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Moving to Canada

irishgrizzly

irishgrizzly

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 15, 2006
1,461
2
My friend is thinking of moving to Canada in the spring to live and work. She is a pharmacist and has been offered a job with training. Can anyone offer local advice on where's best to live/work? She's single, 31 and is into the arts/mountain walking.
 
She said Wallmart. We don't have this chain here is I know very little about them.
 
I thought as much, but I didn't want to sound negative when she announced it (she was pretty excited about it all).

If pages like this are anything to go by it's not a good move.

So anyone know of other places to start workwise? Or in general, which places are nice to live around. She's coming from Dublin, Ireland where she considers herself a city girl.
 
If she likes mountains then I think she would like Vancouver.

Personally I love Toronto. I have been looking for work around there, but unfortunately the only real areas for my profession is really Silicon Valley, here (a.k.a "Silicon Prairie") or Texas, oh and I guess Intel in Eugine.
 
I'll vouch for Toronto- it's where I'm from.

I loved living there, it's a fantastic city. Very multicultural, lots of great restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, shopping. There are so many different types of neighborhoods in and around the city. North York, Queen West, The Annex, Danforth, Little Italy, Chinatown, St. Lawrence Market, Forest Hill, Rosedale, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Mississauga, to name a few.

The Maple Leafs, The Blue Jays, The Raptors, Toronto FC, The Argos, and now The Bills.

A very green (both ways- lots of greenery and a good recycling system) city. Some very nice parks in the city, with horseback riding, public pools, tennis courts, golf courses, etc.

Every summer, there is a festival every weekend. TIFF, Taste of the Danforth, Canada Day, Caribana, Gay Pride Parade, Taste of Little Italy, Woofstock, etc.

A one hour drive north, and you're in Barrie, and a little further and you're in Muskoka. Lakes, trees, hiking, camping, small towns. Nice hotel-resorts, bed and breakfasts, etc.

A 90 minute drive south, and you're at Niagara Falls and a little further, you're in the USA.

As I said, I loved living there. I miss it- but not this time of year. It's freezing! I moved to LA for the weather!

Hope that was helpful....
 
As much as I love Toronto and I hate to say it, but I'm going to recommend living somewhere else. Toronto is getting absolutely hammered by the downturn in the economy. Toronto's economy was already doing terrible before the crisis hit, now it's just pitiful. Ontario is also now a have-not province, so it's not as if things are looking up any time soon.

Vancouver is the place to go in Canada right now. Great growth, great culture, and a more moderate climate.
 
I have to say NO to Vancouver right now

especially for single person.

Wages have dropped quite a bit in the last 6 months
while cost of living is ridiculous
and there are pharmacists everywhere.

It is a gorgeous city to live, very vibrant, beautiful nature, lots to do.

Nightlife sucks though
 
I live in Canada. Ontario to be more specific.
I would have to disagree with any major city.

Toronto is dirty and over-packed. Down town Hamilton is practically the same.
I would recommend a smaller area, and if you happen to work in a major city, commute to the job.

I would recommend up-town Hamilton, Cambridge or Brantford all are growing cities and still have a lot of room and a lot of job openings!

All these cities have Wal-Marts, and the like!

BTW, On the escarpment of Hamilton, there is some beautiful hiking trails that take you all the way down to Tobermory (6 hour drive away).
 
Vancouver is a great city, and coming from Dublin, she'll fit right in with the rainy weather :p. You can see mountains from pretty much anywhere in the city (it's how we find north), and it's consistently rated as one of the top 3 best cities to live in the world. Temperate weather, lots of seafood, tons of things to do and see and it really is an accepting and multicultural place. However, it is quite expensive to live here (even more expensive than Toronto in some cases), yet less job opportunities than other cities with same living expenses. It's more of a tourist city than industrial city.
However, if you like mountains you can rule out Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as they are all prairie provinces. If she doesn't speak French I would rule out Quebec, and if she loves big cities the Maritime provinces are not the best place to be, and job opportunities are limited there too. Which brings her back to B.C. again ;).
Oh, and supposedly, we have a disproportionate amount of gays to lesbians (I have no statistical proof, I just hear this a lot), which means there are more free single women than free single men. The joke is, if you walk to downtown, see a good looking guy who dresses nicely and seems to have a nice cushy job, he's probably gay and thus, not available to you :(.
 
I would agree Banff, and Canmore are amazing, Wal-Mart pharmacies in Canada run from a different company so the pay is competitive.
 
No one has mentioned Ottawa.

It's our nations capital, and the parilment buildings are here. There are lots of jobs too.

Someone also mentioned commuting. If that's what you want to do it isn't a bad idea. I live in a small town (Carleton Place, 10,000 ppl) about 15-20 minutes outside Ottawa, and I commute in to college every day. We also have a brand new walmart in town haha.

But might I suggest looking into Shoppers Drugmart? I worked for them for a while in the dispensery.
 
Calgary is very close to the mountains. I can locate several Walmarts close by to where I live.Canmore and Jasper are totally out of the question as they are WAY too expensive. If not Calgary, then some of the bedroom communities nearby that have Walmarts. Lots to go around. Even Edmonton, for that matter...
 
Vivid.Inferno said:
No one has mentioned Ottawa.

It's our nations capital, and the parilment buildings are here. There are lots of jobs too.

Someone also mentioned commuting. If that's what you want to do it isn't a bad idea. I live in a small town (Carleton Place, 10,000 ppl) about 15-20 minutes outside Ottawa, and I commute in to college every day. We also have a brand new walmart in town haha.

But might I suggest looking into Shoppers Drugmart? I worked for them for a while in the dispensery.
Click to expand...

I agree, whats so wrong with Ottawa people? Pretty good for all that nature stuff, Algonquin Park is a few hours drive away, and overall its a fairly friendly city. Plus its always nice to watch Canada Day fireworks from the Hill.
 
Vivid.Inferno said:
No one has mentioned Ottawa.

It's our nations capital, and the parilment buildings are here. There are lots of jobs too.

Someone also mentioned commuting. If that's what you want to do it isn't a bad idea. I live in a small town (Carleton Place, 10,000 ppl) about 15-20 minutes outside Ottawa, and I commute in to college every day. We also have a brand new walmart in town haha.

But might I suggest looking into Shoppers Drugmart? I worked for them for a while in the dispensery.
Click to expand...

No1451 said:
I agree, whats so wrong with Ottawa people? Pretty good for all that nature stuff, Algonquin Park is a few hours drive away, and overall its a fairly friendly city. Plus its always nice to watch Canada Day fireworks from the Hill.
Click to expand...

Ottawa is where the Cold War started!
 
Vivid.Inferno said:
No one has mentioned Ottawa.

It's our nations capital, and the parilment buildings are here. There are lots of jobs too.

Someone also mentioned commuting. If that's what you want to do it isn't a bad idea. I live in a small town (Carleton Place, 10,000 ppl) about 15-20 minutes outside Ottawa, and I commute in to college every day. We also have a brand new walmart in town haha.

But might I suggest looking into Shoppers Drugmart? I worked for them for a while in the dispensery.
Click to expand...

No1451 said:
I agree, whats so wrong with Ottawa people? Pretty good for all that nature stuff, Algonquin Park is a few hours drive away, and overall its a fairly friendly city. Plus its always nice to watch Canada Day fireworks from the Hill.
Click to expand...

I visited Ottawa this year, absolutely beautiful city, great museums, and in general a really nice place to be. However, it is not a hustle and bustle type of metropolitan city. Buses starts to come scarcely by 9ish, by 10 there are definitely not a lot of things going on on the streets anymore. It is a relatively quiet city, ideal for families, but maybe not the best for someone who likes big cities. Public transportation is indefinitely better in some of the bigger cities, as Ottawa has no subways or skytrains. Since she probably won't immediately get a car, it's much easier to get around in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver.
 
Plus, it has the Gatineau Hills (for her hiking), and cheap beer (for me), just across the river in Quebec.
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teflon said:
However, if you like mountains you can rule out Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as they are all prairie provinces.
Click to expand...

What? How can you rule out Alberta? I understand Saskatchewan and Manitoba.. but Alberta?!
Have you ever heard of Banff, Lake Louise, or Sunshine?

No1451 said:
I agree, whats so wrong with Ottawa people? Pretty good for all that nature stuff, Algonquin Park is a few hours drive away, and overall its a fairly friendly city. Plus its always nice to watch Canada Day fireworks from the Hill.
Click to expand...

No one said anything was wrong with Ottawa...
 
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