# some advice on the best areas for young famileys please



## bethsdad (May 11, 2011)

Hi everyone, I’m new on here and looking for some advice please, 

My wife and I are in the process of moving to Canada, our visa applications have been lodged and we hope to be over in the next 18 months or so. 

The only problem is nailing down where we want to settle. 
I know this must be the most asked question on the boards but I would like real people’s experiences of where they live, 



We have a few ideas but were hoping to get some advice from people living in the areas we were looking at. Or if anyone could suggest an alternative. 


Ideally we need to be close to a good school for our 4 year old daughter. A good education for her is one of the most important things for us. 

We would like to be close enough to a big(ish) city so we can commute to work but far enough out so that there is still a nice small town family feel to the neighbourhood. 

We like the outdoors and we would like to get our daughter sking 

We are looking for good work life balance and a slightly slower pace of life would probably suit my personality. 

And we don’t want to spend our entire earnings on a mortgage 



We would also like to know about house prices, taxes and availability of work in different areas, My wife works in insurance and I’m a stonemason (well that’s my job title in the UK, I work with granite & marble) 
I have kind of been offered a job in south Ottawa. 

We’ve looked at places from the East to West coast and every where has their merits. 

We’ve looked at Vancouver but the 2 main things that have put us off is the price of property and the fact there could be a massive earthquake. So we thought about Kamloops? 
Other areas we have thought about are 

Edmonton 
Moncton 
Peel 
Halifax 

We do not necessarily want to move to the obvious areas so any suggestions/advice would be warmly welcomed. 

Thanks for your help in advance


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## patient man (Feb 14, 2010)

bethsdad said:


> Hi everyone, I’m new on here and looking for some advice please,
> 
> My wife and I are in the process of moving to Canada, our visa applications have been lodged and we hope to be over in the next 18 months or so.
> 
> ...


we were in the same position when we applied originally looked at Ontario as I have family there, finally settled in a small community in NS 30 mins from Halifax friendly people and slow pace of life, not the richest Provence, as for house prices you can buy a nice 4 br house for $160000 /£90000 depending on the area you buy the cost of living is on par with the UK and in some things more more expensive but thats life as for jobs i landed a job within 3 days of landing and there is plenty of jobs if you are willing to work Best of luck :juggle:


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## bethsdad (May 11, 2011)

patient man said:


> we were in the same position when we applied originally looked at Ontario as I have family there, finally settled in a small community in NS 30 mins from Halifax friendly people and slow pace of life, not the richest Provence, as for house prices you can buy a nice 4 br house for $160000 /£90000 depending on the area you buy the cost of living is on par with the UK and in some things more more expensive but thats life as for jobs i landed a job within 3 days of landing and there is plenty of jobs if you are willing to work Best of luck :juggle:



Thanks for the info, the only thing my wife worries about with NS is that it might be too quiet. She's read a lot a few articles saying there isn't as much to do there as ather provinces.

At the moment I think i'm torn between Kamloops and Halifax. But saying that the only job offer i have is in Ottawa. 

I'm sure we'll change our mind a few times over the comming months


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## ClaytonP (Apr 15, 2011)

Hey there,

If skiing is a high priority, you'll have to head out west, and I don't know much about living out there. But, if you want to live near a big city, take a look at Caledon, Uxbridge, Stouffville or Ashburn. They're all about an hour drive from Downtown Toronto (with traffic) and Stouffville has a train that runs downtown. The houses are more expensive, but it's a small town feel, good schools, and there is skiing in Collingwood, just northwest (tiny hill compared to Western Canada). 

The commute downtown can be hard, but it's easy to get away to the Muskokas on the weekends and go camping.

Tough call, you really need to find someone who knows the Vancouver area well and pick their brains.


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