Howdy, British Columbia!

[kalisphoenix]

My wife and I are going to be moving next year (as in, Summer 2008). She's a librarian and I'm a writer (ain't it cute?). We've been considering Oregon and Colorado mostly, but their hickification and steady deprioritization of schools and libraries are making them seem fairly unattractive.

Which resurrects my long-standing interest in moving to Canada, B.C. to be specific (although we're open-minded about other locations). We're aware that getting citizenship is not easy, and that we have a tough row to hoe in several different ways.

What I am curious about is general information about British Columbia. How are the school systems? Is it a nice place to live? I'm more interested in "impressions" and "feelings" than information I could find on Wikipedia, but any information would be greatly appreciated.

We know there'll have to be some stepping stone moves, and some visits to Canada, and a lot of paperwork and stuff. We just want to know if it's as nice as it seems to be. Are there any nasty surprises?

 

[CanadaRAM]

Nice place to live, yes.

Goods schools, mostly, although we still complain. Some schools have their share of burnout teachers as well as committed and inpiring ones. Chronic underfunding, but not a horror story.

Politics: Goofy, polarized. The country is tilted and all the nuts roll West. Most of the ultra-conservatives fetch up in Alberta, but the smaller one slip through the mountain passes and play interminable right-left games on this side of the rockies.

Economy: up and down. Suffering from huge setbacks in fishing (almost all gone) and forestry (what the beetles don't eat, the US slaps punitive and illegal taxes on.). Mining is pretty strong but bumps up against the Eco movement. Tourism is up and down, tech is growing. Unions are pretty strong, but they are taking a bashing in education and healthcare and losing membership in the resource sector.

Staggering variety of landscapes and climates. Sports and recreation galore. One big cosmopolitan city, Vancouver, and a bunch of small towns. (Victoria, the capital, at 350,000 (area pop.) is pretty much a small town mentality still)

 

[Danksi]

Nice place to live, yes.

Goods schools, mostly, although we still complain. Some schools have their share of burnout teachers as well as committed and inpiring ones. Chronic underfunding, but not a horror story.

Politics: Goofy, polarized. The country is tilted and all the nuts roll West. Most of the ultra-conservatives fetch up in Alberta, but the smaller one slip through the mountain passes and play interminable right-left games on this side of the rockies.

Economy: up and down. Suffering from huge setbacks in fishing (almost all gone) and forestry (what the beetles don't eat, the US slaps punitive and illegal taxes on.). Mining is pretty strong but bumps up against the Eco movement. Tourism is up and down, tech is growing. Unions are pretty strong, but they are taking a bashing in education and healthcare and losing membership in the resource sector.

Staggering variety of landscapes and climates. Sports and recreation galore. One big cosmopolitan city, Vancouver, and a bunch of small towns. (Victoria, the capital, at 350,000 (area pop.) is pretty much a small town mentality still)

Nice description...

 

[kalisphoenix]

That sounds wonderful. We're getting more excited about it by the minute, especially looking at the prices of land and homes in the more rural areas. The scenery is staggeringly beautiful in B.C., from what we can see, and homes look very nicely priced.

The cost of living is getting totally insane in Oregon, and it's completely disheartening for a young couple. It's out of the question for us to buy a house there any time soon unless I sell a book.

Thanks for the information

 

[flopticalcube]

What CanadaRAM said, with bells on. House prices can vary quite a bit in BC from uber expensive in Victoria/Vancouver to uber cheap in the sticks. As a parent, school funding seems to be a bit hit and miss so look around before you settle down. On the whole it ain't a half bad place to live, just make sure your kids don't get eaten by cougars.

 

[kalisphoenix]

What CanadaRAM said, with bells on. House prices can vary quite a bit in BC from uber expensive in Victoria/Vancouver to uber cheap in the sticks. As a parent, school funding seems to be a bit hit and miss so look around before you settle down.

We're a rather "sticks" couple, but we're also planning to have kids entering the school system in about ten years. It'll be tough trying to balance land cost and education :-/ We both want to build our own house (solar/geothermal/earth-sheltered), which I don't think would blend in too well in a suburb. If we had a few acres in the country, it'd be a lot easier. But then we have to worry about our kids' social lives and stuff. Damn kids

On the whole it ain't a half bad place to live, just make sure your kids don't get eaten by cougars.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

 

[flopticalcube]

We're a rather "sticks" couple, but we're also planning to have kids entering the school system in about ten years. It'll be tough trying to balance land cost and education :-/ We both want to build our own house (solar/geothermal/earth-sheltered), which I don't think would blend in too well in a suburb. If we had a few acres in the country, it'd be a lot easier. But then we have to worry about our kids' social lives and stuff. Damn kids

Then you will get on, well, like a house on fire here in the sticks. Plenty of eco-friendly dwellings around, particularly on the coast. Our kids like living out in the sticks. Plenty of space, no nagging neighbours. School gives them a good social network.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Use to have one visiting our barn a few years back. I think the bear chased him away.

 

[thumper]

No better place on earth

Trust me,

BC Canada is the best place to live on earth.