Making the move from London to Toronto
Dec 20th 2017, 10:01 am
#17
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Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 134
Re: Making the move from London to Toronto
Depends what you want from your lifestyle. For housing, compared to London, you'll probably be able to afford slightly more than you're used to in Toronto or Vancouver, and a fair bit more in other places. You can expect insulation to be much better as a matter of necessity (currently in Winnipeg, where our 100 year old house is warmer, and needs less heating at -20C, than our old georgian apartment in Bristol did at +5C.
If you're going to place a premium on work/life balance, you'll need to decide what you want, and may need to make sacrifices. To take one aspect of it, Canada routinely only gives 2 weeks annual vacation - although some people will have a more european norm, they are by no means the rule. When my partner was in Britain, he wound up just picking random days to book off to stay home because he didn't know how to use that much vacation, it was alien to him. In addition, for the time off you do have, getting to somewhere else takes a very long time, and is very expensive; from Toronto, you can take a five hour flight and still be in Canadian airspace (Vancouver). You could be up there for four hours without even getting to the mountains (Edmonton).
For other aspects, it's so location dependent - as alluded to above, Canada is a country the size of a continent. Your question of "lifestyle" in Canada is... incomplete at best. It's relatively easy to talk about 'lifestyle' on the west coast (even the east coast) - conjurs up ideas of kayaking in sea fjords, hiking mountains, skiing. But that would be no more accessible to you in Toronto than Nice or Bergen are from London (frankly, they're more accessible, at least at the moment). So... what do you want from it, really?
Also, Snowy's asked the key question: do you qualify for a work permit/Permanent Residency? Without that, this talk is idle.
If you're going to place a premium on work/life balance, you'll need to decide what you want, and may need to make sacrifices. To take one aspect of it, Canada routinely only gives 2 weeks annual vacation - although some people will have a more european norm, they are by no means the rule. When my partner was in Britain, he wound up just picking random days to book off to stay home because he didn't know how to use that much vacation, it was alien to him. In addition, for the time off you do have, getting to somewhere else takes a very long time, and is very expensive; from Toronto, you can take a five hour flight and still be in Canadian airspace (Vancouver). You could be up there for four hours without even getting to the mountains (Edmonton).
For other aspects, it's so location dependent - as alluded to above, Canada is a country the size of a continent. Your question of "lifestyle" in Canada is... incomplete at best. It's relatively easy to talk about 'lifestyle' on the west coast (even the east coast) - conjurs up ideas of kayaking in sea fjords, hiking mountains, skiing. But that would be no more accessible to you in Toronto than Nice or Bergen are from London (frankly, they're more accessible, at least at the moment). So... what do you want from it, really?
Also, Snowy's asked the key question: do you qualify for a work permit/Permanent Residency? Without that, this talk is idle.
2 week annual vacation is fine with us. For us, good lifestyle (at a high level) means a nice bigger house (2500 sft+) and disposable income for spending. We don't mind longer flights for holidays etc. London's size, quality and cost of housing is a BIG pita for us. We were looking at upgrading from our 3 bed house - with a budget of £800k, we got nowhere. Canada is very appealing that way. We can comfortably afford a million $ house without mortgage in Toronto. Sizes and quality seem MUCH better too. Also, there is looming uncertainty around the financial services sector in London - thanks to BREXIT. We both are heavily dependent on the financial services markets.
Dec 20th 2017, 5:11 pm
#18
Born again atheist
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: Europe (to be specified).
Posts: 30,259
Re: Making the move from London to Toronto
Vulcanoid, thanks for your post.
2 week annual vacation is fine with us. For us, good lifestyle (at a high level) means a nice bigger house (2500 sft+) and disposable income for spending. We don't mind longer flights for holidays etc. London's size, quality and cost of housing is a BIG pita for us. We were looking at upgrading from our 3 bed house - with a budget of £800k, we got nowhere. Canada is very appealing that way. We can comfortably afford a million $ house without mortgage in Toronto. Sizes and quality seem MUCH better too. Also, there is looming uncertainty around the financial services sector in London - thanks to BREXIT. We both are heavily dependent on the financial services markets.
2 week annual vacation is fine with us. For us, good lifestyle (at a high level) means a nice bigger house (2500 sft+) and disposable income for spending. We don't mind longer flights for holidays etc. London's size, quality and cost of housing is a BIG pita for us. We were looking at upgrading from our 3 bed house - with a budget of £800k, we got nowhere. Canada is very appealing that way. We can comfortably afford a million $ house without mortgage in Toronto. Sizes and quality seem MUCH better too. Also, there is looming uncertainty around the financial services sector in London - thanks to BREXIT. We both are heavily dependent on the financial services markets.
