Having lived in Ontario for many years now, I would suggest the following cities towns:
Ottawa - Just over a million people, lots of francophones but you can get by with only english. Housing is a touch more expensive than North Bay but definitely less than Toronto. Great deals can be found in the surrounding countryside though. Great schools, and lots of highly educated people. In terms of work, you can try to get into the Federal service through a temp agency and eventually become a permanent (PR holders are usually accepted as well as citizens).
Kitchener-Waterloo-Guelph: population of around 300,000, historically a german-canadian centre and has relics of this with a huge oktoberfest and mennonite/amish markets. Once again, real estate within the city and suburbs are expensive, but country acreage within driving distance is affordable. Lots of high tech companies (Apple, Google, you name it) have branches here, so therefore lots of educated and intelligent people. Schools are also excellent. Work is not exclusively in high-tech though.
Georgetown -Orangeville: these cities are both around the same size as North Bay but the difference is that they are affluent suburbs of Toronto. Great schools, and for Georgetown, you can take the train into Toronto for work.

Hope this helps, Cheers.

I wouldn't call Georgetown or Orangeville affluent suburbs..
I would suggest they would be better considered as closer affordable commuter towns when compared to the Kitchener Waterloo Guelph region.

When I was 5 we moved south from Co Durham. My teacher insisted I was Irish as I came from a place that had "county" in the name and because I spoke funny. I was very upset and shouted at him that I couldn't be Irish as we had travelled on a train to the new town. He didn't like the shouting much.

This was a very, very long time ago of course, so small town Canada = small town England in 1960??

small town Canada = small town Ireland, innit?

Not knowing that England is indeed in Europe isnt a surprise...apparently 60% of Americans dont know where the USA is on a map...even more did not know that London was in the UK let alone was the capital city..and some where spellbound by the fact the currency in the UK isn't the American dollar...so its not just a Canadian thing!

I know they say only 10% of North Americans own a passport, as if that's bad thing.

Social Studies here (history and geography all mixed up) repeats the same ol', same ol' Canadian history. My kids have been here five school years and are bored s***less with it. It's not the schools' fault I suppose that they only have a few hundred years to cover. I think they once did a project on China for about three weeks.

In Grade 5, Daughter Number One wanted to know when they would be studying Henry VIII or the Second World War. I explained old Henry had little influence on Canadians or their history so it was unlikely she would ever study Henry VIII. Her little face fell. I pointed her in the direction of some books on the shelf at home. I hope we might touch on the Second World War on another project for three weeks, sometime in the future.

On the other hand, I've never known kids to raise as much money for others, help out others, think of others and generally want to be involved in so much stuff. Smaller communities really do "do" stuff for each other.

Swings and wotsits?

That's not a feature of small towns. I recall my kids (who went to school next to Maple Leaf Gardens) complaining that they had to study the Plains of ****ing Abraham yet again because Canadians have no history. I asked why, if there was so little to study, they didn't always get 100%, but that was thought unhelpful.

I often hear people in the UK use to term "Europe" to refer to mainland/continental Europe.

My bro used to run a dairy farm about ten miles out of Plymouth. One of the locals, an old guy, had never been to Plymouth.

Going into the village pub was an experience. The conversation just stopped.

a wise old man indeed

I never studied english history at all in english school, it was history of medicine, history of the american west etc. Why should school history focus on national history?

My better halfs university education is in History, none of its Canadian history despite attending 3 canadian universities plus time overseas.

Canada does tend to be rather inward looking in general, happy to compare itself to its southern neighbour and little else. I suppose its enivitable given its looming presence, both economic and cultural.

And yes, small towns really are about community. In part because they know no other bugger is going to help out so if something needs doing they had better muck in and get it done.

And in part because everyone is family. Close family.

Inculcation, especially with so much immigration. The BC grade five curriculum is particularly bad.