Scoobsta

Hi Guys..

My wife and I landed in Edmonton in mid March of this year and have been searching for jobs ever since.

Having initial frustration for the first 2 months of a lack of opportunities, I now have the choice of 2 jobs:

...one outstanding opportunity in Toronto paying between C$75k-90k, working 8.30-6.30pm..good career progression and living potentially in a downtown high rise as property is too expensive and travel from places like mississauga and brampton are too time consuming....

...the other working in the government in Edmonton paying C$60k-$65k, working 8.15am-4.30pm...very slow career progression, potential to save living with in-laws and buy later...

Now, the quality of life in Alberta is great and I love the way things are done here...however, the potential to make serious money is in Toronto, but within a typical large city atmosphere,....

I know i am quite fortunate with both opportunties but could any of you guys give me pointers as to what i should really do as im really confused...

dbd33

Does your wife want/need to work or study? If so, Toronto has the opportunities.

In general, I think you know the choice, Toronto is a a big city with all the usual hassles, the one thing it really has going for it is that everyone came from somewhere else and brought food. Edmonton, on the other hand, seems to offer you the chance to stand still and get very cold for years on end without any great pressure.

Scoobsta

Cheers dbd33....

can you suggest any good neighbourhoods that are in good proximity to downtown toronto with reasonable house prices?? :scared:

MikeUK

Try thinking of Toronto downtown and the Go transit system

its a big city you need to think big city to make it work

Scoobsta

Cheers Mike...

... I have heard that commute from Brampton and Mississauga is about an hour using the GO ... correct me if I am wrong but you gotta drive to either Brampton or Bramalea station first and then it takes around 45 mins to get to Union??

Novocastrian

Scoobsta, if you can make up to $90k, you can afford a really nice condo in central Toronto if that suites your lifestyle. Or you can buy a house elsewhere in the GTA. Go for it. I'm prejudiced, but I'd pay not to have to live in Edmonton.

silkfunkydiva

I would stick with toronto,but then I'm biased The beaches is a nice area but it's quite pricey.North York is another option.We chose to live near Mississauga because we wanted a property with a large yard.The commute from there into town is about as long as you said but from what I've heard the Go transit system is reliable and cheap.You can always retire to Edmonton!

Grah

So in Toronto you're working longer hours, having more prospects and paying more for accomodation, travel to work family etc.

Your other half will be tagging along, I presume, without family, without a job and whatabout friends?

Apart from your career what else do you both like doing?


And will those likes be better served in TO or ED?

Scoobsta

thanks guys....I hear all of you...and these thoughts have crossed our minds may times...we want to work hard and get paid for it, similar school of thought for many people...

but we also want a reasonable drive to the big outdoors to see natural beauty at the weekends as this is one of the main reasons in moving to Canada.....im not sure whether Toronto has access to this...

we plan to have children very soon too and bringing up children within a high rise environment, with no family around, isnt really what we planned for our kids childhood....

MikeUK

I live on the outside

so I can be close to the countryside..

we don't have big mountains, but we do have the 'escarpement'... drive out to Milton on the west or up airport road up to Barrie and you have soem countryside with real beauty .... you just need to know where to look..

the lakes each offer a slighly differing look, and georgain bay and tobermory are a favorite location for a weekend away..

I used to spend nearly all my nice waether weekends in the Uk either paragliding, hiking or potholing.... now its most weekends hiking, paraglidiing

Just look up the niagara escarpement on google

dbd33

Map required for this post.

Access to this and that is a critical consideration. We live in the beach which is the south-east corner of Toronto proper. My OH works as a wetback agricultural labourer in Schomberg, north-west of the city (Hwy 9 and 27). That's sort of the fringe of the countryside, up to Major Mac (where Canada's Wonderland is) is mainly grim housing projects.

Most weekends I tag along and play at equine management. We leave at 6:30 and get to the farm at 7:30, taking the DVP, 401, 400. Leaving the barn at 4:30 it takes two hours to get back again if we go 400/401/427/QEW/Gardiner and much longer if we try to go down the DVP.
These times are better than one can do on weekdays and just forget trying to go out of town or come back in again on long weekends unless you can run to using a float plane from the Island airport. In one era I was obliged to spend weekends in Bobcaygeon, that's three and a half hours away on a Sunday evening.