Dec 20th 2017, 7:17 pm
#19
Slightly Canadian
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: St. John's, Newfoundland
Posts: 10,129
Re: Making the move from London to Toronto
Vulcanoid, thanks for your post.
2 week annual vacation is fine with us. For us, good lifestyle (at a high level) means a nice bigger house (2500 sft+) and disposable income for spending. We don't mind longer flights for holidays etc. London's size, quality and cost of housing is a BIG pita for us. We were looking at upgrading from our 3 bed house - with a budget of £800k, we got nowhere. Canada is very appealing that way. We can comfortably afford a million $ house without mortgage in Toronto. Sizes and quality seem MUCH better too. Also, there is looming uncertainty around the financial services sector in London - thanks to BREXIT. We both are heavily dependent on the financial services markets.
2 week annual vacation is fine with us. For us, good lifestyle (at a high level) means a nice bigger house (2500 sft+) and disposable income for spending. We don't mind longer flights for holidays etc. London's size, quality and cost of housing is a BIG pita for us. We were looking at upgrading from our 3 bed house - with a budget of £800k, we got nowhere. Canada is very appealing that way. We can comfortably afford a million $ house without mortgage in Toronto. Sizes and quality seem MUCH better too. Also, there is looming uncertainty around the financial services sector in London - thanks to BREXIT. We both are heavily dependent on the financial services markets.
Of course thats not moving to Canada & the heady delights of enormous North American houses are appealing in the abstract. The reality can be different. Quality of construction for example and cost to heat. Another point from an earlier post to consider is childcare. In a new place with no network you have to purchase that. You might have to do that today where you are but it's certainly a cost worth investigating in your chosen location. A few years ago our childcare costs were higher than our mortgage and two car payments!
Dec 20th 2017, 10:26 pm
#20
Oscar nominated
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: Moncton, NB, CANADA
Posts: 50,786
Re: Making the move from London to Toronto
Dec 20th 2017, 11:05 pm
#21
Slightly Canadian
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: St. John's, Newfoundland
Posts: 10,129
Re: Making the move from London to Toronto
Enormous lawn to mow, difficulty in keeping it in good condition, fear of trees coming down on the house 
big drive to clear of snow...
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/22/87/84/2...-emoticons.jpg
big drive to clear of snow... https://i.pinimg.com/736x/22/87/84/2...-emoticons.jpg
Dec 21st 2017, 12:46 am
#22
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Location: Moncton, NB, CANADA
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Dec 24th 2017, 12:32 am
#23
limey party pooper
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 9,982
Re: Making the move from London to Toronto
Achh, let 'em come. Escaping Brexit is one thing but we have to worry about the neighbours too. Trump and all that trade negotiating stuff.
Dec 25th 2017, 10:09 pm
#24
Slightly Canadian
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: St. John's, Newfoundland
Posts: 10,129
Dec 26th 2017, 1:05 pm
#25
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Ajax, Ont
Posts: 277
Re: Making the move from London to Toronto
Best of luck with your decision. We moved with 3 young children in 2013 and my husband was on a contract, mostly working from home, until earlier this year. He's an employee now. It was fine, but one thing to keep in mind is that when you're on a contract, you are unlikely to have insurance through your employer. In Ontario, prescriptions and dental care aren't covered by OHIP (the provincial health insurance) and people usually have insurance for these things paid for by their employer when they are employed full time. So from 2013-2017, we had to pay out of pocket for dental visits and prescriptions.
I live in a suburb of Toronto and most of the schools here have a childcare centre for before and afterschool care. They aren't run by the school, but are located in the school.
My eldest was in Year 2 when we moved but was put in Grade 1 when we got here, which wasn't ideal. He spent 2 years or so repeating work he'd already done in the UK. He was pretty bored for awhile, but is good now. It's also worth knowing that secondary school starts at 14 here (grade 9) and there are no exams to get in. Kids go to the school in their catchement area. If you want, you can message me if you have any questions about schools and I can try to help.
I live in a suburb of Toronto and most of the schools here have a childcare centre for before and afterschool care. They aren't run by the school, but are located in the school.
