Canada... where to move?

[barsoomcore]

I'm a West-Coaster -- BC and Alberta mark my total Canadian experience. If you're choosing between Calgary/Edmonton and Vancouver, there only a few points on which Alberta does better:

Raising a family in a tract home -- if you want to buy a three-bedroom house to raise a family in, Calgary's got you covered. The immensity of Calgary's suburban sprawl is frightening. In the mid-eighties my house was on the very fringe of the city, with open pasture land just across the road, nothing but bare hills and sloughs all the way to Rockies. Now my old house is MILES from the city edge.

But culturally, Alberta's pretty much a wasteland.

Vancouver has easily the best weather in Canada (if I am never again outside in sub-zero temperature that'll be just fine with me, thanks awfully), pretty good public transit, beautiful surroundings, and, well, not exactly heaps of culture but at least a bit here and there. The Vancouver Film Festival isn't nearly the spectacle that Toronto has, but it's good fun all the same.

SFU is a wacky school, up on top of a mountain, but I've met plenty of graduates who seem like okay people, so it probably won't screw you up any more than any other school.

Vancouver is INSANELY expensive, is the only problem. Housing prices here are really high (unjustifiably so in my opinion, but that counts for nothing), so you could have trouble finding an apartment in your price range. Depending on your price range. I live downtown so I see the worst of it, but prices are pretty high all over.

Good luck!

 

[Khayman]

Okay, now I know for an absolute certainty you're from here too: That's exactly what I would have said if the roles were reversed.

Yep --- born in the 'Peg, but I've moved around a lot. Even lived in Flin Flon for a while, which entitles me to a scout badge or something.

Despite the sheer insanity of Manitoba weather, I'd still live here over most of Hellberta or Southern Ontario. Plus I can afford to buy a decent house for under $70,000...

 

[Desdichado]

Despite the sheer insanity of Manitoba weather, I'd still live here over most of Hellberta or Southern Ontario. Plus I can afford to buy a decent house for under $70,000...

That's $70,000 Canadian? Yeow, that's less than $57k US at the current exchange rate! I'm not sure what your standards of a decent house are, but that's still insanely cheap compared to what I'm used to. My house was recently valued at over four times that amount, and I only have a "decent" house by my standards, as opposed to the house I hope to have in 5 years or so. Now, I know the area in which I live is relatively expensive, but even in Texas where I used to live, I'd be spending at least twice as much as you are saying.

 

[Sarellion]

Try Nunavut for a real change. You will probably know everone in the province when you leave.

Just kidding. As a visitor I found Ontario pretty nice. Family is living there so I visit frequently. I made the mistake of going for six months in the winter last time.
It was ok but something more pleasant would have been fine for someone used to the milder climates of western europe. The winter was one of the harsher ones and not the norm though.

I found Toronto pretty nice but I don´t know so much of the country. I met nice people and a good gaming group over there.

 

[Celebrim]

Speaking as someone south of the border, [political comments removed]

Edited by Pielorinho: Politics, even Canadian politics, not welcome here.

 

[Khayman]

That's $70,000 Canadian? Yeow, that's less than $57k US at the current exchange rate! I'm not sure what your standards of a decent house are, but that's still insanely cheap compared to what I'm used to. My house was recently valued at over four times that amount, and I only have a "decent" house by my standards, as opposed to the house I hope to have in 5 years or so. Now, I know the area in which I live is relatively expensive, but even in Texas where I used to live, I'd be spending at least twice as much as you are saying.

Most houses in my part of town run from about $80k to $150k, with most of the new homes in the south end of the city running at or over $200k. (I live in a granola-filled character neighbourhood, mostly Victorian homes, which has seen prices double over the last three years.) I just bought a 1-3/4 story 3-bedroom place just two blocks outside the area and it was half the price. No bodies in the back yard, either, but I plan to rectify that shortly.

For comparison, a similar house in parts of Vancouver would run three to four times these amounts. Of course, the difference is the lifestyle: Vancouver comes with a Starbucks on every corner and fresh sushi in the mailbox, whereas Winnipeg is swarming with 6 HD dire mosquitoes for the half of the year it's not covered in snow.

 

[barsoomcore]

Celebrim, can you remove the politically-charged comments from your post? There's no reason for a thread like this to get shut down.

 

[Khayman]

Ah, don't worry. Nothing draws Canadians together like talk of foreign annexation...

 

[fusangite]

A few points:
1. I don't get any sense the original poster is even reading this thread.
2. Vancouver is only more expensive when it comes to housing. Restaurant food is about the best value for money you're going to find anywhere on this continent north of the Rio Grande. Ditto for public utilities, transit and auto insurance. Groceries are cheaper too, unless you really like cheese. If you could somehow avoid paying rent, Vancouver would be the cheapest place in the country but once you factor rent in, it's the most expensive.
3. In terms of cost of living, Vancouver, Ontario and Southern Alberta are probably the most expensive. However, the usual rule here is that cost of living varies inversely with the unemployment rate -- except in Vancouver where unemployment is fairly high and so is cost of living.
4. Celebrim, are you aware that Saskatchewan has been run almost continuously by socialists since 1944 and that Manitoba has just re-elected the socialists to a second term in office in a row (their 5th I believe since 1965)? They're red states but not in the way you think they are. You see, in Canada, being rural doesn't have a whole lot to do with being right-wing.

 

[Davek]

Most houses in my part of town run from about $80k to $150k, with most of the new homes in the south end of the city running at or over $200k. (I live in a granola-filled character neighbourhood, mostly Victorian homes, which has seen prices double over the last three years.) I just bought a 1-3/4 story 3-bedroom place just two blocks outside the area and it was half the price. No bodies in the back yard, either, but I plan to rectify that shortly.

For comparison, a similar house in parts of Vancouver would run three to four times these amounts. Of course, the difference is the lifestyle: Vancouver comes with a Starbucks on every corner and fresh sushi in the mailbox, whereas Winnipeg is swarming with 6 HD dire mosquitoes for the half of the year it's not covered in snow.

We also are the Slurpy Capital of the World for as long as they have held that contest.

If you don't mind my asking, what part of the city are you from?