The Practical Guide to Living in Canada

This will be Toronto specific as it's my experience so far.

As far as food shopping goes here's what I find works best.

If you live near a few supermarkets, go between them, dont buy all your stuff in one place. No Frills is great for veg and fruit, places like Loblaws and Metro are more expensive but tend to be in more convenient places if you need everyday stuff like milk or whatever. I dont eat bread much so dont care about that (bread here is mank anyway)
So if you're spending money on a subway or streetcar ride each way then just go someplace closer and save yourself the 6 bucks it'll probably work out the same.

Instead of being too picky about what you want for dinner each night, see what's on offer, if chicken is on sale, chicken dishes it is, likewise mince or pork or whatever. Meat is expensive here, two breasts of chicken will easily set you back 8-10 quid depending on how big they are, no frills does bulk packs so freezing is a good option, I bought a load of mince for less than 12 bucks and got 5 dinners out of it so it's worth stocking up when there's offers on.


Ehhh, let's see. Oh yeah, find a place to live first, if you have temp accomodation in a hotel or hostel use your time to househunt. Toronto ain't going nowhere, even though there's tons to do it's easy to spend your first week or two doing the touristy stuff and exploring the nightlife eating into money you could spend on rent and things you'll need to move in. Do all that once you have a permanent roof over your head!
Finding a decent place can be a nightmare I got so lucky with my apartment, was purely right place right time. Expect to pay first and last months rent up front but that can vary depending on who you're renting from.

Transport- subway is 3 bucks each way, when you get a token or pay there's a little machine past the turnstile that gives you a transfer ticket, you can use this on street cars and buses. There's only two main subway lines one goes east/west and the other north /south, they connect in a few places for train changes. Word of advice though just because the subway station has the same name as the street you want to be on doesnt mean the stop is anywhere near where you need to get, the streets here are loooong. When I first got here I needed to go someplace and my stop was College, yeah well College St stretches for miles. Spend some time getting to know the streets (by getting lost like me :pac: )

Oh yeah, if you're using an android mobile phone, set up an email address purely to get access to the Canadian google play store, it has things like banking and transport apps that wont show up on the Irish store, just sign in with your canadian account, download the app and change back to your irish one, having a subway map on your phone is invaluable.

There's a TON of free wifi in this city, nearly ever McD's, Starbucks and Tim Hortons has it and there are an awful lot of those places like literally every other street has one. So dont be running up roaming bills calling and texting home until you get a Canadian sim. Viber, whatsapp, skype and facebook on wifi are your friends. Go to the Eaton Centre on Yonge St and there's load of mobile phone kiosks and stores in there, plenty of options for sims.

Oh yeah the sales tax, I'm here months and still find it annoying. it's 13% in Toronto so if something says 4.99 on the sticker it's closer to 5.65 as they round prices up to stop 1c coins being given out. But yet in the LCBO (off licence) the price on the sticker is the price you pay. I dunno why they can't just do that everywhere.

Toronto is very anti smoking too, there are some buildings you can't smoke within 30 feet of and you rarely, rarely see people smoking on the street walking around either. I dont smoke so I'm perfectly fine with this.

Faith wrote: »

Sales tax is probably the biggest annoyance of the city. Depending on what you're buying, expect the final price to be 10-15% higher than the sticker price. It's hard to get used to and it's a PITA.

There are 2 taxes - one provincial (PST, 7% but higher for some goods/services) and one federal (GST, 5%).

There are some things exempt from PST, the main ones being food (including restaurant food) and motor fuel.

Oh yeah and don't forget that alcohol is taxed at 10% on top of GST.

dont think your vu would pick up 28.2 over there hd or sd:eek::D

astonaidan wrote: »

So few questions, anyone know where I can get sausages and what would be the closest thing to Mi Wadi over here, everything seems to taste awful in comparison

I see you're in TO, this place is a florist but it has a Irish/British shop in part of it, it has Mi-Wadi for sure. There's no real equivalent (that I've found) over here, crystal light is the closest, but it's powder you put in drink.

http://www.647-florist.com/british-irish

If you're ever in the States Tops or Wegmans usually have a pretty good international section I've found Mi-Wadi there before.

As for sausages you probably need to go to a specialist butcher. I don't actually live in TO, so I couldn't recommend any. We go to this place, it's in Grimsby though, so a good way out of the city for you. It's a guy from Manchester, he farms the 'British way', he's sound. But he has a variety of sausages, proper bacon, great grass fed free range meat. We go every few months and stock the freezer, it's not cheap though!

http://www.ourgatetoyourplate.ca/

Guys looking for miwadi .. I found robinsons in the Irish shop on Dunbar and 41st forgot to check the price but the shop in general is bloody expensive.... But if you really want something it might be a start..

Here's their link....

http://www.celtictreasurechest.com

One thing that Irish people moving to Canada won't have to worry about (at least most of them) is a language barrier (if moving to a province or territory other than Quebec, the only province or territory that doesn't have English as an official language or language of business). Too bad English isn't as well taught, in many other countries, as it should be. While almost anyone living in Iceland, the Netherlands, mainland Scandinavia or any of the Scandinavian islands will usually speak excellent English, I wouldn't say the same about many of the remaining non-English-speaking countries or territories in the EU, Schengen Area or sharing a border with either type of country.

OrgasmicBaz wrote: »

Bit of a strange question here, but from time to time whenever i speak to an American I do have to talk slow and pronounce my words more clearly as i have sort of a thick Dublin accent Especially if im going on a rant, at the start of a conversation I would be considerate as they wouldnt understand if i spoke at my normal tempo but half way through conversations i get carried away & forget that im talking to a non-Irish person!

Would the Canadians be the same as the yanks were you would have to speak slow and that yes?

Yes, just tone it down a notch or two.

Stinjy wrote: »

absolutely, and keep in mind that we use some words that they have no idea what they mean, not slang words just regular stuff like 'press' so you may have to re think what you're saying

The beauty of English is its many dialects.

Thanks for the replies, its just that i have had problems with speaking with most americans and i would have to slow down. Ah sure could be worse, could have a Cork accent... Joking

Can anyone recommend a good website for job hunting, ill be heading to Toronto later in the year. No trades but have 7+ years Admin experience under my belt & a few years retail.