Advantages/disadvantages of moving to Canada

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS EX-PAT BRITISH TRUCKERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hi All

OK, so, I’m not trying to start a war, just want to find out of what are the advantages of moving to Canada, and working as a truck driver over doing the same job in the UK.
I’m considering doing it myself, but have doubts of whether it’s worth the hassle, is it just a case of grass being greener on the other side?

For clarity and to try to avoid unnecessary arguing lets list what are pros and cons of moving to Canada:

Pros:

  1. Lifestyle, more room to live
  2. Money? Not sure about this one
  3. Opportunity to see Canada and the US (but how long will you enjoy doing it, a year, maybe a couple of years)
  4. Better conditions for drivers in truck stops, no parking in laybys.

Cons:

  1. Long haul for the first two years (at least, if you lucky) with being away from home for many more days then if you were tramping in the UK, and having, very often companies treating you almost as a slave for the first two years as they know you have not many options before you get your permanent residency
  2. Is money really better than doing it in the UK? I’m yet to be convinced
  3. Costs of living in Canada higher then in the UK, which means less money left in the pocket at the end of the month.
  4. Harsh winters. Drivers very often need to park and wait for the snow being cleared, sometimes it take s a few days before they might go on the road, which means, parked up, no pay
  5. Not many more options for truckers apart of long haul, there probably are some, but I suspect very limited and the hourly pay is poor for local work, with some rare exceptions of course
  6. Reading some Canadian posts on their BB, general feeling is, it seems to me Canadians hate long haul, and are desperate to leave the trucking industry. Why would this be the case?
  7. Mostly not being paid for being parked up, waiting for reload, and that’s what anyone going there needs to expect, being at the mercy of inefficient dispatchers.
  8. Winter driving conditions very dangerous, you can’t go quickly, if you can drive at all, and that means reduced pay check, longer working hours, good chance of landing in a ditch and not getting paid at all.
  9. Start and finish times all over the place, no such thing as weekend, or bank holidays. In the UK most tramping is mon - fri ( there are exceptions that you need to work weekends, but you are getting enhanced pay for working weekends and bank holidays).
  10. How many weeks of paid holiday can you count on in Canada in your first year, am I right to think it’s much less than in the UK?
  11. If you want to spend a holiday in a nice a warm place, and enjoy nice beaches, no cheap airlines, and the closest place would be Mexico, or Caribbeans, am I right? Oh, there is still Florida or California I guess.

If you are planning to leave the trucking industry once you get your PR, what else is there that pays decent money?

As I said earlier I’m not looking to start a war in here, just looking for others that have made the move to add to my list of pros and cons, and maybe point to me what I’m wrong about.

Thanks

2

You have it pretty well summed up other thing is depending on the individual is missing family and friends and if your married or in a relationship is your partner up for it 100%.
I enjoyed the job there and liked canada but probaly would have looked for a local job if i had stayed long term as i like home life.
You can get a nicer house and car in canada than the uk as they are a lot cheaper especaly if you have a few quid from a house sale here. food and clothes etc are dearer in canada than uk but a bit of shopping in the states helps here. But at the end of the day your not going to be rich been a lorry driver anywhere.
People slate the uk but its not as bad as you think and if you have problems moving wont solve them id say give it a go its an adventure and id go back again if my new partner was up for it.

3

ok …my look at rural Manitoba and what friends are on in east SK(dump).
imo more options on provincial /local driving than otr. .think oil p atch,fuel,construction,etc, money wise its strange to say a city driver (artic)$15-18 an hr … oil patch (water,oil hauling ,fracking,concrete etc) $20- 30hr, local fuel $20 ish ,construction $17.50----$25(inc redi mix,dump,quarry).+ OT rates. after 40ish hrs.
Paid holiday lol…you get 4% of gross weekly wage with each pay for holidays ,you can either take it with your weekly wage or save up to use when you get your 2weeks off. 4% to start and then iirc its 6% after 5yrs.
jimmy.

