Is To Wise To Move To Montreal?

[CLOUD 500]

For many many years, I have thought about moving to Montreal.

And it came down to 2 things blocking for me. Job & speaking French.

Requirements of speaking french: Having hung out with SPs and having other hobbies in Montreal, I have made friends. However, it is still very difficult for me to hang out with them and really "belong" to Montreal because everyone defaults to French in their everyday conversations. They always have to switch to English for me, so I would never be a true Montrealer unless I got fluent in French. I'm sure if I ever moved, I would get fluent, but it would take a lot of time. Since you already speak fluent French, I don't see that being a problem.

Now for problem number two, job: Very few high paying jobs in Montreal, and they simply pay so much less than everywhere else. When looking into moving here, I have spoken to colleagues and contacts. If I were to transfer to Montreal with the same job, I would have to take a 50% salary cut, and I'm told my bonus cut would be well into the 6 figures, so that is a hard NO. Even with the adjusted cost of living factored in, it is a huge loss. If you make about the same in Montreal vs where you are from, and adjusted for cost of living is similar, then this is not a problem either.

If neither of those are a problem, I would move to Montreal in a heartbeat.

And also remember Quebec is the most taxed place in North America and we get little for all those taxes. Too much corruption here. Potholes everywhere, when you drive on Highway 20 towards Toronto, as soon as you cross into 401 on the Ontario side you see a complete difference in the road quality. And to add Quebec has the worst healthcare in Canada, many cannot find a family doctor. Many living in the west island have to drive to Hawkesbury to see a doctor. So lower salaries plus higher taxes is not a good combo and to add the healthcare system that would factor for me to move here. A firetruck got half of one of its tires stuck in a pothole. That is our tax dollars at work. Faulty work done by the city. The worst part is they will have to repave the road but i am sure it will be more faulty work to funnel more money to bureaucrats and friends of the government.

Here is the article -> https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/only-in-montreal-firetruck-becomes-stuck-in-pothole-1.6504353

 

[CLOUD 500]

How about a shoutout for the women of Montreal? The working women here and the women you see on the street every day, in summer anyway. From all over the world. My private time with a québécoise ~25 years older than most of the women here is the most intense & sensual I have ever experienced. So good I wondered if she was a professional in another life. An attractive mature woman that knows her body & how to use it is SAF (Sexy As F…) and the weekend doesn’t cost $6000. They’re intelligent & make their own money.
I could post pictures of a dozen local woman that would do more than turn your head on the street. I’m not saying it’s easy.

You can complain that rents have gone up buy they are 1/3 of NYC or Boston. As for the politics here, the CAQ seems whacked and shortsighted. The French thing makes it interesting. It sucks for business but I’m trying to learn it. Fix the damn roads. They’re worse than the Bronx. I don’t know enough to understand the intense Trudeau hatred but Trump is looking for votes should you want to move south. Hoping Canada doesn’t go full on Autocracy like the GOP is pushing. I got used to Democracy and like it.

Trudeau is trying to turn Montreal and Toronto into another NYC and Los Angeles with his mass immigration policy. At this rate Toronto will end up with NYC rents. It is the reason for the hatred against him. I do not want Montreal to end up like Los Angeles or NYC. As for autocracy, Trudeau is a Fidel Castro lover and an admirer of China's communist government (all on record btw). And he used Emergency Powers (only a dictator would do that) to freeze bank accounts of the truckers who fought for freedom from never ending covid mandates. Had it not been for them we would probably still be forced to wear masks and vaccine passports. What happened in the last three years should have never happened in a democracy. Remember Legault imposed curfews in Quebec twice, nothing democratic about that.

 

[Anna Bijou]

And he used Emergency Powers (only a dictator would do that) to freeze bank accounts of What happened in the last three years should have never happened in a democracy. Remember Legault imposed curfews in Quebec twice, nothing democratic about that.

Hyperbolic much? lol I'm no Trudeau fan but this is hilarious.

[Tucker] Carlson referred to Trudeau’s emergency declaration as “a defining moment” in “the history of the English-speaking West,” and called Canada “a dictatorship.”

Would you happen to be a Tucker Carlson fan?

... the truckers who fought for freedom from never ending covid mandates. Had it not been for them we would probably still be forced to wear masks and vaccine passports.

