|
Vincent Van Goatse posted:So how many times do you say "eh" in a day, eh? People use it way more often than they think, and they can't hear themselves say it, so don't expect Canadians to accurately self-report on the subject. It just kind of creeps in there the way "like" and "umm" and "yeah?" do for other types of English speakers. Nessa, I've always pictured Vegreville as a single industry town with the Case Processing Centre for immigration as the major employer, considering that working in immigration we are always referring to and using CPC Vegreville. Is this the case, and what is the general consensus about the centre moving to Edmonton?
|
#
¿
May 15, 2017 19:50
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 2, 2024 11:41 |
|
|
There are a fair amount of westerners posting in this thread, so if anyone wants specific info on the east (I live in Toronto, am from Newfoundland (Labrador!), went to high school in NB and university + 5 years working in NS) I can try and answer stuff about these areas too. Tuyop's previous assertion that 'eh' prevalence is subject to an east-west divide makes sense given all my 'eh' experience (of hearing it! and saying it!) is based on Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, not Alberta or BC.
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2017 18:03
|
|
|
PT6A posted:A lot of that hope was tied to offshore oil, I think, and, well, oil's not doing so hot right now. Ding ding ding! Also when Alberta was strong there was a lot of growth with money going back into the province. In 2012-2013 I was flying in to NL every 6 weeks and kept getting the only direct Toronto-Deer Lake flight on Friday nights where first class was loaded with the same grizzled middle-aged dudes in camo printed baseball caps flying back home from AB. NL is not losing its population at the rate that NB is, but that's not saying much. The people are really hard-working and industrious, but there is a struggle on how to diversify and economize outside of traditional forms of work (public sector and resources). If you're in Canada you've seen the beautiful NL tourism ads , but even on tourism the province feels stuck - they advertise, but there is a lack of large-scale thinking and planning and developing that could make the industry so much more than what it is currently. And there's proof that 'if you build it they will come' - Fogo Island built a cutting edge artist residency (http://fogoislandarts.ca/) and has had international coverage from instagrammers and Gwyneth Paltrow's stay last year that has raised the profile of this already-popular destination.
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2017 16:49
|
|
|
tuyop posted:What's a common vacation spot for people who want to get away for like a week? It seems like there are huge barriers to seeing other places that are unique to Newfoundland. Mak0rz did a good job answering stuff, I'm just throwing my 2 cents in to add to his account. I grew up in Labrador (Labrador West, 20 minutes from the border with Quebec) and it looks like where the giants hang out in Skyrim. There are no dragons per se but the blackflies will combine into a giant single entity in the summer about the size and shape of a dragon sooooooooooo.... My whole family is from the island of Newfoundland though, I ended up being born in Labrador due to my father working for the mine. Mak0rz mentioned resettlement (when whole outport towns were abandoned and moved to central locations to try and provide better services, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resettlement_(Newfoundland)) and gave a good background on the fisheries issue, which is good because my family was also not employed in the fisheries. My grandfather on my father's side was a heavy equipment mechanic and worked putting in the highway across NL, no mean feat in a rocky, mountainous land. He met my grandmother at her step-father's boarding house, where she worked. My father grew up in a town that mimics most other North American towns in the 50s, with roads and cars and black and white tvs and even indoor plumbing (this is important). My grandfather on my mother's side primarily worked as a woodsman (first) and camp cook (later) at a woods camp, while also being a barber and a blacksmith (responsible for shoeing the company horses). My grandmother did a lot of volunteer work while my grandfather was alive, sold dresses from catalogues (sort of an early version of Avon but for clothing only) and later did housecleaning after my grandfather passed away. The town they lived in was a company town ('owned' by the woods company) and you couldn't get into it without a pass from the company. The only transportation in for a long time was the train. The general store was a company store, so you got what you needed and each pay you'd see deductions for what you 'purchased' from the store. There was no road into the town until '57, no one had a car until after that, tvs didn't appear until slightly after that point as well, and most of the town had outhouses and no indoor plumbing until the 60s. My grandfather used to buy a barrel of apples and a barrel of oranges in December and that would be the family's fruit for the rest of the winter. My mom's early childhood was weirdly reminiscent of pioneer life in some ways, and its like her and my father grew up in different eras, even though they were only a couple of hours (via road) apart. The idea of 