4

anon84679660:
Hi All

OK, so, I’m not trying to start a war, just want to find out of what are the advantages of moving to Canada, and working as a truck driver over doing the same job in the UK.
I’m considering doing it myself, but have doubts of whether it’s worth the hassle, is it just a case of grass being greener on the other side?

For clarity and to try to avoid unnecessary arguing lets list what are pros and cons of moving to Canada:

Pros:

  1. Lifestyle, more room to live
    Except if you are in one of these new housing estates where there’s barely enough room to walk between them.
  2. Money? Not sure about this one
    I made more over here long haul but I lived in the truck and maxed my hours
  3. Opportunity to see Canada and the US (but how long will you enjoy doing it, a year, maybe a couple of years)
    I did it for 3 years and enjoyed the driving and still would now.
  4. Better conditions for drivers in truck stops, no parking in laybys.
    What lay-by’s ?

Cons:

  1. Long haul for the first two years (at least, if you lucky) with being away from home for many more days then if you were tramping in the UK, and having, very often companies treating you almost as a slave for the first two years as they have you have not many options before you get your permanent residency
    True

  2. Is money really better than doing it in the UK? I’m yet to be convinced
    Yes

  3. Costs of living in Canada higher then in the UK, which means less money left in the pocket at the end of the month.
    True but I earn more.

  4. Harsh winters. Drivers very often need to park and wait for the snow being cleared, sometimes it take s a few days before they might go on the road, which means, parked up, no pay
    Harsh winters, yes but only got parked up twice in 3 years

  5. Not many more options for truckers apart of long haul, there probably are some, but I suspect very limited and the hourly pay is poor for local work, with some rare exceptions of course
    You’re way out on this one, quite a few options and local jobs are plentiful and the pay is a hell of a lot better than the UK

  6. Reading some Canadian posts on their BB, general feeling is, it seems to me Canadians hate long haul, and are desperate to leave the trucking industry. Why would this be the case?
    Being away from family, lots of unpaid work, lying dispatchers/planners, the list goes on.

  7. Mostly not being paid for being parked up, waiting for reload, and that’s what anyone going there needs to expect, being at the mercy of inefficient dispatchers.
    see above.

  8. Winter driving conditions very dangerous, you can’t go quickly, if you can drive at all, and that means reduced pay check, longer working hours, good chance of landing in a ditch and not getting paid at all.
    True, when it’s not very cold but the colder it gets, the quicker you can drive, I don’t know why but ice gets stickier, the colder it gets.

  9. Start and finish times all over the place, no such thing as weekend, or bank holidays. In the UK most tramping is mon - fri ( there are exceptions that you need to work weekends, but you are getting enhanced pay for working weekends and bank holidays).
    True on long haul, most companies but not true on local, I’m on 2 1/2 times for BH’s and I’m on a 4on 4off, anything over 8hrs/day is OT and any days worked on my 4off is overtime.

  10. How many weeks of paid holiday can you count on in Canada in your first year, am I right to think it’s much less than in the UK?
    Not sure if this is provincial but Alberta is 4% of your gross, which is about 2 weeks for the first 6 yrs, then 6% which is three weeks then 8% at 8yrs, that’s if you manage to stay with the same company.

  11. If you want to spend a holiday in a nice a warm place, and enjoy nice beaches, no cheap airlines, and the closest place would be Mexico, or Caribbeans, am I right? Oh, there is still Florida or California I guess.
    True, internal flights are an horrendous price and I believe it cheaper to get a package holiday from the UK than Canada.

If you are planning to leave the trucking industry once you get your PR, what else is there that pays decent money?
Tim Horton’s, probably pays about the same hourly rate as long haul.

As I said earlier I’m not looking to start a war in here, just looking for others that have made the move to add to my list of pros and cons, and maybe point to me what I’m wrong about.
You did ok.

Thanks

5

Sorry duplicate.

6

neilg14:

anon84679660:
Hi All

OK, so, I’m not trying to start a war, just want to find out of what are the advantages of moving to Canada, and working as a truck driver over doing the same job in the UK.
I’m considering doing it myself, but have doubts of whether it’s worth the hassle, is it just a case of grass being greener on the other side?

