Cost of life
 

Hi,
I am evaluating 3 possible cities as my final destination: Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton.
I have pretty much information about the cost of life in Toronto, but I know almost nothing about Ottawa and Edmonton.
How different is the cost of life in Edmonton and Ottawa in comparison with Toronto?
How much is the cost of renting a house or flat with 2 bedrooms in Ottawa and Edmonton?
How much is the cost of childcare in Ottawa and Edmonton?

Thanks.
Best regards,

Re: Cost of life
 

I cannot comment on Edmonton.

Ottawa is supposed to be the lowest-cost major city in North America. It is certainly much cheaper than Toronto when it comes to accommodation. It's also a lot colder.

If you cross the Ottawa River into Quebec, childcare is extremely cheap (about $5 a day). You need to be living here to take advantage of that, though. If you can't speak French, don't even think about it.

Re: Cost of life
 

Ottawa and TO are on this list of global cities

http://www.finfacts.com/costofliving3.htm

And according to the calculators here....

Your standard of living on $100000 in Ottawa would be maintained on only $77784 in Edmonton, compared to $106000 in Toronto or only $60000 in Kingston.

Me, I'd plump for Kingston, its not nearly as cold for starters, and actually has some old buildings and greenery:)

Re: Cost of life
 

Only 6% more for the same standard of living in Toronto vs. Ottawa ? I think not. The difference in property values is far too great for that to be true.

Re: Cost of life
 

This should help with background info:

http://www.gov.ab.ca/home/index.cfm?Page=834
http://www.edmonton.com/statistics/page.asp?page=152
http://www.bioware.com/bioware_info/jobs/edmonton/

Rich.

Re: Cost of life
 

Dont blame me, I'm just the messenger.
Colder in Ottawa and further from anywhere, so perhaps fuel (Heating and Transport) is more expensive? The Ottawa housing market is pretty high too isnt it, not as bad as TO, but getting up there in the nicer areas?

Its anyones guess what that application is considering as "Toronto" too, maybe thats GTA, maybe its Downtown, Maybe its Jane / Finch, maybe its not considering purchase of property at all, but looking at the rental market instead as these things are usually setup for globetrotting executive types who dont want to sell their house in the Hamptons anyway for a two year assignment? Who knows!

Re: Cost of life
 

Is it just us or has anyone else noticed that their weekly shopping has gone up by a substantial amount over the last two years?

Re: Cost of life
 

Not just you. It occured to me while filling up with gas at a "bargain" price of 79c/l , that really this time last year it was in the 50s or 60s, and when I arrived in '98 it was 34c/l!

Groceries are creeping up slower than that, but the real killer is the Hydro and Heating costs.

Re: Cost of life
 

34c/l in 98, what the hell happened since then, apart from the obvious? How nice would it be to be paying that now :mad: We have noticed that night time is the best time to get petrol, it is ever so cheap late at night, and for the past few days now, we have seen it go as low as 76.5c/l

Re: Cost of life
 

You might want to try here

http://www12.statcan.ca/english/prof...earchForm1.cfm

Re: Cost of life
 

Hi, I think we may be the only ones on this forum who live near Edm, but if you try the Edm Journal newspapers website, www.edmontonjournal.com, you should find ads in there of rental properties. When we first landed, we were renting a 3 bed condo for $890 pm. That was almost brand new though and a decent size.

Re: Cost of life
 

Much of your final choice must surely be determined by employment prospects. Even buying a property outright you will need income (I know that's obvious). You may be surprised what, within your price range, you could find in the rural areas around the GTA (Campbelleville, Orangeville, Milton, Nessagaweya, Erin, Fergus to mention just a few west and slightly north of Toronto, where there is plenty of work (depending on what you do). Kingston is also a good choice and property is a lot cheaper and even less in towns such as Gananoque, Colins Bay, Bath, Sydenham, Amerstview, Napanee, Loughborough [lovely lake], Inverary, Verona, etc.).
You have lots of time between now and when you will get your visa so come over on recce/fact finding holidays.

Re: Cost of life
 

I was just thinking of groceries and household stuff - I was ignoring gas, water, electricity and heating.

A couple of years ago we rarely spent enough to qualify for the "free" item at the Superstore. Now it seems like we always spend that amount. Nowadays its not even a shuffle - we used to have to buy extra paper products and some other non perishable to get us over the limit. Now we seem to fly over it only buying what we need that week.

I couldnt decide if it was that we have two boys who seem to stack away more than their bodyweight some days or if things really have gone up by that much.

Re: Cost of life
 

Yeah, the Canadian dollar is way higher than it was 3+ years ago but still things at the store are the same price or higher despite many of them being imported from the US. You would have thought some prices would have gone down as the dollar gained strength, but it never happens.

Re: Cost of life
 

Honestly, I came across many posts in other forums where people posted their positive experience about their living experience in Quebec despite any french knowledge. However, It is impossible to land in Quebec unless you're selected for Quebec, but one could still move after successful landing.

Regards,
Jagz.