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My knowledge of New Caledonia and Tonga is largely based on what I've been told by friends and family who've been there. They all found their lack of proficiency in French really limited their ability to experience and understand New Caledonia beyond the "Aussie tourist experience". As a follow-on none of them thought they gained much of an insight into the Kanak - French dynamic.
I spent a bit of time down under about 11 years ago. I'm not sure how much it's changed since then but based on what I remember, I'd rate these things the following:
Friendliness: Canada - I found Aussies more outgoing but at the same time less polite
Location: Canada - Seems more centralized in relation to the other continents
Lifestyle: Australia - Love the beach culture and the more outdoorsy lifestyle
Weather: Australia - No contest! When they called Oz "The lucky country" I wonder if they subconsciously had this in mind
Nightlife: Australia - However I found they were more picky about what you wear in the nightclubs
Tourist attractions: Tie - both have pretty neat touristy spots
Economic diversity: Tie - both seem pretty equal in this regard
Cultural contribution: Canada - I think having both French and English founding culture plus somewhat more influential aboriginal cultures (eg. Inuit) give Canada the edge here
Urban living: Australia - Seemed like overall more amenities especially for recreational activities
History: Canada - From the vikings to the battle between the English and the French, Canada's recorded history is quite a bit longer and much richer than Australia's.
Architecture: Canada - Nothing in Australia can come close to matching Quebec City!
Transportation: Australia - Seems like more areas of the country are better connected than Canada both by road and air (ie you can drive to Darwin from Hobart via ferry but you can't drive from Montreal to Iqaluit via ferry)
Education: Tie - both seem to have pretty good institutions
Natural scenery: Australia - Canada can only dream of having something as beautiful as the Whitsunday Islands or Uluru
Cost of Living: Canada for sure. Australia was quite expensive when I visited 11 years ago and I hear it's only gotten worse which is a shame
Political Stability: Australia - Canada I think will always have the Quebec question looming even if it gets put on the back burner for years at a time.
Economical Stability: Australia simply because it has a much more diverse range of trading partners. We rely way too much on the US.
Nightlife: Australia - However I found they were more picky about what you wear in the nightclubs
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Are you using Vancouver's nightlife as comparitive representation for Canada against Australia's Nightlife here
Both countries are MASSIVE.. I can say that the nightlife in Montreal and Toronto is a bit different than Vancouver... Our brothers out east are quite the lushes btw
My knowledge of New Caledonia and Tonga is largely based on what I've been told by friends and family who've been there. They all found their lack of proficiency in French really limited their ability to experience and understand New Caledonia beyond the "Aussie tourist experience". As a follow-on none of them thought they gained much of an insight into the Kanak - French dynamic.
Wouldn't this be the case for them in any place where the main local language is not English? Which is to say... most of the world's countries?
Are you using Vancouver's nightlife as comparitive representation for Canada against Australia's Nightlife here
Both countries are MASSIVE.. I can say that the nightlife in Montreal and Toronto is a bit different than Vancouver... Our brothers out east are quite the lushes btw
When I visited Australia, I was living in Ottawa at the time and it seemed to be rare to find nightclubs that had a strict dress code. I've been out here in Vancouver a few times too when I was younger and it was mostly the same. Places like Montreal I can imagine being a bit pickier in certain locations due to the European influence which is understandable but not really sure why it's like that in Oz
Some of these answers really make me scratch my head.
Political stability: Canada. Seriously? Is the breakup of Australia a standard feature of politics? Less than two decades ago, Canada's largest and second most populous province only voted by a margin of only 1% (!) to stay part of Canada.
Cost of Living: Australia. Australia is hands down much more expensive than Canada.
A brief comparison of Sydney and Toronto, and Brisbane and Montreal on Numbeo.com:
Consumer Prices in Toronto are 21.40% lower than in Sydney
Consumer Prices Including Rent in Toronto are 26.89% lower than in Sydney
Rent Prices in Toronto are 35.31% lower than in Sydney
Restaurant Prices in Toronto are 14.93% lower than in Sydney
Groceries Prices in Toronto are 17.36% lower than in Sydney
Consumer Prices in Montreal are 20.99% lower than in Brisbane
Consumer Prices Including Rent in Montreal are 28.41% lower than in Brisbane
Rent Prices in Montreal are 44.15% lower than in Brisbane
Restaurant Prices in Montreal are 21.58% lower than in Brisbane
Groceries Prices in Montreal are 9.69% lower than in Brisbane Local Purchasing Power in Montreal is 8.00% higher than in Brisbane
How can you claim to prefer to the cost of living in Australia over Canada?
