Satellite.

Just like us Canadian who do not live in igloos, Australia has really embraced technology and make do with what they have. The Standard of Living is really high here.. to me this is heaven.

Comparing Melbourne to where I lived in suburban Toronto, I feel the standard of living is lower in Melbourne in my case. House sizes are a lot smaller in general for the money you're paying (compared to homes in Toronto whether you own or rent), and they're definitely not as well-built as homes in Canada as you've observed.

Even if you can get subscription TV (Foxtel), which is not guaranteed even if you rent, it is nowhere as good as Rogers Cable. While I am lucky to have a pretty good Internet plan, if you get unlucky with a dodgy phone line at your residence, good luck to you. Unlike Canada, the Australian phone companies have less obligation to make sure your line is in good enough order for proper high-speed Internet and you may not have a cable alternative.

Food is not as varied as Toronto, and it's definitely a lot blander here (not as spicy) and generally more expensive for smaller portions & less value. Don't expect customer service, either in restaurants or retail in general, to be as good as North America. While it is in good at many places, on average, it's below North America. Shop hours are also a lot shorter than North America, so it's not as convenient to do shopping at a time good for you.

I find that in general, people aren't as cultured, or knowledgeable about the world, as Torontonians, despite Melburnians' belief that they are one of the most cultured cities in the world (witness the bogan-to-general population ratio around versus the bogan-equivalent ratio in Canada). People here will also say a lot more ignorant comments that would never be unacceptable in North America, and they don't even know it. Kids here don't seem (on average) as well-behaved in public as they are in Canada. I can honestly say that if/when I have children, I will want them to grow up in Canada at a Canadian school and playing Canadian sports.

Things do generally cost more in Australia, especially any brand name clothing with names you've actually heard of, and items such as cars or electronics, with less selection, and it will get even worse if the dog-faced redhead is successful with introducing her socialist carbon tax. Electricity is already literally TWICE as expensive as it is in Canada and it will only get worse under this proposed tax.

Regarding cars, fuel prices is also a bit higher. And, as a Toronto Star travel article about Australia in mid-August said, road designs here feel like they're something out of the 1970s and they actually enforce the speed limit here, so be ready to drive on freeways at an excruciatingly slow 104 km/h.

The only obvious good things that are better in Australia is the red wine and the weather, and cell phone & data plans are cheaper. But be warned that in the winters, because of the forementioned housing not being as well-built as Canada, even if it doesn't get as cold outside in Australia, you will definitely feel colder inside your home.

While my post does sound all negative, being in Australia can be as good as you want it to be. But don't fool yourself into thinking that your financial, home, and consumer standard of living will be as high as North America. With the higher costs and lower housing standards and sizes here, it just isn't true.

what does lunchbox have to say about the above post?

Not sure how helpful this is, as I cannot compare Canada to Australia, as I come from the UK. Almost secured a defence job in Medicine Hat, but lack of citizenship prevented us coming to Canada. Instead we have been in Oz for 5.5 years. Having lived in Adelaide and now in Brisbane, and having travelled around, it is probably not good to compare standards of living in Oz just based on Sydney and Melbourne. Melbourne's climate is known to be very variable, and cold in winter, and it is a large city. Though not as expensive as Sydney, costs close to the city are high. It is worth looking at other Cities. Brisbane is currently expanding rapidly and is aiming at doubling its population. Costs of housing are reasonable, though not as cheap as Adelaide, where there is some pretty solidly constructed brick houses compared to Queensland where there is a predomiance of "Queenslanders" - wooden houses that personally I think look like warehouses, but they appeal to many. Perth inWestern Australia is booming as a result of mining, it has a good climate, not sure about housing, but it is a bit detached from everything that goes on on the Eastern seaboard.

Advantages of Australia for us have been the weather (has made a massive difference), the frankness of people - yes they come out with politically incorrect comments, and to be honest it can be refreshing to be somewhere people really do still have freedom of speech for better or worse. You get more annual leave (average is 20 days including Christmas, but not including public holidays).

The biggest issue is that of distance. That is why I am sat on Canucks abroad, as separation from family in the UK is very hard and getting from Australia is prohibitively expensive and eats up large chunks of your leave entitlement. I feel the place lacks support for the arts. The climate being as it is means that sport is everything, and the arts can be kind of.. "Art... yeah I did that at primary School now when's the next footy match on? Fancy a beer and a snag?". Okay, now I am exaggerating, but there is a definite lack of interest outside of those who take part in the Arts.

