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Re: Thinking of moving to Canada.....
| quote: | Originally posted by ZzZ The Goddess
How hard is it to get permanent residency in Canada and what are the general terms? |
I can't say this from personal experience because I was born here, but from what I understand this seems to be a fairly open country when it comes to letting people in. This would be a good place to start looking: http://canada.gc.ca/main_e.html
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How is education there? (I have a 5 year old boy that is starting school) |
Education is very good, whatever province you choose to live in. However Quebec uses a different system than the other provinces. Your kid will be required by the ministry to learn french, and will have to pass secondary 5 french (like grade 11) to obtain his high school diploma. If he wants to go to university, he has to follow a two year pre-university course at a college (called CEGEPs), where he'll have to take three additional french courses. (it sounds really bad, but there's alot of immigrants here and they seem to be doing fine in the most part - if he's introduced to the language at a young age he should have no trouble learning it and speaking it fluently.)
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Do you have to speak French to get by there? |
Yes and no. As you get closer to the core of montreal, you will need it less and less. I can go around downtown speaking only english, and I can be served in english anywhere. As you venture into the more rural townships though, less and less people speak english, and you might run into some trouble. You also have to realize that not being bilingual puts you at a considerable disadvantage on the job market. Not all professions require it, but it's certainly a useful skill to have.
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How cold is it and what are the warmest areas to live in? |
One of the biggest (and saddest) stereotypes people seem to have about canada is that it's cold all over. Climate has very little to do with how far up north you are. It's more about winds, ocean currents and humidity levels. The west (BC) is very mild. Not too cold in the winter, not too hot in the summer, very comfortable all year. The prairies are very dry, but can get very cold in the winter. If you're trying to get AWAY from the US though, by all costs, AVOID THE PRAIRIES. We call Alberta "Canada's Texas" for a reason. 
As for the east - well, climate wise, you get the worst of both worlds. In the summer, it can get very hot and humid (humidex values in montreal today reached up to 44 degrees celcius), and in the winter, it gets very very cold (as low as -45c with wind chill values considerated), and in the spring, you get unpredictable and unstable weather constantly. One day it's snowing, the next it's raining, then it gets colder and the ice freezes over and you get an ice storm, then it snows on top of that, then it gets warmer and it rains on top of that, etcetera. I make it sound like it's miserable all the time, but in the long run you get used to it - and we do have great weather sometimes. 
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What area's of Canada do you recommend for settling down with a family? |
Stick to the big eastern cities. Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Kitchener/waterloo...
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Do the jobs pay well and is the cost of living expensive like rent etc.? |
The pay depends on your job. Canada is much more socialist than the US, so if you normally make big bucks, you'll see a chunk of your paycheck eaten away by taxes (on the other hand, you get alot more public services in exchance), while if you're generally amongst the average to lowest paid, you'll see most (if not all) of your taxes returned to you at the end of the year, without losing the public services. Minimum wages are also a couple of bucks higher than in most US states.
As for the cost of rent, well that all depends on what area you move to. In the toronto area, prices are INSANE. In Montreal, prices are pretty steep too, but nowhere near as bad as toronto. What most people here tend to do is, they buy a house or rent along the train lines, but within the suburban areas (where housing prices are far more reasonable), and every morning they can quickly take the train straight to downtown Montreal.
Last edited by Aquarian on Jun-29-2005 at 01:37
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Me and my hubby are thinking of moving to Canada. (mostly to get the hell out of the US) I was hoping that some of you could provide some information that would aid in the descision since we have never been there. I have some questions below, please post if you can answer them. Thanks 
