27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

Hi folks,

So I’m 27, working as a senior infrastructure planner in the energy sector near Hull, and I’m genuinely thinking about making the jump to Canada - probably aiming for early 2027.

I’m mainly looking at Vancouver/BC or Toronto, but it’s early days and I’m still open. Vancouver seems amazing for the outdoors and I’ve heard BC has a solid energy and infrastructure industry, which would be ideal. Toronto also looks brilliant though, maybe a bit more friendly and welcoming? I’m really into staying active, hiking, good food, that sort of thing. Financially I’m in a decent place and would be looking to rent a one-bed flat somewhere central initially, hopefully without needing a car straight away.

The thing is, I’ve done loads of research, watched about a million YouTube videos, but I’d love to hear from people who’ve actually done this. What’s it really like living and working in these cities? If there’s anyone about who works / has worked in the energy/infrastructure sector, how does it compare to what we’ve got in the UK? And honestly, where do I even start with making this actually happen?
Any advice from people who’ve been through it would be massively helpful.
Cheers

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

First step would need to be visa, did you have a route in mind? Are you looking to move permanently or just for a couple of years? My husband works in the same industry, and we did some time in Canada but it was a loooong time ago now. It wasn't anywhere near as advanced as the UK when we were there, and there weren't as many opportunities, so we came back to the UK (before moving to the US later on). Not sure how it's changed now but I could ask if you want. Any specific kind of energy you have experience in?

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

Hi 👋

It’s on my to do list to research my entry options this month. I know of the express entry route and the IELTS test and educational credentials assessment that’s needed. But my knowledge is very high level.

My intentions to make this a permanent move all being well. If you could ask about that would be be very helpful thank you, interesting that there were not some many opportunities when you where there, although it’s only somewhat recently in the UK the National Grid has started its big upgrade for 2030 targets so it’s not necessarily a surprise. Specifically I’m in transmission and distribution rather than generation. Any info would be greatly appreciated however!

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

Hi 👋

Ive done some high level research into the express entry and the Educational Credentials Assessment and IELTS which I believe are both visa requirements but it’s my aim this month to do some proper research on entry routes. I’d also like to start convocations with some connections I have that can hopefully put me in touch with hiring managers in Canada so I can see what opportunities there are in transferring via a job move. Certainly would be securing work first!

The aim would be to make it permanent all things being well. If you are able to ask about, any information you have would be greatly appreciated. The UK energy sector has only somewhat recently started to boom again with all the green 2030 targets, I’d be interested to hear how Canada is doing. I’m in transmission and distribution rather than generation, currently working on behalf of National Grid, but most skills are transferable across major infrastructure planning.

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

Maybe you have seen this?

https://careersinenergy.ca/

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

You’re asking the right question, because Vancouver and Toronto are not interchangeable. They are completely different lifestyles.

The simplest way I’d describe it is this.

Vancouver is very much a work to live city. Toronto is more of a live to work city.

That doesn’t mean people in Toronto don’t enjoy life or people in Vancouver don’t work hard, but the culture is noticeably different. Toronto is Canada’s economic engine. It’s fast paced, career focused, very urban, very diverse, very driven. People go there to build careers, climb ladders, network, and be in the middle of everything.

Vancouver is much more about lifestyle. People structure their lives around getting outside. Hiking, skiing, running, cycling, being on the water. You’ll meet people who leave work early to go ski or hike, and that’s normal. The trade off is that salaries often don’t stretch as far relative to the cost of living, and the job market can feel smaller depending on your field.

From a geography and lifestyle perspective, the difference is huge.

Vancouver is surrounded by mountains, ocean, and temperate rainforest. You can finish work, get on a bus, and be on a forest trail or at the beach very quickly. In many ways, it looks like coastal Norway.

Toronto is a big, flat city on a lake, surrounded by hundreds of miles of cities, suburbs, industrial areas and farmland, all blended into the most densely populated part of Canada. There are nice ravines and green spaces, but if your idea of hiking is what most people from the UK mean, you are generally driving hours to get to anything resembling mountains or dramatic scenery. A lot of first time visitors don’t realise that. Think of the built up landscapes in Belgium or the Netherlands or southern England and that is what the land is like around Toronto. It is very pleasant but not the dramatic scenery you might expect from Canada.

Climate and seasons are another big difference, and this is something people from the UK often underestimate.

Vancouver’s climate is actually quite similar to the UK in feel. Mild winters, lots of cloud, and a kind of light, on and off drizzle that happens mainly from late autumn through early spring. But spring arrives very early. You start seeing cherry blossoms and flowers as early as February, and by March and April it is lush and green.

