Last year Brad and Rebekah Saunders swapped Morcambe, Lancashire for Canada, and they haven’t looked back, as Rebekah tells Richard Webber.
“Moving abroad is something Brad and I had talked about for years. Like many people, we were getting fed up with certain aspects of UK living, including rising house prices and politics. When deciding on which countries to consider, we knew we didn’t want somewhere too hot or where there was a language barrier. Australia and New Zealand were too far away so Canada ticked all the right boxes.
We signed up with a company based in Quebec in November 2006 to help us emigrate. It cost us around £7000 and, yes, you could do it yourself for a fraction of the cost but it’s a lengthy, horrible process with tons of paperwork so we feel it was money well spent.
Brad and I both worked for Barclays Bank and knew someone working for RBC [Royal Bank of Canada]. He put us in contact with a regional vice-president and we had interviews while visiting Canada in May 2007. Six weeks later we had job offers, which allowed us to enter the country quicker. We’re just about to receive permanent resident status, which will allow us to live and work in the province indefinitely. But every province is different and things you’d expect to be uniform throughout the country aren’t, so it’s advisable to do lots of research.
Brad is doing a similar job to what he did before, while I’ll start working with RBC as soon as I can. Canada is a more relaxed place and the local saying is that the only time you’ll see a Nova Scotian in a hurry is on his way to the bar. They’re friendly, chilled out people and although you’re expected to work hard, firms are very family-orientated.
When we arrived in November 2007, Nova Scotia was experiencing its worst winter for 15 years; trust us to arrive in the middle of it! But the climate is wonderful because there are proper seasons. Winters are gorgeous with lots of snow. It’s freezing cold, of course, and last winter, when we were shivering at minus two, the locals laughed, saying: ‘Wait until it reaches minus 30!’ While it’s much harsher, it’s a more beautiful winter with none of the dreary days. Despite the temperature outside, we’re never cold in the house because properties over here are solidly built and well insulated.
We live in a huge four-bedroom, three-bathroom house with a basement containing a gym and media room. It’s on a two-acre plot with lots of trees surrounding it. It cost around £165,000 and when we showed the spec to a friend, who’s a property developer in Lancashire, he thought it would cost over a million in the UK. We had a nice four-bedroom detached house back in England but this place is much nicer. There is so much land compared to the population that you’ll usually end up with a lot of land wherever you buy. The buying process is much better than in the UK with no lengthy legal processes; in fact, you could buy a house in a fortnight, it’s hassle free.
Now we’re looking forward to the summer, when temperatures can reach the 80s. We’re looking forward to getting out and exploring the local countryside more. We live about 30 minutes from Nova Scotia’s capital, Halifax, in Upper Tantallon. Everything is so spread out here that our nearest neighbour is 300 yards away. Traffic jams are unheard of, and we can drive down the highway and not see another car for ten minutes. Rush hour in Halifax can be gruesome, but outside the city it’s open roads with few cars.
Read the full story in our June 2008 issue.