For clarity and to try to avoid unnecessary arguing lets list what are pros and cons of moving to Canada:

Pros:

  1. Lifestyle, more room to live
    Except if you are in one of these new housing estates where there’s barely enough room to walk between them.
  2. Money? Not sure about this one
    I made more over here long haul but I lived in the truck and maxed my hours
  3. Opportunity to see Canada and the US (but how long will you enjoy doing it, a year, maybe a couple of years)
    I did it for 3 years and enjoyed the driving and still would now.
  4. Better conditions for drivers in truck stops, no parking in laybys.
    What lay-by’s ?

Cons:

  1. Long haul for the first two years (at least, if you lucky) with being away from home for many more days then if you were tramping in the UK, and having, very often companies treating you almost as a slave for the first two years as they have you have not many options before you get your permanent residency
    True
  2. Is money really better than doing it in the UK? I’m yet to be convinced
    Yes
    Is it?, what is it per hour on long haul, have you ever done any calculations? as that’s the only way we can determine whether it’s better than in the UK, where drivers get paid per hour, plus some bonuses.
  3. Costs of living in Canada higher then in the UK, which means less money left in the pocket at the end of the month.
    True but I earn more.
  4. Harsh winters. Drivers very often need to park and wait for the snow being cleared, sometimes it take s a few days before they might go on the road, which means, parked up, no pay
    Harsh winters, yes but only got parked up twice in 3 years
  5. Not many more options for truckers apart of long haul, there probably are some, but I suspect very limited and the hourly pay is poor for local work, with some rare exceptions of course
    You’re way out on this one, quite a few options and local jobs are plentiful and the pay is a hell of a lot better than the UK

you surely know better than I do, but if local work was very well paid, all those unhappy Canadian drivers would be switching from long haul, to local, wouldn’t they? I Actually watched a YT video of one driver saying he was doing long haul, because local driving jobs pay is very low.

  1. Reading some Canadian posts on their BB, general feeling is, it seems to me Canadians hate long haul, and are desperate to leave the trucking industry. Why would this be the case?
    Being away from family, lots of unpaid work, lying dispatchers/planners, the list goes on.
  2. Mostly not being paid for being parked up, waiting for reload, and that’s what anyone going there needs to expect, being at the mercy of inefficient dispatchers.
    see above.
  3. Winter driving conditions very dangerous, you can’t go quickly, if you can drive at all, and that means reduced pay check, longer working hours, good chance of landing in a ditch and not getting paid at all.
    True, when it’s not very cold but the colder it gets, the quicker you can drive, I don’t know why but ice gets stickier, the colder it gets.

Watched an other YT video of an owner operator in Canada doing only 40km/h as the road was covered with ice and he said it was simply irresponsible to go faster, he actually said, he was going to stop soon as it’s just to dangerous being on the road. So, obviously when parked up he wasn’t earning anything.

  1. Start and finish times all over the place, no such thing as weekend, or bank holidays. In the UK most tramping is mon - fri ( there are exceptions that you need to work weekends, but you are getting enhanced pay for working weekends and bank holidays).
    True on long haul, most companies but not true on local, I’m on 2 1/2 times for BH’s and I’m on a 4on 4off, anything over 8hrs/day is OT and any days worked on my 4off is overtime.

  2. How many weeks of paid holiday can you count on in Canada in your first year, am I right to think it’s much less than in the UK?
    ]Not sure if this is provincial but Alberta is 4% of your gross, which is about 2 weeks for the first 6 yrs, then 6% which is three weeks then 8% at 8yrs, that’s if you manage to stay with the same company.

  3. If you want to spend a holiday in a nice a warm place, and enjoy nice beaches, no cheap airlines, and the closest place would be Mexico, or Caribbeans, am I right? Oh, there is still Florida or California I guess.
    True, internal flights are an horrendous price and I believe it cheaper to get a package holiday from the UK than Canada.

So, I guess , if you want 4 weeks of holiday as it is in the UK, you need to save up to compensate for the time taken off work.

