James Shearer

Falling asleep to the sound of gunfire is not uncommon in Churchill, Manitoba. The members of polar bear patrol are out day and night regardless of weather and overly curious polar bears are scared off with blank firing cracker shells. When this doesn’t work there are a few options available which protect both humans and […]

Thirty-five hours after boarding VIA Rail’s Hudson Bay train in Winnipeg and 1710km of track covered, the small town of Churchill on the shores of Hudson Bay by the Manitoba-Nunavut border is finally in sight.
By all accounts two days and two nights on a train is a long time to be cooped up in a […]

I was on the bus and heading south, half way across the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver the bus driver made an announcement to all passengers: “Could everyone please look to their right and if you don’t agree with me that Vancouver is the most beautiful city in the world, please let me know and I […]

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Pumpkins at the orchard, originally uploaded by jamesshearer.
Around about Thanks Giving, Vanessa, Rob and I were driving from Vancouver to the Okanagan. The route took us along BC […]

At the weekend I finally went canoeing in Canada!!! I’ve been here all this time and it is one thing I have never done.

In Scotland I went canoeing and kayaking fairly regularly but never in Canada, the home of the boat you can carry.

Vanessa and I took some sea kayaks out on English Bay and around the edge of Stanley Park. The water was fairly calm and the trip was a nice way to cool down from the heat of the sun. Wake from one boat nearly sent us to the bottom. Vanessa (who was at the front of our double kayak) took the brunt of the three waves which then filled out boat. Fortunately we had a pump so spent the next 15 minutes bailing ourselves out.

Other than that it was relaxing, uneventful and just what was needed. It was a great way to see the city, Stanley Park the beaches around English Bay and also the wildlife (harbour seals in the water).

I’m looking forward to a more activity filled summer this year!

Yesterday Stephen Harper lowered GST (The Canada-wide goods and services tax) from 7% to 6%. Because I am not yet a Canadian resident, this is about the only thing in a budget tax adjustment which would have any effect on me. Although, I can’t really see it saving me more than $100 in a year.

Lower income tax has been increased from 15% to 15.5% for the first income bracket. If you combine that with the GST reduction it seems that someone with low earnings wouldn’t see any change because their savings on GST would be absorbed into a higher income tax bill. People in the highest tax bracket stand to save the most (if they spend the most - which they probably do)…

Once immigration is sorted it is going to be interesting seeing the huge differences between the Canadian tax system and the UK one. The Canadian tax and benefits system is incredibly conservative in its design, especially compared with the UK. Anyway, we shall see!

Canada Day kicked off with a tense match between England and Portugal. After extra time and penalties England failed to make it through to the semi-finals. oh well….

I’m off to Granville Island where a lot of Canada Day festivities are happening.

Happy Canada Day.

This afternoon I was a guest on the Mark Forsythe radio show on CBC Radio One. The topic was travel, in BC and further afield across the rest of Canada. Isabel Nanton, author and adventurer, was also on the show which lasted for an hour.

I answered questions and heard comments from callers. My background on travel across Canada was the reason for me being there and it was a great way to plug my website Trail Canada.

If you missed the show or loved it so much you want to hear it again, here it is:

James Shearer on CBC Radio (MP3 23mb)

Ahh blogging. how i forgot ye.

Anyway, a lot has been going on so far this year so here is an update:

Immigration
The drama that it is! Our application went in at the start of the year and we recently had first stage approval. This means if everything goes to plan then there is a 90% chance our application will be approved in time for Spring 2007…. Immigration to Canada is a long process and I’ll be so much happier once it is done and over with.

Anniversary
It was our first anniversary on the 16th of June. Due to Vanessa’s work commitments we only had 4 days to escape but we did and had a fantastic time. We spoiled ourselves in a nice retreat near Tofino in Vancouver Island’s Pacific Rim National Park.

Events
I launched another website a few months ago. Canada Events. An events guide for Canada which focusses on specific cities across the country. So far so good and I have a lot of plans for this website. Check it out www.canadaevents.ca

Fame
Well, not quite. But I just heard that I will be on CBC Radio on Friday as a guest talking about travel in Canada and answering questions for people who call in. This is based on my travel experiences in Canada and my website Trail Canada.

Blogging
Clearly I am not good at it!

Horray! My website Vancouver Events is finally back online!

After nearly 2 weeks of downtime due to a serious problem with the hosting company, VancouverEvents.ca is back in business just in time for Christmas events and all the events in Vancouver for New Year!