Toronto is completely different. It has proper continental seasons. Summers are hot and humid with thunderstorms that can feel quite intense. Winters are cold with snow. And spring is late. It can still feel quite grey and dormant well into April, and you often don’t really see greenery and leaves or spring flowers fully come out until May.

So depending on when you arrive, Vancouver can feel like full spring while Toronto still feels like it is coming out of winter.

The other big adjustment for people coming from the UK is how spread out everything is.

You cannot think of Canada like the UK where you can just jump on a train and be somewhere completely different in a couple of hours. Domestic travel here is expensive. Distances are huge. Outside of the downtown cores, you will often want a car. Public transport exists, but it doesn’t connect the country in the same way.

So that idea of “I’ll just pop somewhere else for the weekend” becomes a much bigger, more planned thing. That shift alone catches a lot of people off guard.

Economically, both cities are expensive, just in slightly different ways.

Toronto has higher earning potential in many industries and a deeper job market, but still high rent.

Vancouver has fewer high paying opportunities relative to cost of living, and housing can feel particularly out of sync with local salaries.

Demographically and culturally, Toronto is the most diverse city in Canada. It feels very global. Vancouver is also diverse, but has a stronger Pacific Rim influence and a more laid back west coast culture.

Based on what you said about staying active, hiking, and that kind of lifestyle, Vancouver is probably what you’re picturing in your head.

Just go in with your eyes open about cost of living and the job market.

If your priority is career progression and being in a bigger, more dynamic job market, Toronto may be the better move.

If your priority is shaping your life around the outdoors and you’re okay making some trade offs to do that, Vancouver is hard to beat.

Neither is better. They’re just very different versions of what life in Canada looks like.

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

One other thing that’s worth wrapping your head around is just how far apart Vancouver and Toronto actually are.

The distance between them is roughly 3,300–3,500 km. That’s about the same as London to Cairo.

So once you’re in one city, you’re not casually “popping over” to the other, or exploring other parts of the country on a whim the way you might in Europe. Domestic flights are expensive, distances are huge, and everything requires intention and planning.

So the decision really matters.

If you move to Toronto, you’re moving there for the city itself. Career growth, corporate opportunities, nightlife, restaurants, events, that whole urban energy. Nobody moves to Toronto for wilderness, mountains, or work-life balance.

If you move to Vancouver, you’re choosing a lifestyle where the outdoors is part of your everyday life, and the city exists alongside that rather than being the main event. Nobody moves to Vancouver for corporate career ladder climbing or the nightlife. It's an early to bed, early to rise, health-oriented city by comparison.

They’re not two versions of the same experience. They’re completely different ways of living.

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

One last thing that’s quite different between the two is the food scene.

Toronto’s food scene is driven by its diversity. It’s one of the most multicultural cities in the world, so you can eat incredibly well from just about every cuisine you can think of. Caribbean, Persian, Korean, Ethiopian, Italian, Chinese, you name it. It’s very much a global city food scene, and it leans into that. It’s also more of a late night, restaurant, bar, and dining culture.

Vancouver’s food scene is also international, but it’s more tied to the region itself. It leans heavily into what’s local and seasonal. Seafood from the Pacific, salmon, spot prawns, oysters, Dungeness crab. Produce from the Fraser Valley and the Okanagan. It’s also strongly influenced by the Pacific Rim, so Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Southeast Asian food is a big part of everyday life. Vancouverites eat sushi the way the English eat curry. It’s a default cuisine. There’s a sushi restaurant on practically every block, and hundreds of excellent Chinese restaurants across the city. And almost every restaurant will have some kind of local seafood on the menu.

I only emphasize this because it’s easy to think of Vancouver and Toronto as just two big Canadian cities, but once you’re living in them, they offer very different flavours of Canada. And you mentioned you like food, so it’s worth understanding that difference.

The good news is you’ll eat very well in either. Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal are easily the top food cities in the country.

I realise I didn’t actually answer your question about “how do I even start making this happen,” but my point is that however you make it happen, it’s going to take a lot of time, effort, and money. So it’s worth making sure you’re choosing the right place for the right reasons and going in with your eyes wide open.

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

Wow thanks so much for the detailed response. You’ve raised some really good points. You’re absolutely right that for a Brit, the scale of Canada just doesn’t really compute. Driving home to see family for me is a 6 hour drive - to me that’s an epic journey! But I completely get Canada is on a whole other continental scale.

