Rokes35

My fiancé and I are considering moving our family to Nova Scotia. It's something we keep coming back to, but hear mixed views from those that have made the move from the UK. My partner is a Steelwork Quantity Surveyor and I am a college lecturer. We have a 3 year old daughter and 3 beagles who will also be making the move.

We want to have a more rural way of life but still be part of a community. We quite like areas such as Windsor and Chester but would like to know more about what life is like in comparison to living in the UK.

Simon Legree

May I ask why NS when you can enjoy a "rural" lifestyle virtually anywhere in the country ?
It has the highest taxes in the country and is considered a "B" market. Pay rates are less than say Toronto, Montreal and other major centers. Property is relatively cheap but that is because of the lack of decent jobs. I think you would be hard pressed to get into the college lecturing field, indeed teaching of any kind is very difficult to get into. Not sure about steelwork quantity surveying. On the plus side there is the rural way of life that you prefer. You cite Windsor and Chester as places that you like. You will find Chester very expensive and not a whole lot of decent employment around Windsor. It's not all doom and gloom though. Lobster has been very cheap the last couple of years !

Rokes35

Thanks for your reply. One of the attractions of Nova Scotia was not only it being very rural and picturesque but easy on the flight times back to the UK. That said, Toronto and Montreal are similar flight times but they are areas we have not really looked into, so maybe something for us to consider.

From your comments though it sounds like we would struggle to find work in our fields. May I ask, do you know why it is difficult to teach in Canada?

Simon Legree

Not being in that field I don't know exactly why. However, there is a glut of teachers from coast to coast so it isn't easy anywhere. Even Canadians can't get into the profession easily. Most have to work on supply basis for an indeterminate time just to get a foot in the door. I'm sure there will be some on the forum that can tell you more from their own experience. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Rokes35

Thank you for comments and insight.

confused_uk

The general consensus is that finding jobs teaching across Canada is hard, the plus side of NS though if you're a University teacher is that there are quite a few colleges there.

Do you speak French? If not Montreal might not be the best option either (though you can always learn).

Toronto will have a vast amount of opportunities workwise but it wouldn't really offer you the rural life, it'll be like living on the outskirts of London.

I think most people on here will tell you not to base decisions on flight times after all what's an extra hour or 2, but personally I hate being on planes so NS is perfect for me.

NS rural life (I don't live there yet but have a house there & have been numerous times over the years) is very slow paced (sometimes frustratingly so) but people are friendly & you definitely have a community feel. The downside is job prospects but to be honest you can be 20mins outside Halifax & still be rural & Windsor is only about an hours drive from the city (which in my view is still commutable). There'll be pros & cons anywhere in Canada, the important thing is choosing somewhere that feels right to you. Other peoples experiences good or bad are unique to them so although it's good to get some perspective try not to read too much into what others say.

Have you visited before?

dbd33

I think for someone from the UK that might be quite rural enough. We're on 10 acres, not quite commutable to Toronto next to thousands of acres of conservation lands. We routinely see deer (a stag this morning), turkeys, people on horseback, that sort of thing. We need a tractor and blower to get out in winter, we need a generator because we lose power for days at a time. It's rather more rural than the home counties and I suspect would be a jolt for someone fresh off the boat. .

Nova Scotia offers the chance to live more rurally for less money but it's another notch along the Duelling Banjos Scale. Anyway, I don't see how one could support three beagles on those jobs in NS. A teacher isn't likely to find work anywhere in Canada, it's possible but not something to count on. A quantity surveyor, which is called something else here, estimator maybe, can find work in locations where things are being built; primarily Alberta, some in Ontario, Nova Scotia not so much.

It seems to me that, as Simon says, anywhere in Canada will offer the possibility of living rurally (relative to the UK) so one should find work and go from there. It would, of course, be easier to arrange to live rurally in the UK; Wales and Northern Ireland also offer cheap fields and no work and the flight to London is even shorter than that from Halifax.

magnumpi

If travel to the UK is a big factor in where the OP would like to settle then why not look at south of France or Europe

confused_uk

Oh yeah no doubt there's plenty rural in Ontario but not actually Toronto or commutable areas.

There is actually plenty of building going on right now in Halifax, lots of big apartment/office blocks going up probably nothing compared to the larger cities across Canada but it's not completely dead either

dbd33

I commuted to the boystown area of Toronto from Melancthon for a year and a half. Melancthon is the least populated part of southern Ontario and is rural by southern Irish standards. The commute was too much for me but the worst of it was from the bottom of the 427 to Jarvis and then up. If one had a job that wasn't right downtown it would be workable. Most of the people I knew out there drove to town every day.

A poster on this board who has recently moved from NS to Alliston ON reports that the neighbour commutes to Toronto, Alliston is in an area of rolling hills with many horse farms, manicured rural one might call it, Berkshire rather than Shropshire.

If one could find a job in Kitchener/Waterloo/Guelph/Barrie, somewhere like that, then one could fill one's boots with rurality. There's no ocean which is a shame but there's no shortage of rural pursuits:

Sweatpea's Mudbog - Home

Gosh, there are even two local tractor pulls and a ploughing match this coming weekend!

Simon Legree

Nova Scotia maybe geographically closer to the UK than anywhere else except Newfoundland but there is little choice as regards air travel. There is one flight a day with Mapleflot (Air Canada) and one with Icalandair but that's been on again, off again over the years. There are charters by Thomas Cook and maybe one other carrier in the summer season. That's about it. Not enough traffic to generate any competition.

confused_uk

What's the transport system from the outskirts like though? Wouldn't driving in rush hour be a complete nightmare?

No, no ocean but a whopping big lake

confused_uk

Very expensive too, the price shot up after zoom went under

dbd33

The transit system is a tease. There are trains into the city but so few that only people who have exactly fixed work schedules can use them. There are also buses but, as you correctly surmise, the traffic is awful (arguably the 401 highway across Toronto is the most congested in the world, the M25 is fast moving by comparison) and the busses cannot avoid the traffic.

Ah yes, the lake, nice for sailing, not so much for swimming.

confused_uk

Public transport in NS is pretty non-existent but their version of rush hour is having 3 cars in front of you at a junction, so even though your only real option is to drive it's a pretty smooth journey. Parking in the downtown area is pretty easy too & not at extortionate rates either, there's definitely plus points to living in under populated areas