Heating in houses - depends where you live, but heating is often a greater issue than cooling, as nights do dip down apart from in the North of Australia. In Adelaide we needed heating for 5 months a year but cooling for no more than 2 months. Some houses have ducted heating and cooling there, but it is next to obsolete in Brisbane. Climate is very variable, so energy needs vary. However building design remains poorly adapted to the Ozzie climate in many cases.

That's about it for now, hope it helps you realise that Australia is a huge country and you can't base all your decisions on one City, whilst culture can be pretty lacking and environmental drivers (except carbon taxation) are behind Europe and Canada. Politically Australia is, of course, not as neutral as Canada...

Having Lived Both the Countries I can confirm the following (THIS IS PURELY BASED ON MY EXPERIENCES OF LIVING IN TORONTO AND SYDNEY and having travelled other cities in both countries)

Weather - Australia, Clear Winner.
Beaches - Australia, Clear Winner.
Winter Sports - Canada, Clear Winner.
Living Standards - Better in Canada.
Schooling - Better in Canada.
Technological Infrastructure - Better in Canada.
Proximity to the Western World - Better in Canada.
Housing Quality and Affordability - Much Better in Canada.
Long term economic fundamentals - Better for Canada (oil reserves)
Friendliness - Both the Same.
Scenic Beauty - Better in Canada (unless you like desert).
Pollution - Both the Same.
Universities - Both the Same.
Traffic - Both the Same.
Public Transport - Both the Same.
Gas Price - Cheaper in Canada.
Shopping - Better in Canada and Much Cheaper too due US (economies of scale).
HealthCare - Better in Canada (only slightly)
Racism - Much more in Australia and openly practiced.
Food – Better and more variety in Canada.
Crime – Less in Canada (only slightly)

So I moved back to Canada and got my old job back..and didn't regret my decision.

I generally agree with RICKYM.

My friends lived and worked in OZ for over half a year and told me similar things (they didn't like it that much and went back). It's quite common for a senior working professional to drive a Lexus/Infiniti/BMW/MB in Toronto but in order to be able to afford one in OZ you actually have to be rich.

Houses are super expensive as well. Bananas were $14/kg when they were there (ours were $1.5-2/kg), and BMWs/Mercedes started from around 90k (ours start from 35k). Gas, utilities, phone, services, food, electronics, virtually everything's way more expensive in OZ.

My friends felt OZ is quite overrated, people aren't as friendly as back home and the general standard of living is lower. I haven't been to OZ yet but I'm in NZ and the standard of living here is way lower than home. Kiwis are a lot friendlier than Aussies though so I'm really enjoying it.

We have been in Sydney for 7 months, moving here from Alberta. I can tell you from our experience that it is a great place to be BUT there are some fundamental problems and that is why we are moving back to Canada. The biggest issue is childcare. If you have children under the age of 5 years old and are on a 457 Visa, you will be paying FULL price for childcare costs. This has made it impossible for me to work full-time here since we arrived. Also, getting into childcare is a huge issue. They actually recommend registering your child on the waitlist for multiple childcare centres WHILE pregnant.....it is crazy. We have been on waitlists since moving here. As well, the prices are crazy. In Sydney you can expect to pay anywhere from $99-$140/day/child. The government helps residents with 50% of the costs but as visa holders, we do not qualify. I work part-time and have 2 daughters and we pay $2400/month on childcare costs for 3 days a week. It is crazy. I have decided to stop working and look after them and put my career on hold again until we move back to Canada. In all the post I read about cost of living, no one ever mentioned the childcare and have found out the hard way. Once your kids are old enough to go to school, then you don't have to pay, unless you want private school (which is very popular over here and thats $20,000 a year). The public school system is pretty bad so private schools are very popular. Class of 2026 has already been full for 2 years....
The medicare here is also not given to 457 visa holders and we pay for private coverage. We pay about $400/month for our family of 4 and get 45% coverage on doctors appointments and prescriptions. We are very spoiled in Canada as we have no idea what all this costs. $155 for a consultation (doctors appointment) and costs for medicine. We got some blood work done for my daughter before Christmas and it cost $495. In Canada, I know we pay for the cost in other ways (taxes) but it is hard to see and pay on a daily basis.
The weather is amazing. Sydney has had a very rainy summer but most days are warm and beautiful. The beaches are fantastic. The cost of living is crazy high (we pay $3900 for a 2 bedroom semi in the city compared to out 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom house with back yard that we own and pay $1800 to our mortgage. The cost of food is ok but most things are much more expensive then Canada. You can't get a can of coke for less then $3 and fresh fruit is very expensive. The costs are coming down but still high. Overall, we can make more money and pay less money in Canada. We are holding off to move back to hopefully miss the cold Alberta winter.
I know many people who love it here and have nothing negative to say but I wish someone had mentioned some of the bad things before we made our decision so I thought I would be honest about our situation.
Hope that helps a little.