LOL ok that's bordering on unhinged. Those are absolutely ridiculous takes. I can't believe you're actually probably serious too. Come on. Get off Fox News, for god's sake.

“Throughout most of February 2022, the thousands of people who live and work in downtown Ottawa endured several weeks of widespread human rights abuse, amidst a climate of threats, fear, sexual harassment and intimidation marked by racism, misogyny, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and other expressions of hate and intolerance. The impact was, inevitably, greatest on the most vulnerable individuals and communities.”

-Ottawa People’s Commission

Organized by a mix of far-right activists and QAnon adherents, the trucker convoy did not speak for the majority of truckers (almost 90 per cent are vaccinated) nor for most Canadians (who by and large supported public health measures).

link

Yeah, real fucking heroes



"Late last month, as groups of Canadian truckers and ideological allies started to converge on Ottawa in protest of vaccine mandates and an assortment of other grievances, reports started to filter through of hostile behavior, on the part of some participants, toward journalists covering the convoy. Dale Manucdoc, a reporter with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto, texted the contact number of a local convoy representative to request an interview and received messages, from a different number, targeting him with a racial slur and telling him that he would “swing” as a “traitor.” Another journalist, Frank Gunn, reported being spat at by supporters of the convoy; Evan Solomon, of CTV, was about to film a live shot when a protester threw a beer can that narrowly missed his head. (“I could use a drink,” Solomon quipped, “but not like this.”)

As the days went by and the protests spread, the harassment of journalists intensified, both online and off. Canadian lawmakers passed a resolution “deploring” the intimidation. Some outlets assigned security guards to accompany their reporters in the streets, while other news crews took their logos off of equipment or downsized their cameras to make it harder for protesters to identify them. This week, Elizabeth Payne, a reporter at the Ottawa Citizen, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that she’s avoided wearing a mask while covering the protests for fear of provoking backlash, and that downtown residents whose lives have been disrupted by the convoy have “begged” her not to identify them in her stories “because they’re getting death threats.” Last night, the Canadian Association of Journalists convened a Twitter Space to discuss the rising hostility toward reporters in the country, a trend that predates these protests and has been particularly acute for women and journalists of color. “It’s totally surreal to me to need security to report in my hometown,” Raisa Patel, an Ottawa-based reporter for the Toronto Star, said of covering the protests"

...

O’Shea added that his team at the bridge “interviewed many people,” and that “they variously hated government, hated mandates, didn’t believe there were any COVID-related deaths, repeated conspiracy theories, and kept asking us when the news media was going to start telling the truth.”

link



SMH


I didn't agree with everything that was done during peak Covid pandemic but some of it unfortunately had to be done precisely because of people who felt their "freedom" should override public safety and the health of vulnerable individuals. It sucked ass, yes. But some people behaved like self-involved toddlers having tantrums because they refused to make sacrifices for the good of the collective. No one enjoyed the restrictions. But they put their big boy/girl pants on and powered through because they knew the world doesn't revolve around them.

 

[Anna Bijou]

And to add Quebec has the worst healthcare in Canada, many cannot find a family doctor.

I hate it when people say they can't find a family doctor because it's a complete crock of shit. If you're in or near Montreal at least, you can most definitely find one. There's a "guichet d'acces" specifically designed for that. I helped 2 friends get on the list and they both got a call within a few months. It goes according to priority so if your health issues are urgent, it goes faster. I don't know why people continue to repeat this about family doctors. It's not this big challenge or impossible: you get on a list, you wait, you get a doctor.

Don't get me wrong, I have lots of beef with the healthcare system but it's not really any worse than the rest of Canada. I had a really difficult time finding a family doctor in Vancouver. And there was no service or waitlist (at the time, no idea if that's changed), you had to call clinic after clinic to see if they were accepting new patients. I went to walk-in clinics for years until I absolutely needed follow-up. Even then, I kind of weaseled myself in with a doctor who wasn't actually taking new patients.

As for quality care.. My doctor in Vancouver had no more than 15 minutes per appointment for me and allowed only 1 issue per appointment. At 14min she was pushing me out the door. I don't know if you can appreciate how useless 15min is when you're dealing with complex or multiple issues or trying to get a diagnosis but it's a fucking joke. My doctor here, I kid you not, will spend 30 or 40min with me if it's necessary. And she will never tell me sorry 1 issue per appointment like they did in Vancouver. She asks if there are any other issues until I say no, I'm all good. That's priceless and worth the shit ton of taxes I pay tbh.


