Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Hello Expats and hopeful Expats!

We need some serious help and hope anyone can come forward with some ideas for us. Basically it's about making the decision whether to go to Toronto or Edmonton. I'll give you an idea of what we're about:

Who/What are we?
I am German and work in bilingual consumer service. My husband is English and an Assistant Network Manager at a school. He also has experience in restaurant management.

The Plan:
We want to go to Canada on the BUNAC basis and hopefully get a TW and then apply for PR once we're there.

The Predicament:
We originally planned to go to Edmonton based on my husband's qualifications (as far as I know restaurant management is on the List of jobs under pressure there so that would probably enable us to get the PR quicker... right?). However, a few weeks ago we went on holiday to Toronto and made friends with a load of people who would do anything to help us get and stay over there...

And this is where we need you help! Does the fact that we know people make a difference or should we base our decision purely on THE LISTS?
And generally, has anyone gone to Toronto/Edmonton? If so, were your experiences there good? We now have an idea of what Toronto is like (and were surprised how quickly we made friends with people in a huge place like that and how lovely everyone was) but we have no idea of what Edmonton is like...

Wow, that was a long winded message - sorry about that! I still hope some of you might be able to give us advice, please :o

Thanks in advance!

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

My main advice would be to visit Edmonton (if possible) and base your decision on your own thoughts and experience.

If not, i'm sure people will pop by here to give you their insight as to why one place is better than another :D

EDIT: Oh yeah, you may want to ask this question in the main canada forum to get a healthy debate going ;-)

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

i was born in t.o but spent many years in london. went back for 4 years, lived in annex near spadina and it was great. the extra accom costs were quickly offset by savings for working / living 'locally'. i didnt even need a car, rented occasionally and there was this great membership thing where i could pick up a share car / key about 3 streets away and i paid so much $ per km used. i love walking which helps - could get to waterfront in under 20 minutes. drawbacks - cold winters (underground city in financial district is for a good reason - had a banker friend who lived in waterfront condo thus rarely went outside in winter). the cold does rather whip off the lake and swim around the towers not so great when walking. also, if you like rural life its a bit of a drive from anywhere in greater toronto. we went by car up north in an hour to pick apples, buy organic maple syrup etc. then again, by london standards, whats an hour? i found the cost of living reasonable, central amenities good, people reasonable (ie. never felt threatened) and we had a fun neighbourhood fair every year, for big city people most are v relaxed etc. i am an ocean loving, moderate climate soul tho so we wont go back (heading for van). but we were there a few months back and it looks great - except for the interestingly changed exteriors of several major public buildings. and for all the chat i didnt notice any recession.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

If you can make friends quickly in Toronto, you should be able to make friends quickly in Edmonton. Living in either place longer-term is going to be a fair bit different than visiting it.

Go where you get work.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

That's true but you can often visit a place and tell whether you could settle there or not (long term or short term). Moving to another country is a huge milestone and in my opinion the area or place you move to should not be a guess.

Then again, it seems to work for others............ :D

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

It worked for me! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

:rofl::p

Maybe i'm just a big scaredy cat :o

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

It worked in 1956 for my aunts who moved to Edmonton but not my mother who had us back in the UK after 8 months, most of it winter. My father stayed in Canada until 1960.

It worked again for my father and I in 1963 when we returned. I really had no clue what I was coming to.

I just believed it would be better than what I left, it was.:)

The idea of coming to check a place out (a reccie) is something that I would say has only happened in the last ten to twenty years perhaps less.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Yeah, that's the problem...
In hindsight we think it would have been a lot better to come to Edmonton for our holiday to check the place out but when we booked it we didn't think that far and Toronto seemed like "the obvious choice" for a holiday for some reason... So unfortunately we will have to make our choice without being able to visit Edmonton too.

Thanks to all of you for getting back to me though - this has definitely been helpful! I hope there might be more peope with an opinion on this. Please feel free to voice it, the more the better :) Maybe someone can tell us more about Endmonton..? :thumbsup:

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Just out of interest why did TO seem the obvious choice for a Holiday?

Niagra I could (just) see, the lakes and cottages of Northern Ontario I can More than understand, Quebec or Montreal with their (relative) History :thumbsup:, the maritimes with their coastal beauty, Vancouver for similar reasons to the Maritimes PLUS (apparently) close mountain peaks, Vancouver Island, BC Interior, The Rockies all the way from Jasper to Waterton. ALL of these would be far more obvious choices than TO in my opinion.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

I won't even think about it. Toronto would be my only choice. It is to bloody cold in Edmonton. Year after year of minus 25 to 40 and snow up to your waist, soon will take it's told. plus I think IMO Toronto has so much more to see and do. Go west, or Downtown Toronto for living tho. Avoid anything above Sheppard

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Have you been to Edmonton?

