WHAT SHOCKED US ABOUT LIVING IN CANADA | Moving From The U.K. - YouTube

Wow it's that time again Norm - It's our favourite  day of the week Tina it's Saturday a new YouTube  

video - And today we are going to talk about what  shocked us about Canada when we first arrived  

but before then - If you're new to the channel and  haven't subscribed yet and you like what you see  

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better So we want to put this into a historical  context we came to Canada in - '92 in February  

'92 - February 1992 and these are some of our  first impressions of Canada, some are ongoing  

so anyway let's take it away Number 1.  - And that was how cold it was when we  

arrived in February it was minus 30 degrees  celsius and coming from the U.K.  

we didn't really know how cold minus 30 was - It just happened to be February 1992 was one of  

the coldest Februaries on record - And I think  there was probably the most snow that year too  

we even arrived in our winter coats didn't  we Norm - We had new winter coats in England  

from Mark's and Spencer's they said they  were winter coats but they were lying  

- Because we were absolutely frozen - Somebody  said at the airport where's your winter coats  

and we said we're wearing them and they said  you'd better go buy some winter coats pretty  

soon - So that's what we did the next day wasn't it  - It was indeed and it was so cold that the hairs  

inside your nostrils were freezing when  we got outside anyway Number 2. the price  

on the shelf is not the price you'll pay  which trips a lot of people up from Europe and  

everywhere else apart from America and Canada  yeah so you see something on the shelf and it's a  

dollar and you think oh that's okay a good deal  so you go up to the cash register you give them  

a dollar and they ask for a dollar and 13 cents  because the sales tax is not included so in  

Ontario we pay a harmonized sales tax (HST) a combination of Federal and Provincial tax  

so one is PST and GST and combined they  make 13% sales tax and that's what we pay  

on everything so if you're a visitor here  just bring a little extra money for the tax  

- Because the price you pay is not what you're  actually going to pay in the end that's and  

moving on to Number 3. this was one that we did  find unusual at the time and that was tipping  

in restaurants now I'm going to say family  restaurants not fast food where you go through  

the drive-through if you go into a restaurant for  a proper sit-down meal - If you go for breakfast  

lunch and dinner what Tina's saying is it's not  Mcdonald's or Burger King where you go in for  

a burger, it's a restaurant where you sit in - You are expected to pay between 15 and  

20 percent to the servers as a tip and they  actually rely on that because they do get paid  

lower than what everybody else does in the  restaurant so they actually rely on the tipping  

so we do recommend it, if you've had a great  meal then give them twenty percent make  

it a nice tip make something - It's different to the  U.K. and Australia and other countries where  

the waiting staff the servers are employed on a  living wage and they know that going into the job  

and can make a career of that in North America  the servers are paid less than the minimum wage  

and they rely on tips to give them a living  wage that was just something that caught us out  

Number 4. Foreign credit history does not follow  you which can be a good thing or a bad thing  

if you're running from the tax man and you're  bankrupt it's probably a good thing but if you've  

got good credit history and you think coming to  Canada as a new Canadian you're going to get  

a credit card well - Think again - You're  going to have to build a credit history and  

build your credit score and the other thing  is if you're a professional like a Lawyer Doctor  

Dentist your professional credentials don't travel  here either you have to be re-certified by the  

college that looks after that particular  profession so that's foreign credit history  

that caught us out because we did have very  good credit from England but they didn't seem  

interested in that - We had to rebuild didn't we   Number 5. This is one of my favourites and is  

Christmas lights on houses outside, just  fell in love with the fact that there were  

Christmas fairy lights outside on houses  they looked beautiful especially with the snow  

and just wonderful and at that time nothing like  that happened in the U.K. - No you might get a  

string of lights around the inside of somebody's  window or Ikea used to sell those little electric  

candle type things you could put in the window - Nothing like this - This was just so romantic and  

magical - It was pretty wasn't it I fell in love  with that - It was beautiful still is and we  

still love seeing that it is Number 6. - This is an  interesting one Norm - The size of refrigerators

and also what Canadians store in them as well coming from England we'd been used to having   

what they would call in Canada a bar fridge but  it was the main fridge that we had back in  

in the '80s and '90s and that  was about a four cubic foot  

under the counter refrigerator and you  just put perishable items into them  

in Canada we see these enormous cabinets  the average are 21 cubic feet so that's what  

five times larger than a British fridge back  in '92 we're talking - They were absolutely  

huge weren't they - When we looked inside  some of them from our friends we were thinking  

what are you putting in the fridge there's jam  ketchup there's marmalade - Like everything  

went in - Pickles and we were always brought  up that those were preserves they didn't need  

refrigerating but what do we know - Yeah because  we kept them in like a pantry larder didn't we  

in the U.K. - We did but now we keep them in the  fridge because it's a great storage cupboard  

