Wanting to move from YYC
 

I've been living in Alberta for the past 10 years, minus a short 10 month break where I moved back to Blighty to get married and bring my husband back here.

Lately I've been feeling the East Coast of Canada calling me. (I've chosen to ignore the constant call of Blighty, I'm never going to get over it.)

Just wondering if anyone has any advice or personal experiences on the East Coast? I'd rather not move to another big city but I'd like to be near one, particularly one with an airport.

Desperate to get out for a visit but with flights being the same as going to Blighty, it doesn't seem overly likely anytime soon!

:o

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

are you talking Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI or NL here?

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

Honestly, anywhere. I've been looking more at NL but having not been out that way at all, I don't know anything about the provinces there.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

You're living at the Calgary airport?

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

Seems quite common to live at airports these days. According to the PA announcements on BA a lot of customers live at London Heathrow airport 😛

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

No, I live in NW Calgary.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

why cant you move back to blighty???..that seems to be what you really want?

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

I'm moving to YYT :wink_smile: next week to start my new life with my Canadian wife. I have visited St. John's 3 times before. It is a truly beautiful island and I love it there. The people are amazing as well, possibly more amazing than the scenery.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

And the weather is great!

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

For ducks. Or other animals that like incessant RDF.;)

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

NL is a great place. (Despite the weather). It is beautiful, often in a harsh way, has unlimited ocean views if thats your thing. (I'd struggle I think to live far away from the ocean), friendly people, a climate that doesn't have the highs and lows of mainland Canada and more fiddle music than is healthy. It's also 3.5hrs time difference from the UK which becomes surprisingly useful in staying in touch - and in my case working with primarily London based colleagues. Access to the outdoors is easy - hiking, walking, ATV, Skidoo etc - 1000's of kms of trails and paths. St John's is a vibrant social city with surprisingly good restaurants and a legendary bar scene.

But....It's going to be more expensive to live here than YYC. Groceries cost more - they have to be shipped further & it's very noticeable when weather stops the ferries running that shelves empty quickly. Travel, anywhere is more expensive and involved than in YYC I'm sure. Getting to Halifax, for example is likely a $600 airfare r/t or a 12 hour drive, an 8 hour ferry ride and another 6hr drive. On the flip side, getting to London is a cinch with regular 4.5hr flights. Taxation is higher than AB & electricity rates are predicted to double in a few years when Muskrat Fails comes on line.

The economy is in a bit of a decline. It's very much Oil and Gas driven (like AB) so you know the impact that lower price of oil can have. Megaprojects (Hebron, Long Harbour, Muskrat Falls) are winding up which will release a ton of labour back into the market. The fishery is going down the crapper (again but probably more seriously this time) and the public sector is being cut back. (a necessary thing).

Property might be cheaper than YYC though - and prices have softened over the past year (2% decline). Can't speak for rents but suspect the same.

IMHO Success / Happiness is intrinsically linked to having adequate/good employment. So whether you want to move to NL, NS, NB or PEI, it's likely all around a job first. What do you do for a living?

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

We moved to NS last year, and I can honestly say that it was the biggest mistake we have ever made! Stay in Calgary; even in a recession it has more going for it than any of the maritime cities. Plus, there is the much-reported doctor shortage, appalling state of the roads, and an older demographic (I am at the "older end" and all the grey-hairs put me in a funk!). If AB is getting you down, then I feel that the best move for you would be back to the UK, since almost everywhere else in Canada seems to be going into the crapper!

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

The roads are indeed appalling although I have seen equally bad ones in Dorval.
Yes, what do you do for a living. If you have a career and can get a decent job here (they do exist) AND can find a doctor its a great place to live

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

New Brunswick airports do not have direct flights to UK, you always have to fly to either Halifax or Toronto. I hate the idea of flying 2 hours away from UK in order to get a direct flight, but the Halifax flights always seem to be the red-eye so if you want to fly in the day then it is off to Toronto.

I love living here, just outside Fredericton (Capital city of NB) with a population of about 60,000 - Total population of NB 740,000. But it can be hard to break into the local groups. I still don't really have any Frederictonians as friends after 11 years. I don't really care much now though :D

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

So sorry for the insanely late reply! This transition back to Canada has been... difficult.
I think it's what I want. My husband has no desire to go back at the moment having only just been here for a year now. I'm going back for a short visit without him in October to try and get some perspective on things. We're thinking in 5 years we will take a step back and really look at our options on where to live and that will have given ample time for Brexit to fully process and give a better picture of what's going on over there.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

I am so terribly sorry for the late reply! The transition back into Canada has been extremely difficult and has brought out some ugly ass mental health problems!
How did your move go? Do you still love it as much as before you moved?

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

What's the weather like out there? I heard the winters were worse than here in Calgary.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

Sorry for the extremely delayed reply Atlantic Xpat!

My husband and I both grew up on the SE coast of England and I know that I particularly struggle with being away from the ocean. I often find myself feeling trapped being in AB.
That time difference sounds very appealing. Would definitely make it so much easier to stay in touch.

That sucks about the groceries. I thought they were excessively expensive here! Travel I'm not AS concerned with. I'd mostly be going to London anyway or at least that's my biggest concern and then it's usually relatively easy and cheap to get elsewhere from London so the short flight is definitely appealing.

The economy seems to be in a decline everywhere unfortunately. As you say with the fishing over there, I don't think oil and gas is ever going to get to where it once was. Everyone here says the economy over on the east coast is absolute trash but I can never decide if that's just the greedy oil money mentality or if it really is that bad.

Property is quite expensive here for sure. From a quick browse on real estate sites it looks like we would be able to afford a great house with the sale from our current one.