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Yes thanks, the river valley is beautiful.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

How did you wade through the snow that was up to your waist:confused::p

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

I was wearing my waist high waders of course:blink:

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Yes about 8 years ago and I even when to the famous West Edmonton Mall. Its nice place in the summer. Not as good as TO. The Winters are major factor there. Not as bad a Winnipeg. But still nightmarish imo. :)

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

No denying it is cold out here in Edmonton. Couple of weeks ago it was -30. In April!! Not much snow here though I think we probably got about a foot all winter. You'll certainly get a lot more out East.

I would say it is certainly horses for courses. Edmonton is not the most stylish place in the world but the folk are friendly and compared to Toronto the property certainly is cheaper ( not cheap though, you'll want NS way for that).

I live about 4 km south of downtown close to an LRT station ( like the underground but not as high tech!!) and the house was just over $450k. Detached and plenty of space. It'll cost I fair bit more for the place we have in Toronto.

Having said that, there is more going on in Toronto. Having lived in a few cities in the UK ( and at the risk of winding folk up :) ) I would compare Toronto to London, big, sprawling but with lots going on. It isn't anyway as busy though no matter what people say. Edmonton reminds me of Newcastle, quite a tight centre then quite a large suburban area. Quite but not so happening.

It depends on what your after, if you want a more culturally stimulating life I would choose Toronto ( and I live in Edmonton!!) but I like Edmonton well enough, you just need to live in the right part.

On the plus side, although jobs in construction are slowing down the economy doesn't seem to bad here.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

I have never heard anyone that lives in Edmonton describing the winters as nightmarish. The winters are a major factor everywhere in Canada, even B.C.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

I guess the winter is what you make of it. I find although it is colder it is a dry cold. -25 here feels warmer to me then -15 out east were it is more humid.

It doesn't seem that windy here ( this week being obviously discounted :D)

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

I personally prefer winter here than winter in the UK. It's a different cold.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

I lived in Edmonton for nine years and only remember one winter that could possibly described as nightmarish.

The winter of 1968-69 and the record January cold spell 26 days in a row were the temperature never went above zero Fahrenheit, a record not yet equalled.

See attached.:eek:

As for snowfall Edmonton on average gets 48.5" three more inches annually than Toronto 45.5".

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Apparently that extra three inches would a make difference to a woman. :confused:

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

I'd be happy if I had three inches these days. :(;):p

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Then you'd be 4'11. :p

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

No I'd be 5' 8½":sneaky:

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

But I don't live in Edmonton. So this more a outsider thing. :D

You can move to different parts of Canada to find a milder form of winter. Just driving down from TO to Windsor for instants, Windsor has lot milder winter than even TO.:)

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

So once again we have a totally uninformed opinion of the weather for a given location.

Seems to happen with great regularity around here.:sneaky:

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

its kinda true - i dont see toronto as a holiday place - for long weekends yes. very liveable tho - thats what it does well. if you dress warmly and dont have a penchant for short skirts and beautiful shoes the cold isnt that bad - warmer than out west and montreal etc. region useless if you like skiing/ winter sports. you pay more for your geography - toronto is a great hub for travel. haven't been to edmonton yet. and i wouldnt live in t.o. unless i could afford central downtown - you could be anywhere once you hit the subs.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

OK, I feel like I have to explain why we went to Toronto... :o
We are a young couple so aside from visiting sights and things like that we wanted to go to a place where we can go out in the evenings a lot! We also wanted to take the opportunity to visit the CN tower, Niagara, the zoo and things like that!
Maybe my previous wording of "it seemed the obvious choice" was a bit undiplomatic and I do apologise if I have offended anyone! And I am sure there are loads of other places in Canada where we could have done all that (apart from the CN tower and maybe Niagara) but unfortunately we had to make a choice and for some reason we sheepishly decided to go to Toronto... :blink:
As for bad winters - me and my husband LOVE winter! Icy cold, huge amounts of snow, the whole shebang!! We often went to Poland and the winters there are totally amazing! I do realise that Canadian winters are probably a lot harsher but that's one of the things we are looking forward to the most - a proper winter! Or, for that matter, proper seasons!! Not like in the UK where it goes from mildly warm to mildly cold any rainy... ;)

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Are you insane?

If you want proper seasons, visit this area. You won't need to come for long to experience them all. We're having three today.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Awww, come on! You know what I mean... :p

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

I know what you think you mean but I don't know if what you think you mean is what you mean to mean.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

I am sure I know what I mean because it is me who means it but if you don't know what mean then I will be more than happy to explain it to you :D

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

No need to explain. I think we now know what each other means.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

So do I :) Nice talking to you though!! I feel like we're bonding ;)

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Good grief! I'm being chatted-up.

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

No no, please, I'm married!! :blink:

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Is gender not an issue for you two?

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Well, that's a bit of a personal question!! :blink:;)

Just to be clear, I wasn't chatting anyone up, just being nice... Nothing wrong with that I hope :D

Re: Toronto or Edmonton?
 

Don't think so. I think we're one of each (not both of us being one of each, obviously).