# Moving to Toronto from London UK



## Cicak (Aug 22, 2017)

Hi all,

I hope I can get some advice from all you good ladies and gents.

My husband, myself and our 11 years old son are thinking about moving to Toronto from London. My brother in law lives just outside Toronto and he has been living there since 1993. We have been to visit a few times and every time we go to visit we say we would like to live there. However, every time we visited was during summer, so I wonder what our opinion would be during their winter. My brother in law says that winters are not as cold or as long as they used to be 24 years ago now. He says they are much warmer and the really cold temperatures last for max 3 weeks and that's all. Well, my brother in law is usually very positive and happy go lucky, so if you have any other opinion, please let me know.

Furthermore, there are three other tings I need your help with:
1. Average salary for Senior Project Managers in Investment banks. My husband has been working for investment banks for the last 16 years. I tried hard to find what his salary would be in Toronto (permanent and contractor), but it is almost impossible to fin out. If you know anything at all, please let me know. Furthermore, my job is in PA and HR as HR Coordinator. On average, what are PA's salaries in Toronto? Again 20 percent up or down in guessing is OK. As long as I have some kind of a number so that I can figure out how much we can bring home and what our living standard could be there compare to what we have in London right now,
2. Schools and where to live. We like Oakville, Bront and South Mississauga. We also like North of Bloor Street and Beaches, but we are realistic and know we cannot afford anything there right now. How do I find out if school is good? I would look around Oakville, Bronte and South Mississauga, even though my brother in law says that we should look around Uxbridge, Pickering i Stouffville as well. However, my husband likes rowing and we would really like to be near the lake, however, we are open to all options.
3. And finally, the quality of their National health Services. Is it as 'good' as current UK NHS is or is it better? We are lucky to have BUPA private in UK as well, even though we use NHS most of the time, but if we really want to see specialist within 2 or 3 days we go BUPA. We know there is no private option in Canada, so please let me know your opinion and experience regarding National Health. I have some auto immune chronic illnesses for which I need one year and 6 months check up. I wonder how would that be using national health and not private (currently most of my checks are still done using private).

4. Any other information you think I should be aware of.

Thank you very much for all your help.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

Cicak said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I hope I can get some advice from all you good ladies and gents.
> 
> My husband, myself and our 11 years old son are thinking about moving to Toronto from London. My brother in law lives just outside Toronto and he has been living there since 1993. We have been to visit a few times and every time we go to visit we say we would like to live there. However, every time we visited was during summer, so I wonder what our opinion would be during their winter. My brother in law says that winters are not as cold or as long as they used to be 24 years ago now. He says they are much warmer and the really cold temperatures last for max 3 weeks and that's all. Well, my brother in law is usually very positive and happy go lucky, so if you have any other opinion, please let me know.



They may be shorter and warmer but even if they are not, he has become used to them as you likely would too. Once you become used to them you notice them less which skews your perspective.




> 1. Average salary for Senior Project Managers in Investment banks. My husband has been working for investment banks for the last 16 years. I tried hard to find what his salary would be in Toronto (permanent and contractor), but it is almost impossible to fin out. If you know anything at all, please let me know. Furthermore, my job is in PA and HR as HR Coordinator. On average, what are PA's salaries in Toronto? Again 20 percent up or down in guessing is OK. As long as I have some kind of a number so that I can figure out how much we can bring home and what our living standard could be there compare to what we have in London right now


No idea about your husband. As for you, what is a PA? There are HR jobs everywhere and, provided you have some sort of qualification, you should be qualified to work in HR.






> 2. Schools and where to live. We like Oakville, Bront and South Mississauga. We also like North of Bloor Street and Beaches, but we are realistic and know we cannot afford anything there right now. How do I find out if school is good? I would look around Oakville, Bronte and South Mississauga, even though my brother in law says that we should look around Uxbridge, Pickering i Stouffville as well. However, my husband likes rowing and we would really like to be near the lake, however, we are open to all options.



Oakville is expensive. Areas to the east of Toronto are generally a bit cheaper than those to the west.

As for schools, things are different here than in the UK. Generally, you simply enroll your child at the school closest to your home (each school has a set geographical area from which its students come). And for the most part, our schools are very similar. Schools in poorer areas might not be as good but, generally, schools in middle class and upper middle class areas will be of roughly the same quality.





> 3. And finally, the quality of their National health Services. Is it as 'good' as current UK NHS is or is it better? We are lucky to have BUPA private in UK as well, even though we use NHS most of the time, but if we really want to see specialist within 2 or 3 days we go BUPA. We know there is no private option in Canada, so please let me know your opinion and experience regarding National Health. I have some auto immune chronic illnesses for which I need one year and 6 months check up. I wonder how would that be using national health and not private (currently most of my checks are still done using private).


There is no national health service in Canada. We have socialized medicine, but healthcare is a provincial responsibility. I find it good as my family and I have always had excellent care. Yes, it might take a while to get an appointment with a specialist for some things (the first appointment especially, subsequent ones not so much) but that is part of the fairness of the system - those with more serious issues are seen before those with more minor issues. Some people complain about that but, personally, I think someone with cancer should go ahead of me in the line when all I need is a simple hernia surgery (I use that example because I had a hernia operation postponed so that the surgeon could operate on someone with cancer).

There can often be long waits in emergency rooms at hospitals, but that is mainly due to too many idiots treating them as if they were family doctors. During flu season every year there are news reports about long waits and you always see people complaining about being in the emergency room for hours. But when asked why they are there they describe nothing more serious than a bad cold or a mild flu. They are too clueless to understand that they, and others like them, are the cause of many of the problems with wait times.


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## Cicak (Aug 22, 2017)

Thank you for your message. PA is personal assistant, secretary, executive assistant etc. I would look for part time job to start with.
Thanks for all other info. I really appreciate it. We have been to Toronto 4 times now and we really like it not just the city, but area around it too. I know that Oakville is expensive, but we can just afford it and we like the way it looks and it feels a bit European too with a little boutique shops and cafe bars etc. That said, it does not have to be Oakville, it can be somewhere else that we like like Bronte, South of Mississauga and perhaps even east of the City as you suggested.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

Cicak said:


> Thank you for your message. PA is personal assistant, secretary, executive assistant etc. I would look for part time job to start with.
> Thanks for all other info. I really appreciate it. We have been to Toronto 4 times now and we really like it not just the city, but area around it too. I know that Oakville is expensive, but we can just afford it and we like the way it looks and it feels a bit European too with a little boutique shops and cafe bars etc. That said, it does not have to be Oakville, it can be somewhere else that we like like Bronte, South of Mississauga and perhaps even east of the City as you suggested.



Bronte is in Oakville, it is just a neighborhood in Oakville. 

Look at Burlington too - right next door (you just cross a street to get from Oakville to Burlington) but slightly less expensive.


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## Cicak (Aug 22, 2017)

Thank you


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