Alright, that's it. I'm moving to Canada.

John Welsh said:

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

True.  Yes, Detroit is changing.  The downtown of Detroit is improved from what it was in the 80's/90's.  True but they are both still very different.  I couldn't find good pictures of Detroit River, south of Ambassador Bridge to Grosse Ile.  Sure, Grosse Ile is attractive but shortly north of that, where The Rouge River meets the Detroit River...its industry!  

Detroit isn't changing. Small pockets of downtown are changing for the suburbanites that come down, but as a whole, Detroit is still a hole. Take it from a guy that lived there a quarter of a century. While they are putting up quaint little parks, the neighborhoods are increasinly a war zone. While they put up a skating rink, they turn the street lights off in the neighborhoods, for good. It's amazing that Detroit has all that waterfront property, yet 90+% of it is industrial, and/or abandoned. Look at what other large cities do with their waterfront.  
I'll stop now. After experiencing it for that long, I've grown to really dislike that city. 
But for those that venture in, I'd emplore you to go catch a movie at The Redford Theater. Amazing place, amazing experience. Run by volunteers, restored by volunteers, and non-profit. 

NOHOME said:

If the French language is of interest, be aware that the French spoken in Quebec does not seem to work well in France. The French taught in immersion HS will not work in Quebec; to the French ear it is  like Jamaican Patois spoken in New York. The French taught in immersion HS all over Canada will not work in Quebec. Your High School immersion French WILL work in France. ( go figure). If you go far enough east in Quebec where it meets New Brunswick, ALL bets are off.

 

If you understand what people are saying in Newfoundland, you are probably drunk and have already kissed a cod. 

Agree.  I studied French for 5 years and it's useless in Canada other than reading road signs and ingredients on food.  Quebecois is to French as Cockney is to Texas.  

bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) said:

I would have a look at the Maritimes. Better weather than Central Canada, cheaper housing, and spectacular scenery. Halifax if you want a city. Wolfsburg perhaps if you want a smaller center. Halifax is a days drive from Boston. 

New Brunswicker here, roads are rough in the maritimes and taxes are a little high compared to other places in Canada. 
If you like cities Halifax is pretty great, I think bearman meant wolfville instead of Wolfsburg...it's a small university town about an hour from Halifax. 
You can drive from Hali to Boston in a day but it's a long haul. 

As for the French, I went to French school and have never had much trouble either in Quebec or speaking to people from France. I struggle more with some of the African accents then either of those but I'm sure with more interaction I would be fine.

Regional dialects of French are real in Canada...but nothing crazy. As pointed out above if you can understand a Newfoundland resident in English you'll be fine with the differences in French. 
 

Canada is definitely a nation of predominantly friendly people, but the grass may look greener from across the fence. Don't move here expecting utopia . We have social issues like any other western country, poverty, holes in our medical system, reconciliation with the people we took the land from, and racism is alive and well in both urban centres and rural areas. I think those issues exist everywhere though but you should come in eyes open. I only have half a dozen stamps on my passport but I've always been happy to return home to Canada and to my home province. 
 

Keith Tanner said:

My mom's side of the family is from Shakespeare Ont so I agree that TO stands out in southwest Ontario.

I went to school in London, I'll take an Ottawa winter over that slushy mess ;)

I drive through Shakespeare most days on my way to work in Tavistock coming from Kitchener! Let me know if you need me to check in on anything lol.

We live in Kitchener close to the border with Waterloo, KW is a great place to live but unfortunatley the cost of housing has gotten way out of line over the past few years. It's not a super touristy spot so it can be a little hard to show off when friends come to town but we still have some really good festivals like the Waterloo Jazz Festival, Kitchener Bluesfest, the largest Octoberfest outside of Munich due to our very German heritage (Kitchener used to be named Berlin until WW1 when the locals pushed the bust of the Kaiser into the lake!) and so on. Lots of tech here with Google's largest R&D facilty in Canada which is expanding, the home to what is left of RIM (Blackberry), Shopify along with many others and startups. We're right on the Grand River which is really nice. Even though the population of the region is a bit more than somewhere like London, because it is made up of smaller towns and cities coming together it does not feel like a big city and it is very quick to get out into the countryside for a ride or drive (or you can ride/walk the many trails in the city and along the river). We have two Universities (University of Waterloo is world reknowned for its engineering programs) and a really good college as well. It's roughly an 1 to 1.5 hours to 3 great lakes and about an hour to downtown Toronto if traffic is moving (good luck with that!).

