Where to move? ON or AB? | Page 3 | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

My two cents worth. Where I live is maybe not the jewel
but definitely the crown.
......and like Bill, I’ll never tell where

“List of best places to live in Canada released for 2016:

Moneysense Magazine has once again released its list of the best places to live in Canada, with Kelowna and Kamloops tied in the rankings at 117 out of 219.

Down from 84th in 2015, Kelowna was cited as having a healthy population growth, good weather, and deemed easy to walk, bike and take transit. Kamloops went up in ranking as the city was 121st in the 2015 rankings. With low taxes, accessibility, and good weather, Kamloops rose in the ranks to tie with Kelowna.

Moneysense named Ottawa as the best place to live in Canada, followed by Burlington, Ont., Oakville, Ont., and St. Albert, Alta.

West Vancouver and North Vancouver topped the B.C. list. Rimouski, Que., was named best community to retire, Blainville, Que., was best place to raise a child and Ottawa best for new Canadians.

West Vancouver was also named as the richest place in Canada with a base household net worth is $3.5 million.”

I have never lived in Quebec but I have visited there enough times, and have visited particular places that were solely francophone environments. I go out of my way to see into other cultures when I can.
it's not easy to become Quebecois by intention.
If you haven't tried it, don't bash OP for not succeeding with it.
The language exam for health professionals is quite tough.
I speak as someone who once passed the test for FSL teachers in Ontario, but knew I wasn't really good enough. (And, no, I never did enter that profession.)
Time's up now. OP can't afford another 10 years trying to become Quebecois.

I hadn't noticed the requirement that the move would be to a university area before now. That narrows things down further. Bear in mind though that your kids might have other ideas by the time they reach that age.
But, with that in mind, I would shoot for a place with a large diversified campus which offers a lot of programmes. You never know what they might ultimately want to study.
When I first started university back in the '60s, I lived with my parents and commuted by public transit to university. I HATED IT , precisely because, when I got there, I found, to my dismay, the same kids I'd gone to school with earlier. I wanted a new, more varied experience, and this wasn't it. So, I had a miserable year, then transferred out of town to another university. Never lived with parents again.

So, with that in mind, I would be looking at larger university centres and hope for the best. These would include Ottawa (we keep coming back to that, don''t we?), London (fairly strong list of options at Western, especially business, medicine, law, nursing etc), Hamilton/Dundas/Burlington (McMaster - especially strong in sciences), Waterloo-Kitchener-Guelph (3 universities), Toronto (2 large universities, both accessible on subway). The Waterloo and Hamilton axes do not offer law. Edmonton is also good, as is Calgary. I could not recommend the Okanagan for university.

Overall, I think Ottawa is your best and most preferred option. I'll go on record for that one! Maybe concentrate your search there for a while and see what happens. Ottawa was developing a bit of a technology belt a while ago but I am not sure what is going on there now. Lots of government-related work, I suppose - Phoenix aside. An early-to-bed town, slow pace of life, pleasant, cold, and hot, quality available French schools, fairly convenient for travel, not unreasonable cost of living, 2 universities incl law and medical schools. (I use these latter two professions as a barometer - not to say your kids have to go into them.) Downside is that you may need two cars. There is no subway, it's very cold in winter, and buses can be infrequent on some routes - yes, I've taken them in Ottawa, in various seasons.

Second-best, overall, in my view, would be Waterloo-Guelph-Kitchener. Tech sector remains strong. Affordable. Close to GTA for other amenities. Transit is pretty good. 3 universities. French education may be weak - not sure.

Third might be GTA, depending on specifics of job offer and costs. Don't forget that mortgage is an investment like any other, not just a money pit. You will get your money back eventually. Prices here for houses (not condos) have stabilized and I would say they've gone down slightly, from my observations in the areas I'm interested in. A bit of a toss-up though as to third choice. I hate buses too. If you want to be on the subway line in Toronto (of which there are considerably fewer than in Montreal) and have a house in good condition, you will likely be looking at a million and up$. Vast majority are 3-bedroom + basement. Some of the more outlying stations might be slightly cheaper and I can think of a couple of pockets where you could get something for probably 900K in the more central zones, but that is quite limited. It's easy to spend 1.2 or 1.3 million.
London would be a great choice if you can find work there but I don't think of it as a tech centre. Strong university and hospitals.

AB and BC look like lower priorities to me. Further away for your travel plans; you don't seem all that keen; fewer options in terms of universities; perhaps less resilient economies due to less diversification (I'm not sure about the latter; needs to be researched); little expressed interest from you in local environment - which is a big draw for a lot of people.

From Bill:

(He's the one on track to retire in his mid-30s, the one just polishing off dessert and watching tv with his mom in my living room - he bought a house that just happens to be a couple of blocks away from his mother's cooking, takeout leftovers and pre-made lunches - and he smiles at me a lot.)

Smart young fellow! I loved my mother’s cooking and baking

Bill said
Re universities and community colleges: Some are recognizing more of each others' courses for credit. Also, can pick up a fair bit of some programs via distance learning. An idea one of my kids used: figure out what program you want to take and where, then take as many courses that they'll accept as you can locally or remotely while living at home on the cheap, then transfer your credits and go to the desired university and program of your choice for only the last two years or so (depending on their minimum-attendance requirements). By living under our roof as long as possible he cut a couple of years off out-of-town living while still getting the specific degree and certification he wanted. (He's the one on track to retire in his mid-30s, the one just polishing off dessert and watching tv with his mom in my living room - he bought a house that just happens to be a couple of blocks away from his mother's cooking, takeout leftovers and pre-made lunches - and he smiles at me a lot.)  

Bill - for a rare time - I'm in complete agreement with you there on all points. I've recently went back to school and I, too, live with my parents and taking courses in a program I want (Library & Information Technology Diploma) from Langara College (in Vancouver) by distance is ideal. Tuition and sundry costs are about $1000-1500 every 4 months; less in the summer due to less course offerings. I'd say I'd probably at least half, perhaps double, by doing it this way.

Your son is smart. Sounds like me.

Cheers,
Doug

Thanks, Save2Retire@50, but just to clarify re "retirement": My youngest intends to retire from having to work in his mid-30s so he can pursue full-time his ever-growing list of passions which as far as I can tell currently are headed by spending time in the northern rocks-and-bush lands looking for gold with a prospector buddy or two, forest fire fighting, cutting trees into firewood, learning languages, songwriting and (as I joke with him, and the key to it all) avoiding "relationships". Retirement to him just means he no longer needs to chase money (especially with the liberal-minded good people of Canada voting for politicians who are working up to a guaranteed annual income in a few years!), can do what he wants 24/7, so it doesn't appear boredom is going to be an issue. Living in a place where you can get a decent home for about $250K (6 years ago when he bought) has some benefits.

Agree the OP needs to focus in on the areas he and spouse feel they can call 'home'. The point of the early discussion was to lay out a wide range of possibilities, not to persuade the OP to conform to the personal bias of members.