Canada Complaints

I came across an article for expats moving to Canada the other day and it inspired me to do a bit of research about what frustrates expats about living in Canada, to put myself in their shoes.   Which in this case means switching from Havaiana's to Sorels...

 

This is the time of year when everyone in Canada seems to be complaining, because they are ready for winter to be over! (It's one facebook status whining about the weather after another).

I wanted to see if I would get as defensive about Canada's shortfalls as some Brazilians have about frustrations or just experiences that I have commented on. I started reading the blog So, Are You New Here, which is about an American girl living in Calgary. I like her observations and certainly can't say I've been offended.

It's true that I have not finished my research - I still need to read my Will Ferguson books that I brought back this summer to get the full picture...

I also purchased his hits How to Be a Canadian and Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw ...

But the real dirt was found on the boards...  On the British Expat Boards under the topic "What's Wrong With Canada?": (My comments are italicized in brackets).

1. They wear their trousers too short. (LMAO & Hadn't noticed this myself!)
2. Public bathrooms have big open spaces between the wall panels. (Hadn't noticed this myself, but find it funny because everyone finds Canadians to be such prudes!)
3. People will not tell you what they really think of you - they are way too polite.
4. Too many immigrants. (This on a board for potential expats!)
5. Its got a right wing Prime Minister who has George W Bush as his political hero. (sic)
6. Fast food servers who couldn't get your order right if their life depended on it. (Totally agree)
7. Horrendous cell / mobile phone costs. I mean come on, who pays to receive a call. (Multiple mentions of this and all are justified, totally true).
8. Too much deadly fast food. (True, but also a choice to eat it...)
9. Cinnamon with everything. (Really? I am HOPING this is true, maybe then I can find that cinnamon ice cream that I love so much here in Rio!)
10. If I may state the obvious, it's ****ing cold here. (True! But a person hopefully would know this before moving there!)
11. They don't have proper bacon here. Just the streaky stuff. (There were a NUMBER of mentions of this - now I want to know what UK Bacon is like!)
12. Orange cheese....Whats that all about?
13. The radio. I now live in a place where they play Heart and other eighties soft rock on the radio. And not on golden oldie shows - as a normal part of the playlist. (Uh oh I am totally that demographic they are serving... I love Heart!)
14. All pizza features meat in some form. (Ok I am pretty sure this is just simply not true. All pizza joints I've ever been to have had a vegetarian or just plain cheese option).
15. There's still snow on the ground in April. (True story! But again... see #10.)
    
16. Tim Hortons coffee is pretty bad. (Agreed! Ok, not that I drink coffee, but everything there is awful besides a bagel.  I am Canadian and do not understand the Tim Horton's thing. The person who wrote #6 must have been talking about Timmy's...)
17. The standard of driving is dreadful, canadians may be polite to your face, but become rude arrogant &%#%# when in a car! (Agreed! Holy road rage. Don't even get me started on the tailgating truckers on mountain roads).
    
18. Poutine is truly gross. (I have actually never had poutine).
19. Inappropriate use of the "awesome" (Haha I believe it.)
20. Shops that dont open til noon on sundays.
21. eh! (No comment... )
22. The incessant droning of community helpers, unions, quangos, not-for-profit NGOs and special interest groups trying to get you to do something a particular way. (I've said many times that in my opinion, Canada is too socialist...)
23. Phone charges, homeless people, bank charges, crap driving, gangland violence, everywhere shutting early, interventionist government, institutional racism, jobsworth attitude, RCMP corruption, more homeless people.
24. Maple syrup in baked beans (I have not experienced this myself, but I am not big on the baked bean thing).
25. The KFC isn't as good.  (Ok I believe you.)
26. Cream cheese icing on cinnamon buns. (Now that you mention it, I miss this. Love cream cheese icing, but like cheesecake, not to mention baked beans and poutine, it's not for everyone.)
27. There's humour but it's different. Corner Gas, Little Mosque on the Prairie, etc. (Personally I don't watch these shows so can't comment).
28. Banks are the biggest rip of merchants out, all 5 big CDN banks I beleive are in the top 7 most profitable in the world. (True story!)
29. As much as it says you must be fluent in English or French to get in here its amazing how many people can get a job in the GTA with a complete crap grasp of the English language to the point you cant understand them, if your going to move to a country learn the lingo! (So true!)
30. I wish Canadians were more supportive of their own culture. (Another legitimate point!)
31. Canadians are obsessed with community events, helping their neighbours, and going overseas to contribute to/help less-fortunate people.

Interesting, for sure.

From the very tongue-in-cheek blog "Stuff White People Like" - #75 Threatening to Move to Canada

So, what was the verdict? Well honestly the complaints were pretty boring, except for the short pants one.  The rest of them - things I complained about myself when I lived there!

Comments

[Lisa]

They don't have proper bacon here. Just the streaky stuff. (There were a NUMBER of mentions of this - now I want to know what UK Bacon is like!)
- What the Brits call streaky is what we call side. Yes you can get back bacon here and in the US they call it Canadian bacon.

