We are thinking of moving to Canada (just waiting for a few bits before we can post off our application – thanks to christmasoompa for their help with this).
Anyway I wondered about locations we are looking for:-
1. A big-ish city (500,000+)
2. Somewhere with plenty of things going on (e.g. festivals, art exhibitions etc)
3. Ideal somewhere that has lots of independent shops and coffee shops
4. Somewhere reasonably affordable (3 bed house for less than $800,000)
5. We were thinking of the east side of Canada as presumable this makes it cheaper / easier for trips back to the UK?
6. Somewhere with a bit of history (we’re not keen on new build houses)
We’ve looked into Toronto and specifically Bloor West Village area. But I guess that’s like moving to the UK and deciding to live in London. There must be plenty of other great locations that aren’t as high profile. Any comments would be really appreciated.
Thank you!

If you want East Coast, then look into the big cities there - Halifax, Fredricton, etc. If you want big-ish more central, then you're looking at Toronto, Mississauga, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City. Further west you have Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria.

The bigger the city, the more cultural events and festivals etc, but then the more expensive.

Canada's a friggin big place with 6 timezones and 35M people spread out over a huge land mass. Search around the forum for places people live and see what you think.

Surely choices based on preferred climate and job opportunities and then figuring it out and cutting your cloth to suit your budget from there is the more logical way to figure this out?

I never really understood the concern over flight times; Few of us have visitors or travel back to Europe more than once a year, many less often that that. To choose where you spend the other 50 weeks based on the prospect of an extra couple of hours on the plane every now and then doesnt make sense to me. Whether you have zero or three months or 5 months of snow seems a more important factor in how your life will be impacted by a location...

How does the original poster feel about French? Montreal / Quebec tick a lot of boxes.

iaink, thank you, that's a fair point and I'd never really thought about it that way... I work in IT, my wife is an Occupational Therapist.
In terms of climate nothing too Extreem, like the idea of cold winters and hot summers. We have a 1 year son too so good schools would be important.

We both speak basic French, how important is being able to speak French in Quebec/Montreal?

ha, very.

not too extreme? oh dear.

Thats Winnipeg, Regina and Saskatoon out of the running then

And Calgary and probably Edmonton. Hit or miss on Montreal and Ottawa.

So that leaves Toronto or Vancouver?

Not for under $800 000

St John's, NL has history, housing affordability (with respect to your budget), closeness to the UK (4.5hr flight, 3.5hr time difference) and a reasonable degree of independent restaurants, bars, cafes in a compact downtown. It also doesn't have the extremes of hot and cold that most of mainland Canada has but weather here can be, errm, an acquired taste at times. Not so much of the city of 500k though, there's only just that number in the whole province.

But doesn't it all come down to where you will get a job? Assuming you need to work. That + weather + scenery requirements (mountains, prairies, ocean) usually end up defining where you go.

Haha, thought the Prairies would be great for the cold winter / hot summer , for a while at least .

well, they could get a 3 bed townhouse for way under that in greater vancouver, easily.

You can also still find detached houses under that in the inner burbs if you don't mind living on a busy street.

In Maple Ridge they are selling new homes for under $600K.

So yes, it is possible.

Here's one - in my neighbourhood

V1075665, # 13 4055 PENDER ST, Burnaby, British Columbia  V5C2L9

Port Moody"

V1072200, # 25 301 KLAHANIE DR, Port Moody, British Columbia  V3H0C2

single family homes, Maple Ridge

Homes