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.

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.

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.

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 )

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

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.

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

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

I'd be happy if I had three inches these days.

Then you'd be 4'11.

No I'd be 5' 8½"

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

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.

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

Seems to happen with great regularity around here.

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.

OK, I feel like I have to explain why we went to Toronto...
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...
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...

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.