Don't forget to wear a tuuk in winter
It's spelled tuque eh?
I'm in Vancouver but have lived in Thunder Bay, Saskatoon, Calgary and Edmonton.
We don't have everything in French and English (most people I know don't speak French), we don't only drink beer and I've never had Canadian Bacon. We do watch a lot of hockey, a lot of people say 'eh?' and in Edmonton or Calgary you *will* need a block heater if your car is outside in the winter for any length of time - but all cars in those places are sold with one.
Calgary is expensive, but salaries are high. They're going through a huge boom now due to the oil prices and the fact that Alberta has a lot of oil. Calgary is a lovely city, it's new and sprawling. It's about 90 minutes from the mountains and really good skiing. They have a weather effect called the Chinook which means that during the winter you can go from -20 to +20 in the place of two days. The winter skies in Calgary are pretty much always clear, which means cold. You can reasonably expect snow any time after September 1st and by mid July your grass will be burned and brown 'cause it's hot.
Edmonton is cheaper and (IMO) the people are much nicer and salaries are a bit lower than Calgary but still high. Calgary is very much white collar whereas Edmonton is more blue collar. Edmonton doesn't get Chinooks and gets more snow. Edmonton is about 2 hours from the mountains and not as good skiing as from Calgary. Edmonton gets fantastic thunderstorms in the summer, just fantastic and the summers are hot.
Calgary is where the offices are for the mega-rich oil companies and Edmonton is where the work happens (or where the people that do the work live).
Vancouver is the place to be however. It's more expensive than both the afore mentioned and salaries are not as high because we don't have the oil.
You will *never* need a block heater in Vancouver. It rains a lot but we have flowers and green grass all year - give me rain over snow any day. If you're a die hard fan you could probably play golf every week of the year. The skies are grey and cloudy (with some exceptions, such as today when it's clear and cold) from around October to around April. We have beaches and ocean on one side, mountains on two sides and the US border on the other side. We have great skiing 15 minutes from downtown and what some say the worlds best skiing 90 minutes away. Some people here wear shorts and sandals all year. It snows typically for two days a year but it's really wet, sloppy snow which causes havoc on the roads but it's gone after a couple of days.
If you like a White Christmas and don't like rain, don't move to Vancouver. The weather is our favorite topic any day.
If you want more information or have specific questions, please don't hesitate to PM me, I'd be more than happy to answer your questions. Canada is a beautiful place, we have our fair share of problems too, but on the whole our standard of living is high.
The Gulf Islands just west of Vancouver have to be seen to be believed and the mountains that border Alberta and British Columbia are just as spectacular.
I think it's a good thing that you move to Alberta first, and then head out to BC. That's what I did and I can honestly say that I wouldn't live anywhere else now.
Cheers.