If you are planning to leave the trucking industry once you get your PR, what else is there that pays decent money?
Tim Horton’s, probably pays about the same hourly rate as long haul.

As I said earlier I’m not looking to start a war in here, just looking for others that have made the move to add to my list of pros and cons, and maybe point to me what I’m wrong about.
You did ok.

Thanks

7

I reckon you have already answered your own question already .I wanted to go 40years ago didn’t ,but don’t regret it one bit…

8

Winter is the biggest problem there I reckon.
I have a few points to add to that list of cons, but can’t think of any pros:

cons :

  1. long and harsh winters make house heating bills high
  2. economic activities drop winter time, so there is less to haul and less opportunities to find a good job in other sectors, such as building trade as one obvious example, I guess there is no, or very little building activity winter time, so if you want to be in that business you need to work extra hard from April to October to compensate for the other six months when you will have to job at all.
    In the UK winters are mild and almost no interruptions to other business activities.
  3. harsh winters, frost, damages building , roads, so I guess home owners need to spend much more money repairing their properties, much more often then in the UK, building houses must be more expensive, as extra insulation is required and better quality materials, to make houses as well insulated from the cold as possible, and the government spends a lot of taxpayers money on clearing roads off snow, and repairing damaged roads, as frost is a serious treat to road surfaces, so not much money left for other social causes.

If anyone has anything else to add, please feel free to list them.

9

anon84679660:
Winter is the biggest problem there I reckon.
I have a few points to add to that list of cons, but can’t think of any pros:

cons :

  1. long and harsh winters make house heating bills high
    True, I can only speak for my house, for about 5 mths my gas is about $300/mth, electric is about $140/mth
  2. economic activities drop winter time, so there is less to haul and less opportunities to find a good job in other sectors, such as building trade as one obvious example, I guess there is no, or very little building activity winter time, so if you want to be in that business you need to work extra hard from April to October to compensate for the other six months when you will have to job at all.
    Wrong, building work continues year round, a new condo block and an old peoples home and houses rebuilt from last years flood all got built in our town this winter
    In the UK winters are mild and almost no interruptions to other business activities.
  3. harsh winters, frost, damages building , roads, so I guess home owners need to spend much more money repairing their properties, much more often then in the UK, building houses must be more expensive, as extra insulation is required and better quality materials, to make houses as well insulated from the cold as possible, and the government spends a lot of taxpayers money on clearing roads off snow, and repairing damaged roads, as frost is a serious treat to road surfaces, so not much money left for other social causes.
    No repairs to my house, no money spent.
    Yes the AB gov spent more this year than any previously, clearing snow but they budget for it, happens every year and roads like the Deerfoot Trl in Calgary suffered badly from Frost heaves (like driving up steps)but they level out again when it warms up.
    What are these other social causes ???

If anyone has anything else to add, please feel free to list them.

10

“Wrong, building work continues year round, a new condo block and an old peoples home and houses rebuilt from last years flood all got built in our town this winter”

I knew some Canadian builders and they said they have to work extra hard from April - October, because Winter time, there are very few jobs in building trades because of snow and frost.
How can you work outside when it snows, temperatures hit -20, -30, -40 degrees Celsius?

“No repairs to my house, no money spent.” - Yet

“Yes the AB gov spent more this year than any previously, clearing snow but they budget for it, happens every year and roads like the Deerfoot Trl in Calgary suffered badly from Frost heaves (like driving up steps)but they level out again when it warms up.
What are these other social causes ■■?”

After collecting all the taxes a government can collect and if they do not have to spend large chunk of it on clearing roads of snow and ice for 6 months, they can spend this money on other things, could be anything , such as providing better health care, better schools, building new schools, hiring more social workers, providing tax breaks for families with children, raising unemployment benefits, etc, etc,
If a government spends a lot of their revenues on fighting winters, they have less money for other things. No such issue in warmer countries such the UK.