The radio.
- Listen to CBC

There's humour but it's different. Corner Gas, Little Mosque on the Prairie, etc.
- All the US comedians are from Canada.

There's still snow on the ground in April.
- Some of these comments sound like they came from a person who visited Calgary once and say, "In Canada, they.." (Or lived in Belo Horizonte and now say, "In Brasil..." like I do. I never travelled out of Minas Gerais in fact.)
Some places get no snow. Some stores are open 24 hrs. Some provinces just began opening on Sunday. (NS)

I have read Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw and it is excellent. Packed full of interesting info about Cdn history. (And I am from Moose Jaw)

[GingerV]

sounds like a complaint list from expats living in Brasil with a few variations that mean the same thing...I love carot cake with cream cheese dressing but my roots are just south of the Canadian border.

[Daily Rio Life]

Thanks Lisa!

I feel totally educated on bacon now! I admit I was VERY confused by the whole bacon thing :)

Personally I watch Rick Mercer every week from Brazil and think he is totally hilarious. You're right a lot of the big comedians in the US are Canadian such as Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, etc.

I need to crack into Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw. I hear there's actually a fantastic spa there! My grandparents used to live in Regina so I passed through Moose Jaw a lot as a kid. There is an air show there too, right?

GingerV - Admittedly some of the complaints do sound a lot like mine! ie as frivolous and silly. PS Carrot cake with cream cheese icing is the best. My mom freezes hers to have it handy to quickly pull out, and I discovered after a long night at the bar once when I was visiting her that it is really good frozen too...

[Grosse Fatigue]

Hello:

Well I am considering doing exactly the opposite: moving from Canada to Brazil. I already lived 7 years in Brazil, moved to New York for 4 years, and decided to move to Québec.
After 5 years, I am fed up.
Oh yes, Canada is a nice country (unbearably cold in my opinion). It's quiet, secure, for bureaucracy it is a paradise (believe me, I have lived in other countries too). They have a generous social system (health care, etc...), they are very tolerant with immigrant (sometime too much tolerant). It's a great country, with no extreme, nothing impressive, nothing very bad. It's excellent for a quiet family, with a normal job, for people who wants the average life.
But there's nothing exciting in Canada. Food in the English side is bad, much better in the French side. Nothing really beautiful, unless you do hundreds of kms to find it, no real great architecture, a general culture level quite bad (oh yes, the average in Brazil is bad, but the educated Brazilian has much more refinement and ambitious than the Canadian).
Montreal is nice, but dirty, and Quebecois are almost apathetic with their destiny. Toronto is a sub New York, with no sophistication, bad food, and will soon be dominated by Chinese or Indian. Oh Yes Vancouver. The landscape is great, but the city is nothing exciting. If you like to go to bed after 9PM, Vancouver is the city to go. Forget about other places in Canada, better going to Antarctica, parts of Canada such as New Brunswick, are almost third world, totally mediocre, totally underdeveloped. Unless you like the sensation of emptiness, and meaningless, forget about it.
In other word, I would recommend to move to Canada, if you have nothing else in mind than quiet life and security (if you really want to make money go to the US, not Canada).
That's why I am going back to Brazil, its a much more exciting, beautiful, and ambitious country.

[Daily Rio Life]

It is always interesting to see things from the other side.

Many of our Canadian friends have commented that Canada would seem "boring" to us after living in Brazil. It is probably true. However, some of the "excitement" we experience here is not positive (though much of it is) so it depends on the day, I think!

One thing is for sure - it is much easier to see how the grass is green on the other side when you are not living in a country, and to put the country you are not living in on a pedastol.

Eastern Canada is very cold because it is humid. It's amazing how different the temperatures can feel with different humidity levels.

I would be interested in hearing more of what your thoughts are about Brazilians being more ambitious. My experiences have been quite the opposite, which is why I am so interested.

It sounds like by returning to Brazil, you are making the right choice for what you value in your life and path, all the best with your move. Where in Brazil are you locating to? Also - are you Brazilian?

[Nina]

hahah this Canadian post was absolutely Brilliant... I'm currently on the other end of the story, wanting to change my Sorels in from Havianas. I'm a Canadian who lived in Brasil last year and fell in love with it. I lived in Rio Grand Do Sul and Floripa for 8 months. I'm currentin Korea teaching English.. (shaking my head) How did I come here after Brasil?????? I'm currently tryinf to find a job in the Advertising and Communications field.. Any help with this would be wonderful. Please email me- nina_maclelland@hotmail.com... Bejois.. nina

[Daily Rio Life]

Hi Nina
Thanks! I have a friend who just moved to Korea to teach English as well. I just emailed you about a marketing position... funny I worked in the ad/communications field as well back home. Talk to you soon.

[International Jobs in Montreal]

This post is just awesome! A lot of things I've learned about Canada and the perks of living a life of an expat.