I definitely require high speed internet access. Other than that, I could use some help!
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.
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.
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.
Quebec… I’m not going to touch that one.
Damnit now I’m curious.
Just invent a bunch of racist stuff 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.
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 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.
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.
“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 act 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).
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 (federal government). Would you expect to be treated as a first-class citizen while not speaking a word of Italian in Italy?
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 80s/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!
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.
Look at 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.
Hell, am I not accommodating you by not replying in French even though it’s my first language and we’re in a bilingual country. It’s the default experience for French Canadians whenever there’s an Anglo Canadian around, even bilingual ones.
*Laughs in Francophone in New Brunswick… *
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
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.
It you’re leaving for progressive reasons, Alberta is north Texas. BC is pretty progressive, although I don’t know how they lean outside of metros. I have my suspicions though.
Small town and rural BC is very close to Alberta. They got a bulk deal on Fuck Trudeau stickers for their trucks.
I mean, honestly, that’s true for the entire country.
Yeah, that is what I assumed
True pretty much everywhere. Rural folk dislike the government and prefer to rely on themselves. They’re right wing. City folk do the opposite.
That pattern is followed almost everywhere, from America to Canada to Australia to Finland.
This is very helpful, thank you. I am super liberal.
You’re going to want to stick to cities for the most part.
Good luck :)
Vancouver area is nice, but goddamn expensive. Love it here, but the I have no economic prospects.
Alberta is nothing like Texas. Alberta is largely an atheist population for one thing
But the Christfuckers we do have are obnoxious and loud enough to make you think otherwise
Not really. I grew up in rocky mountain house. One of the most conservative ridings in all of canada, and I grew up surrounded by atheism for the most part. It’s way more atheist now compared to then as well
If you want to be near mountains, want affordable living and are progressive, Lethbridge, AB may be your best bet. The landscape there is a bit weird. Looks kind or like Iceland or something. Super hilly with big valleys and very few trees outside or the city, but definitely not a big city vibe like you’d find in Edmonton or Calgary.
Pretty mild climate too.
But the Alberta government is fucking idiotic, so I can’t say what will happen in the future with healthcare and human rights.
Always windy
60km/hr all the damn time…
Hmm, the others are saying Alberta is right wing
Most of western Canada is right-wing. Especially Alberta and Saskatchewan. Outside of Vancouver (where living is beyond unaffordable for most), BC is also pretty conservative, albeit less overall I’m sure than Alberta. The tricky part is that quality of life is quite good in Alberta. Housing is affordable and we’re the least taxed province, so if you can live with the occasional stupid hick with a “FUCK TRUDEAU” flag or decal, life is pretty good here. It’s really your only affordable option if you want to live near the mountains. Otherwise the Appalachians do extend into the eastern maritime provinces. Jobs are just extemely scarce and often seasonal out that way.
I immigrated from Michigan back in 2017. I’m very left-wing and so is my wife who has lived here her entire life. The province nearly flipped last election so things have been improving on that front, and you’re certainly not going to be the only leftist around. Well, unless you move to a small town or Grand Prairie or Fort Mac.
Lethbridge and Edmonton are the most left-leaning places in the province. Edmonton, however, is fucking huge… So you’re not getting away from the city up that way.
There is no escaping the right-wing brain rot. It’s everywhere now. 2016 spread into Canada like wildfire. But when I came here my life improved tenfold. I make three times what I did back home for the same line of work (retail/produce management). I have healthcare, a daughter, bought a home with my wife this summer. It’s a million times better than the States, but we are looking down the barrel of gun. I wish you the best on your immigration, and I hope you’re as happy here as I am, wherever you wind up.
Alberta is the most taxed province as far as income tax though I think
It’s one of the least taxed and there’s no provincial sales tax
https://www.nerdwallet.com/ca/personal-finance/provincial-tax-rates
Compared to US it’s nothing lol
The thing about Alberta is that they consistently elect the most hardcore right wing crazies in all of Canada.
And they also consistently elect genuinely progressive, openly socialist governments of the kind you imagine Bernie Sanders might run.
There are no middle of the road centrists in 'Berta. You’re either a frothing mouthed “Jewish Space Lasers” kind of crazy, or you’re a proud union member ready to give everyone UBI and free education.
The latter tend to be found more in the cities, as always.
Unfortunately the former seem to have the edge overall in elections.
So, politically, it’s definitely not a great environment, but culturally you’d actually find a lot of like minded folks there. The problem is that right now you’d probably spend your time hanging out with those like minded folks grumbling about your QAnon premier as she sells off the entire healthcare system and deletes sex education from schools.
Consistently?
Alberta has had one NDP government in the past 50 years, all other governments were conservative and if we count the social credit before that is close to 100 years with conservatives in power.