Don't think the country is perfect or we don't struggle with some of the same and other issues as our neighbours to the south, Windsor got a first hand taste os some of that back in February and those sentments are still there for a large number of people. Right now the country is working to come to terms with what was done in the past with how the indiginous peoples have been and continue to be treated. It's not an easy thing to do.

Oh, we don't have Harbour Freights (Princess Auto isn't too bad) either and unfortunatley good Mexican food isn't as easy to come by.

Good luck with the application!

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

I have been threatening to expat there for 20 years.  I have a place north of Kingston (look up Sharbot Lake and Perth) where I spend the summers.  Canada has this lovely existence that is so welcoming, safe, and loving.

Kingston is absolutely lovely.  Once you get just a bit north you get into precambrian shield geology which is just stunning.  Ottawa is one of my favorite cities in the world.  Culture, food, architecture.  I agree with Appleseed about Montreal.  It's the Portland or Austin of Canada.  Fantastic city, but not a representative sample.  If I were moving to Ontario right now I would look in Perth for a small town and Ottawa for a bigger town.  Toronto is tons of fun, but it's a bit new and bustling.  It's also not a "pretty" town by comparison in my opinion.  Just kind of flat and boring surroundings, but otherwise a great city.

Out toward the lake you have some amazing towns like London and Stratford.  Simply beautiful.  

And I'll politely disagree with Duke... be smug.  Smug that E36 M3 up.  Canadians have earned the right to own barrels of smug and spread it around like fertilizer.  All the smugs.

I'm biased, of course, but Kingston + 45 minutes gets you plenty of terrific options, including Perth, Napanee, and Gananoque.  I love Kingston enough to have never left :)

I could talk about Québécois that moved south and only go back North to visit family, or how many Nova Scotians have very similar culture to folks in the South East US. Or we could discuss French industrial design philosophy, but I really don't think any of that is particularly important to you. 

Just remember, you will find the same guy in the mirror when you get there, wherever there happens to be. 

In reply to tester (Forum Supporter) :

Fortunately, I'm not trying to escape myself. I'm trying to escape all the crime and subpar education and everything else in America :-)

I was actually telling my wife on the drive up there that I was concerned my brain was viewing Canada as a perfect utopia. I mean, compared to Cleveland and Baltimore it pretty much is, but I tried to be realistic about it. I bought gas there on purpose instead of across the river so I could experience the gas prices to keep myself grounded in reality.  $80 to fill up a Prius is pretty awful, but I guess not as bad as $500 for some of those full-sized trucks. Eating out is more expensive as well, however the food (and especially vegetarian/vegan options) were all incredibly good. Walmart was a bit more expensive as well. Some of that was just the difference in currency, but I know Canada is going to be more expensive. A decent job will help to offset that.

In reply to ZOO (Forum Supporter) :

I get to spend a decent amount of time with work in Napanee, Brockville and Cornwall. Pretty much anywhere from Belleville on up along the St. Lawrence is a nice place to be. Plus you don't have to cross Toronto to hit Mosport, Shannonville or Calabogie!

To the OP, if somewhere smaller than Windsor interests you I'd actually take a look at Cornwall. It's a town that may not have the best reputation in the past but I think it's actually pretty nice and more affordable considering everything it's close to (I've spent around 8 weeks there over the past few years). Your right on the river with a border crossing into the US (not that there is a lot up there in New York) but about an hour from Montreal (drive in far enough to jump on their Metro) and Ottawa, a few more hours puts you into Quebec City and a longer road trip puts you into the Maritimes or New England. If you like outdoors stuff you aren't too far from Algonquin Park and some incredible parts of Ontario and Quebec. The City is big enough to have all the normal big box stores and franchise restaurants with home town stuff as well, there used to be a good Mexican takeout place but they only do a set menu thing once a week now that you order a few days ahead. Pizza in the area is unique as well, the crust is probably fluffy but they layer on do much meat, cheese and other toppings that a slice or two will fill you, it also seems to come with a free poutine if you order early in the week lol.

Learning French will go a long way in the area and one of things that draws the federal government and others to Cornwall area because they are very bilingual. One of the cooler places to work in town to me would be the NAV Centre, this NAV Canada (air traffic control for all of Canada) training facility just on the north edge of town with all sorts of simulators etc, it's also used as a conference centre as well with boarding accommodations. 

I think the biggest downside to Windsor is it's location from the rest of Ontario/Quebec. It's a long, pretty boring drive from there to anywhere else more interesting unless you are crossing back into the US but maybe that is a good thing for you. There's nothing wrong with what Michigan has to offer with Detroit for big city stuff and cheap flights or heading north from there and getting back into the outdoors stuff once you pass Grand Rapids etc.

