Well,

We are by no means at the stage yet. As there is no visa in sight,

But....

When trying to decide on an area in Canada to move to,
Where the heck do you start???!!!

We have decided to focus on Ontario. Reasons are fairly stupidly simple:
- East Coast = flying times less than west coast from UK
- Its huge! = plenty of cities / towns (approx 444 )
- Plenty cities / towns = Plenty options for the ALL IMPORTANT JOBS...

My reasons for trying to narrow the search down, is to try and get some realistic research done. Such as - Job hunting, Wages, Cost of living, Schools, Good + Bad neighbourhoods etc etc etc etc

This is kind of similar to a previous post of mine, But this one is geared more towards How to choose an area that would be suited to our needs.. And not juist "Going where the jobs are"....

Cheers for any advice

After years of pondering this topic, my conclusions are presented below in order of importance;

1. Where can I get a decent job that I will enjoy and that will pay the bills.
2. Everything Else

+1

Your Mrs will get paid roughly the same irrespective where she works, hicksville or Downtown vancouver, her employment and T&C are closely matched by all the provinces. So it is you.....what can you get?

can you deal with the cold for so many months? Weather in Northern BC and Victoria could be planets apart.

cost of housing in NS compared to Van will let you buy a mansion in one and a shoe box in the other on the Mrs' salary.

Facilities, University, Airports, hospitals, some form of civilisation and prospects for the family when they are older.

I look forward to hearing what folks come up with.....VI for me.

Flying time Calgary to London = 8 hrs 50 mins
Flying time Toronto to London = 6 hrs 55 mins

Alberta apparently booming; Ontario has the whiny Dalton McGuinty.

Alberta had "King Ralph" for the longest time... politicians come and go thankfully, and are not a reason to pick one place over another.

If jobs are not enough of a differentiator then other things start to factor in, for example;

• Cost of living / property relative to local salaries
• Climate. Even in Ontario there seems to be a big difference between by the lake and 50km inland.
• Daily Transportation (public transport, road congestion, commute hell) factors. Be prepared for expense if you live out of town
• Proximity to likely leasure activities (mountains, lakes, golf courses, whatever)
• Access to cultural activites (music, theater, museum & galleries etc)
• Close to border for cross border shopping
• Local knowledge factors, for example I would never move to Trenton because the paper mill stinks when the wind blows in your direction

etc

Id say flight times are not at all important for the majority, You wont fly that often once living here, and you spend more time getting too and hanging around in the airport than on the plane anyway.

Not to me, either; certainly seems to be important to the OP. Of course, if you are looking for culture, then Winnipeg may fit the bill! They do have the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. We, on the other hand, have the Calgary Stampede. As for cross-border shopping, Alberta abuts to Montana; not a place I would choose for a high-fashion shopping trip, or any other kind of purchase, for that matter. But then, I have only two more years in this god-foresaken province, with its strange prediliction for electing right-wing politicians, but at the same time whining on about their benefits and free health-care. Go figure!

Got offered a job, ended up it was in Calgary, although initially it was going to be Toronto, then Vancouver, they could not make their mind up. The flying time to London was not a big issue for me, the job paid the bills and it was a corner office office with a great view and a tea trolly.

As others have said, where you are offered a job and what it is and what it pays.

I'm surprised that no-one has excoriated you for suggesting that ON is on the East Coast.

HTH.

That's all I hear at work OT is east coast Canada, outside our ivory corporate towers not a lot exists of Canada east of Ontario!

+2, unless you are retiring here, reality and finding a job to survive has to be priority in my opinion, what follows doesn't really matter if you can't survive financially.

+3.

Why don't you do a monster or workopolis search for jobs in your / your wifes profession by province.

Jot down which towns / cities have the most openings and then start weedling them in or out depending on the factors that Iaink listed above

My thoughts are - if I couldn't get a decent job in a place that actually appeals to me and offers a better standard of living or longer term prospects, I wouldn't bother emigrating. The pay-offs need to be pretty alluring to make the upheaval, expense and risk worth while.

I agree with Rich. The upheaval is immense... we've just done it. Expense is also pretty steep.

Which parts of Canada have you visited? which parts did you fall in love with and want to live there? that would be my starting point... jobs etc are equally important but if you really wanted to live somewhere you could take a bit of a cut if it's feasible?

Good luck

Make sure part of your realistic research is calling the fire stations and finding out first hand what an uphill stuggle you will have - focus on the wifes job.