I currently work for Alberta Health Services in a clerk type position but I'm on the edge of starting my own photography business, which even once started properly likely won't make much money for a good few years.
I partially agree with you on the job front for happiness.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

What was your reasoning for moving to NS though?
Nowhere in a recession is going to be good. I think it also depends on what makes you happy though. i.e. the style of life you enjoy living, what you like to do with your free time etc.
As far as I saw when I was back in Blighty the economy was in the trash and jobs were hard to find but it's a lot more expensive to live there. So would it really be better to move back there?

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

I work for Alberta Health Services in a clerk type position but it makes me miserable. The dream job is to start my own photography business, luckily something that can move anywhere but is also extremely difficult to start.
I half eye roll when people from AB tell me there aren't any good jobs out there because if it were truly as bad as people from here make it out to be, literally no-one would live there.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

I Really hope you prove me wrong but earning money in photography to keep adequate food on the table is incredibly difficult these days

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

I really like the sound of Halifax and wish to heaven I had moved to.a city with more than a handful of people. I am in NB and don't detest it, but dislike it, quite strongly on occasion and will leave when my son has finished his education.

The winter here is abominable. When I tell people in Europe that I can't see my neighbour's house over the snow banks....they laugh politely as they think I'm exagerating...but I'm not. The weather doesn't do anything half heartedly here...if it rains it buckets or it's boiling hot or freezing...the snow generally hangs about until the end of April.

If you are having mental health issues in Alberta, for heaven's sake don't bring them to NB...half of this Province seems to be permanently depressed and the other half is not far behind.

Very best of luck:thumbup:

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

There are no big cities on the east coast of Canada.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

I know! If I were going to do it full time, it would take me years to get to that point. Hopefully with enough hustle in the right direction, I'll be able to make it work :)

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

That's fine. I grew up in a small town. The only big city I really love is London but that's a special breed all of its own.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

What don't you like about it if you don't mind my asking?

Oh wow, that weather sounds insane!

Thankfully, I'm getting better. Sounds like that place needs some life thrust back into it.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

I think the problem lies with me because whilst I have lived in small places before, I have always had reasonale access to larger cities. Fredericton is a 'City' of 58,000. Moncton has more people but is a long drive for not really any benefits so Halifax at 5 hours plus driving is the only larger place. I need more people. There are often occasions when I feel that I have blundered onto the set of the walking dead.

Fredericton talks about change and can initiate studies and discussion groups in a heatbeat but there is remarkably little interest in modernization...they are proud that something has 'always been done that way'.

It's hard to have a broad based discussion on any subject because generally its just so very parochial. It just damps down your spirit a bit.

The weather is insane...an excellent word for it.

On a good note, I know all of my neighbours we all do things for one another...but that being said, I've always known my neighbours, it's unthinkable not to.

I have friends who hail from many other parts of Canada and even a New Zealand friend who had her kids in Moncton and they all tell me that Fredericton is a cliquey unfriendly place and is very unrepresentative of Canada.

So I live in hopes for the future...and so must you Kooksty :thumbup:

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

The Maritimes have a crappy economy (except possibly NL if you want to work on an oil rig) way higher taxes and much crappier infrastructure. Plus if you're really lucky, you get hit with a hurricane. Everyone moved from there to here or Toronto so not sure why you would want to move there.

If you want to move to the GTA or Ottawa there might be some sense to that but I don't think you'll like the traffic in the GTA.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

When they say there aren't any good jobs out there, they mean there aren't enough good jobs out there. Even for your clerk type position, there are likely hundreds of locals that are desperate for a steady job like that, and as many report here, there is plenty of favoritism amongst family and friends. Photography, as Stinky said, is a very unlikely proposition. Even in that, family, friends and network would be essential to make a very modest income. It may well be that you will be able to afford a better property in the Maritimes, and that it has the sea and shorter time difference, all great reasons, but be sure to investigate realistic work opportunities before taking the plunge. Especially if one you has mental health issues. There is a reason so many young maritimers end up in Alberta when they too prefer the good life.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

NS has more per 100,000 than any other province according to 2015 figures.
For several years the maritimes has come out rather well in comparisons with doctor availability.

2015. Canada per 100,000 = 228

Highest province = 261/NS. NL = 243, NB = 222.
Qc 242, On 220, AB 237, BC 232, MB 204

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

I think what they mean is there aren't enough fantastically well paying jobs to pay the fantastically inflated housing costs in those cities where the fantastically well paying job is needed to pay the fantastically inflated housing costs. (and breathe :lol:)

Fortunately the housing costs in much of the maritimes are not fantastically inflated so the fantastically well paying job is less essential.

There are, of course, universities, hospitals, finance houses, schools, federal/provincial/municipal government departments, parks departments, IT forms, building companies, industrial parks, call centres, media organisations, retail centres and all the rest of it just like anywhere else in Canada.

Fewer job vacancies at any given moment but, of course fewer job candidates for them. Partly that's smaller population, partly poor literacy rates.

20 vacancies in one top position is no advantage over 5 somewhere else if there are 200 applicants for the 20 positions and 50 for the 5.

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

There may well be a lot of doctors here in NS, but the shortage is in family physicians. The current NSHA website lists doctors in the Halifax/Dartmouth area that are taking new patients at this time, and they are all only taking pre-natal. I have only just been placed with a local physician (15 kms away!), after waiting since June 2016, and the cardiologist that the doctor has referred me to has said that I was quite lucky to get one so quickly (despite having a chronic condition).

Re: Wanting to move from YYC
 

Doctors was just my word. Physicians is the word on that source.

I think the waiting times to actually get a family doctor is long all over Canada. Whenever the subject crops up on BE it seems to affect everyone everywhere although there will always be exceptions.

At the time we moved it was about a year for my Canadian wife and her kids. When my PR came through I didn't have a waiting period. Her doc just added me :lol: