robinhood_1984:
burgerdave:
Thanks Jimmy, I do see your point, I have come across many a Brit online complaining about pretty much everything they have done in Canada. Saying that I know many a driver in the UK who want the easy life, early finishes etc and never stop moaning even if only an hour late into the yard (mentioning no names of course).My hope is to get on long haul and do 10-15 days on, I will be quite happy to Keep my head down and crack on, whatever it takes. I have done a lot of research and yes you only get paid when rolling, you don’t get paid waiting, but you have to take the rough with the smooth.
Whatever hardship it takes would be worth it to get PR and eventually buy a house (something that is way beyond reach in the UK now due to crazy prices). The life I could give my kids over there compared to here will drive me on.
Don’t underestimate how much jumping in with a badly run firm can ruin your dreams. It sounds easy to just say keep your head down for X amount of months or years until you get your PR but if you’re with one of the bottom dwelling cockroach companies who keep you sitting here, there and everywhere and out of your 15 days away, 5 or 6 of them have been totally dead days with nothing earned it will soon wear thin for you and all of your family when you have no home life due to being away so long in the first place and then having to cut short your planned time to try and rake in some extra cash because the wages you did earn for 15 days away don’t actually allow for you to have a standard of life and keep up with mortgage payments/rent, house payments, groceries and the list goes on.
As all of us on here have said time and time again, its all about research and getting in with the right job. Now, obviously as things stand now that’s not really possible most of the time because there just aren’t the LMIA’s being thrown around like there used to be. If you were single with no commitments then I’d say go for it regardless, you’d have nothing to lose by giving it a shot, but if you have a family to support and you’re the main/only bread winner then jumping in with a bad firm isn’t going to end well in many if not most cases because you simply won’t be earning the money to keep things ticking over, let alone getting ahead.
I’m not trying to ■■■■ on your strawberries, I just want to make it clear that in my opinion its not simply a case of UK = Crap and Canada = Brilliant. Both countries are advanced western nations with a very high quality of life and a lot to offer and plenty to be worried about and given the mileage based pay of most work here its easier to fall off the wagon when it comes to keeping up with financial commitments of life, as opposed to the UK’s safe hourly pay or salary etc.
As to actually finding work, forget emails. Some companies may respond but by far the best way is to at least get on the phone and call them. I know some companies in New Brunswick where I live are still getting LMIA’s. One such company advertises in the local paper on a regular basis and the advert includes “LMIA available”. That company is Culberson Transport in Jacksonville, NB just outside of Woodstock. However, its east coast reefer work, which means lower miles and loads and loads of waiting around much of the time. I know people who have worked there and I wouldn’t say its a bad firm in and of itself, there are certainly much worse companies but knowing what I do and having experienced what I have, I wouldn’t be moving from the UK to Canada with a family to pay and provide for to do that sort of work for that sort of pay.
Robinhood is exactly right there are far more bad companies over here than good ones particularly in the Maritimes ( which is your best chance of getting a LMIA) The problem is there is no money here I live on Prince Edward Island and 90% of the work here is potatoes so you can guess how much profit there is. I work for one of the worst companies here SFX for the simple reason I am semi retired and don’t need to make a living so when they ■■■■ me off I just go home and then a week or so later they ring me up to go back I don’t do long haul just local so it works for me. But the number of drivers who have come and gone in the 5 years I have been with them is staggering. Russian,British,Lithuanian,Polish you name it they have all been and gone at the moment they are bringing over Jamaicans by the bus load. What I am trying to say is Canada is not the end of the rainbow, its bloody hard to begin with the trucks are not what you will be used to. You need to understand practice’s here for example have to pay to get unloaded in some places in the US you have to pay to get in the depot! Not to mention " if you aint turning you aint earning" only paid by mile. A lot of guys have made it here but it is very difficult to find decent employment it takes along time and if you want to bring your family it’s a nightmere Best advice listen to guys like Robinhood do as much research as you can then do some more its along way over here but its a lot longer going back
Good luck
Barry