Piff Poff

Okay, snow on the ground for 7 months and warm enough to leave the house without gloves on 4 months. So only slight exaggeration Not so much in the way of chinooks in Red Deer, our snow pile has only been gone for 3 or 4 weeks.

Novocastrian

Toronto, Ontario
Located in the south east of the country, Toronto is the largest city in Canada and is the capital of Ontario. Home to around 5.5 million people of all nationalities, ‘Queen City’ according to the 2006 Census, was the most popular city for immigration from the UK. Joined by both the Humber River and the Don River, Toronto has a moderate climate and often has warm, humid summers. With the prominent CN Tower overlooking the city, Toronto is the economic epicentre and cultural capital of the country. The city is very cosmopolitan and is the home to many theatres and performing arts companies, meaning that there is plenty of entertainment taking place throughout the year. In terms of sport, Toronto is the Canadian representative in each of the seven major league sports.

Calgary, Alberta
Being the ‘Heart of the New West’, Calgary could be a great place for you to experience the province of Alberta. With the city located adjacent to the Canadian Rockies and Banff National Park, it is easy to escape the thrills of city life all year round. Calgary is home to around one million people and is the largest city in Alberta. The vibrant and cosmopolitan city combines an outdoor lifestyle with a western heritage to make it a great place to live.


This piece of utter bullshit is taken from the home page of this website, believe it or not.

Almost Canadian

I have never been to Toronto so I am unable to comment upon that portion of the quote. However, except for the word "cosmopolitan" (and only because people will have different ideas about what that word means), I can't see what is "utter bullshit" about the Calgary portion of the quote as the vast majority of it is fact.

Novocastrian

On Toronto: After 30 years here I've never heard anyone at all referring to it as Queen City. Hogtown, yes. The CN tower only overlooks the Harbour Front, not the whole city. (Unless you live on the Islands).

Toronto is not "joined" by the Don and Humber rivers. They are both weak streams of no note, except, in parts, for walking a dog.

I've been wracking my brain to come up with 7 major league sports in Toronto. NHL, MLB, MLS, NBA...NLL at a push. What are the others?

Someone touting for a relocation company (the author) might think the TO climate is moderate. I'd disagree.

I've only been to Calgary a few times so I'll bow to your acceptance, but the phrase "it is easy to escape the thrills of city life all year round." is a bit ambivalent don't you think? If there are in fact thrills of city life in Calgary why would you want to escape them all year round?

Steve_

Winters are longer here than in southern Ontario but on the plus side you don't have to spend as much time outside enduring them, because you've got more snow to shovel if you live in the GTA.

I've driven through bad snow storms in Alberta but at least there isn't much traffic about, you can be going down the QEW in traffic easily as bad as any major European city and be in blizzard conditions. No thanks. Or even worse, the traffic grinds to a halt and then you're just sat there watching the snow build up on your car.

Another thing I just thought of is that you need AC in Ontario, that can raise your utility bills a fair bit.

iaink

Alberta has mountains, Ontario has lakes.

Depends if you want to ski or canoe really, assuming jobs / benefits/ time in traffic/ size of house etc come out as a wash.

Long cold winter, vs long hot and humid summer. I wouldnt want to pick.

Having spent much of the weekend up a tree building a tree house Im curious how are the biting bugs in Alberta?

Steve_

Lots of mosquitoes but as we don't have many trees I'm assuming not as bad as Ontario.

PeterF

Plenty of lakes and canoeing in the Rockies

Piff Poff

When we were in Ontario last summer, we were able to sit on the grass in a farmyard without mozzie spray and we didn't get bitten, we arrived back to Alberta and as soon as we stepped out of Edmonton airport we were bitten within seconds. I will not be leaving the house to walk the dog without spraying bug spray for the next 3 months or so.

Almost Canadian

I don't have an issue with bugs in Calgary at all. I don't have issues with them when hiking in the Rockies either. Alberta is a big place.

MikeUK

Don't foget we use the mountains next door in Quebec, the french conection helps give that alpine ambiance

delsol79

Hopefully we will not have not as many to worry about anyway...

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/ca...314/story.html

I have visited Toronto many times and as a city I much prefer it to Calgary. It is where I planned to come and live when I first applied many years ago. Now that I am married and have a toddler my requirements are very different and I really like Calgary. Family friendly and love how easy it is to get out to the mountains and the great outdoors.

keznjj

Thanks for the info, so more info needed if poss on the following:
Real Estate Agents
Places to live (nice decent areas)
Transportation to and from the city for work etc
Walking areas, rivers etc?
Thanks again

Almost Canadian

You will struggle to find a bad area in Calgary. Lots of people slate the N.E. but the vast majority that do, I suspect, have never been there.

Have a look at the City of Calgary website. It provides most of the info you seek.

keznjj

Sounds good to me!!! Thanks for the info..