- As well as the beer goes in there too - Oh yeah  you can't forget the beer and wine so Number  

7. Teen What do we think of this one - What shocked us the price of gas or petrol it  

was like half price in fact not only gas it was  cars, the cars were cheaper the houses were way  

bigger for the same money, would buy a bigger  house you could get a bigger car couldn't you  

for the same sort of price everything was cheaper  wasn't it cheaper - And to put the price of petrol  

and gas into perspective when we first came over  here I think it was around 54 cents for a litre  

and in England it was exactly the same 54 pence  for a litre but at that time the exchange rate was  

2.3 Canadian dollars to one pound so literally  gas was less than half price for us so it was  

amazing to see that we could keep much more  money in our pockets - Yeah it was great wasn't it  

was a big shock - It was - A nice shock to have  money left over wow one of the other things now  

we're on Number 8. This did shock us - You can't  buy beer wine and liquor at the supermarket  

not how we did in England in the U.K. so that  that was a surprise that when we arrived here  

the only place you could buy alcoholic beverages  was through the Liquor Control Board of Ontario  

the LCBO or what was Brewer's Retail which is  now the Beer Store and those are the only two  

places you can buy alcohol recently they've  allowed select supermarkets to sell  

but they're just acting as agents for the LCBO  so there's no competition there's no discount in  

prices you will buy from a supermarket the beer  or some of them have wine as well but it will be  

exactly the same price the LCBO charges - We  don't have any supermarkets selling wine around  

here do we the only one we have is we can get  beer at is Walmart - That's right - But I know in  

certain areas of Toronto or Ottawa you  can get wine there can't you - Yes you can  

Number 9. Teen - This is a biggie how big Canada  is just completely shocked us blew us away  

- It's enormous it really is and the maps seem  deceiving - Absolutely we kind of thought we'd be  

going everywhere and visiting in a very  short time - When you come from Europe you  

have that sort of geography mentality that you  could drive through five countries in half a day  

or you could go the whole length of Britain  in I don't know 10 hours to 12 hours  

but here it's just absolutely enormous and to  give you an idea Ottawa to Toronto would be  

in good traffic around five and a half hours  to drive that - So it's a big place isn't it (yeah)  

and we hear people coming here for one week's  holiday and they think they're gonna see it all  

don't they they think they're gonna do Niagara  Falls, Toronto they're gonna do Quebec City,  

Vancouver they have absolutely no idea  you're pretty much Norm you just can't see  

the whole of Canada on a two week vacation -   Just pick a region and enjoy that and not  

hire the private jet so Number 10. we're at the  end what shocked us about Canada the wildlife  

it's absolutely amazing the diversity of wildlife  in Canada we were going through Algonquin Park  

one day and we saw a whole pile of people stop  by the side of the road so we knew there was  

a bit of excitement going on so we pulled over  took a look, a huge Moose there just feeding by  

the side of the road minding its own business absolutely massive tall bigger than a cow  

- We've never seen anything like it - And they can  roam wherever they want they're free to roam,  

Black Bears we've seen a few of those not  too many - No fortunately from a distance  

- Yeah it's not like you bump  into them at the supermarket  

they're afraid of us as we are of them so  they're very much out in the countryside yes  

we have seen them and very cute they tend  to run away - Yes oh and don't forget those  

raccoons Norm we thought they were the cutest  cuddliest things when we saw them didn't we  

- The little bandit mask on - They are cute now we  know they're not quite that cute as they look and  

they can get into a garbage can pretty well (yeah)  that's their favourite - Even locked garbage cans  

they seem to find a way to get in it - They're very  ingenious very strong as well as beautiful and  

then we are getting to see a lot of wildlife  from the apartment building which is unusual  

we have the lake here and over the  last three days we've been seeing  

- Tundra Swans - On their migration route  north to the Arctic and also to Alaska  

they're just absolutely beautiful how many were  there yesterday Tina - We counted over  

40 of them yesterday - And basically they come  to our lake here just to rest overnight and  

feed on some aquatic vegetation and then  early in the morning they're off again  

we've had three waves of them coming through  and it's just beautiful to see them and when  

they take off they're all in their formation and  they are huge animals - It's very exciting to see  

- It really yes so great entertainment for  living here (yeah) plus Bald Headed Eagles  

- Yeah we've been seeing those lately quite a few  of them haven't we - Yes we have - We just love  

it - So the diversity of wildlife that we can just  see from our apartment is is really amazing so  

that was what shocked us about Canada I  hope you enjoyed our video we appreciate  

all your support of our channel it's really very  encouraging isn't it Tina - Absolutely and we hope  

everybody is staying safe and keeping well - We  certainly do - And until the next time bye bye, bye