In reply to infinitenexus :

I think he was saying it might be hard to escape a certain culture that is universal. Meaning that you'll find very similar issues no matter where you move to and from. 

adam525i said:

In reply to ZOO (Forum Supporter) :

I think the biggest downside to Windsor is it's location from the rest of Ontario/Quebec. It's a long, pretty boring drive from there to anywhere else more interesting 

We definitely picked up on that. For Windsor having roughly 225K people, it had a small-town feel and we also got a sense of isolation from the rest of Canada there. As you said, it would be a long, boring drive to get anywhere exciting. 

We like cities and city stuff to do, especially city food choices since we're vegetarian, but our dream would be a small house on an acre or two on the outskirts of a city.

We're trying to select one additional city to check out--as much as I'd love to visit all of them, that's just too much money that I could spend on moving. Right now, Windsor and Calgary are at the top of our list, and maybe Moncton. Windsor will probably win because it's close and easy to get to. After we get into Canada we can always explore more and decide on a place.

In reply to infinitenexus :

Moncton is very small along with the other two cities in New Brunswick, being vegetarians you aren't going to be able to enjoy an east coast Donair either!

If you make it to Calgary check out Edmonton as well for a day while you're there as it is nice too and not that far away, I think you'll find with those two cities it's actually a bit more affordable to live/buy closer to the downtown rather in the suburbs where everyone else wants to be. Alberta is basically our Texas (Ted Cruz was born there FYI) and there are a lot of similar feelings towards the rest of Canada and the federal government there that you would find down south. Calgary is a airline hub for westjet and very easy to get to anywhere else in Canada with direct flights through all the carriers, we are finally getting some decent low cost airlines with prices that are more affordable. 

In reply to adam525i :

One of the things that drew us towards Moncton was the affordability of housing there. For our initial move to Canada, that's pretty much the most important thing, so it's likely we'll start with Windsor and move from there. I wasn't aware that the housing in Edmonton was as affordable as it is, thanks for the heads up!

Good luck on making the move!  I can't say I blame you.  As a mountain biker, I've often had dreams of relocating to British Columbia. Unfortunately, many others have had similar thoughts and that seems to be one of the most expensive areas of Canada.  My company has an office in Toronto and I could probably transfer there if I really wanted to... 

This is an interesting thread. I don't have anything to add other than an anecdote from my first trip to Montreal. We were there for the jazz festival, and really loved it. Tons of things to do,  a vibrant cultural scene that lasted well into the night, great people (tons of students. It's a big college town), just a wonderful place. One thing that I took particular note of is how besides the financial district, people weren't slaves to their personal electronics. That was very refreshing compared to where I live (The SF Bay area). 

At one point I mentioned to a local how much of the town seemed to be in a constant state of partying, of celebration. His answer was that their winters were so god-awful that they had to make the most of when the weather was good.

infinitenexus said:

In reply to adam525i :

One of the things that drew us towards Moncton was the affordability of housing there. For our initial move to Canada, that's pretty much the most important thing, so it's likely we'll start with Windsor and move from there. I wasn't aware that the housing in Edmonton was as affordable as it is, thanks for the heads up!

I live a 35 minute Drive from Moncton and lived there on and off for 8 years. 
Housing prices have increased quite a bit but are still low on comparison to Ontario, 5 years ago I could have found you a bungalow within half hour drive of Moncton for 80,000 but those are mostly gone.

If you have any specific questions about Moncton feel free to ask. It has a couple good vegetarian restaurants now (calactus/cafe archibald) and many of others have vegan/veggie options. 

The French schools in Moncton are large but generally good. If you want a smaller French school consider Memramcook Bouctouche or Shediac areas. These areas are all predominantly French and fairly close to Moncton and while you won't have trouble there speaking English but it will help immerse you in the language. 

In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :

Yeah Montreal winters are no joke. From what I've seen/read, even in the winter the city is still vibrant and exciting--they have practically an entire city below ground that you can walk around, and there's lots of skiing and outdoor stuff to do. Rent is surprisingly affordable in Montreal as well. Really, it's an incredible city, but it's on an island so space is limited (I'd have to go to the suburbs to get a house) and there's the language requirement. Honestly, I could learn French in that amount of time no problem, but it still intimidates me for whatever reason.

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

At one point I mentioned to a local how much of the town seemed to be in a constant state of partying, of celebration. His answer was that their winters were so god-awful that they had to make the most of when the weather was good.

Very much as quoted.

