Where would you rather live in - Canada or Switzerland? (2014, neighbourhood)

[BMI]

Originally Posted by the troubadour

Switzerland is there really a choice? One of the world's highest standards of living. Well located in the heart of Europe. Great skiing options. Multi lingual so great. Close to Italy and France and Germany. (not to unlike a drive to the shops, for some Canadians) Most democratic nation on earth with voting system. A pension system that ensures a pretty decent retirement. Top quality. But yes expensive. Very expensive. But petrol cheaper than Germany.

Hmmm...great skiing options...true...but Canada has some very good skiing options too,
including amazing helicopter skiing in BC that beats anything Switzerland has.

Multilingual so great....hmmmm....Canada has super multicultural cities that Switzerland can only dream of.
Canada is officially bilingual, and has many first nations languages too.

Both are democratic...both are usually in top 10 or top 20 countries to live in.

Petrol cheaper than germany....hmmm....petrol (gas) in Canada much cheaper than Switzerland.

Pension system...Canada has that covered with a much lower COL.

And as you said....Switzerland ...very expensive.

And like another poster mentioned ....Canada has everything Switzerland has and more, much more.

Canada is at another population level...37 million population verses Switzerland at 8.5 million

Size....Canada ...3.9 million square miles .....Switzerland ....only about 15,900 square miles.
You can fit about 250 Switzerland’s inside Canada.

Canada has a national park LARGER than Switzerland!
Wood Buffalo National Park is 17,200 square miles in size...over 1,000 square miles larger
than all of Switzerland.

Canada has more and much larger cities than Switzerland...
Including Toronto Golden Horseshoe with a population of about 9 million...
larger than the entire population of Switzerland.

Canada has natural resources that Switzerland can only dream of....oil, gas, gold, diamonds...etc...

All that being said ...Switzerland is an excellent country ...one of the few countries
I would live in other than Canada. I know it quite well, I went a Swiss boarding school
near the French border as a teenager and loved it.

Switzerland is great but I still choose Canada over it.

[BruSan]

Surprised nobody mentioned skating the Rideau Canal and visiting the sights and culturally diverse eateries along it's length.

Surprised nobody mentioned the under-city of Montreal where you can literally go down direct from your hotel into the Metro and spend all day perusing shops coming up inside other buildings and malls without having to endure the slush and cold of the winter.

Quebec city needs no further endorsement as it's truly unique as well. Switzerland has beauty but not outstanding beauty of the variety found in Canada.

[daynet]

Montreal's underground city! I'd forgotten all about it; I used to walk around there all the time when I worked downtown. It is unique.

[CloudReader]

Originally Posted by the troubadour

Switzerland is there really a choice? One of the world's highest standards of living. Well located in the heart of Europe. Great skiing options. Multi lingual so great. Close to Italy and France and Germany. (not to unlike a drive to the shops, for some Canadians) Most democratic nation on earth with voting system. A pension system that ensures a pretty decent retirement. Top quality. But yes expensive. Very expensive. But petrol cheaper than Germany.

The big draw of Switzerland for me is also the proximity to a bunch of European countries just a short train ride away. Also weather will be nicer.

As for multilingualism, it's probably not what you think it is. The swiss typically do not speak most of their 4 official languages. They'd likely be fluent in 1 or 2 and then English. Not so different from say Montreal. I stopped briefly in Zurich a decade ago on the way to Italy. Went to the police station to ask for some information and was a bit surprised to learn that no one there spoke French. They had to get someone over who spoke English.

Ultimately, as an 1.5th generation asian immigrant (born in China, grew up here), Canada totally trumps Switzerland in terms of integrating into society. It's not just vs the Swiss, but vs most of Europe in that regard. Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, maybe other Canadian cities will also sport a far more diverse array of international cuisine. In terms of day to day living, these two things beat Switzerland's location handily for me.

[Zoisite]

Originally Posted by Milky Way Resident

I enjoyed Switzerland, but would not personally want to live there. Canada takes this one quite easily. Now, if this were between New Zealand and Switzerland, I would need to take some time to consider.

Originally Posted by Natnasci

In that case for me, it would be Switzerland. Just being able to visit the rest of Europe, is all I need. Besides,a lot of New Zealand reminds me of BC. Kiwi's visiting BC have said as much to me.

If it was a toss up between Switzerland and New Zealand I would choose New Zealand for two reasons:

- one because it would remind me of BC

- and two because of the eye candy, namely the Māori men, who I consider to be absolutely the most beautiful and sexiest looking men on earth.
.

