I've been asked by my Canadian girlfriend to move to Toronto and live with her?

Question

My question is would we be better off in Toronto (she's from a place called Whitby, about 30km from the city) or in Calgary, since as a carpenter I would find work & obtaining a visa much easier there. What is the comparative quality of life in both cities? What's it actually like to live there? How severe are the winters? How much do houses cost in Calgary? Irealise I can get most of the answers from the web, but I'm looking for answers from Calgary & Toronto residents

Answer 1

There is a long queue for immigration, so you might want to do your reading and planning soon:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/

Answer 2

Well I'd say Toronto would be better. Actually I liveds downtown for 14 years but now moved to York region. Much nicer and only a half hour from Toronto. The cost of living is very high in Alberta (well, everywhere thanks to gas prices) but especially high in Alberta because of the oil boom. Everyone ran to Calgary to cash in and so rent, food etc is much higher there then the rest of the country. I am familiar with Whitby. It's about 30 minutes from downtown Toronto. Nice area. The winters are better in Ontario then they are in Alberta. Alberta's winters are very dry and VERY cold. Ontario is pretty cold too but just not as cold as Alberta. If your from the US the first thing you'd probably notice is how clean our cities are and our roads are in much better shape then the US. Taxes are much higher here then in the US. We also have free universal healthcare for CITIZENS. You won't be able to get it until you decide to become a full time citizen of the country. It's a great place to live if you don't mind working hard to earn a living.

Answer 3

Go where your girlfriend wants. You likely won't have trouble finding a job in either place if you are well trained. Both places have a pretty high cost of living and there are advantages and disadvantages to both (Whitby is significantly cheaper than Toronto though).

Really, the quality of life is good across Canada, and too much depends on exactly where you want to live and what kind of lifestyle you want to have. The winters are bad in Toronto and worse in Calgary, but after a certain point of snow and cold and wind, bad is just bad.

Answer 4

Hi there

I lived in Edmonton, north of Calgary, for  a long time, and while I loved the long summer days being that far north, I really didnot like the opposite in winter. In Calgary, though, they get chinooks - warm winds which break the cold in winter and make it bearable.

Toronto (I now live in Mississauga, which is west of Toronto  - see pics at http://www.snapshotjourneys.com/mississa... and the winters are less cold, as a rule, in southern Ontario than in Alberta.

I have always lived west of Toronto, so can't comment on what there is do do in Whitby, but your girlfriend is well qualified to fill you in about there.

good on ya  for having such a valuable trade -- we are always short of good trades, especially since so many left Ontario  to get higher paying jobs in Alberta.