Doesn't it all boil down to:

What does your wife plan to study? So which is the best institution to study at in terms of course/programme, tuition fees and cost of living?

What sort of job do you want? So, taking the answers to the study question into consideration (if the study is the priority) where is the best place to stand a reasonable chance of getting work.

Halifax might fit the bill on all accounts but as someone has pointed out, I believe that the tuition fees at the Halifax uni's are pretty high.

Some articles on tuition fees in NS if interested
http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion...es-hurt-all-ns
http://www.canadian-universities.net...va-Scotia.html
http://cfs-ns.ca/index.php?section_id=57

Good luck with that, you'll get plenty of opinions. But being from London you are already ahead, with high taxes and fuel costs and if your the kinda person that likes challenges and see opportunity where others see failure you'll succeed. I think it was John Paul Getty who said, "Observe the masses and do the opposite", I'd like to be a pound behind him.

If you want to try and dip into NS life why not go to http://www.c100fm.com/ Halifax Radio and hear whats happening. Listening to some people on here you'd think Nova Scotia is shut. Good Luck NS is a pretty good choice.

Don't know about Halifax Radio, but found Q104 by chance on our Reccie, and found it to be refreshingly sexist and very non PC. Rock music with some social commentary. Quite a lot of Nickelback though.
I occassionaly listen to it online for a bit of a giggle.

That's true, wall to wall nickelback and adverts for the MickMac Mall but at least the news stories are less depressing there. We were travelling back from New Minas when the breaking news was a cat had been shot with an air gun but should make a full recovery. And that was the top story.

Then why are you moving to NS? Surely you should be looking at NFLD, or Manitoba, Saskachewan, NB, or even better, the Yukon or NWT?

A higher mass of people move to NS than all of the above.

Nova Scotia has lots of trees!!! A very pretty province, but if you want a faster pace of living move to Calgary!!

Is that because you live in Calgary, or is Calgary a faster pace than Toronto or Vancouver for instance?

The OP asked about Halifax and your only contribution is it has a lot of trees.

Must have been a good day news wise then.

be cautious of thinking that Nova Scotia is utopia and that all the news stories are about "nice" things.
I love it here but the reality (as I see it) is that in the city areas there is gun crime and knife crime and it was said on the radio yesterday that Halifax has the highest crime rate after Winnipeg.

Where I live, out of the city, its very very nice but we have our share of mindless vandalism. I personally havent seen it but i am a treasurer on the recreation committe and we had to reinforce our garage at the baseball field to prevent theft and the lights were stolen etc. Just mindless pain in the butt teen behaviour.

It can be hard to get a job here too, there can be an old boys club mindset in many types of work. They want a Uni degree for pretty much everything. Its the most expensive province to live in too, i have been told. Eg: Our Bell Aliant package would be $13 a month less if we lived in Ontario for the same thing. I dont get it really as we earn less here.

Having said all the above, its beautiful and nice and there are some truly lovely people here. There are also some clicky areas where I have heard its very hard to settle and make friends as you would always be considered as being "from away"
I am still very glad we moved here and dont see ourselves moving elsewhere.

It seems fine to me. It is quite close to those in London.

The public transport (mainly buses) is not that great. Most bus routes run every 20-30 minutes and they are often not on time. I used for 3 months.

But one positive point is that the bus was never busy during the rush hours.

Thanks for all the replies!!!

The mrs is planning on doing a PR and Marketing course at Halifax Community College, the fees are cheaper than Toronto.

Why NS? Tbh we want somewhere east coast ish with good links back to the UK for when we need to visit or want people to come out to visit.

We also have an almost 2 year old son and I will do anything in my power to escape the london education system

I have read that Halifax also has a growing IT sector which is always good.

Does anyone know of any good estate agents? We are talking about visiting early next year to scope out some areas and get a feel for the town.

Also are there any established cycle lanes? Hoping to be able to cycle to and from work when the weather permits! Wouldn't try it in London due to all the traffic and smog

I haven't been to Halifax, so I know I shouldn't be commenting, but is this a reality or a misconception? I know that there are some flights from Halifax to London, but it was my understanding that most fly Halifax-Toronto-London, so you end up spending more time in flight than if you had flown out of somewhere further west, such as Calgary or Vancouver.

Yeah, there is one direct flight per day as far as I have seen.

Most of the other flights do have connections.