Ottawa Info
 

I'm currently thinking (note thinking) of leaving Victoria and moving my family to Ottawa. With my wife being French there would be a lot more opportunity for her there rather than here in Victoria. So, apart from the ongoing transit strike and the cold/snow, I'd be happy to get some info about Ottawa from others who either live or have lived there.

I'm looking for things like:

1. Nice areas vs Places to avoid
2. Cost of initialling renting a 3 bedroom place for our first year
3. Any other advice you could possibly think of that would be helpful

I've spoke to a couple of people here about Ottawa and they've seemed overall positive about it.

Many thanks in advance.

Re: Ottawa Info
 

Places to avoid .... Vanier in the east.

Renting a 3 bed townhouse will set you back from $1200-$1500 per month, depending on whether you go through a property management company or privately.

If you could be a bit more specific about your requirements in terms of job location, housing, schooling, etc I can probably give you a bit more help. I've been here in Ottawa a year and I really like it - after 2 years in the boonies up north, it's a very positive change!! There's a fair bit going on in the city, but it does have a bit of a reputation for being a very conservative city, full of government drones, lol!

There are others on here who are in Ottawa and surrounding areas, so plenty of help available! :)

Re: Ottawa Info
 

Many thanks for that. Would you happen to know a good website to check out rental accomodation in Ottawa?
I've been using workopolis for job searching (monster.ca as well, I'm pleased I never registered after what happened today), however, are there any specific Ottawa job sites you'd recommend? It seems to me that employment agencies are quite prevalent, would you know if they are worth signing up to?

There are some parts of Victoria which are conservative with a capital 'C', so we're used to it now! Many thanks again.

Re: Ottawa Info
 

What line of work are you looking for? As for job sites, monster, workoplis and the fed government job site seem to be the ones used most. it all depends really on what line of work you're in as to where to look, eg. if healthcare, then best to check the Ottawa Hospitals site. Not sure about agencies to be totally honest as I've never used one.

Rental sites: http://www.mintorentals.com/ottawa/
http://www.clvgroup.com/rentals/index.cfm
http://www.viewit.ca/City/Ottawa.aspx
http://www.paramountapts.com/

Also check out: http://www.ottawakiosk.com/
http://ottawa.kijiji.ca/
http://www.usedottawa.com/
http://ottawastart.com/events.php
http://ottawa.ca/index_en.html

Hope this helps!

Re: Ottawa Info
 

This will definitely help us as we are hopefully moving to Ottawa this summer

Cheers for the rental websites

Re: Ottawa Info
 

One thing to think about in Ottawa if you are thinking of looking for temp jobs for example is security clearances - anything involving government even if just a two-week admin job often requires a security clearance. Worth contacting temp agencies in advance if you going to be considering anything like this type of job. My OH found this a big problem when we first arrived - kept getting good temp jobs (e.g. at Bank of Canada) then not being allowed to take them because they couldn't get a security clearance.

Speaking French is a big plus for employment in this town - will open up lots of job opportunities, and not just in government. There's also less competition as there are plenty of jobs some people can't apply for because they don't speak French. Particularly the case for jobs involving marketing, communications, admin etc., probably much less so for techy type jobs. You don't have to have French to work here by any means, but it makes life a lot easier.

Ottawa is great by the way, can offer a really good quality of life in terms of good housing costs, lots of good places to eat, outdoor stuff in summer and winter, close to Montreal if you need a bigger city. Fact that it is a government town does tend to make it go to bed a bit early at times, and I moved here from London, UK so I do notice that a bit. But there is definitely life here - you just have to look a bit harder for it.

Winter does suck though. ;) And the transit strike may never end...

Re: Ottawa Info
 

Many Thanks everyone. Just a couple of questions. How do you go about getting a security clearance, do you need a govt. dept to apply on your behalf or can the agency apply for you? Is it a long process, and would a permanent resident struggle to get a cleareance over a citizen?

My wife's line of work is really in marketing & communication and that's the area she's looking for work, so any links to that type of work would be helpful. A bilingual job in that area would be ideal. I'm involved in operating a B2B website, so I'd probably be looking at the area of website marketing, SEO.

Size wise Ottawa sounds really good for us, in that it's a large city with a good quality of life but not an over-sized, invisible metropolis.

Actually, people wise... do you find people generally friendly, helpful and open or a bit-inward, never smile much?

Re: Ottawa Info
 

Yes, generally your employer will have to apply; I believe once you have a clearance that changing jobs is fairly painless, but getting it in the first place is not.

Yes. My Secret clearance took about six months and is restricted to areas that aren't 'Canadian eyes only', which doesn't affect me but might well prevent you from working in government jobs... I doubt you'd get any clearance above Secret either, unless you've lived in Canada for years.

Re: Ottawa Info
 

Not necessarily. Some stuff is Canadian/US/Brit/Aus/NZ eyes only.

Re: Ottawa Info
 

I agree with Trish - avoid Vanier and expect to pay around $1200-$1500.
We rented for the first year (they don't allow six-month tenantship for some reason) while we looked for somewhere to settle. We paid $1250 monthly for a semi-detached house with a nice garden and three bedrooms, quite central to shops, restaurants and pubs. We then moved out of town when we bought a place, and there's a nice bungalow around the corner with a For Rent sign - I'll PM you with the 'phone number so you can give them a ring just to get an idea of costs.
I've only lived in Ottawa (or just outside) and love it, but I've never been to BC or TO to compare.
Winter is harsh here. We had a 15-20cm dump yesterday. Summer is sticky. Right now public transport is into the 51'st day of a strike.
But I'll put up with that for the summer motorcycle rides in Gatineau, the winter skating on the canal, the less than three hour drive to Lake Placid. The Ottawa Market is fun - during days for breakfast or lunch, and shopping, during night for clubbing at the Rainbow.

Anyway - off topic I need to brag a bit. Today 29JAN2009 I hit 1,095 days of physical presence. And you all know what that means!

Re: Ottawa Info
 

Yes, it means you'll now be scrambling to remember the dates of all your trips outside Canada during the last few years.

To save you the trouble of starting threads in the coming months:

1) application processing times vary enormously

2) the test is a piece of piss; if you can't pass it, you should be in residential care

Re: Ottawa Info
 

Thanks, Souv, actually I don't need to do the test... I'm age challenged ;)... but the CIC website has a calculator where you can record all the trips outside Canada and it allows for them when it calculates.

Re: Ottawa Info
 

You mean you're old? Have you got your bus pass yet? Not that it would be of much use.

Re: Ottawa Info
 

LOL!
Nah - I'm 37 in hex. Only the computer-literate will understand what I mean.

Re: Ottawa Info
 

:rofl::rofl::rofl: