Moncton Forum

Good evening,

First I have to say that I'm really happy to have found a forum about Moncton, I read a lot of treads and really enjoyed.

Since it's my first post, i'll present myself ;) My name is Eric and I'm 27. I live in Lavaltrie, about 50 km of Montreal, Quebec. So, as i'm francophone, please accept in advance my excuses for all the grammar-vocabulary errors my posts may contains :)

Since 2 years or so, I'm thinking to move in the maritimes, with my girslfriend. I first almost chose Halifax, but I have to say that the bilingual distinction of New Brunswick seduced me. I finally chose the Moncton Dieppe area.

I love NB so much, people seem so relax and polite in their behavior. The best example of it: we can cross a street in NB without the perpetual scare of being running over by a crazy car driver (those who once came or lived in Quebec know what I mean haha :))

I have some questions for you though, and I'm sure I will get good answers here.

First, some of the posts I read worried me, mostly about the french-english people co-habitation. My main goal is to become perfectly bilingual, but it won't be a 1 day task. I do my best to speak good english but as here in qc we don't get much occasions to practice, my pronounciation may not be good. My main fear is to be "tagged" as a "frog". Even if Dieppe is a 80% francophone city, I don't want to hide only here and only speak french. I want to learn how to speak properly english. So, is generally the francophone-anglophone relations are good or people will laugh at me when I will mistake words?

My other question is about health cares. In Quebec we have a lot of problems with it, over crowed hospitals (even with beds in the corridors sometimes), impossibility to have a family doctor since they are too rare, 2 to 3 months of waiting only to have a first appointment with a doctor etc. Is it better in NB?

How's criminality in Moncton area? Is homes invasions and robbery frequent? I read that RCMP is providing police service in greater Moncton. Are they efficient and visible?  Yes, security is important for me, and I want to raise my future kids in a secure neighbourhood. :)

Finally, as some of you maybe know, our infrastructures and roads are crumbling here. Last time I came in NB, I only took the transcanada hwy and some close backroads. At that time, the twinning was not completed and even the 2 lanes parts were smooths as hell compared to our patched rough and full of cracks roads here. Is in overall in NB main highways are maintened as well as the TCH? Since I work on roads, it's a great bonus :)

Thanks in advance for your answers :)

Eric

 

Hi Eric:

Boy thats a lot of qusestions....

Lets see if we can give you some input...

First I have to say that I'm really happy to have found a forum about Moncton, I read a lot of treads and really enjoyed.

Since it's my first post, i'll present myself ;) My name is Eric and I'm 27. I live in Lavaltrie, about 50 km of Montreal, Quebec. So, as i'm francophone, please accept in advance my excuses for all the grammar-vocabulary errors my posts may contains :)

Since 2 years or so, I'm thinking to move in the maritimes, with my girslfriend. I first almost chose Halifax, but I have to say that the bilingual distinction of New Brunswick seduced me. I finally chose the Moncton Dieppe area.

I love NB so much, people seem so relax and polite in their behavior. The best example of it: we can cross a street in NB without the perpetual scare of being running over by a crazy car driver (those who once came or lived in Quebec know what I mean haha :))

 

We do have some crazy drivers here to, so do be careful.

 

I have some questions for you though, and I'm sure I will get good answers here.

First, some of the posts I read worried me, mostly about the french-english people co-habitation. My main goal is to become perfectly bilingual, but it won't be a 1 day task. I do my best to speak good english but as here in qc we don't get much occasions to practice, my pronounciation may not be good. My main fear is to be "tagged" as a "frog". Even if Dieppe is a 80% francophone city, I don't want to hide only here and only speak french. I want to learn how to speak properly english. So, is generally the francophone-anglophone relations are good or people will laugh at me when I will mistake words?

The term " frog" has not be in use for many years here now.
From you Post I would say your English is real good already.Only the dumb, ignorant ones will laught so just do the best that you can and ignore them.

 

My other question is about health cares. In Quebec we have a lot of problems with it, over crowed hospitals (even with beds in the corridors sometimes), impossibility to have a family doctor since they are too rare, 2 to 3 months of waiting only to have a first appointment with a doctor etc. Is it better in NB?

 

A few years ago it was difficult to find a Family Doctor here. I'm not sure how it is right now. We do have several Clinics open in the evenings in case you need them.

 

How's criminality in Moncton area? Is homes invasions and robbery frequent? I read that RCMP is providing police service in greater Moncton. Are they efficient and visible?  Yes, security is important for me, and I want to raise my future kids in a secure neighbourhood. :)

Crime is no way near as bad here as in the rest of Canada, with the exception of Halifax. We have had a few Home Invasions and robberies, but all in all , its not that bad. Yes we do complain, but then who doesn't?