I’ve booked two weeks holiday in September for Vancouver and Toronto with an internal fight between so I can see both first hand. Hopefully I’ll get some feel for the two places. As you say, I’m keeping my mind open.

The idea that moving to one or the other (and I suppose really any city in Canada) is a move for a particular lifestyle, because things are so far apart, isn’t lost on me. I suppose lifestyle is a matter of circumstance, if you can afford to focus less on career building then the rat race naturally becomes less appealing, so there’s a balancing act here with needing a job that continues my career goals with maintaining as good of a standard of living as you can. North American cities and European cities are very different that’s for sure, so I’m interested to compare this also.

Doesn’t sound like good food will be an issue at least! Perhaps I need to live somewhere with good walks just to keep from getting too round.

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

I think it's a fallacy. My daughter in Vancouver has much the same lifestyle now as we did in Toronto. About 60 hours a week of work for her, many more for her husband. Children scheduled into activities every day so a constant need to drive them about. Sailing in the summer, skiing in the winter. The skiing is, obviously, better from Vancouver but poor skiing vs. good skiing isn't really a lifestyle difference. Similar neighbourhoods exist in each city, and if you compare the matching ones, there's very little difference.

In either city the primary concern has to be the cost of housing. I note that among my daughter's affluent friends in Vancouver, there are few, if any, who earn their living in Vancouver. It's a city with a huge gap between income potential and housing cost, something that's less true of Toronto.

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Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

Thanks for the reply. So you’d say the work / life balance is very similar between both cites? I’ve certainly got the impression there is a pay gap in Vancouver, and that is a concern. Given your experience of both cities, do you have a preference? I’ve heard a lot about the homelessness and drugs problems in areas of Vancouver, have you found this to be the case? I’m sure Toronto has its own issues as well (like any city).

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

Among people I know, that's true. Everyone works all the time. Vancouver has the reputation of being more relaxed but look at the rent, somehow it has to be paid.

I wouldn't say the homelessness/drugs problem is markedly different. Again, there are terrible areas for that in both cities. Those areas can be avoided and, in any case, most of the people shouting at the moon and shitting in the street are wrapped up in themselves, they're not a risk to passers-by. Visually it's a jolt, coming from the UK, to see how many Canadians live like that, but you get used to it.

I will likely move to Vancouver for domestic reasons but, coming from London, and having lived in Toronto for decades, I find the lack of ethnic diversity there bothersome. On the other hand, the location, if not the built environment, is scenic and, for me, it offers lots of new places to explore by car (not true if you've never lived in either). People complain that Vancouver is isolated but I don't see it. Torontonians go to NYC for the weekend, Vancouverites, LA or San Francisco. The equivalents of Ibiza are the Caribbean from here or Hawaii from there; note that either is gobsmackingly expensive compared to jumping on EasyJet.

I think you have to go wherever you think you can make a living.

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

The nightlife in Vancouver is rubbish compared to Toronto or even Hull.

As far as time zones go in Vancouver you are 8 hours behind the UK. If you like watching football on weekends get used to very early mornings. I personally couldn't imagine having to get up any earlier to have my weekends further disjointed by turgid Tottenham performances.

The jet lag from Vancouver to the UK is exponentially worse both ways. One can attend a wedding in the UK from Toronto and stay 4 or 5 nights over a long weekend I think from Vancouver that is a big stretch physically.

Some people may find the outdoors in Vancouver more compelling because of the mountain proximity. I'm a snow sports enthusiast and this is a plus for me- until I get to Whistler and have to meet their lines and hill pass cost on weekends.

I always thought I'd head west but the anecdotal evidence I've had over the years is it is even harder there to find well paid work than in Toronto. Also overtime I've appreciated the proximity and timezone of Toronto relative to the UK. I'd actually consider Calgary before Vancouver now but I don't want to muddy your decision further.

For what it's worth I find Toronto to be incredibly friendly, safe and welcoming with a great diversity of things to do. Professionally I've found Toronto frustrating but life is about trade offs and I didn't have the same range of activities, outside of work, accessible to me in the UK nor the shorter commutes. The salary of the UK and European city breaks/ vacations are the trade off.

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

The day my clothing was stolen at the local rec centre and I had to walk home in a pair of speedos with a towel over my shoulder did not raise a single eye brow in Parkdale. The emperor could walk around in his new clothes and fit in.

Re: 27M from Hull - Thinking about Vancouver or Toronto
 

yeah, yeah, you say the clothes were stolen.