Regarding damaged caused by harsh winters, snow, frost and ice.
When you build a house , you need to dig deeper foundations, driveways need deeper foundation, roads, need special better materials, and better quality materials.
Take a look at roads in Canada and warmer US states and you will see the difference.
Water(moisture) gets into every crack when it’s wet, be it a road or a building, then winter time, frost sets and expands, causing cracks in the structure, then spring comes and the ice melts, shrinking the volume of water in size, casing cracks.

Ask any private trustable builder whether he would advise you to build your house for yourself winter time.

11

Your question on hourly pay I could not answer because I’ve never sat down and worked it out, but I would guess it’s anywhere from $12 to $24 an hour.
One example that’s easy to work out is Calgary to Winnipeg, approx 800miles, a 13hr, 1 day drive. Most companies pay $0.40 a mile so that gives you $320 divided by say a 14hr work day would pay you just shy of $23/hr. That is a good paying run, but by no means the average.
What I can say is my worst year long haul was around $63,000 & best around $74,000, without my big tax-back every year and I never come close to that in the UK.

12

anon84679660:
“Wrong, building work continues year round, a new condo block and an old peoples home and houses rebuilt from last years flood all got built in our town this winter”

I knew some Canadian builders and they said they have to work extra hard from April - October, because Winter time, there are very few jobs in building trades because of snow and frost.
How can you work outside when it snows, temperatures hit -20, -30, -40 degrees Celsius?

“No repairs to my house, no money spent.” - Yet

“Yes the AB gov spent more this year than any previously, clearing snow but they budget for it, happens every year and roads like the Deerfoot Trl in Calgary suffered badly from Frost heaves (like driving up steps)but they level out again when it warms up.
What are these other social causes ???”

After collecting all the taxes a government can collect and if they do not have to spend large chunk of it on clearing roads of snow and ice for 6 months, they can spend this money on other things, could be anything , such as providing better health care, better schools, building new schools, hiring more social workers, providing tax breaks for families with children, raising unemployment benefits, etc, etc,
If a government spends a lot of their revenues on fighting winters, they have less money for other things. No such issue in warmer countries such the UK.

Regarding damaged caused by harsh winters, snow, frost and ice.
When you built a house , you need to dig deeper foundations, driveways need deeper foundation, roads, need special better materials, and better quality materials.
Take a look at roads in Canada and warmer US states and you will see the difference.
Water(moisture) gets into every crack when it’s wet, be it a road or a building, then winter time, frost sets and expands, causing cracks in the structure, then spring comes and the ice melts, shrinking the volume of water in size, casing cracks.

Ask any private trustable builder whether he would advise you to build your house for yourself winter time.

I’m not asking any builder anything, personally I don’t give a f***, you asked questions, I answered as honestly as I can, best thing you can do is f****** stay over there, I’m bowing out of this thread now.

Please don’t use stars to dodge the autosensor, just type the word and the autosensor will allow it or ■■■■ it off, we can all work out what the word was meant to be. Cheers NMM.

13

Why getting so defensive and upset, we are just discussing, comparing lifestyles, jobs, and living conditions, that’s all it is.
I’m trying to get the full picture of pros and cons, to see if it’s worth the move.
You might be happy with the choice you’ve made, you are happy with the deal you are getting there, others might not be, it’s that simple.
We are only discussing options here.
If it’s such a good move, there must many more advantages to moving across the water, hope someone will list them all.

14

neilg14:
Your question on hourly pay I could not answer because I’ve never sat down and worked it out, but I would guess it’s anywhere from $12 to $24 an hour.
One example that’s easy to work out is Calgary to Winnipeg, approx 800miles, a 13hr, 1 day drive. Most companies pay $0.40 a mile so that gives you $320 divided by say a 14hr work day would pay you just shy of $23/hr. That is a good paying run, but by no means the average.
What I can say is my worst year long haul was around $63,000 & best around $74,000, without my big tax-back every year and I never come close to that in the UK.

so, I suspect that’s a flat terrain drive, through prairies, must boring, not seeing anything, but flat grassland for hour and hours.
Providing you won’t get held, by road closures, snow, ice, truck breaking down, there are no border crossings.
What happens when you get to drive from Calgary to Vancouver or south of the border?
See, in the UK, we only understand hourly wages, if in this country employers were paying per mile, there would be no drivers willing to work for them.
I thought you drivers have done these types of calculations, to see what you are getting paid per hour of your time spend at work, which includes waiting times spend for various reasons as well.