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by Zoisite

If it was a toss up between Switzerland and New Zealand I would choose New Zealand for two reasons:

- one because it would remind me of BC

- and two because of the eye candy, namely the Māori men, who I consider to be absolutely the most beautiful and sexiest looking men on earth.
.

Interesting

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by BruSan

Surprised nobody mentioned skating the Rideau Canal and visiting the sights and culturally diverse eateries along it's length.

Surprised nobody mentioned the under-city of Montreal where you can literally go down direct from your hotel into the Metro and spend all day perusing shops coming up inside other buildings and malls without having to endure the slush and cold of the winter.

Quebec city needs no further endorsement as it's truly unique as well. Switzerland has beauty but not outstanding beauty of the variety found in Canada.

There is just so much more in Canada than Switzerland. No ocean coastline as well.

Does Switzerland have areas like this?

[BruSan]

Pictures in my mind:

A Cariboo herd crossing a gravel bar just as we were landing in an old Cessna 150 to do some fly-in fishing in Labrador back in the 70's. Thousands of them pouring up and over that long gravel spit of higher land that looked like a tsunami of living breathing animals. It went on for minutes while we did an abort and circled overhead with not one of us having a camera along but thrilled speechless at the shear magnitude of the spectacle of so many of them all moving at once..

In the early 1960's, while hunting in the far north of B.C and perhaps even being in the Yukon, I had just scoped a majestic Mountain sheep through the scope of a brand new Remington 700. Probably a mature Thinhorn Dall sheep in all his glory on the other side of a small valley. The sun was coming over the rise behind me and lit him up like he was some kind of golden statue on display in a museum. I slung the rifle and hunkered down to watch him with binoculars until he meandered over the crest of a ridge.

Visiting Newfoundland during the time of the year when the Icebergs have done their circuit across the straight from Greenland and are now coming down the coast of Labrador and going by the Island. Huge behemoths like marching sentinels.

These are scenes of no real rarity within Canada as they are always there but we have to go to see them and sometimes set foot on an area of land that has never had a human foot trod on it before.

Vast tracts of unexplored wilderness still exist in Canada....middle of Europe...not so much. I'll take mother nature over the lure of city lights any old day of the week.

[Milky Way Resident]

Originally Posted by BruSan

Pictures in my mind:

A Cariboo herd crossing a gravel bar just as we were landing in an old Cessna 150 to do some fly-in fishing in Labrador back in the 70's. Thousands of them pouring up and over that long gravel spit of higher land that looked like a tsunami of living breathing animals. It went on for minutes while we did an abort and circled overhead with not one of us having a camera along but thrilled speechless at the shear magnitude of the spectacle of so many of them all moving at once..

In the early 1960's, while hunting in the far north of B.C and perhaps even being in the Yukon, I had just scoped a majestic Mountain sheep through the scope of a brand new Remington 700. Probably a mature Thinhorn Dall sheep in all his glory on the other side of a small valley. The sun was coming over the rise behind me and lit him up like he was some kind of golden statue on display in a museum. I slung the rifle and hunkered down to watch him with binoculars until he meandered over the crest of a ridge.

Visiting Newfoundland during the time of the year when the Icebergs have done their circuit across the straight from Greenland and are now coming down the coast of Labrador and going by the Island. Huge behemoths like marching sentinels.

These are scenes of no real rarity within Canada as they are always there but we have to go to see them and sometimes set foot on an area of land that has never had a human foot trod on it before.

Vast tracts of unexplored wilderness still exist in Canada....middle of Europe...not so much. I'll take mother nature over the lure of city lights any old day of the week.

Indeed. While Europe has a lot os stunning scenery, it lacks that ‘unexplored frontier’ feeling one finds in Canada or the US. Russia would be the closest comparison, but that’s mostly due to Siberia and the Far East, which isn’t in Europe.

[Milky Way Resident]

My biggest issue with NZ is that it comes across as rather redundant, particularly to anyone coming from North America or Europe. Nevertheless, it remains a stunning country.

Originally Posted by Zoisite

If it was a toss up between Switzerland and New Zealand I would choose New Zealand for two reasons:

- one because it would remind me of BC

- and two because of the eye candy, namely the Māori men, who I consider to be absolutely the most beautiful and sexiest looking men on earth.
.

Originally Posted by Natnasci

In that case for me, it would be Switzerland. Just being able to visit the rest of Europe, is all I need. Besides,a lot of New Zealand reminds me of BC. Kiwi's visiting BC have said as much to me.