Sorry, what I meant by that is that individual voters either vote for one or the other. I wasn’t referring to the overall state of who actually wins. But I get that that wasn’t clear at all from how I phrased it.
Go to any Canadian news website and search Danielle Smith.
She is Alberta’s premier (equivalent to a US governer).
Oh that’s easy. They’ll be destroyed by a party that can’t lose an election.
The UCP just introduced the most extreme anti-trans legislation in North America. They have been methodically and relentlessly destroying public healthcare, and handing private contracts to their friends. Education has been revamped with a curriculum that explicitly promotes oil and gas production, denies the harm of residential schools, and encourages rote memorization over comprehension. Oh yes, and public charter schools. They’ve recently started to make inroads on ultimately banning abortion.
And they’ll get reelected, over and over again.
You do not really have mountains there. Maybe Canmore would be better ( pretty small but takes no time to get to Calgary ).
How much money do you have?
The only affordable places left are absolute shitholes
If money is no object, move to Victoria
Let’s say I make $90k US dollars a year, and I work remote
You’ll still need a work permit to work in Canada, even for a US company remotely. So hopefully you’re up to speed on that process. In terms of where to live, there are some places in BC outside major cities that are affordable. Might be worth taking a road trip around to check some out
I’m in the midst of the process. Road Trip Sounds good. How’s the weather in BC in December? 🤭
Like Washington but colder
Actually, like Washington but warmer and drier - global warming has really transformed the area.
Rainy on the coast but roads in the interior can get dicey if there’s snow. Stick to major highways.
Will you be able to work remote from Canada?
That’s enough money to live basically anywhere. 90k usd is a lot more money than most people make in Canada.
If I could live anywhere and work remote it would probably be Masset, Ucluelet, Nelson, or maybe Whitehorse if you don’t mind the cold. Victoria if you really want city
I lived in Anchorage for 3 years. I am down with cold! 🤣 We have offices and employees all over the world, so that should not be an issue.
Yukon is a very special place to say the least. Think Alaska but with extreme friendliness and a left wing attitude.
We have offices and employees all over the world, so that should not be an issue.
Have you considered talking with your managers and asking them for overseas transfer?
A bit over $120k Canadian. Enough but not as rich as you think in Vancouver.
Bit of a curveball, but for remote work have you considered Barbados?
A year might work or would be nice. Barring any catastrophic tsunami’s or hurricanes. After that, I fear it might sink into the sea.
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
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.
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.
Nelson BC
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.
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!
You could live in the Northwest of British Columbia around Haida Gwaii or Vancouver Island
.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.
I mean OP would be paying taxes here and spending money in our economy, while not taking an existing job. That’s pretty good.
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.
That doesn’t really count on a citizenship application, though.
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.
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
British Columbia.
Kelowna, Kamloops, Abbotsford maybe.
Vancouver Island is great but not many mountains. If you have the money, the North Shore in Vancouver is awesome.
Atlantic Canada. Cheap cost of living compared to the rest of the country, beautiful environment, lots of nice small communities.
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 mandate and now they’ve elected a conspiracy nutjob… The NDP government was an anomaly, they’ve had a conservative government in power for close to 100 years except for one NDP government.
No, that’s sadly not true anymore (if it ever was).
Alberta’s government is just as fucking insane as any Republican. The rural areas and small towns are redneck Christian hives of intolerance. I got called a “hippie cock-slurper” in the parking lot of a Lethbridge store, presumably because I have long hair. (And ignoring the point that I was getting into the car with my wife and toddler.)
Edmonton is a mix of blue collar and academia, and is a bit of a hard city but I love it. They’re reliably left-leaning. Calgary is very money-driven and tends to vote more conservatively (for lower corporate taxes), but hasn’t been supporting the UCP that much.
Maybe visit. In practice, probably not as right wing as you are thinking.
Name a left wing issue in the US that you do not have in Alberta. Universal health care, abortion, and same sex marriage to name a few.
On the climate side, Alberta just moved completely off coal ( though the biggest local industry is oil and gas of course ).
Compared to where I live, Alberta is right-wing. I am not sure where you live in the US, but there is a good chance that Alberta is what your local democrats are shooting for.
The UCP and their anti-trans agenda is not great. Does that directly impact you? The problem is that we are not far from the US. Southern politics are dragging us to the right, though it is more rhetoric than action so far. That is happening everywhere in Canada.
I recommended BC but, if I had the remote income to pull it off, living in Canmore would be pretty great for me honestly.
I you don’t mind colder winters, the Maritimes is also something to think about. You might really like Halifax or St. John’s. Both are big towns more than major cities, real estate is cheap, and the people are lovely.
Move to Baffin Island, best internet in the country. I prommy.
