oceanMDX

Barrie is in the snowbelt! Hopefully, you always wanted to take up snowmobiling.

squarepants

Railman.....without a doubt, go for barrie, it's got a nice beach that is beautiful for boating and a skidoo if you have one. Oshawa on the other hand is the opposite, with just a GM plant to show.

Also if you in barrie, you are not far from cottage country, which can come in handy for the summer time like this, and for long weekends. Houses in Barrie aren't badly priced either. Esy access to Toronto too, via the 400 !

dingbat

Please don't shatter my illusions....the prospect of moving to ONT is all that keeps me going these days.......

railman

Thanks for the replies (squarepants & oceanMDX). We visited both places in June. We liked Barrie alot but were not sure about the work! My husband is a mechanical engineer and I am training to be a nursery assistant. We thought Oshawa might be better for work, and Barrie for housing and the beach which would be great for the children and like you say Squarepants not far from cottage country. Can't decide which one to go for we keep going round in circles thinking of the pro's and cons!

Keelie

You really wanna know? O.K.
When I first came to Canada I was often complimented on my 'Lovely British complexion'
One winter due to spouses' career, we had to spend five months in Saskatchewan.
Anyway..first morning in Kerrobert, 30 below. Out I go to pick up the
newspaper, when I felt a PING! across my cheeks ..what was that?
This was my first encounter with broken facial veins. By the time we returned to our less-severe province my face was covered in broken veins.
Now that's cold wouldn't ya say.
Fortunately a session with a dematologist and an electric zapper, and I was good as new. But I'll tell you, central heating and extreme cold is hard on delicate skin.

willmore

Barrie is really a beautiful spot. You are right in the middle of some beautiful cottage country - or you can drive further north - closer to Parry Sound is also a wonderful place for cottages. I spent many summers at Horseshoe Lake close to Parry Sound. It was truly paradise.

I have friends who live in Barrie and commute to work - they wouldn't move anywhere else - housing is relatively inexpensive, schools great (their both teachers and are very happy with the school system there) - they drive further north (I can't remember the name of lake) each summer to their cottage. Lots of activities in the winter - especially for kids.
They especially like the friendly atmosphere of the neighbourhood they built in.

squarepants

Well.....you can't really drive from Barrie to Oshawa every morning for work, that will be too much, what your husband can do though, is try and get work in Toronto, or in Guelph ( where I worked before ), there are loads of engineering jobs here, and I mean loads.

He will have to take the provincial exams though, before he can call himself an engineer. I wouldn't live in Oshawa, it's just dull in my opinion, with expensive housing in and around it, Whitby being one of them.

Barrie really rocks, we were there a few weeks ago at the beach and just walking around. The folks that built those condominiums across the street from the beach, must have made some good money, I would have loved to have one of those.

joggerjo

Hi

Not sure how it works but as soon as you pass through those mountains the weather changes. We are semi-desert here too so that accounts for our dryness. Where in the Fraser Valley are you?

JJ

oceanMDX

I would also go with Barrie, because it's so close to Wasaga Beach (at 14 km, the longest beach on a lake in the world), Blue Mountain with its ski hill (just west of Collingwood) and cottage country. Barrie's population will triple in about 30 years, as it is one of the fastest growing communities in Canada. By the way, Ontario's population is about 12,300,000.

oceanMDX

The way it works is that you are in a "rain shadow". This is where most of the precipitation falls on the windward side (western side, in BC's case) of the mountains, so that less precipitation can fall on the leeward side of the mountains (Kamloops, Kelowna).

railman

Thanks for the reply.

It's really good to know that there will be some work opportunities about when we finally land. I must correct myself my husbands a tradesman, he's a mechanical fitter to be exact. He's been on various websites such as workopolis etc and has had some feed back but it mainly comes to "come and see us when you land" - the red tape with visa's etc means he can only look when he's there. He will have to sit an exam for Red Seal. You say there is loads of engineering about? Were you on about Guelph?

Anyway thanks very much for your replies






QUOTE=squarepants]Well.....you can't really drive from Barrie to Oshawa every morning for work, that will be too much, what your husband can do though, is try and get work in Toronto, or in Guelph ( where I worked before ), there are loads of engineering jobs here, and I mean loads.

He will have to take the provincial exams though, before he can call himself an engineer. I wouldn't live in Oshawa, it's just dull in my opinion, with expensive housing in and around it, Whitby being one of them.

Barrie really rocks, we were there a few weeks ago at the beach and just walking around. The folks that built those condominiums across the street from the beach, must have made some good money, I would have loved to have one of those.[/QUOTE]

railman

Thanks for your reply, cottage country sounds lovely although we have not been yet. I was very interested in your comments about schools, that's one thing that we need to know more about. We have two children age 8 & 5. Do you mind me asking do you know anything about good schools in Barrie etc. Thanks again

railman

Thanks for your comments, we went to Wasaga Beach when we were over in June it's a lovely beach. We also went to Collingwood to look at the ski hill, we will make good use of that in the winter. Thanks again for your comments.

QUOTE=oceanMDX]I would also go with Barrie, because it's so close to Wasaga Beach (at 14 km, the longest beach on a lake in the world), Blue Mountain with its ski hill (just west of Collingwood) and cottage country. Barrie's population will triple in about 30 years, as it is one of the fastest growing communities in Canada. By the way, Ontario's population is about 12,300,000.[/QUOTE]

iaink

This is not strictly true. I am an engineer and have never taken or been asked to take the PEO exams. Only certain positions (usually involving sign off on design, or safety inspections) require PEO membership, although perhaps that will change in the future. Basically it seem to me that as long as you are supervised at some level by a PEO then you are OK.

Eventually if you want to progress in your career PEO membership is a good thing to have, but it is not a necessity for a job at present..

Iain

oceanMDX

By the way, did you tour the caves in Blue Mountain? I did a few years ago, and they were pretty neat. These caves are small and narrow, but the Indians used to use them as refrigerators to store meat as they are very cold in the deepest parts. Some of the pathways (through the caves) are little more than a foot wide, so I was too chicken to go very deep - but my brother and his daughter went to the bottom. :scared:

Nearby Niagara Escarpment offers great hiking opportunities. Sort of like mountain climbing for rank amateurs such as myself. The view from "Nottawasaga Lookout" of Nottawasaga Bay (southern part of Georgian Bay) is awesome.

The benefit of Barrie is that you are central to much of the best that Ontario has to offer, but you do get a lot of snow there. For people who are into snowmobiling, that's just another advantage.