Devil Girl

Hei

My partner and I have not decided for certain where in Canada that we would like to move to.

The main things that we do need though is a good standard of education for our children, public transport and for it to be a smaller community (no more than 10,000 but ideally around 5,000 and under)

Could you recommend an area please and why (also include anything that you do not really like about the area)

Thank you in advance.

singingringingtree

After a brief flirtation with Northshore we have pretty much settled on the Heritage Woods area of Port Moody (BC). Ticks all your boxes (not sure about population figs) and is not far from Vancouver. We liked it because it's near the sea, has lakes, woods, (bears!), good facilities, activities, fairly quiet but good shopping facilities in nearby PM, also easy to get to Van by car and train (during working hours).

Houses not as cheap as elsewhere in the area, but great homes with lots of space.

dbd33

Europe.

Atlantic Xpat

Canada is big. Mind bogglingly big. No, really big, bigger than you think. (with apologies to the ghost of Douglas Adams.....)

Your question is impossible to answer without you providing more detail. Do you need to work? What job do you do? Do you like the ocean, the plains, the mountains? All of these are important. The needing to work bit the most as this will dictate where you live 99.9% of the time.

dbd33

I disagree, I don't think there's anywhere in small town Canada that offers anything that a European would recognize as "public transport". For example, Greyhound comes within five miles of us twice a week.

Atlantic Xpat

A small community could include a dormitory or satellite area of a larger conurbation though. And that would likely have it's own transport.

Your point is valid though. Life in genuine small town Canada requires at least two cars/trucks/SUV's per family.

el_richo

What he said ^^^

Apart from the Geyhound part. We have city foxes near us.

Edited to ask Devil Girl, what made you choose Canada in the first place and, after visiting, which areas took your fancy?

dbd33

It's a real issue if you have children of an age whereby they'd like some independence (and you'd like them to bugger off now and then). Unless they live in the city either a parent has to take them to everything or they have drive in some fashion that's not quite legal (unaccompanied on a provisional license, using a quad or dirt bike on the road, something like that).

Devil Girl

Thank you for your replies.

The size of the country does not bother me but I do ot want to live in an area where there are lots of people.

That is a shame that there is not a good public transport system in Canada as I cannot drive.

El_Rico, I have never been to Canada but there is something about it that has drawn me to the idea of moving there (The idea has been there for some time as well)

DBD33, My children are still young at the moment (my eldest is 5 and my twins are 3)

Edited to add, I forgot to mention about work. I would like to work from home as a photographer so I am not sure how that would affect where I live but my partner is restricted as he wants to work in conservation.

dbd33

I know lots of people who don't drive but, except for Souvenir, they all live in Toronto within the bounds of the TTC. I think the combination of Canada, not driving and not wanting to live around people is extremely limiting; your partner would have to take you everywhere. I think step one is learning to drive.

A job in conservation is another problem. I know people working for conservation authorities in Southern Ontario. It might be different elsewhere but getting their jobs required a combination of "relevant" education, e.g. a degree in forestry, and a long wait/bribery. It's not an easy field to enter and, btw, it doesn't pay a living wage.

Devil Girl

Well it is not that I do not want to live around people, just not in a city.

LOL my partner does not drive either. We really need to pass our driving test's.

You are sadly right about the conservation though. Hopefully we will be able to overcome that. It is a shame that the pay is not good as it is very important work (I am not interested in lots of money but I would like enough to get by)

Greenhill

For that set of requirements, I'd cross most of Atlantic Canada off your list.

As other have said above, small towns here typically have no public transport but you'd both also be really, extremely, limited in terms of employment opportunities and business prospects.

Unless you can get a vehicle and drivers license (or a full time driver).

mandymoochops

i'll second the needing to drive bit. Canadas small towns are exactly that - you have the stores that have the basics but if you go into photography you might need a specialist shop and to get things online takes longer than in the UK (see AX's post re distances!!!)

I needed some new art stuff at the weekend and it required a 1.5 hour drive to stock up.

Its all well and good saying that you'll get stuff in advance but it rarely works like that. How would you get to jobs if someone wanted a wedding doing???

I have only seen bus services in the bigger cities and there are no commuter trains that service the cities either.

I once harboured stupid plans of living in Drumheller and working in Calgary "its ok, i'll get a bus in" That one bus (Greyhound) ran once a week and left Drumheller at 5.30 on a Wednesday morning and returned that night at around 8pm.

Learn to drive and you will not have a miserable life out in the sticks.

Souvenir

If you don't drive, you will not be able to live somwehere where there is no public transport, not unless you live in the middle of a small town. Some small communities near big cities may well have some form of transport into the centre but the services will be very infrequent and slow.

Example. I live on the northern edge of Ottawa-Gatineau. About five miles up the road from me is a lovely little village called Chelsea. I would adore living there but I don't drive. From Chelsea you can actually see downtown Ottawa. Looking at it would be as close as you got, without a car. There are two rush hour buses a day in each direction and they take well over an hour.

Partially discharged

Is there something stopping you from driving or are you petrified of north americans who don't signal, drive slow in the fast lane and vice versa etc.