# Ontario



## minko (Sep 29, 2009)

Hi, 
I am new to this forum. My young family and I are currently living in France - but are wishing very much to re-locate to Canada.

I have been researching Ontario. It looks exceptionally beautiful, and seems like there is a lot going on for kids and grown-ups too, in the way of festivals etc.

We are a vegan, health conscious family - looking for a more alternative lifestyle. Could anyone recommend anywhere in Southwestern Ontario that is a fun, community-spirited, alternative, place to live.......and not a big city! We don't mind rural, so long as it isn't too rural! Where we live now is pretty rural!! 

Thank you for any advice or information on life in Southwestern Ontario....

Best wishes,

Minka


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## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

minko said:


> Hi,
> I am new to this forum. My young family and I are currently living in France - but are wishing very much to re-locate to Canada.
> 
> I have been researching Ontario. It looks exceptionally beautiful, and seems like there is a lot going on for kids and grown-ups too, in the way of festivals etc.
> ...


Hello and welcome to the website,

Entry into Canada is much dependent on your occupation(s) and/or whether you have pre-arranged employment. What do you do for a living.
Southwestern Ontario is south and west of Toronto. It is largely farmland with some small cities and many towns and villages. Warm, dry summers and cold, snowy winters. It's close to the US border.


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## minko (Sep 29, 2009)

Thanks - and sorry it has taken me so long to respond.......Had a trip back to England....

Ah, I didn't realise it was largely farmland in Southwestern Ontario - I need to look at Google Earth some more....I am a woods creature - as is my husband. 
As to our professions, I am a pre-school teacher, and my husband is a Tree Surgeon. 
We originally wanted to move to BC.....Having spent time there in '99. Both of us were offered jobs and sponsorship - but we were young and free, sans enfants - and itchy-footed - so we hotfooted it back to California and the sun! 

I think I need to do a lot more research.....

Thanks for your reply though!


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

I think you would like one of the cities in the Toronto-Windsor corridor or nearby, depending on how small you want to go. Some of these have populations measured in (few) hundreds of thousands, down to tens of thousands; for example: Guelph, Cambridge, Kitchener-Waterloo, Elmira, Brantford, Stratford, Woodstock, London, Chatham, Leamington, Windsor, to name some of the main ones (and the ones I know best, being originally from this area). 

Or you might consider the Niagara Peninsula. St. Catharines is the largest city there, and some smaller ones include Welland, Niagara Falls and Grimsby.

You could start by looking up each one on Wikipedia and the cities’ own websites to get a feel for what they offer.


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## minko (Sep 29, 2009)

maesonna said:


> I think you would like one of the cities in the Toronto-Windsor corridor or nearby, depending on how small you want to go. Some of these have populations measured in (few) hundreds of thousands, down to tens of thousands; for example: Guelph, Cambridge, Kitchener-Waterloo, Elmira, Brantford, Stratford, Woodstock, London, Chatham, Leamington, Windsor, to name some of the main ones (and the ones I know best, being originally from this area).
> 
> Or you might consider the Niagara Peninsula. St. Catharines is the largest city there, and some smaller ones include Welland, Niagara Falls and Grimsby.
> 
> You could start by looking up each one on Wikipedia and the cities’ own websites to get a feel for what they offer.


Thank you. I will certainly check all of those places out on both wikipedia and google earth........

Toronto certainly looks to be a cool city - It would be great to be not too far away.

Thanks again. best wishes


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

Oh, another really good way to get the feel of what living in the cities would be like is to read their local newspaper. For example, the London Free Press, the The Record for Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge, and the Stratford Beacon-Herald, and click on the link for local news. You can probably find the rest with a search like {[city name] newspaper}.


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

And if you are willing to go smaller, right down to village size, there are plenty more places too numerous to mention, you will see them when you check google earth.


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## Pension Pete (Oct 22, 2009)

I would also consider Dundas and Ancaster as possibilities. 45 minutes west of Toronto. Great access to major highways and still has small town feel with a ton of family oriented activities.


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

Pension Pete said:


> I would also consider Dundas and Ancaster as possibilities. 45 minutes west of Toronto. Great access to major highways and still has small town feel with a ton of family oriented activities.


45 minutes during rush hours, or on a Sunday morning?


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## Pension Pete (Oct 22, 2009)

EVHB said:


> 45 minutes during rush hours, or on a Sunday morning?


Excellent point. That would be non rush hour although there are other options such as train.

Pete


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## froud (Oct 30, 2009)

I would suggest Guelph. It's a fairly small city (about 100,00ish). It has a university so there is a fun social scene. Additionally, it has one of the larger university agricultural programs, so there are a lot of people interested in alternative lifestyles, 'green' living etc.

It's about an hour's drive from TO, and there is GO bus service from Gueph to Toronto as well.


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