'company' towns was prevalent in Newfoundland even into the 60s, with the fisheries being the worst offenders. Outport communities (communities on the water, only access was by boats) were often subject to the whims of fishery companies, who would control access to groceries and supplies (charged in advance of that season's fishing) and then take a community's fishing haul at whatever rate they determined, usually deducting all grocery/supply costs from the tally of the fishing total, leaving folks with little to no actual 'money' (sometimes they were paid in 'credit' towards the next year.) The woods companies were just as bad, limited access to towns and supplies, and the conditions at the woods camps were terrible. My grandfather passed away before I was born, but I know the stories well, your only bed was the birch boughs you cut yourself and lined your wooden pallet with, the food was beans and salt pork fat (every meal) and the hours were long and cold or long and buggy. Given these conditions the fight to unionize in the 50s turned violent at times, where companies tried to starve out families who had no other source of income while the father/husband was striking. If you ever wonder why Newfoundland is so pro-union, you need to know their history with the fisheries and the forestry sectors. As a fun fact, the isolation of outport communities resulted in the preservation of spoken SHAKESPEAREAN ERA ENGLISH into the early parts of the 20th century. Turns out when you take a group of people who speak a certain way and isolate them in a community for hundreds of years, their accent and word usage remains fairly unchanged 
|
|
#
¿
Jun 12, 2017 19:54
|
|
|
Nessa posted:It looks like outdoor pools will be free this summer starting on the 1st! Are any other cities doing this? Toronto subs for NY all the time in stuff, and my favourite fact is that in some cases the city is too clean to be realistically portrayed as NY, so they have to 'litter' to make it look realer Check out the Reel Toronto column at Torontoist.com to discover where a bunch of movies and tv shows were shot in Toronto http://torontoist.com/tag/reel-toronto/
|
|
#
¿
Jun 23, 2017 17:11
|
|
|
GREAT WHITE NORTH posted:
I think most Canadians would be shocked to realize the amount of time, effort, manpower and money sunk into ensuring we maintain our Artic claim. Not just from the Russians but apparently things can get a little testy with Denmark as well. There is a constant physical presence from the Army and Navy, at least as much as possible given the size of the landmass/sea, because it is well acknowledged by the military and the gov that if the area goes unpeopled for very long there will be a foreign presence there claiming rights within the blink of an eye. I used to live in Halifax, which has a pretty huge military population, and had several acquaintances who would talk around their Northern postings, not about them directly because their operations were clearly secret or classified or whatever. Also, Tim Hortons is not bad, we just remember when it was better, and we still enjoy the nostalgia/familiarity.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2017 16:10
|
|
|
Jyrraeth posted:I dunno about suppliers, but given the choice between timmy's coffee and Micky D's, I'd choose the latter everytime. I think the switch happened before I started drinking coffee? Sometime in the late 90s? Tim Horton's went in-house with its roasting, and McDonald's bought their old contract with their previous supplier. The water issue is notable not just on a province-to-province scale but on a location-to-location basis. In Nova Scotia I always had to grab a coffee in Lower Sackville after visiting my cousin because the water quality made such a huge difference to that cup of coffee vs what I was getting in Halifax proper.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 5, 2017 22:30
|
|
|
Mak0rz posted:Whenever people ask me about going to Newfoundland and trying the food I honestly don't know what to tell them. Newfie cuisine is what you get at nan's house. You can't just go to a restaurant and order it. Or, at least I don't think so. Oh me lord dyin jaysus... St. John's has some restaurants that do fancied up feeds with cod and bakeapples and stuff in a fancied up way HOWEVER if you go to a restaurant that isn't pizza/Chinese/subway anywhere else on the Island all you're going to get is 'home cooking'. Soup just like your nan makes. Jiggs dinner with pastry and gravy. Pork chops, liver, moose (!) with veg and gravy. Weird jello desserts. Good pies with partridge berries and thick cream. Fries with dressing (poultry stuffing) and gravy. MESSES (fries with dressing, fried onions, fried hamburger, fried hot dog weiners, gravy. Sometimes cheese too) AND depending on where you are, seal flipper pie. I also want to add that 'newfie bread' is sold in Foodland and is almost as good as nan's bread (or homemade bread sold in random places) and is best toasted with butter and a thick layer of squashberry or partridge berry jam. And the option for fried bologna instead of bacon or sausage with big breakfasts at restos/Irving Big Stops. Mark0z, you going home for xmas? My parents are deceased but on Jan 1 we are taking my baby daughter to the island to meet her 92 year old great-nanny ❤ and my cousins and my aunts/uncles etc...we will eat like piggies while there. My Aunt has two loaves of sweet bread ready for me to take home too!
