scilly

But then one has to watch out for the cost of living in the Lower Mainland, and in some places on Vancouver Island.

Vancouver has been unusually cold for the month of February .............. I was amazed at the amount of snow that is still lying on the ground when we went out this morning. The dirty grey pile in the mall parking lot was still about 4' high!

But then dry and cold feels a lot better as a change from wet and 5-7C warmer!

As far as I am aware (from experience of friends living in Nanaimo), many people living on VI have to go to Victoria for many areas of specialist treatment, so that might be something for the OP to be aware of.

I wonder if NZ might not be a better fit??

dbd33

As noted above, Windsor would work. It's as unfashionable a destination as exists but, because of that, one can have a lot of house, a relatively mild climate, and immediate access to all that Detroit has to offer.

carcajou

I would add to that list, Quebec and most of British Columbia.

I'm not sure how much research OP has done on this.

The options appear to be Vancouver, with the caveat that if one isn't used to a Pacific Northwest winter, it can get very, very miserable even without snow and freezing temperatures.

Or the Golden Horseshoe, already noted as not a glamour destination.

caretaker

The Okanagan is nice, but you have to either drive and leave your car or take a connecting flight to Vancouver for overseas travel. They were building a big addition to the hospital in Penticton last year.

Former Lancastrian

Ohhhhhhhh you might get people from the GTA, Hamilton and Niagara Falls disagreeing with this

boiali

Thanks for the replies...actually they make Canada more interesting somehow. I am the only one who doesn't particularly like snow (so was 4 against 1) and I would like to believe I am fairly adaptable having lived in 3 countries (europe/Africa). We did consider New Zealand but in the end decided it is way too far from family in the Caribbean. Toronto would be ideal as its a 5 hr direct flight to the parents but I discounted it as its a big city and expensive.

christmasoompa

As above, BC is really your only option if you want a temperate climate. But one question that hasn't been asked is do you have a visa already? If not, do you need a job offer to get a visa? Just that if that's the case, choosing where to live may be a bit of a moot point, as you'll just have to go wherever you can find a sponsoring employer and LMIA.

peasmold

We considered the Okanagan when we moved from Alberta but decided against it for the following reasons 1..There is a shortage of water during the summers (the Okanagan is at the north end of the Sonoran desert). 2.Winters tend to be gloomy and depressing, with heavy clouds hanging in the valley.3.Forest fires are an increasing problem. 4.The road down the west side of the lake is narrow and can't be widened because of the steep cliffs bordering parts of it.5.Some properties are on First Nations land so you don't get a freehold, just a leasehold which can be changed after you've bought the property.
I would caution against anywhere in interior BC because of the continuing and growing number of forest fires. This seems to be exacerbated not only by global warming but because of huge infestation of mountain pine beetle killing large areas of the forests.Apart from losing your home or simply being forced to leave it because of a mandatory evacuation order, smoke inhalation is a serious health problem even a long way from a major fire. We've had very few fires around Comox but even here,several hundred miles away from some of the fires in the interior of the province,about three years ago, we could smell the smoke from forests burning.

scilly

You're lucky if you only smelt it 3 years ago ..............

last summer was the worst year for wood smoke hanging over Vancouver, the Lower Mainland AND parts of Vancouver island, since they stopped burning slash (the stuff left over from cut blocks) about 40 years ago.

It's the thing you live with anywhere in Canada at the moment, not just BC ......... every province has had bad forest fires for the last couple of years

dbd33

It's an expensive airport in terms of fares, taxes and fees. An advantage of being in the milder climate down near Windsor is the option of using the Detroit airport.

printer

What a load of BS. "A shortage of water"? Really? Which friend of a friend did you hear that from? This is simply not true, i have lived here for 12 years and never had a water issue and that includes irrigating the lawns all summer!
Secondly nobody has to buy on leased land, Native or otherwise but if you do the price is usually reduced accordingly, having said that there are some developments that seem to be priced on the high side considering they are leased on native land yet they sell, it seems, without issue. There are literally thousands of homes available freehold throughout the Okanagan.
Thirdly the Westside Road is a great drive at the right time of year and some sections have already been widened but can be an issue in mid winter. This road is not a highway and does not have to be used to drive between Vernon and Kelowna, its a scenic alternate route for nicer days unless you live on it. Buying a property halfway between Vernon and Kelowna on this road is probably not advisable if you have to commute regularly.
Yes forest fires are a big problem but last summer there was nowhere to go to get away from it, almost the whole of BC and Vancouver Island were eventually affected as was great sections of the US so you really cannot just blame the Okanagan.
The winters can be grey and plenty of low cloud but we do have sunny days and if the weather is poor in town head up to the ski hill for a blue sky day, even if its just for a drive and a wander. Spring can start early, we have witnessed golf courses in Penticton opening late February but its also possible to still get snow in March. One things for sure the climate is much more favourable than other parts of Canada and we don't get extreme humidity in summer like some areas.

Vulcanoid

1. Uh, well - there's a shortage of rain, yes. This is often a plus point when people move to the desert (ok, semi-arid) It's not like people having to use stand-pipes, or even being told "Pools closed, you gotta swim in the lake"
2. Oh, if you think winters are gloomy in the Okanagan, you've forgotten Britain after 3 months in the UK, arriving late-October, my Okanagan-raised partner was crying out how "everyone here is translucent as they try desperately to generate vitamin D!". Although he was simultaneously impressed and disturbed at the ability to go outside in a t-shirt in December. And even comparing to elsewhere in Canada, at least you can go outside in an Okanagan winter. I actually found it really depressing in Winnipeg, seeing a blue sunny sky outside, but knowing that if I so much as opened a door I'd have tears streaming for about 5 seconds before they started to freeze to my cheeks.
3. Forest fires are an increasing problem literally everywhere with forests. I seem to recall a small town in Alberta being evacuated en masse a few years ago, with RCMP escorting convoys through a column of fire? And even the west coast of Vancouver island had a fire ban last summer, everywhere was so hot and dry.
4. I presume you're talking about Westside road (the northern section, from West Kelowna to Vernon)? Well, yes, that's the minor road, the highway's on the east side of the lake at that point. If you want 110kph and 3 lanes you've crossed the bridge. West Kelowna down to Penticton is largely highway on the west side (and at that point, the east side only has forest service roads over Okanagan Mountain or linking up with McCulloch)
5. Yes, some places are leases not freehold. This is a feature of western property ownership, you decide the one you want and use that to rule in or out various properties. A far weirder feature is that in Canada as a whole, a 99 year lease seems to be considered "long" (I think ones that short are done for some new builds in Britain as well, but I'd normally only ever seen ones that were remainder of 499 or 999 until I moved here).

confused_uk

Moses2013

Depending where you are in the UK of course and every winter is different:-). Stats show that Kelowna for example is one of the cloudiest places in Canada and if you look back the past 30 years, even a place like Edinburgh got on average more sunshine hours between November-January. February would be roughly the same but I think anybody moving for weather reasons should basically avoid most of Northern Europe (even parts of Southern Europe ) & Canada.

Winters will be long anywhere (shorter days) and there's always something to complain about. Because it's so mild for this time of the year, people are complaining that they have to cut the grass, so nothing will ever be right. Lisbon is pretty mild right now, so maybe a better choice than Canada or UK, if there is work of course

Atlantic Xpat

Similarly the weather in Newfoundland doesn't have the extremes of high and low that "mainland" Canada suffers. Not sure I'd recommend it as a place to move though if you are looking for a mild climate. It's a place one lives, despite the weather rather than because of it. :-)