Seriously, Halifax!?
I moved here from Ontario to go to school and I am completely relying on a loan from Ontario to attend because there is no work here to compensate.
I moved here from my family to live by myself, and we are not wealthy.
I moved here to try start a more successful future for myself and my family, possibly to get a degree to get a good enough job to make enough money to help out too. But, I am here now, in a job with too little hours and below minimum wage, with no options, and finding out how my school is increasingly going to shit. I could take time off till it fixes up, but how? I got ‘hired’ to a new job, but I haven’t had 1 shift yet and it’s been a while – wtf?
I have racked my brain for the past year trying out all the options I can think of, and I am in the same position – incurring more debt, wasting money on undeserved tuition, with no job options, and seems now no future outside of the same old.
I know there’s more students out there like me, so THANKS from all of us. I wish you fuckin’ geezers would get over that there are many students in this city, open up, and let the children, your future, thrive.
I wish the fuckin’ government had some sense and would fund our schools, if they see anything in our future besides nursing and funeral homes and burger flipping burn outs.
You’re narrowing my options to one: leave. —KARNOLD
This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2010.
You sound like those annoying panhandlers who hold up signs saying they’re travelling and need money. WOuldn’t it be smarter to have money THEN travel?
It’s not the city’s responsiblity to take care of you. Go to school back home and live rent free. There’s always call centres also.
What? No unis in Ontario?
Holy fucking Moly, homework is not just something assigned in school.
YOU did not do your homework beforehand if you are relying entirely on a student loan to fund your education.
YOU did not do your homework if you thought you could get off the plane/train/automobile and expect to land a decent paying job that would revolve around your course schedule.
YOU did come to the perfect solution to your dilemma: fucking LEAVE.
Don’t let the door hit your self-entitled arse on the way out!
Dear OP,
You have identified early on an important feature of making a living on the East Coast, which is to say that if you don’t already have a career here (and there are only a few of these to go around) you will have to move somewhere else in order to get ahead in life.
This is something that young people born and raised on the East Coast find out somewhere between high school and university graduation. Most of them move on to rewarding careers, but sadly, far from home. That is why the population of this province is shrinking and the population is skewing older.
If you think the provincial government is stingy in funding post-secondary education now, stay tuned. The provincial government is about to see a dramatic drop in offshore gas royalties and many of the companies who moved here to support the offshore will soon be pulling up stakes and leaving. The shrinking tax base is about to shrink even faster.
If it’s not too late already, and if you are hell bent on getting a university education, and if money is an issue, I’d suggest moving to a place where post-secondary schooling is much cheaper – like Newfoundland or Manitoba, for example. Get your degree, start your career, and if you really want to live by the ocean, get your company to transfer you here with a paid move.
On the other hand, it is a great place to live (if you have a great job) and of all the other places in Canada that my career has taken me, I really wouldn’t want to live anywhere but right here, and I’m not even from here.
But as the old saying goes “you can’t eat scenery . . . “
which school are you referring too?
Yeah, there is nothing here.
Why the heck would you come to Nova Scotia looking for work? Bad call.
You see, the places that are nice to exist in, do not have work. The hell holes of the earth have work. Off you go.
You obviously didn’t do any research into the economic realities faced in the Maritimes. The region is saturated with universities and as such the small economy (which is pretty crappy to begin with) can’t support all the people graduating.
And with the highest rates of tuition in the country….why on EARTH would you come here to “make a better life for [your]self?”
You would’ve been much better off staying in ontario or going to an english speaking school in Montreal. There are lots in either provinces and the economies are much much better there.
Also: during my 8 or so years in the post secondary education system I have always held a job and have had no problem finding one. I worked in student positions at Acadia, MSVU and SMU (all the universities I went to), and was able to find other studenty type employment (cashier at a grocery store, for example).
You were probably expecting lower living costs, right? Well, unless you live in the outskirts (suckville, for instance), you’re not going to find anything overly inexpensive. And rez costs are atrocious there days.
You’re probably better off getting your degree and getting the hell out (or transferring).
Good luck OP. Even some of us born and bred here are moving away to find more opportunities…heck ANY opportunity.
OB what do you mean you’re not getting minimum wage? What the hell are you working at for that?
In spite of what most of us are saying OP don’t get too discouraged. The flip side of being young and having little is that you’ve got it all in front of you still. Lots of choices to make and lots of chances to make good.
dude I’m from ON. and if there’s one thing east coasters don’t do is whiners from upper Canada
i am a nomad of the sea…and someday i will own my little yellow house
Spot on martym! You nailed that one!