|
|
#
¿
Dec 19, 2017 01:46
|
|
|
I saw a news blurb recently (probably The Toronto Star) about how Canada has, measurably, been moving further left politically/socially while the US had moved to the right. We love our national healthcare, have a decade + of equal marriage rights and accept more refugees annually than the USA despite having 1/10th of the population. It used to be laughable when US and Canadians were conflated into a single entity by others but it really annoys me now. Toronto (Canada's biggest city) is now majority visible minority too  If you go to small town Canada though it will still be majority white.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 22, 2017 16:38
|
|
|
Mak0rz posted:Happy Tibb's Eve to the few Newfies of this thread Time to plank 'er down.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 23, 2017 23:36
|
|
|
I work in immigration law (currently on maternity leave so I can't give any advice) and am able to provide anyone who needs it with the name/names of good firms who can do complimentary consultations on Canadian immigration matters. In about 7 mos I will also be able to answer questions again Our system at least provides me with job security!
|
|
#
¿
Feb 26, 2018 00:02
|
|
|
WhatEvil posted:I'm guessing, from my experience/research, that Brazolot migration group is not one you'd recommend. This is old but I had to google to see who these people were, and no, they would not be on my list of recs. ALSO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP RECOMMENDING HAMILTON TO FOREIGNERS. My husband is from Hamilton and all his family is still there. There is NOTHING there. I would go on but I am phone posting ... let me just leave it at this: about 5 years ago they had a legit ad campaign in Toronto Life magazine where the tagline was 'Hamilton - the city you don't want to visit will be the one you call home'
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2018 22:01
|
|
|
"codo27" posted:
My Nan and Pop used to take their pop up tent trailer all over NL in the summer, marking their voyages with a highlighter on a map and trying to cover all the roads/towns. Often they'd be in some small village and Pop would just knock on a random door and ask if there was room for guests for supper and they'd eat a meal at a random persons house. Never got turned away either.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2018 14:31
|
|
|
Desmond posted:My husband and I live near Vancouver, where the housing is atrocious. We've done some preliminary thinking about moving to either Ottawa or Halifax. I personally love the idea of moving to Nova Scotia. We might go there next summer just to check it out. Can anyone give advice about jobs, transit, culture? Bears? I lived in Halifax for over a decade and tuyop is pretty spot-on. In addition it rains a lot, and snows a lot, and is foggy A LOT and does not have a long summer. There are lots of places for day and weekend trips if you like that sort of thing, PEI, Maine and NB are all short drives (plus a ferry for Maine) away. The transit is not terrible if you live and work right in Halifax proper but is really predominently used by people who can't drive (students, the elderly, etc). Work is super difficult to find because you have the highest educated populace per capita sitting in a mediocre job market. 5 years experience minimum needed to get an entry level job as a occupational therapist, for example. Lots of professionals move away to get experience and then come back for those lower level careers because the CoL is so low in Hali and the work-life balance so much better than in Toronto, for example. But I really would advise against NS if you need a lot of sun. Seriously.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 28, 2018 21:24
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 2, 2024 11:41 |
|
|
Carbon dioxide posted:Someone suggested I repost this here: There are places in *almost* every province that has all of these features. I would actually make a pitch for the Atlantic provinces since you have three weeks. Fly into / spend some time in Halifax, take day trips to the Annapolis Valley / Grand Pre winery, Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Peggy's Cove etc; Drive to PEI for an overnight or two, check out the red sand beaches and eat a lot of lobster and/or potatoes; Drive and hike the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton; Take the six hour ferry to Newfoundland and drive to GROS MORNE national park, the most amazing day hiking west if the rockies and arguably anywhere in Canada, and a UNESCO world heritage site; Drive a few hours north to L'Anse Aux Meadows, the only North American viking settlement; Ride some horses in any place besides Newfoundland. You can google everything I mentioned but Gros Morne and L'Anse Aux Meadows really deserve a peek: http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/top-destinations/gros-morne https://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/top-destinations/lanse-aux-meadows
|
|
#
¿
Jun 22, 2018 13:09
|
|