My eldest was in Year 2 when we moved but was put in Grade 1 when we got here, which wasn't ideal. He spent 2 years or so repeating work he'd already done in the UK. He was pretty bored for awhile, but is good now. It's also worth knowing that secondary school starts at 14 here (grade 9) and there are no exams to get in. Kids go to the school in their catchement area. If you want, you can message me if you have any questions about schools and I can try to help.
Dec 27th 2017, 11:05 am
#26
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Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 134
Re: Making the move from London to Toronto
Best of luck with your decision. We moved with 3 young children in 2013 and my husband was on a contract, mostly working from home, until earlier this year. He's an employee now. It was fine, but one thing to keep in mind is that when you're on a contract, you are unlikely to have insurance through your employer. In Ontario, prescriptions and dental care aren't covered by OHIP (the provincial health insurance) and people usually have insurance for these things paid for by their employer when they are employed full time. So from 2013-2017, we had to pay out of pocket for dental visits and prescriptions.
I live in a suburb of Toronto and most of the schools here have a childcare centre for before and afterschool care. They aren't run by the school, but are located in the school.
My eldest was in Year 2 when we moved but was put in Grade 1 when we got here, which wasn't ideal. He spent 2 years or so repeating work he'd already done in the UK. He was pretty bored for awhile, but is good now. It's also worth knowing that secondary school starts at 14 here (grade 9) and there are no exams to get in. Kids go to the school in their catchement area. If you want, you can message me if you have any questions about schools and I can try to help.
I live in a suburb of Toronto and most of the schools here have a childcare centre for before and afterschool care. They aren't run by the school, but are located in the school.
My eldest was in Year 2 when we moved but was put in Grade 1 when we got here, which wasn't ideal. He spent 2 years or so repeating work he'd already done in the UK. He was pretty bored for awhile, but is good now. It's also worth knowing that secondary school starts at 14 here (grade 9) and there are no exams to get in. Kids go to the school in their catchement area. If you want, you can message me if you have any questions about schools and I can try to help.
I will PM you
Dec 27th 2017, 6:22 pm
#27
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Joined: Sep 2010
Location: Maryland (via Belfast, Manchester, Toronto and London)
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Re: Making the move from London to Toronto
Be aware that, unlike the UK, there's usually no separate sick time. So you have to use your vacation time when you're sick in Canada. Two weeks can disappear quickly.
In my last job in the UK, there was basically unlimited sick leave. Most people tried to keep it down to around 10-15 days a year to stay off the radar but that's still an extra 2-3 weeks of paid leave on top of what is already a more generous vacation allowance in the UK.
Dec 27th 2017, 7:38 pm
#28
limey party pooper
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 9,982
Re: Making the move from London to Toronto
Be aware that, unlike the UK, there's usually no separate sick time. So you have to use your vacation time when you're sick in Canada. Two weeks can disappear quickly.
In my last job in the UK, there was basically unlimited sick leave. Most people tried to keep it down to around 10-15 days a year to stay off the radar but that's still an extra 2-3 weeks of paid leave on top of what is already a more generous vacation allowance in the UK.
In my last job in the UK, there was basically unlimited sick leave. Most people tried to keep it down to around 10-15 days a year to stay off the radar but that's still an extra 2-3 weeks of paid leave on top of what is already a more generous vacation allowance in the UK.
Dec 27th 2017, 8:32 pm
#29
Slightly Canadian
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: St. John's, Newfoundland
Posts: 10,129
Re: Making the move from London to Toronto
Be aware that, unlike the UK, there's usually no separate sick time. So you have to use your vacation time when you're sick in Canada. Two weeks can disappear quickly.
In my last job in the UK, there was basically unlimited sick leave. Most people tried to keep it down to around 10-15 days a year to stay off the radar but that's still an extra 2-3 weeks of paid leave on top of what is already a more generous vacation allowance in the UK.
In my last job in the UK, there was basically unlimited sick leave. Most people tried to keep it down to around 10-15 days a year to stay off the radar but that's still an extra 2-3 weeks of paid leave on top of what is already a more generous vacation allowance in the UK.
Dec 27th 2017, 8:37 pm
#30
Slightly Canadian
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: St. John's, Newfoundland
Posts: 10,129
Re: Making the move from London to Toronto
That's not our experience but even so sick leave pay here is dire compared to the UK as it maternity leave. Also there's this concept of seniority which means that those who have been employed there the longest get first choice of vacation dates. Newcomers take what's left.