Hi all, I had posted this earlier but the thread went off the rails so hope someone can help us.

We really have gone round in circles here, but we have eventually booked flights to toronto for mid oct. I think Iaink's "#1 town in the #1prov in the # country" quip has got us thinking about this region, that and the cheap flights i just got with canadian affair. But i can tell you, all of the places you have suggested have been on the top of our lists at some time or other. I think what we`re most worried about is Gary finding a job, hes too old to be a pizza delivery boy! and has never relly fancied taxi driving, but he is fairly willing to do most things until we find our feet. Its almost impossible to find any jobs that match his description on the web, and we`ve been told we need to be there PRs in hand before he would be offered any employment in his field.
We thought Toronto was as good a place as any to start with, we've got a car for 2 weeks and were going to go to Ottawa, maybe Montreal, just to see it, and check out some surrounding areas,oh and not forgetting niagra falls. We`re going to look at Barrie, Belleville,Kingston,oshawa just for starters as places to live, as we`re pretty certain we`re going to settle in Ontario.
Also have a friend of a friend in Rice lake area so could meet with them. We`ve got 2 young children so want to make it fun for them aswell, any suggestions? If anyone has any useful info, must see places/places to avoid for sightseeing and for migrating to we would be most grateful.
I know the question "where to go?" is a toughy because everyone is different and has different needs, but i think sometimes people just need a bit of direction, and theres nothing like hearing it from the horses mouth.
Thanks again for all your replies.
Jo & Gary

I guess it depends on the weather, but if it stays as nice as it is currently into October then definately go further north and see some lakes and trees. If you are in the general Toronto area and heading north to check out Barrie then keep going north on the 400 and go somewhere close like Midland on Georgian Bay or Wasaga Beach and you can see some impressive scenery and it's only a couple of hours away.

For a place to live it will all depend on where you tihnk your job will be and how fond you are of commuting. For example a popular and ever expanding commuter town for Toronto is Newmarket which is about 70km north of the city and is serviced by both highway 400 and the 404 and the Go train and busses etc. I used to live there and worked downtown and it took me 2 hours door to door to get to work, and that was taking the GO train so no traffic. The train it's self takes just over an hour to get to union station but then, unless you work right near the station you have to add on the time of a subway or bus ride or walk etc. Barrie is about as far again north and the GO train doesn't currently go to Barrie, although there are plans to extend it, however currently it's either a bus to meet up with the train in Bradford or a drive down the 400 with rushour traffic.

There are basically three commuting directions people live in. North you run up through Thornhill and Richmondhill with Markham out east of there. Then it runs up into Aurora and Newmarket and then further up into Barrie on Lake Simcoe. If you go west you have Mississauaga and Oakville and Burlington with Brampton to the north and then all the way out west to Hamilton. If you go East there are places like Oshawa and Kingston and Bellville and quite a few smaller towns out east along the lake. the GO train goes as far west as Hamilton and East I think as far as Oshawa. There are also seperate trains up to Richmond hill and Brampton etc.

There are a zillion small towns across Ontario that would be great to live in but the problem is once you get too far to commute to Toronto you have to bank on getting a local job which is tricky. Possibily easier to do once you have become established here and can job search further out. There is the whole of southern Ontario too with London and Waterloo and so forth but again too far to commute to Toronto.

Drew

If you are thinking of ontario, dont get sucked into the Toronto as the center of the universe thing. Lots of people in ontario do not work in Toronto, and therefore dont have to live in the relatively expensive areas that are within commuting distance, although many are drawn to Toronto Ottawa etc.

Sure there are fewer jobs available in the quieter smalltown areas, bur then there are fewer people competing for them as well. It all depends how much big city excitement you think you need in your life I suppose.

Well since you are all geared up for Ontario, then what you should be looking at are areas a bit smaller than toronto, perhaps you should start by having alook in areas such as Kingston or Belleville, there is some really pretty country side out that way. Going north of toronto is going to give a bit of a commute somewhere! Depends on what you and your family like, and what you do in your spare time. What you will be doing for work. But it never hurt to at least look at some of these places.

Or move to Nova Scotia!!

We are deffinately going to be looking at these places, we never wanted to live in Toronto itself, we live quite near London, England now and we want to get away from big noisy grimey cities. Kingston and Belleville are really appealing, so was Nova Scotia at one time but am not sure about work. We have been all around the houses in our search for somewhere to relocate, and we thought southern Ontario is as good a place as any to start.
Jo & Gary

Don't forget the Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, London area - lots of things to do.....in the KW area - the farmers' market is always a real blast and driving through the small towns such as Elmira (great shopping), St. Jacobs (to see the Mennonites) and outlet stores.....Conestoga......, Hespeler and Preston use to have great factory outlet stores and beautiful area to drive through.....don't know if it still is though....but I'm sure someone can tell you. Guelph is a really beautiful area to just drive through for the scenery - don't forget to drive through the university grounds.....really beautiful. This area are known for their great german food - ribs, pig tails, sauerkraut and beer.......if you are in the area in October.....there's Octoberfest......with drinking, food and dancing at many of the pubs....a really great area - I spent most of my growing up years there. This area has been discussed on one of the other threads and I will try to find it for you....as I'm sure I'm missing alot of things since I've been away for a number of years now.

If I were coming over in this situation (I didnt have to look for an areas, I came to a specific location for a job), I would definately rent for a year or so before buying anywhere, just in case its not what you thought it would be. It also gives you a chance to see if you get the job you want/ need to be happy in that area, and it allows you to get inside knowledge of where is good / not so good area for your individual needs.

Second thing is not to decide the whole immigration thing was a huge mistake and head back to the UK if it doesnt turn out as you expected, before you try at least one other area of Canada. Remember that Canada is huge and there are plenty of other places to try.

The important thing to bear in mind is that no amount of research is going to find you the perfect place every time. I suspect that all these places start to look much like each other on any fact finding tour after a while, and its hard to judge general quality of life by looking. I guess people are influenced by the people they meet in these places, and what they see of the property market, and how generally they are well recieved while talking to prospective employers. I wouldnt take the #1 place line too seriously, I was just making a point about how hard it is to compare. A lot of the reason for that #1 rating was due to relatively low property costs here relative to the GTA, rather than becasue it has better services or facilities or quality of life than anywhere else I think, besides it was a while ago now. By all means come and visit, but the streets here look like all the others, and there is no mystical aura to behold hanging over the place

Iain

PS: Joelsa, technically southern ontario would be places like Niagara or Windsor, the bit along the lake East of Toronto is refered to over here as SouthEastern Ontario, and further East (Kingston, Ottawa etc is Eastern Ontario I guess.

Hi,


Glad you've decided on a province! I think Barrie might be a good place for you. I lived there for a few months and it seems very family friendly. It is actually the fastest growing town in Canada, so I think there are lots of jobs springing up there.

The great thing about Barrie is that even though it's big it still feels like a small town. It is about an 1hr north of Toronto via the 400 (or less time if you drive FAST!). It's really close to some beautiful places, like Georgian Bay (Wasaga Beach, longest fresh water beach in the world!) and the blue mountains (more like hills, but great for skiing and snow tubing!). Plus Barrie its self is right on lake Simcoe.

I don't think finding a job there would be that hard and there are lots of good schools.

Good Luck!!

Int