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