Weather: Canada. Really? So where all you people who love shoveling snow in the dark in real life? Let me know when people flock to Edmonton in February just to lay out under the dark and experience some good ol' below freezing temperatures.
Here are the average monthly temperatures at the warmest time of day for a Canadian city on the borderof the US:
History: Australia. Yeah, because being a remote colony of the British is much more interesting than being the French Empire, and then British Empire, having wars between them, being part of the American Revolution, the various First Nations peoples from Eskimos to Huron, Catholics vs. Protestants, Francophones vs. Anglophones, westward expansion, and so on. By the time Australia even received it's first settler Canada had already been around for nearly 200 years!
In 1838-39 Canadians even fought the British Empire for independence, but lost:
Some of these answers really make me scratch my head.
Political stability: Canada. Seriously? Is the breakup of Australia a standard feature of politics? Less than two decades ago, Canada's largest and second most populous province only voted by a margin of only 1% (!) to stay part of Canada.
Cost of Living: Australia. Australia is hands down much more expensive than Canada.
A brief comparison of Sydney and Toronto, and Brisbane and Montreal on Numbeo.com:
Consumer Prices in Toronto are 21.40% lower than in Sydney
Consumer Prices Including Rent in Toronto are 26.89% lower than in Sydney
Rent Prices in Toronto are 35.31% lower than in Sydney
Restaurant Prices in Toronto are 14.93% lower than in Sydney
Groceries Prices in Toronto are 17.36% lower than in Sydney
Consumer Prices in Montreal are 20.99% lower than in Brisbane
Consumer Prices Including Rent in Montreal are 28.41% lower than in Brisbane
Rent Prices in Montreal are 44.15% lower than in Brisbane
Restaurant Prices in Montreal are 21.58% lower than in Brisbane
Groceries Prices in Montreal are 9.69% lower than in Brisbane Local Purchasing Power in Montreal is 8.00% higher than in Brisbane
How can you claim to prefer to the cost of living in Australia over Canada?
Weather: Canada. Really? So where all you people who love shoveling snow in the dark in real life? Let me know when people flock to Edmonton in February just to lay out under the dark and experience some good ol' below freezing temperatures.
Here are the average monthly temperatures at the warmest time of day for a Canadian city on the borderof the US:
History: Australia. Yeah, because being a remote colony of the British is much more interesting than being the French Empire, and then British Empire, having wars between them, being part of the American Revolution, the various First Nations peoples from Eskimos to Huron, Catholics vs. Protestants, Francophones vs. Anglophones, westward expansion, and so on. By the time Australia even received it's first settler Canada had already been around for nearly 200 years!
In 1838-39 Canadians even fought the British Empire for independence, but lost:
Your points for "Political stability" and "History" seem inextricably linked for Canada... I'd happily take the former over the latter - my Aussie perspective...
Cost of living is interesting: Aussies still manage to own more cars and build bigger houses than Canadians so I suspect there is more to those statistics:
Cost of living is interesting: Aussies still manage to own more cars and build bigger houses than Canadians so I suspect there is more to those statistics:
So? Maybe Canadians are more likely to take advantage of Public Transportation and perhaps they prefer living in more urban envioronments where housing is generally a bit smaller because the density of Canadian urbanized areas in relation to Australian is greater..
In the link below you will see a list of the worlds largest urban areas.. It will show that not just Toronto (Which is more dense and populous than any large Canadian/Australian city) and even Montreal have higher urban densities than either Sydney or Melbourne so this go a long way in explaining less cars per capita and smaller housing. Has more to do with geography and urbanity. There are tons of people who live and work in DT Toronto with zero need to own a car even though they could easily afford one and choose to live in a DT condo as opposed to a suburban large house which are in short supply in Toronto due to geographical constraints.
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Besides houses and cars are one thing, there are many day to day items that one needs to buy.. I'm not sure how it is in Australia - it seems many have said it is very expensive.. Truth be told, Canada benefits greatly from bordering a country with 315 million people with an enormous consumer appetite - so access to cheaper day to day items seems to make sense just because of economies of scale.
Your points for "Political stability" and "History" seem inextricably linked for Canada... I'd happily take the former over the latter - my Aussie perspective...
There are also benefits to having two official languages and the strong history and duality of English and French cultures in Canada.. Sure there are some differences but at the end of the day, it makes things a bit more interesting culturally..
There is no guarantee that any country is going to have political stability into the future but at the end of the day - Quebec has always chosen to remain in Canada and I think that will be the case for a loooooong time to come. Quebecers just recently voted in a majority Liberal Goverment in the last provincial elections - the strongest in a long time.
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Australia is hands down much more expensive than Canada.