Weather - Australia, Clear Winner. (Depends on which you prefer hot or cold)
Beaches - Australia, Clear Winner. (Well yes, beaches you tend to need hot weather for)
Winter Sports - Canada, Clear Winner. (Why is this even one? we have summer sports?)
Living Standards - Better in Canada. (According to the United Nations we're 2nd you're 8th)
Schooling - Better in Canada. (According to the United Nations we're 2nd you're 8th)
Technological Infrastructure - Better in Canada. (Yeah, we're an island not even remotely close to most other places, we didn't even get internet until 2000)
Proximity to the Western World - Better in Canada. (No shit, we're in Asia)
Housing Quality and Affordability - Much Better in Canada. (Yeah, can't argue much there)
Long term economic fundamentals - Better for Canada (oil reserves) (Australia has high deposits of most commonly traded minerals, metals and elements, how did you see our oil reserves whilst here?)
Friendliness - Both the Same. (Australians and Canadians are both just great people)
Scenic Beauty - Better in Canada (unless you like desert) (Come on like we can beat beautiful mountain ranges)
Pollution - Both the Same.
Universities - Both the Same. (According to the United Nations we're 2nd you're 8th)
Traffic - Both the Same.
Public Transport - Both the Same.
Gas Price - Cheaper in Canada. (You're right by the United States i'm not surprised)
Shopping - Better in Canada and Much Cheaper too due US (economies of scale). (Yeah, but our minimum income is higher)
HealthCare - Better in Canada (only slightly) (I wouldn't say better, different)
Racism - Much more in Australia and openly practiced. (We just don't care, honestly, we treat racism as we treat making "Your mum jokes". Why do you let Americans make you think, that racism is a big no no. After all it's not worse than mocking someones religion, political view, face etc. Just because the Americans had a civil war, we didn't we (Australia + Canada) found a way to pay off the french and aboriginals by giving them special benefits that nobody else gets to make them feel special. We aren't in North America, so we haven't been brought up with your anti-racism. We're an island in the South of Asia. Stop thinking of us as North Americans)
Food – Better and more variety in Canada. (Depends on where you go)
Crime – Less in Canada (only slightly) (Surprising, but I love Canadians, so how can I say they're mean, bad people)

I am an Australian.

ActuallyLiam, you're clueless. Quoting irrelevant UN rankings that are skewed and biased towards the leftist measures of socialist Euro-weenie countries. The Harper Government no longer even recognizes UN resolutions and was smart enough to pull out of Kyoto while Australia is completely brainwashed by the Global Warming scam.

Nobody who has lived in both countries would ever call Australian universities 2nd and Canada universities 8th (and those idiotic UN ratings you quote isn't even about these). Having worked down here for over two years and working with the product of those Aussie universities, they certainly don't output smarter graduates than Canadian universities, people here are more clueless on some basic concepts. All the major global university rankings have only 2 Aussie universities in the top 100 (the highest at 48th I think), Canada has at at least 4 or 5 and McGill University certainly ranks higher than that, in the top 20 in almost every survey and many Canadians also attends programs (especially graduate level programs) at U.S. universities (which is at least half of the global top 100), and brings that knowledge back to Canada.

I would not want my kids raised here either seeing how mis-behaved children are here at schools, from riding the trains etc., the ridiculous alcohol culture etc. and the little things such as people not picking up their own food when finished eating to throw into the rubbish bin at food courts etc.

The food here is definitely not as varied (and I live in Melbourne, supposedly the food capital), and everything is way more expensive. Sure you get paid more here, but the higher costs more than defeats that gain. To live the same living standards from earning $70k in Canada, you would need to earn $100k here, and even then, living standards are still not as high (smaller house and car, less access to TV networks and sports coverage etc). It's ridiculous that tropical fruits such as mangoes, bananas, and pineapples that are grown in Oz cost twice as much as they do in Canada (where these cannot grow).

Canada's Ethical Oilsands will keep the economy strong for at least 80 years, and assuming the Keystone pipeline gets built after Obama is defeated, we'll have a secure customer and not be reliant on Communist China like Australia is with their mineral sales.