Re: newbie seeking advice
 

thanks lynpy
:thumbsup:

Re: newbie seeking advice
 

Alberta and Nova Scotia are vastly different in many respects. Right now, Alberta is in the midst of another boom. In fact, a lot of folk from the maritime provinces of eastern Canada have moved up here for work because there are a lot more jobs and, in many cases, the pay rates are higher. Nova Scotia folks are very nice people - never met one I didn't like. Some other factors to consider are housing costs (check mls.ca, the main real estate site for Canada), provincial tax rates (Canadian pay provincial as well as federal tax on income and the rates vary from province to province), provincial sales tax (we have GST, like VAT, but every province except Alberta also has its own sales tax levy). Coming from the UK, you'd probably find the distances you often have to travel in Alberta a bit intimidating. Nova Scotia is more scenic and not such a mad house of traffic. Health care costs can be pretty hefty - not like the NHS - but the basic Alberta Health Care premium is being waived as of January 2009. Depends what kind of life style you're looking for but you might want to weigh a whole lot of factors such as climate, education, cost of living, rental availability etc and do some comparisons.

Re: newbie seeking advice
 

Yeah I did some very simple searches on real estate in Alberta v Nova Scotia and your right the differentials are amazing. Alberta has its attractions particularly like you say with employment. However Nova Scotia is attractive as the distances between places are more 'English' if you know where I'm coming from and you get more for your money. Although I note the local taxes are higher but I don't think as high as Ontario where we went on a recce last year when visiting relatives. I think that's what sold Canada to my OH.