15

Why are you so obsessed with winter driving ? It makes little difference to earnings potential , doesn’t snow and blow all the time . I loose more time with truck reliability issues than highway conditions :unamused: .

16

I thought you drivers have done these types of calculations, to see what you are getting paid per hour of your time spend at work, which includes waiting times spend for various reasons as well.
[/quote]
There’s no point working out hourly pay, as you don’t get paid hourly :unamused:

17

flat to the mat:
Why are you so obsessed with winter driving ? It makes little difference to earnings potential , doesn’t snow and blow all the time . I loose more time with truck reliability issues than highway conditions :unamused: .

I’m not obsessed with anything, not obsessed with winter driving, just pointing to it being a serious issue for a driver, especially for someone ■■■■■■■ from the UK that has had a chance to face these types of conditions.
Neil didn’t agree with a few things I posted, I didn’t agree with a few things he posted, and we exchanged our views, that’s all it was.
Good thing you’ve mentioned truck reliability, for which, when truck is being taken off the road, you are not getting paid.
If it’s a more serious issue that harsh winter then it is got to be number 15 (cons) on my list.
I’ve seen a video on YT driver complaining his truck was being taken off the road for a whole week and he had no other truck to use, so he was sitting at home with no pay/compensation for time/earnings lost.
It looks to me that truck drivers in Canada, pay for all that goes wrong, be it, poor dispatcher planning, poor truck mechanical conditions.
We don’t have these types of issues in the UK.

Hope someone will post more positives about getting a trucking job in Canada.

18

Although i was only out there one winter it was reported as fairly harsh although not like thr one you have just had i only lost one day to the weather so nothing to realy worry about.
For me Canada wasnt some sort of perfect utopia but was a real nice place but at the same time i dont think the UK is going to hell in a handcart like the daily mail tell us it is.

Both have there advantages and disadvantages but if i was on my own id jump back on the plane and give it another crack as its something a bit different but i think id choose to settle in winnipeg or calgary as im a city boy and small town life can wear a bit thin but to be fair living in the wilds of yorkshire or nolfork would drive me mad.

19

anon84679660:

flat to the mat:
Why are you so obsessed with winter driving ? It makes little difference to earnings potential , doesn’t snow and blow all the time . I loose more time with truck reliability issues than highway conditions :unamused: .

I’m not obsessed with anything, not obsessed with winter driving, just pointing to it being a serious issue for a driver, especially for someone cumming from the UK that has had a chance to face these types of conditions.
Neil didn’t agree with a few things I posted, I didn’t agree with a few things he posted, and we exchanged our views, that’s all it was.
Good thing you’ve mentioned truck reliability, for which, when truck is being taken off the road, you are not getting paid.
If it’s a more serious issue that harsh winter then it is got to be number 15 (cons) on my list.
I’ve seen a video on YT driver complaining his truck was being taken off the road for a whole week and he had no other truck to use, so he was sitting at home with no pay/compensation for time/earnings lost.
It looks to me that truck drivers in Canada, pay for all that goes wrong, be it, poor dispatcher planning, poor truck mechanical conditions.
We don’t have these types of issues in the UK.

Hope someone will post more positives about getting a trucking job in Canada.

Never said I don’t get paid when the truck is in the workshop , just shy of $30/hour , less than I’d earn if the wheels were turning but I mustn’t complain . My new dispatcher is a panic merchant and often has me running around in circles which can be frustrating but as I’m paid on hub miles again I don’t complain .Did I mention my pre and post trips ? $50 per day for those :unamused:
Truck driving in Canada , mugs game mate :laughing:

20

The uk and canada theres good jobs and bad jobs. Just when you land in canada you have to start at the bottom no matter how much experince you have back home.