# Best Place to Live in Canada



## Zed (Apr 24, 2010)

Hopefully, without creating any arguments, I'd like to try and find out where the best place in Canada is to live. For us, the top criteria would be Safety, Education, Job Prospects, Outdoor Life/Climate and Best Value for Money. Broad spectrum I know, but would be interested in your views!


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## MandyB (Jan 14, 2010)

*Ideal Canada*



Zed said:


> Hopefully, without creating any arguments, I'd like to try and find out where the best place in Canada is to live. For us, the top criteria would be Safety, Education, Job Prospects, Outdoor Life/Climate and Best Value for Money. Broad spectrum I know, but would be interested in your views!


Yes it is a broad spectrum and almost impossible to answer as Canada is a vast country with all of the above available. It would be a good idea for you to look at areas of Canada that appeal for climate then look at the rest of your list in those areas. I looked at British Columbia first but settled in Alberta - we have harse winters and hot summers unlike BC where they have a lot more wet weather.
Each province offers something different - do some research.
Good luck


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## mcd1203 (Nov 25, 2008)

BC: Vancouver and Victoria are nice. If you choose a smaller town in the mountains like Nelson many people find that after a few years it can get depressing because you see winter coming down the mountains.
Alberta: Can have harsh winters but so can the other prairie provinces, Saskatchewan moreso. Edmonton and Calgary are the larger cities. Calgary doesn't get as cold as Edmonton and the snow doesn't stay as long due to chinooks. Lethbridge is nice but very windy.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba may not have as much in the way of job prospects. Unless you try the capital cities.
Ontario is nice and lots of different places to live. Toronto is very busy.
Quebec is good if you speak lots of french especially if you choose to live in Montreal.
The maritimes: New Brunswick, Newfoundland, PEI and Nova Scotia get very cold weather off the ocean. Good fish and lobster there though. But not great job prospects and low paying jobs a lot of the time.


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## Oggy (Jan 25, 2009)

MandyB said:


> but settled in Alberta - we have harse winters and hot summers unlike BC where they have a lot more wet weather.
> Each province offers something different - do some research.
> Good luck


Just so there aren't any misconceptions, please note that all of BC doesn't get the levels of rain that the coastal areas do. The Okanagan Valley, for instance, is semi-arid and the southern most portion around Osoyoos has a desert classification. We are facing another drought this year and would welcome rain!!


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## mcd1203 (Nov 25, 2008)

Hey Oggy just like the misconception that we all live in igloos eh?


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## kabi (Apr 9, 2010)

It's the 4th year that I follow the question, and I keep saying that Ottawa is the best place to live in Canada.

That never means others are not good, but we talk about the *best*. 
The question also depend on the life of style of the person itself. and according to its need. forexemple, someone who is single and having a petrochimical diploma, will choose Calgary as it's the best place for such carrier, and this person will not even care about how many childcare in the city... on other side someone who will be soon in retirement he will absolutely not care about the employment rate , but preferably he will focus on the nonber of doctors in the city and medical services etc.....


Here is what moneysense magazine reveal in her last survey (annonced yesterday), regarding ''The best place to live in Canada'':



*Ottawa and nearby Gatineau*, Que. are Canada's most livable community, says a report by MoneySense magazine.


The Toronto-based personal finance publication says its study of 179 Canadian cities of more than 10,000 people ranks the country's capital and its nearby suburb top on the list for livability.


The study in the magazine's latest issue, available this week, looked at everything from a city's prosperity, affordability, weather and lifestyles in assessing the rankings.


That means household incomes, housing prices, jobs and local health and social services factored into the evaluation, Sarah Efron, the magazine's managing editor, said in an interview Thursday.


“The idea is not to look at things a tourist would look at such as how pretty the city is,” said Efron.


“The idea is to look at things that impact livability, things like weather and housing prices, jobs, income and health care — those sort of measures.”


Following Ottawa-Gatineau on the list were the Ontario cities of Kingston and Burlington and New Brunswick communities of Fredericton and Moncton.


Rounding out the Top 10 were Repentigny, a community north of Montreal, Brandon, Man., Victoria, Winnipeg and Levis, Que., a city across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City.


Victoria, last year's No. 1 most livable city, fell to eighth this year, mainly because of skyrocketing housing prices in the B.C. capital.


Calgary ranked 27th, Vancouver 29th, Toronto 85th and Montreal 120th, said the magazine, published by Rogers Media.


Housing prices were a key factor to livability as well as diversified economies with government, military or other public sector employment that helped offset the impact of last year's recession, said Efron.


“Basically we found that in general, cities that were somewhat recession proof did well this year.”


Efron said Canada's biggest cities — Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver — were far down the list because of the high cost of housing in those communities.


“What you see is that the cities you think of as the big, exciting cool cities — (are further down the list) when you really look across the board at livability. Toronto, Vancouver are great places to live but you do sacrifice something by living there, which is this overall across the board dollars-and-cents evaluation of things.”

_By The Canadian Press_


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## Zed (Apr 24, 2010)

Thanks all, food for thought!!


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