true_richard

lol there are 3 arenas within a 5 minute drive of my house & one of them has, i think, 4 rinks in it. :P

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true_richard

construction companies seem to be run by italians in greater vancouver - so that may help you.

ONNI is a *huge* condo builder, possibly the biggest in the city, that was founded by 4 italian brothers back in the 50's.
BOSA properties builds a ton of condos - many of them very high end.
Polygon Homes is another.
PCL is a big outfit here. commercial buildings mostly.
Ledcor is huge for large scale commercial construction projects.
Peter Kiewit is huge in road/highway construction. they're doing most of the highway projects for the olympics.
Bilfinger Berger (germans) and other companies are building a new bridge way out in the suburbs. goldenearsbridge.ca
keith plumbing & heating is possibly the largest plumbing & mechanical contractor in the city.

then there're a zillion smaller companies like the company(s) my father works for. (he works for artek (drywall division), but the same man also owns: belpar (cabinet/fabrication/refrigeration shop), bc drywall, fusion project management, brooks corning (office furniture) and some other crap.) and naturally there're 98773983987398734 more.

there's a skilled & unskilled labour shortage here in the vancouver area, partly due to olympic venue construction, so whether you want to do iron work, concrete work, painting, insulating, plumbing, drywall/something else entirely - just about every single company, big or small, that you could possibly look up in the phone book is hiring. this year has been the first time in my life here (all of it) that there're "now hiring" signs on damn near every business and on many commercial vehicles. so long as you're legal to work here, pretty well anybody could find a job in a matter of hours - if that.

LOL at immigrants being the minority! vancouver has been rated the most diverse city in the world with approximately 1/3rd of it's population born outside of canada. richmond is mainly chinese. vancouver also has a chinatown. the suburb city of surrey, 4 blocks away from where i live, is home to the largest indian population outside of india. and there're brits & aussies & italians & philipinos, mexicans, japanese, vietnamese, korean, africans, greeks & & & & etcetera - being a white male born in vancouver, it's ME that's quickly becoming the visual minority here! :P

you're in luck, we do in fact have a little italy section of town: Little Italy, Vancouver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia









kitsilano is nice. very chill atmosphere, home to a mix of hippies/hipsters & yuppies. it's not cheap to buy there, but rents aren't too outrageous in older buildings. the following are low end of the scale STARTING prices: ~$330k gets you around a 500sf studio (not even a 1 bedroom), half a million dollars gets close to 800sf in an older building, $800-900k & you're looking at the starting prices of townhomes & narrow 1/2 duplexes, and the cheapest detached house for sale in kits right now is a bit over $1.3million. the most expensive property currently listed is in the point grey area of kitsilano at $11.9million.

search virtually all properties for sale in kits here:

mls.ca - Property Results

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true_richard

a view of the pool at kitsilano beach:



kits beach facing the west end of vancouver:






the marina:



and back to jobs, the best most comprehensive job search database i've ever used is a government run one that copies ads from dozens of applications & compiles them here: Bienvenue au Guichet emplois / Welcome to Job Bank

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PaoloSmythe

hey T-R many many thanks for your efforts. i have been checking out heaps of property and employment websites but there is nothing better than getting info from a local.

i feel this is all a bit premature to be looking into such things, as the immigration authority are still assessing my medical results and so i am a few months from being given a green light (assuming all to be well); but i am a cautious fella and so it is good to be forewarned i think.

thanks especially for the fotos of little italy. i have read that during the 1970s, the italocentric aspect dwindled and now the areas around Commercial Drive are more diverse. diversity is no stress for someone who's lived in London for the past 12 years tho.

the fotos will do much to suggest to my missus that vancouver isn't entirely filled with cloudy, rainy days.... in fact, it seems that you get as much drizzle as we do in the UK except that when summer arrives, it is actually warm and sunny!

i will be searching out those construction company names which you kindly listed and seeing if they have recruitment opportunities. i had figured i would want to get a job secured before i left to get over there permanently; but if the worker shortage is such that finding at least something quickly is assurred, such cautious steps might not be necessary? i have no skills beyond the office to speak of, but i can lift and carry and learn fast..... so if i have to make like a mexican and petition for site work on street corners for a few months.... well so be it!

property prices with that many zeroes seem scarey... but when you consider that UK prices are identical, but in pounds sterling, you realise that BC real estate is effectively half price for me! i just hope that salaries aren't half too! (of course they will be! )

cheers mate!

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true_richard

may not need to be so cautious, but i believe it does help w/ work visas and immigration and such to have a job lined up. i think. i'm not 100% sure - but i know who is: i know a canada customs/border patrol/immigration officer - i can ask him what the best process would be in terms of ease of coming over here would be, employment wise.

if a job fell through, at the present time, it's not overly difficult to land another gig pretty quickly. maybe not the best job/rate of pay, but for anyone in need of A job while they continue looking for a job they want, there're plenty available.

ya it can get warm in the summer... the past few days have been around the 30C mark. i'll be heading to a desert area on a camping trip in the middle of the month where it routinely gets above 40C many days throughout the summer. at the present, it's storming outside... there's been a lot of lightning strikes over the past 5 hours - the biggest bolts of lightening i've seen in my life! (real lightning storms like this are very rare for us, so it's cool to watch. )

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PaoloSmythe

well don't trouble your border guard buddy on my account T-R. i am several years into the 'permanent residency' process with the local canadian commission. so whether it was 'the best' route or not, is no longer a concern!

these enquiries are preparations into home and work situations when we get out there (assuming they eventually say "okay", which if they do, will be in the next 90 days or so!!!)

i am just unsure whether my fears should be listened to (ie get a home and job before you leave; easier said than done) or whether i listen to my intuition and go over there with neither, but look to secure both quickly so we can start our lives....

a challenge for sure. and so thanks for your help.

there is a desert in BC? how are the mosquitoes and black flies during the summer?

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mpdsnowman

Hey!!! the construction business is ours and YOU stay the *&*% out of it!

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PaoloSmythe

good grief! if your news resource is the same as that for your fotos.... i can see how you acquired your 'special' global perspective.

you should probably take the rest of the week off and go for a lie down....

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mpdsnowman

Come on...give me credit. I found that photo on page 23 of the google search. Its not like I just took one from the first page. I was gonna throw sammy the bull at ya but I figured naaaa lets search

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true_richard

oh yeah there's desert areas... merrit's probably about the closest to vancouver that begins to qualify as desert (i believe) at about a 3.5-4h drive away.

this is the most touristy desert spot though, osoyoos:



it's pretty well the hottest spot in the province in the summer & nothing more than a tourist resort lake beach town from what i understand. (never been, first timer)

bc is also home to the great bear rainforest:



which is apparently the only home to these guys:



the Kermode aka spirit bear - the only black bears with, due to a recessive gene, snow white fur.

as well as grizzly bears... big, big grizzly bears.

and it wouldn't be bc w/o mountains, duh - but more than just mountains... plenty of glaciers:



it's almost pretty much you name it you can find it here. 8)

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