Coasters and People from Halifax need to STFU and listen to what these people from Upper Canada are telling every other day. It’s such a cop out to say “don’t let the door hit you…”. Halifax is fucking crumbling at an increasing rate every day. When will it be clear enough to the people of Halifax that our attitudes need a serious shift and maybe we should do some of the things that the successful cities do like promote development and support events and shit that will bring either Federal money or tax revenue. It is beyond fucking frustrating to see this city I love continue down the path of failure because of morons that either don’t understand economics or only care enough to say “don’t let the door hit you bla bla bla. Grow the fuck up, learn how an economy works and help bring this city back.
Economy doesn’t work, people do. 😀 Just saying.
Not here we don’t. The 3 ringleaders of Cape Breton Al-Qaeda are: Osama bin-Drinkin, Mohammed bin-Smokin and Iqbal bin-PerpetratinWelfareFraud. H’yuk.
Haha….those silly Upper Canadians. Thank you for your money…..that’s all we care about.
Listen OP, you should have done your homework. I don’t see how it’s the “geezers” fault that you don’t have a job. Supply and demand my friend. There are lots of good paying jobs if you’re willing to work hard, but it’s tough for employers too, when people only want to work in the summer and take off in the fall. Especially if they leave for Christmas and other busy holidays. Also, there’s no way you’re working for less than minimum wage unless you’re working under the table or for commission only…
I find you comparing working in a nursing home to flipping burgers absolutely ridiculous and offensive. There are plenty of well educated, trained professionals earning good wages to care for the elderly. (And of course the exact opposite, we’ve all read the papers).
Hey Walter, have you seen how upset people get when we try to hold an event or something here or try to expand and whatnot? People flip the fuck out about concerts and tearing down old, useless buildings. It’s hard for Halifax to thrive when anytime someone plans to do something to help it, there’s a pack of hippies and old people in the way or people say the money could be used elsewhere, and so on. If you didn’t notice, we’re one of the poorest provinces and don’t have as much money as Ontario does to throw at events and expansion. Believe me, I would love it if NS became more of what you want it to as well, but it’s hard to get started with all these obsticles. I just don’t like when people from other provinces blame all of the residents for why this isn’t the best province. We pay a lot more in taxes than you do! And for someone from Ontario or somewhere else to tell us how we’re all doing it wrong is annoying, because like you said, we hear it every other day. Thus, the “if you don’t like it, leave” comments. Because it’s true; if you’re so upset and hate it here, why not be part of the solution instead of moving away and bashing the place.
For the Government to fund education they need money, money comes via taxes, geezers (like me) are tired of getting fucked 15 different ways from Friday to shell out our hard earned money to subsidise whining whelps like you.
Mistake number 1 – you moved here, it’s Nova Scotia not Shangri-fucking-La.
Urban Farmer Bob pretty much summed up how fucked we are, and it’s only going to get worse.
I suggest you get a copy of Backwater: Nova Scotia’s Economic Decline by Peter Moreira and after reading it, twist the cap off a cold Keiths, click on Travelocity and book the first flight back to Ontario the wonderful. P.S. if you have any good stuff left I’ll pay cash.
that book should be required reading in schools…and religulous should be required viewing. i know one has nowt to do with t’other i just like it
paingirl are you a Yorkie?
See all, hear all, say nowt
eyt all, sup all, pay nowt
and if ever that does owt for nowt,
allus do it for thissen
Y’know, I think there’s play ‘ere Moother. Get agent on’t phone.
nope baz…me kin are from the isle of skye. scots rawk
Nursing is a well paying job in demand right now. I think it’s dickish to compare it to flipping burgers. One of those burgers is your grandmother.
LOL you expected good jobs to be plentiful here? No one over 45 cares about growing the economy or bringing work here. Hell, people refuse to let tall buildings exist in downtown, like a bunch of Amish gone amok with a phobia of heights. The only thing that will keep me here long-term is getting a navy job.
oh t5hose monstrous buildings frighten the bejesus out of us old people ; they’re the devils work they are 🙂
Karnald; Leave. Run. There is less than nothing in NS for u aside from an education. Before u decided to move to this beautiful Province, did u bother to do any research on the area? thousands of bluenosers leave NS cos there’s less opps here than most of the country. esp ontario. if native NSians find it tuff to make a go of it there, wth makes u think u can?
Ya, no question this is an upper deck level stupid bitch, i just feel bad for dumb ppl, i guess. So on the brighter side, consider this tuff go to be good life experience. And, there’s some soup kitchens offering free meals around town too, so save ur bucks. btw, NS has some of the most expensive tuition fees and taxes in the country too idiot.
Melectric I’m from Halifax. And I’m not saying that the gov’t has to spend the money, the retard hippys and anti tall building idiots need to get the f out of the way and let any private money that is even remotely interested in developing go the fuck ahead. Any development is good development at this point. It’s that or look the fuck out for bankruptcy, severely slashed gov’t services, zero health care and no fucking soup kitchens for the hippys.