I took an international assignment with my company in Montreal from September of 2004 through March of 2005.  In other words, not quite the entire winter 

It was a particularly bad winter, not due necessarily to weather, but there were strikes by both the NHL and the provincial liquor control board employees.  As a result, not only was there no professional hockey, spirits and better wines were hard to come by without driving to Ontario.

Damn but folks were cranky.

In reply to 1SlowVW :

Thanks for all the great info! I just checked prices for Moncton and they're pretty fantastic. Better than Windsor, even. We're definitely going to look into Moncton more, as that's solidly affordable.

Oh crap, this is a fantastic house on 2 acres outside of Moncton, for $190K. Now we're talking. Definitely gotta check this area out, although it's too far to drive there. We'll have to plan a flight.

https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/24284516/1249-route-933-haute-aboujagane

I'll never criticize anyone for choosing to emigrate/immigrate from/too where ever they want, Many know I left the UK for the US to work for six-12 months, and here I am a US Citizen 28 years later.  

In my opinion, the single best thing about Windsor is that it's next door to Detroit and you have access to all the sporting, cultural, dinning experiences that Detroit has to offer.  Honestly my view of Windsor has always been that it's a bit of a E36 M3 hole (sorry, YMMV), a place that has to be traversed to get to the beauty of the rest of Ontario.  Detroit gets a bad rap, and there are some on here who go out of their way to bash it, and others like me who constantly talk it up.  Both sides have good and bad points to support their view.  You must remember that Detroit is a huge city by land area compared to it's population, the original built for the motor car city.  Now, all the bad stuff you read about is true in some areas.  But I know  plenty of people who live inside Detroit, and it's a wonderful safe place to live, socialize etc. in the good areas.  There are also some bad terrible areas, but on the whole, it's very safe in reality.  A lot of the murder and violence, while true, is in certain areas, that most, even those who live in the city never go too.

Toronto is a beautiful city, London, Port Stanley, Niagara on the Lake (not Niagara), and especially Stratford are exceptional, but honestly Windsor leaves me cold.  The bottom tip of Ontario does have a micro climate, which is why you get all the vineyards and wineries in the Western tip towards Niagara.  

I do agree about how clean it is in Ontario, and Canada in general.  I started a post on here a few years ago about just this subject.  My feeling, and it was generally supported on here, was the big difference between rural America, and rural Canada, is that in America people have the view  "It's my place, my freedom, berkeley you if I want five cars on blocks with weeds growing up around them, moldy couch on the porch with a busted coke machine.  This is America and don't tell me what to do", where the prevailing sentiment in Windsor was one of pride, with most rural homes, farms, being absolutely immaculate.  Now yes, before people jump up and tell me to get lost if I don't like it here, calm down.  That is just one aspect of what makes living somewhere good or bad.

I hope your plan works for you, it will be interesting to see if you can find a remote gig from Toronto.  I'd advise spending more time in the toe of Ontario before deciding on Windsor, as I say, the general area is nice, but I don't think Windsor itself is anything special.

Note.  E36 M3ty spelling grammar and holy run on sentences Batman.  But screw it, you kinda get my drift.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :

I totally get what you're saying, thank you. I know there're better cities than Windsor, but the prices are in our range there and it's the easiest city to move to as it's a 3-hour drive. Our current train of thought is to move there, live there for a year while we learn more about Canada and figure out exactly where we want to go, then go find a permanent home. In the end if I manage to land a remote job paying more money, we would be able to broaden our search. But for right now, mostly due to price and proximity, Windsor is at the top of our list. London is similar and nearby, so we can look into that one as well. I'll check out the rest of the ones you mentioned, thanks for the info!

Just be prepared if your coming to the east coast.

I love winter and it's usually fairly mild in southern NB, milder still in Halifax. 
 

But this does happen fairly regularly. 

Iirc New Brunswick has a lot of call centers due to a truly bilingual population. That would seem to bode well for IT opportunities. 

infinitenexus said:

Oh crap, this is a fantastic house on 2 acres outside of Moncton, for $190K. Now we're talking. Definitely gotta check this area out, although it's too far to drive there. We'll have to plan a flight.

https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/24284516/1249-route-933-haute-aboujagane

 

The furniture, walls and fixtures reminds me of a crack house lol. But, it is 190k so...

yupididit said:

infinitenexus said:

Oh crap, this is a fantastic house on 2 acres outside of Moncton, for $190K. Now we're talking. Definitely gotta check this area out, although it's too far to drive there. We'll have to plan a flight.

https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/24284516/1249-route-933-haute-aboujagane

 

 

The furniture, walls and fixtures reminds me of a crack house lol. But, it is 190k so...

Your local crackheads must have their E36 M3 together!