The roads. Well, the roads are not meant to be anything other than shitty. That much is obvious. No one can convince me that in 2023 there is no technology that could solve this forever. But they don't want it solved. But go to St Leonard. The roads are so really nice there for some reason. I'm just saying..... lol

I am against social housing because it benefits a select few. Single people also need affordable housing, not just families with 4+ children or refugees. Social housing means taking money away from single people to redistribute it to the preferred group that the government thinks deserves the subsidized housing. This means ultimately more taxes. You cannot tax a nation into prosperity. That is like being in a bucket and trying to lift yourself in the bucket, it cannot work. This would not even be necessary if the government stopped with its mass immigration policy.

What are you talking about? lol

First, you're talking about only one form of social housing. There are many models, not only public housing.

I have no idea where you got the idea that "just families with 4+ children or refugees" benefit from social housing. The idea of social housing doesn't exclude single people, so I don't know what your point is. Look at Vienna's social housing. Sweden. Single people are not excluded and social housing doesn't benefit a select few or only low-income households.

I do think it's ironic that this is when you suddenly oppose what you believe "benefits a select few". You don't strike me as someone who is particularly concerned or bothered by inequality. Yet you're concerned that some low income groups would benefit but other low income groups would not? You expect me to buy that? You'll have to try a little harder lol

You don't like immigrants, and refugees and you watch a lot of Fox News. You can stop repeating it. We get it.
Sucks to be you, I guess. I don't know what else to say. Immigration isn't about to stop for you and there will always be refugees, so sorry to burst your bubble but you're just going to look like an old man screaming at the clouds if you keep playing that broken record. Just facts.


It's been fun chatting but you and I don't live in the same reality, I think. Unfortunately it makes for pretty pointless exchanges.

Cheers! xo

 

[CLOUD 500]

Hyperbolic much? lol I'm no Trudeau fan but this is hilarious.




Would you happen to be a Tucker Carlson fan?






LOL ok that's bordering on unhinged. Those are absolutely ridiculous takes. I can't believe you're actually probably serious too. Come on. Get off Fox News, for god's sake.










Yeah, real fucking heroes



"Late last month, as groups of Canadian truckers and ideological allies started to converge on Ottawa in protest of vaccine mandates and an assortment of other grievances, reports started to filter through of hostile behavior, on the part of some participants, toward journalists covering the convoy. Dale Manucdoc, a reporter with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto, texted the contact number of a local convoy representative to request an interview and received messages, from a different number, targeting him with a racial slur and telling him that he would “swing” as a “traitor.” Another journalist, Frank Gunn, reported being spat at by supporters of the convoy; Evan Solomon, of CTV, was about to film a live shot when a protester threw a beer can that narrowly missed his head. (“I could use a drink,” Solomon quipped, “but not like this.”)

As the days went by and the protests spread, the harassment of journalists intensified, both online and off. Canadian lawmakers passed a resolution “deploring” the intimidation. Some outlets assigned security guards to accompany their reporters in the streets, while other news crews took their logos off of equipment or downsized their cameras to make it harder for protesters to identify them. This week, Elizabeth Payne, a reporter at the Ottawa Citizen, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that she’s avoided wearing a mask while covering the protests for fear of provoking backlash, and that downtown residents whose lives have been disrupted by the convoy have “begged” her not to identify them in her stories “because they’re getting death threats.” Last night, the Canadian Association of Journalists convened a Twitter Space to discuss the rising hostility toward reporters in the country, a trend that predates these protests and has been particularly acute for women and journalists of color. “It’s totally surreal to me to need security to report in my hometown,” Raisa Patel, an Ottawa-based reporter for the Toronto Star, said of covering the protests"

...

O’Shea added that his team at the bridge “interviewed many people,” and that “they variously hated government, hated mandates, didn’t believe there were any COVID-related deaths, repeated conspiracy theories, and kept asking us when the news media was going to start telling the truth.”

link



SMH


I didn't agree with everything that was done during peak Covid pandemic but some of it unfortunately had to be done precisely because of people who felt their "freedom" should override public safety and the health of vulnerable individuals. It sucked ass, yes. But some people behaved like self-involved toddlers having tantrums because they refused to make sacrifices for the good of the collective. No one enjoyed the restrictions. But they put their big boy/girl pants on and powered through because they knew the world doesn't revolve around them.