“waltercronkite” you’re full of shit. As soon as most Upper ontarians get their cool “swashbuckling, Keith’s Drinking” BComm degree they’re outa here faster than green corn through the new maid.
You scold us to, “Grow the fuck up, learn how an economy works and help bring this city back”, yet you say, “maybe we should do some of the things that the successful cities do like promote development and support events and shit that will bring either Federal money or tax revenue”
“Events and shit”?!? Events and shit that will bring Federal revenue? Now there’s a recipe for economic self-sustainability – “let’s get the feds to give us more money!”
Uh, yeah… now THATS economics!
That’s correct Mikey, “events” like the one we bailed on that the feds were going to contribute a few hundred million towards our infrastructure and “shit”, like the stuff ($$$) that gets shoveled to the ridings of the Federal party in power. Unfortunately we elect govt’s who have zero pull in Ottawa.
Let’s ask Vancouver how they’ll be doing a few years after all that Fed money came in for the Olympics. Shit, Montreal just finished paying theors off a couple of years ago and that was in 1976.
It was the Big O that that took 30 years to pay off (Paid off in 2006). The mortgage just happened to go through the period of the highest interest rates this country has ever seen. If we couldn’t have managed to build an appropriate stadium for less than the $1.5B that Montreal paid the mafia for theirs, it would only go to show just how dumb we are. But I guess you are right Tim, lets just sit on our hands and keep Shannon park looking great as is with all of our Provincial surplus money, and why in heavens would we ever need an upgrade to our wonderful public transportation or athletic facilities? Halifax is completely dying now, maybe a project like this would provide short term stimulus (15-20 years) but it is 15-20 years more than we would have today. That period is actually just what we need to stimulate job growth while the boomers use up all of the budget in health care and then that generation will be mostly gone. It would have been a risk as it would have stuck us with debt, at least it would have given us a chance, which we do not have today.
Bro Tim is a RETARD. Halifax is not dying….it is dead. This place is a dump and it looks more and more like Sydney, NS everyday.
Sydney, NS … What a gem eh? Dat place has roight noice scenery, but sadly not much else. Well that’s a lie, there’s OxyContin in high supply.
Come on Halifax isn’t THAT bad.
Oh no I’ve been insulted. Someone please avenge me as I am being set upon.
As for Shannon Park, yes it’s a shame but it belongs to the Federal government and should have been dealt with years ago (Chretien/Martin governements). Now it’s too late for the buildings.
My NDP fartcatcher brother-in-law was asked why didn’t the province purchase the old PMQs at Shannon and renovate them as low-income housing. He didn’t plead cost or bureaucratic issues, he simply said it wouldn’t be right for the government to make people live in such horrible buildings in such an inaccessible spot.
Right.
i’m sending my league of crows to help you occifer
Typical left winger. It’s good enough for the military but not good enough for the needy. Gotta love that.
Bullseye Bro. He’s a poster boy for everything I hate about the left. Fortunately, I love my wife dearly and I have the ulcers to prove it. >: )
Say Rawk to Painey’s crows for me.
Ivan, unfortunately every family has at least one.
The shit-larf is to her family, I’m “The One”, In fact, I make it my business to be “The One”. >; )
Fully Ulceratic Ivan: I grew up in those horrible buildings in that inaccessable spot. It was like living in our own private harbourfront Idaho. Access controlled by dedicated commisionaires, we grew up in our own little bubble of a small town right in the middle of the city. It was the greatest! Many fine and lifelong friendships were forged in Shannon Park-Wallis Heights. Too bad that Shannon Park was allowed to decay. At least we still have The Heights.
Good Stuff OL. The longest I ever spent in one place as an Army Brat was 7 years in Namao, about 5 miles north of Edmonton. Same sort of thing. Fully self contained community. Canex, library, rec center, hockey rink,
curling rink (every Forces Base no matter how small has one) , golf course, elementary school. We’d do our shopping in the city, but everything else we needed was right there. It was Grade 10 in Calgary before I encountered kids who weren’t Forces Brats.
I’d been from one end of the country to the other by the time I was 12. Wouldn’t swap that experience for anything.
Bye!! Thanks for dropping by!
Military Brats rock!!! Pretty much identical childhoods with the exception of SP-WH’s lack of golf course. The only part I would change is the time spent at Gagetown where Agent Orange was being introduced to everyone with disasterous results.
I hear ya. Gagetown was where Dad met Mom. I remember the mosquito plagued summers in Namao. The DDT truck would drive through the base spewing white clouds of noxious smoke – so of course all us kids would follow it. Who knew?
You guys did that too? Hahaha! Doesn’t appear to have affected us too much, eh?
Well aside from a slight stammer and the fully developed fetus sticking out of my neck, no, no problems at all. At least I can still eat peanuts which is something damn few kids can do anymore. Hah HAH!(Nelson voice)