alfiee

Hi everyone.
I'm currently looking at Winnipeg as an option to immigrate too but there seems a lack of info on the forum about it.
Just wondered what life there is like, heard its cold!
I love to snowboard and have seen there are some small resorts around the city which should be fine as its a lot more than we get in the UK anyhow! I know it's not the rockies but will it keep me busy as an intermediate snowboarder?
Also what is the lifestyle like? Is there plenty of places to go out, eat, shop and is the job market pretty good? I work in IT and my partner is a barber.
I'm thinking of taking a career change so general job market is fine for me
Thanks everyone

cjones

That should tell you all you really need to know...

ArthurBrit

Life in Winnipeg is perfectly fine.

It just got voted 5th best place in Canada to live by moneysense (literally just a financial award).

It is still relatively cheap although the housing market has gone through a rediculous boom! The job market is good for a city of it's size, you will find the major cities have more jobs but it's an easy enough place to find work.

Life here is slow, sometimes it can seem a little too slow. There is nothing around the immediate area but plenty of people find it quite enjoyable to go on a 4 hour drive south to Grandforks/Fargo (US).

In terms of the city it really does have everything you need as you already pointed out there are tonnes of restaurants, bars and plenty of shopping areas. I don't personally snowboard but a lot of the locals will take a trip to BC, AB or somewhere further afield to get their fix and in the meantime make do with the more tame bumps around the local area.

It's not everyones paradise though you need to realise that! Winnipeg is ideal for people who are ready to raise a family and genuinly want a quieter lifestyle.

alfiee

Thanks for the reply Arthurbrit nice to get a good honest answer. Where were you from in the UK if you don't mind me asking? Just like to get an idea of what people were used to before they moved. I'm from Worcester in the Midlands and was just checking the populations and here we have under 100,000 and Winnipeg has near 700,000 so a good size bigger than here. I'm defiently gonna need to come out and have a recee and see if it is for me or not

dbd33

Have you seen the film Fargo?

Hawk13

Not being negative but you had better like winter and snow. There's a reason it's refered to as Winterpeg

caretaker

Winnipeg is great! It's on the prairie but just a short drive north and you're in the parkland, and just east toward the Ontario border the incredibly beautiful Canadian Shield begins, (then it's not far to Rainy River which gets my vote as one of the beauty spots of the country). Winnipeg got built up more than Regina in the early days when that was the end of the railroad so there are more heritage buildings, and it became a manufacturing centre for many things (clothing especially) as well as headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company, which was not a small deal. The Winnipeg Folk Festival, incredible catfishing at Lockport, scenic Lower Fort Garry, I've always liked Winnipeg - when you go up north, you go through Winnipeg. Lake Winnipeg is virtually an inland sea. And so on. They get a lot of flooding problems, but deal with it as best they can. The winter is about the same as in Regina, (but it's a dry cold). The corner of Portage and Main is infamous as the windiest corner in Canada. I saw Dbd's remark & I think they actually shot the blizzard scenes for Fargo in southern Saskatchewan, but I could be wrong. It's always been a good town for music.

ArthurBrit

Hawk is half right!

Our winters are brutally long and cold but generally we don't get that much snow! *this year has been one of the worst I have seen for snowfall.

We typically get our first snow on halloween and it snows in smaller amount throughout november/december (usually a couple of cms at a time). By January-February it has stopped snowing as it's ~-40 with and without windchill values! March-April is the return of the snow, bearing in mind this is a bad year and snow hasn't melted any the average height of the snow is currently sitting at 2-3feet total.

I came from all over but grew up mainly in Sussex. I was a commuter for the most part so maybe you will be more adaptable to the slower pace in life.

ArthurBrit

Agreed Rainy is beautiful.

dbd33

I don't think the precise location is important. It's more that the backgound of the film, the decor, the clothing, the cars, the weather, the cottage at the lake, reflect life in Canada well.

Hawk13

I'll take that over being half wrong

alfiee

I think I'll be ok with the winters but does it get nice summers?

ArthurBrit

As you should

ArthurBrit

Hot and Humid typically!

They range between 20-35 usually, the biggest problem with Winnipeg summers is that there are a lot of mosquitoes (except the last 2 years).

There are plenty of manmade beaches which hit the spot!

alfiee

Not good with hummidity.