Just to clue you in, I do not follow Tucker or Fox News. To tell you the truth I do not care much for American politics. And yes freezing banks accounts of peaceful truckers was a horrible thing to do, only a dictator would do that. It was totally disproportionate to the threat. If Tucker said that then I agree 100% with him.

Trudeau spread a lot of lies about the truckers. He accused them of being influenced by Russians, that the truckers had weapons, that they were being funded by far-right groups from the US, that they were swastikas. It is a typical far-left method to slander anyone that does not agree with them as far-right extremist or racist. All claims have been proven to be unfounded. All lies. Also cops never asked for the Emergency Act, they were fully capable to handle the situation. Come on wake up!

LILLEY: Trudeau spreads misinformation after cops say they didn't ask for Emergencies Act

When it comes to how the Trudeau Liberals responded to the trucker convoy, misinformation might be the best word to describe it.

torontosun.com

Here is my belief as Derek Wills said "Liberty is the right of the individual to invoke sole domination over their own life to act in and of itself does not directly infringe on the right of another individual to do the same".

The governments job is not to play grandma.

 

[CLOUD 500]

I hate it when people say they can't find a family doctor because it's a complete crock of shit. If you're in or near Montreal at least, you can most definitely find one. There's a "guichet d'acces" specifically designed for that. I helped 2 friends get on the list and they both got a call within a few months. It goes according to priority so if your health issues are urgent, it goes faster. I don't know why people continue to repeat this about family doctors. It's not this big challenge or impossible: you get on a list, you wait, you get a doctor.

People around my circle have waited 5 years to be assigned a family doctor. But the facts all there. Some people died waiting to be assisted in the emergency.

Family calls for review of nurses' order decision into man's death after lengthy wait in Montreal ER

The family of a man who died after an hours-long wait in the ER at a Montreal hospital is calling for a review of a decision that cleared the nurses who saw him of any wrongdoing.

montreal.ctvnews.ca

This poor man had severe abdominal pain and he waited and waited then got fed up of waiting and went home. He passed away.

After more than a half day in a Montreal ER, a university student went home to Ontario for surgery

A 20-year-old Concordia University student says he waited 15 hours in the ER at Montreal’s Royal Victoria Hospital after his appendix burst. Then, instead of waiting any longer, Christos Lianos says his parents decided to take him to a hospital in his home town of Kingston, Ont. where he had...

montreal.ctvnews.ca

Here is another one, a boy had appendicitis and he waited so long in a Quebec ER. His parents took matters into their own hands and drove him to Kingston, Ontario where he was operated. If they waited who knows he might have passed away also.

After serious collision in Italy, woman stuck on surgery wait list in Montreal

A family vacation in the Italian countryside quickly turned into a nightmare for Maggie Dunphy after she crashed her rented Vespa in the middle of the road and shattered several bones. The Montreal resident says her nightmare was made worse, however, by Quebec's health-care system after...

montreal.ctvnews.ca

Here is another one, a woman fell from her motorcycle in Italy and damaged her shoulder. She was in severe pain. Italian hospital were ready to operate on her but decided to go back to Montreal. Big mistake, she is on the waiting list and is in serious pain. She is classified as semi-urgent. Need I go on? There are facts.

What's gone wrong: More than 800,000 Quebecers wait for family doctor

According to the health ministry, 864,062 Quebecers on the waiting list for a family doctor, a list that has more than doubled since 2018.

montreal.ctvnews.ca

68% of Montrealers are waiting for a family doctor. Need I go on? I think I proved my point with facts.

Don't get me wrong, I have lots of beef with the healthcare system but it's not really any worse than the rest of Canada. I had a really difficult time finding a family doctor in Vancouver. And there was no service or waitlist (at the time, no idea if that's changed), you had to call clinic after clinic to see if they were accepting new patients. I went to walk-in clinics for years until I absolutely needed follow-up. Even then, I kind of weaseled myself in with a doctor who wasn't actually taking new patients.

As for quality care.. My doctor in Vancouver had no more than 15 minutes per appointment for me and allowed only 1 issue per appointment. At 14min she was pushing me out the door. I don't know if you can appreciate how useless 15min is when you're dealing with complex or multiple issues or trying to get a diagnosis but it's a fucking joke. My doctor here, I kid you not, will spend 30 or 40min with me if it's necessary. And she will never tell me sorry 1 issue per appointment like they did in Vancouver. She asks if there are any other issues until I say no, I'm all good. That's priceless and worth the shit ton of taxes I pay tbh.