Finally, as some of you maybe know, our infrastructures and roads are crumbling here. Last time I came in NB, I only took the transcanada hwy and some close backroads. At that time, the twinning was not completed and even the 2 lanes parts were smooths as hell compared to our patched rough and full of cracks roads here. Is in overall in NB main highways are maintened as well as the TCH? Since I work on roads, it's a great bonus :)

As I don't have a car, I'll  let some one else answer about the roads.

As to infrastructure, we have a decent, sewage treatment, water treatment, waste management. Transit could be a lot better. Good parks.

Hope this will get you started..

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"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."
- Albert Einstein -

We moved here from Quebec (and I moved to Quebec from England) and it's a big improvement in most respects.

NBers are friendly and polite. My wife couldn't believe how total strangers spoke to us.

I actually thought drivers in Quebec weren't too bad. At least they slowed to a virtual stop at side streets near schools. Here, there are one or two nuts but I find drivers even allowing me to pull out when they have right of way.

This province is properly bilingual with little significant difference either way. There are no petty complaints like in Montreal about an English sign being more prominent than a French one. Although there have been a couple of cases of people not getting a service in French, one of them was a driver caught speeding and one wonders about her motives.

As for crime, it's all relative. Like me, I'm sure you'll think it's virtually crime free here. We've been used to more. Much more. In summer, people still park cars, leaving windows open and keys in the ignition while they nip into the store.

Most 'break-ins', when they do happen, appear to involve sheds and garages - tools being taken - rather than homes. Occasionally you read of two or three convenience store robberies within a couple of days...and then two days later there's an arrest.

There have been two "crimewave" stories in the paper over the last few months. One involved people getting gas and driving off without paying; the other involved someone going into laundry rooms in apartment buildings and stealing from the coin-operated machines. Yes, coins.

A man was arrested and the incidents halved.

This says a lot about the relative lack of serious crime in Moncton.

Traffic? I read in the paper today about "bumper to bumper" cars. The only time I've seen that in my near three years here (that long already?!) is at a red light. Back in Bristol, traffic was so gridlocked that at certain times in the day you could wait for three changes to green before you could pull away!!

Snow clearance is good. The roads were in a shocking state a few weeks ago but many have been patched up now.

Medical services. My wife told me several times that an early doctor's appointment in Quebec was unlikely. When there, we used a walk-in service and it wasn'y unusual to be there for two hours or more. Even with an appointment we were seen about an hour after the appointment time. In Moncton we easily get an appointment the next day and when initially using a walk-in before we got a family doctor, we never waited longer than 15 minutes.

The downside is waiting to get your doctor. That could be a year unless you can persuade one to accept you. Also, you'll pay about twice as much for prescriptions here as you would in Quebec.

If you want a family doctor, the best bet is to get your name on the "orphans" list.  There's a number you can call and leave your name and contact info, and they put you on a list.  New doctors have to take people on the list first.  It took me less than a year, but more than 6 months to get a doctor that way.  Unfortunately, I no longer have the number.  But I am sure you can call any clinic or doctor's office and they would be able to provide it to you.

The other way is to get in through someone you know who is a doctor, or someone who knows a doctor.  It's quicker, but given that you're from Québec, you might not have a whole lot of contacts around here.

What wonderful ambassadors you guyz are.

Thank you very much for all your input. I'll pass a week or so in Moncton this summer, so it'll be the time to see if this city is for me! Anyway, according to your comments, I'll like it for sure.

Have a nice day! :)

Eric06 wrote:

I'll pass a week or so in Moncton this summer.

Have a nice day! :)

Not to pick on you I just noticed something in your post that I notice alot of "english as a second language" folks do so I thought I'ld mention and ask about it here (and I am sure we french as a second language folks say similar things).

We would more commonly say "I'll spend a week or so..." and " I spent an hour doing ..."  I wonder what makes the translation different. Then again with scandanavia having 100 words for snow (far to few I am sure I saw at least 1000 different kinds of snowfall this winter) it's not terribly surprising I guess.

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Does Zymry, the murderer of his master have peace ? (Jezebel 2 kings 9:31)
Not yet. You wanna help with that ? (me, 24:7)
faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen
I hate people that flaunt the very rules they hide behind

Thanks you Zimry! No you don't pick me up, you know, if I want to learn english correctly, I must be corrected when I make errors :) I took a good note, and next time I will use "spend" instead of "pass" in this context. :)

Thanks glad you didn't take it the wrong way. Hopefully you'll stay on the forums long enough to see more of my " I don't understands" . I am very "geek like" in that regard. The most common simple things baffle me at times.

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Does Zymry, the murderer of his master have peace ? (Jezebel 2 kings 9:31)
Not yet. You wanna help with that ? (me, 24:7)
faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen
I hate people that flaunt the very rules they hide behind