RE: Trying to flee the country (really long)

[KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com]

Have I missed an ADMIN warning on this thread? I sorted by thread title, 
by Admin in the subject line, and did a search for Eric in the "From:"
field...

The topic is the possibility of moving from the US to - in this case -- 
Canada, and working as a technical writer.

Here in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the market is damn fine for anybody 
with engineering, software/firmware/hardware design, telecomms and 
network or.... technical writing qualifications and experience.
Housing and other costs are only starting to climb, in response to the 
high-tech boom, so what passes for a good income in most of Canada 
is quite comfortable around here (not like some areas of the US, where 
they've had the boom for a while and you need an immense salary just 
to afford housing within 50 miles of your work). 

My suggestion is to get here now, and not wait until the boom proceeds 
much further and housing (and other aspects of living) begin to get 
expensive, scarce and otherwise uncomfortable. (Remember though, 
that the delay, between when the American economic boom started 
and when the Canadian one finally did, was entirely due to politicians, 
and they can do it again... yer takes yer chances.)

FURTHER ADVICE to anybody moving here from out-of-country, please 
don't let your eyes glaze over or your attention wander when your 
interviewer mentions "standard benefits".  That earlier post about the 
Toronto mayor being made to wait for many hours to have his chest pains 
investigated... was not an urban legend.  That's how "health care" now 
works around here.  Many Canadians are still caught in the rosy glow 
of yesteryear and can't quite see the rapid decline.

DO NOT get sick without extended private health-care benefits.
(Anecdote: I waited for four hours in a hospital "emergency" room 
with my76-year-old mother-in-law, who had two broken wrists, a broken rib, 
neck problems and some other damage from a front-loop down the stairs, then 
we gave up, went for food and came back for another three hour wait, until 
well after midnight. Of course, in all that time, she had no pain relief 
and certainly, no anxiety relief - one is supposed to refrain from 
complicating possible injuries and their eventual diagnosis by ANY 
kind of self-medication before professional examination.  
There are still stories of prompt, effective, caring treatment, but those 
are now exceptions.)

If you (as an American, most likely) have private, portable health 
insurance... MAINTAIN IT when you come here. Most of us native 
Canadians do not have it, because we've had decades of not needing it, 
and are sadly out of practice at taking responsibility for ourselves. 
Moreover, that "free" Medicare we get is anything but free. We pay at 
least as much as Americans do for similar care, only the money is taken 
before we ever see it.  Crafty accounting and reporting by government 
deludes many Canadians, as well as many Americans who used to 
demand "Health care like Canada's" - notice you don't hear those 
demands so much, lately?  Our politicians and bureau'rats  exclude 
capital costs - buildings and other large purchases - from their public 
statements, while published American health-care costs DO include 
the costs of the hospitals and not just the costs to run them, thus 
the phony differential that gets so much play in the media.)
But now, our single-payor system is breaking down and we are not ready. 
You'll be walking into the accelerating stages of the decline. Keep 
your insurance if you can - probably you can maintain it, while getting 
some deep discounts on the premiums.

Posters who extol the subsidized post-secondary education are 
carefully overlooking the inherent moral consideration. They chose 
to bear and raise kids, while (for example) my wife and I chose not (or 
perhaps were unable to), but the extollers are willing and proud 
to make us pay for putting their kids through school.  By so doing, they 
teach their kids that it's the thing to do, to force somebody else to 
carry your weight. There's a LOT of that in Canada. Yes, we here in 
Canada are seeing a general moral decline. It's been institutionalized 
for so long that it has finally filtered down to ordinary citizens ... and 
their kids.

You'll be walking into that as well.  Sheer inertia and a thinly-spread 
population will tend to keep our overt crime rate relatively low for 
some time, but by the time your toddler is in high-school, you can 
expect rates and intensity to be very similar on this side of the 
border.

Do not be lulled by comfy rebuttals to the "62.5% tax bracket" remarks.
While it is true that marginal income tax rates mean you don't pay 
literally 62.5% of your entire income in income tax, there are many 
other government hands in your pocket. Do the math on the 15% sales 
tax on all goods and services (yes, some provinces forego their portion 
on groceries, but not all). Do some more math on our fuel taxes. The 
direct cost for gas you put in your own vehicle (or pay for in your 
public transit costs) is the least of it. Every item you will ever purchase 
in Canada was carried on at least one truck. More than 40% of transport 
fuel costs are taxes, which become part of the cost of everything that 
gets transported.  At my nominal salary (well over 50K, but well under 
100K Canadian) I (unwillingly) work for government for more than half 
of each year.
You will too.  

If you move here from a southern state, be prepared to pay significant 
bucks to keep your home heated - buy a newer home, or one with an 
upgraded heating system and good insulation.  Note that the state you 
are leaving probably sells much of the food that you will buy in Canada, 
but that it is bought by our retailers in American dollars that each cost
1.45 
of our Canadian bucks (the currency you will be paid in, if you move here) 
plus the long-haul shipping charges.  If you've been in Florida, there's 
a *reason* you always hear visiting Canadians exclaiming at how cheap 
the food and booze is  (even when they include their dollar-exchange costs).

Canada is still a fairly nice place to live, and Ottawa is one of the 
nicer areas (if you don't mind a bit of winter... <g> ), but to a
significant 
degree, the physical and cultural niceness of the place is achieved 
at the expense of other Canadians who don't live here. It's called The 
National Capital Commission, and it uses everybody's tax dollars to 
beautify the national capital region and to support cultural events and 
venues that the local tax-base would not.

Toronto, a larger center with a bigger industrial and high-tech base,  
is farther along the curve. It ain't no Los Angeles or Nu Yawk, but 
for a Canadian city it is well above the curve with respect to pollution, 
crime and unconscionably-long commutes... oh, and poor people and 
homeless people - Toronto is, though, exporting their squeegee-kid 
problem. Property is expensive there, by Canadian standards. That 
means, if you are selling an American home to come here, a Toronto 
house might seem amusingly inexpensive - but if you intend to be a 
first-time home-owner, while paid in Canadian bucks, the cost of 
housing will be at least comparable (percentage-of-salary-wise) to 
the place you are leaving. Also, you do *not* get to deduct the cost 
of your mortgage anywhere in Canada.  On the other hand, Toronto's 
a thriving metropolis with lots to recommend it, and local salaries are 
generally competitive on the local market. A competitive salary in 
Toronto will make you as comfortable with the costs there as you 
would be with a smaller salary in a less-expensive city.  
Try the West Coast, and most of those remarks apply to Vancouver, 
as well... and the weather is much milder.

Back in Ottawa, if you were a moderately-qualified engineer, you 
could get a job here with your eyes closed, and just about any local 
high-tech firm would gladly sponsor you and pay for your move. 
As a technical writer, well, you are probably well-accustomed to being 
in somewhat less demand than engineers, but it should still be fairly 
easy for someone with solid experience.   If you are a technical editor, 
may I suggest that you come here as a technical writer and THEN 
reveal your true colors?   :-)

Either way, there's plenty of room for a bit of additional competition, 
here, so c'mon over.  Bonus:  we're as polite here as the most genteel 
Deep South, but we don't have the red-necks.  So, if you are black 
or any other "visible minority" you trade decreased chill from prejudice for

a bit more chill from the weather. That might not be as true on the 
West Coast, but it's certainly true here.  My wife is visibly part-black,
and it is 
totally a non-issue here.  While we might love to move to warmer places 
such as the Carolinas or Florida, or the Gulf Coast, the expectation of 
insane harassment or diminished acceptance and opportunity, makes us 
wary.

YMMV

/kevin