The roads. Well, the roads are not meant to be anything other than shitty. That much is obvious. No one can convince me that in 2023 there is no technology that could solve this forever. But they don't want it solved. But go to St Leonard. The roads are so really nice there for some reason. I'm just saying..... lol









What are you talking about? lol

First, you're talking about only one form of social housing. There are many models, not only public housing.

I have no idea where you got the idea that "just families with 4+ children or refugees" benefit from social housing. The idea of social housing doesn't exclude single people, so I don't know what your point is. Look at Vienna's social housing. Sweden. Single people are not excluded and social housing doesn't benefit a select few or only low-income households.

I do think it's ironic that this is when you suddenly oppose what you believe "benefits a select few". You don't strike me as someone who is particularly concerned or bothered by inequality. Yet you're concerned that some low income groups would benefit but other low income groups would not? You expect me to buy that? You'll have to try a little harder lol

You don't like immigrants, and refugees and you watch a lot of Fox News. You can stop repeating it. We get it.
Sucks to be you, I guess. I don't know what else to say. Immigration isn't about to stop for you and there will always be refugees, so sorry to burst your bubble but you're just going to look like an old man screaming at the clouds if you keep playing that broken record. Just facts.


It's been fun chatting but you and I don't live in the same reality, I think. Unfortunately it makes for pretty pointless exchanges.

Cheers! xo

I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Now you are playing with words. Lol Public housing is the same as social housing. It means to tax people to give it to others. The way it works is you got to make an application for it and there is not enough of it because it requires taxpayers money so the social housing is assigned according to priority that the government decides versus on a first come first served basis. Ever wonder why the homeless population is predominantly single males? Well there is the answer, the government does not care much for them. Many people wait for years before ever getting one, but if you are a single mom with 4+ kids you get it very fast. If you are a refugee with lots of kids you also get it very fast. The theory is the government prioritizes them because to the government they are raising many kids who will be future taxpayers in other words a type of investment.

Like Aristotle said "The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal". Socialism want to force equality with the redistribution of income but what they really achieve is inequality. Hence why I am against social housing. More government is not the answer to government caused problems. Like Winston Churchill said "Can a people tax themselves to prosperity? Can a man stand in a bucket and lift himself up by the handle?"

And like Milton Friedman said "A society that puts equality... Ahead of freedom will end up with neither".

And finally what I think of social housing and other government programs like Thomas Sowell said "The welfare state is the oldest con game in the world. First you take peoples money away quietly and then you give some of it back to them flamboyantly."

And to clear this up I got nothing against immigrants my criticism is to the government. Their responsibility is to the country. You just cannot bring in more people then there is infrastructure to support all these newcomers. Since Justin Trudeau got elected, rents have doubled and house prices have doubled. It takes now 25 years to save for a downpayment, something unheard of in Canada before Justin Trudeau.

Pierre Poilievre: Yes, Justin Trudeau deserves blame for sky-high housing costs

The truth is that costs are worse than ever and worse than elsewhere

nationalpost.com

It comes down to the basic laws of supply and demand. If demand goes up and supply remains the same then prices go up. Basic Economics Law 101.

Direct Quote from Article:

Now onto Mason’s second error: that Canada’s housing bubble is just part of a global trend. This, too, is false. Yes, housing has become more expensive elsewhere. But Canada’s housing prices are higher, and shortages worse, than almost any other country on earth.

We have the fewest houses per capita in the G7 — even though we have the most land to build on. In fact, we have fewer houses per capita today than we did eight years ago, as our population has outgrown home building. So why do we have so much land with so few houses?

You lived in Vancouver. Many people are living in trailer homes due to unaffordable housing. Now they are making modular houses.

90 new modular homes to be built in Vancouver for people living in shelters

B.C. Housing will build two transitional housing projects with round-the-clock supports at 1500 Main St. and 2132 Ash St. Read more.

vancouversun.com

This is the country with 8 years of Justin Trudeau.

But I do agree with one thing you wrote, I see no point in these exchanges because we do not see eye to eye on many matters so it is useless. Have a good night.