Walmart have mattresses in a box that unroll (as do Ikea) in stock most of the time - just pay and pick up or order online and deliver. Ikea you can buy online for delivery too.

As to renting a property, check our wiki for some helpful advice
https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Renting-Canada
and also:
https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?x...61A7A12885476C

Legal Information About Landlord and Tenant Law in Alberta

Best see if IKEA delivers in Canada, they didn't when last I was there.

?????????? They do around here!!
Edmonton store:

https://www.ikea.com/ms/en_CA/locato...aystoshop.html

We recently bought a mattress from Sleep Country on a Tuesday, delivered Friday the same week.

That’s great, I have been on their website but didn’t know they can deliver that quickly.
Im really overwhelmed by how helpful everyone is on here.

There is also endy mattress, it comes in a box, delivered right to your door. We have currently and if you like a mattress on the softer side its a good mattress, takes about 7-9 days to fully recover from the box but you can use it in that time, there is a 90 day or 100 day guarantee if you don't like it, they will come and get it from you and refund the cost.

$675 to $950 depending on size.

We must not live in the same Canada...

Roads are not cleared quickly at least in Vancouver/Squamish/Fraser Valley where I have lived, and not cleared well. A couple of times I could not go to work because the street I was on was not cleared, and transit was not running or running unpredictably even with snow tires, a Mazda 2 can't get through snow that has not been cleared at all.

Traffic basically comes to a stop when it snows, having experienced this a few times this past winter where it took me 2 hours in snow to go 15km to work.

Buses become stuck, behind schedule, sky train has issues.

Sidewalks not cleared well, majority of the time residents largely ignoring the bylaw.

All this is just from the few snow days we had this past winter.

I lived in Edmonton for a winter, they do a better job then Vancouver no doubt, not super terrific but certainly better.

At least you have one. For no obvious reason, Winnipeg has no obligation on people to shovel. We did anyway (only people on the block), but getting anywhere by foot was absolutely treacherous for about 4 months, skidding on compacted ice everywhere (about a week after a snowfall a sidewalk 'cleaner' comes along and crushes it all down into a nice smooth inch-thick piece of glass perfect for breaking your neck on)

Surprised Winnipeg doesn't have one considering all the snow they get, maybe that explains why the one time I was there downtown when waiting to get back onto the train the sidewalks were a mess.

I only lived in 1 snowy place in the US, and the city I lived in there cleared all the sidewalks, they also kept the roads clear as a whistle, far more efficient snow clearing then I have seen anywhere in Canada where they seem to like to pretend snow doesn't exist.....

I most certainly was not talking about Vancouver!

Vancouver (and Toronto to a certain extent) are the laughing stocks of Canada when it comes to snow and how it is handled.

But even Vancouver has those bylaws of residents and building owners clearing their sidewalk by 10 am (9 am for businesses) on the morning after a snowfall.

At least, Vancouver has never gone to the extent of calling in the army for what was less than about 10cm of snow

However, if you move out of the Banana zone of the Lower Mainland, you will find very much what I described ................ even in the Valley east of Abbotsford.

EVERY city, town and village that gets a true winter, and that is from about 100 km east of Vancouver to the Maritimes, and north from about West Vancouver to the Yukon, is well set up for snow clearing as fast as possible.

We've driven north to Smithers for Christmas or in January many times and have many memories of a) cleared highways, b) cleared sidewalks in towns and villages, c) people walking and driving their cars according to the conditions.

The same applies to what I see regularly when we cross Canada on the train. It's quite the sight to see those little Bobcats clearing sidewalks in business and residential areas, and going little lanes and alleyways!

I obviously don't get off the train in Winnipeg in winter, tho' OH often does and goes for a short walk if there is time. He's never mentioned having to walk on ice.

Once again, my experiences are different from others

December to March, what our street sidewalk looked like :/

Yes. We commute about 30 miles each way in southern Ontario. I think driving in winter is genuinely frightening and I see a vehicle in the ditch every week; some have just slide off the road, others have crashed hard. The ones that have slid off the road have usually done so because, in conditions of blowing snow, one cannot see where the road is. It's usual to drive with one wheel on the tarmac and one on the gravel so as to feel the way but it's easy to make a mistake and slither off. If there's a thaw then there's fog, rear lights are not used in Ontario so, if one establishes any kind of pace there's a danger of colliding with the griege thing in front. In conditions of blowing snow it's usual to pull the snowploughs off the road for the safety of the drivers. That's a great help to the rest of us who are then faced with a need to drive quickly so as to get home before the roads are impassable. After pulling the ploughs the next step is closing the roads, there's no actual indication that the roads are closed but there's now a need to drive fast, as noted, above with the bonus that a mistake will cause both an accident and a prosecution.

I think then that the OP's fear of driving is well founded. However, getting one's child frostbitten and hypothermic is, in my opinion, a worse option and I would look for a car with heated seats and a large washer fluid reservoir.