My "ex" lives in Mississauga, south of the QEW near Mississauga Road (20 miles out). I have use of a child on weekends and pick her up on Fridays. Leaving downtown at five and not stopping out there I usually get back around eight, though if there's a baseball game it's later.

Note that all these times assume that it's not summer. In summer one or another of the major highways is usually closed and durations are anyone's guess. I would say that it's only really feasible to enjoy the outdoors and be based in Toronto if you have big money, aeroplane money, or work shifts. Driving on the urban highways is a fiasco.

You could live in a suburb and commute. I think it's a bit pointless, if you're going to be in some newly built cookie cutter place with only chain stores, then you may as well be in Edmonton, but people do commute by GO train. In that case you either have to have a job with a rigid work structure (unchanging hours) or live along the lakeshore line. One place which is well out from which people commute is Oakville (our office manager once dated a man from Oakville "he talked about his cottage, why he needs a cottage? already he's in Oakville!"). Lots of people on this board will sing the praises of Oakville, it's an hour out. Timings here:

http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/home.htm

Good guide to Toronto neighbourhoods here :

http://www.boldts.net/Toronto.shtml

North York was mentioned. That's immediate north of Toronto and is very mixed indeed. 600 police officers were used in a raid on the Crips in North York a couple of weeks ago. On the other hand, a former mayor of Toronto lived there so they have wonderful garbage pick up and snow clearing.

Obviously I think the beach is a good family area, we sat on the porch last night and chatted with a long string of passers-by who were walking dogs, dragging children in wagons, obviously pregnant and so on. I originally moved out there so as to have a backyard with room for a trampoline, something that wouldn't be feasible downtown. High Park, Bloor West Village and Leaside are similar; all have significant British populations and all are feasible commutes by bicycle or transit. The Danforth is a little edgier, I like it but one poster here thinks it smells!

Scoobsta

thanks guys....toronto it is then...cant have everything in life and I can always come back to Alberta in the future....

:scared: :scared: :scared:

R2D2

Read the "Smog" thread before you decide fully on Toronto.

Plus , if you live in Edmonton at the mo, have you managed to check out all the outlying areas, as as place to live.?

If you plan to start a family soon, then I know where I would rather be, and its not spitting up lumps after being outdoors in downtown Toronto.........although I do think its a great city to visit!

AnyaT

It seems to come down to what you consider more important and/or fulfilling – challenging and rewarding job or better family time and life outside work. It is hard to decide sometimes, as unhappiness at work can impact family life and vice versa.

For what it’s worth, we are moving to from Toronto to Edmonton at the end of the month. I know Edmonton is smaller with fewer big city-type amenities, but wild horses will never drag us back to Toronto (though frankly, I don’t find Toronto has a particularly “big city” atmosphere either). The intense summer heat and smog in Toronto leaves me feeling sick for the 4 months or so it is around, and is something I can’t cope with. HB calls it the “can’t do” city as every time you turn around there is some official or rule telling you what you can’t do. In contrast, I’ve found Albertans much more willing to be innovative and proactive about getting things done. Toronto always seems to be in denial about things that need improving, because don’t you know, it’s “world class” and doesn’t have any problems. We’ve also found people rather insular and clique-y, and amazingly ignorant of anything that happens outside their provincial borders.

In the end moving to Edmonton was an easy choice for us because it offered both a better lifestyle and better career opportunities. Best of luck with your decision.

Piff Poff

Personally, I would sacrifice the wads of dosh and stressfull living of a fast paced career for a more laid back lifestyle, where there is more time to please your family and self. Also you may find that once you have Canadian work experience you may get a higher paid more career motivating job and still be laid back.

I know we didn't move half way round the world to work all the hours and just keep a roof over our heads as we were doing in UK. Alright we don't earn as much as we could but we have more time for ourselve and lifes good!

Hope you make the right decision for YOU as it is only you and your family that knows what would be right for yourselves.