If you didn't live in your current province/territory

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

So, are you calling southeast NB Acadians "vendu's"????

Personally, I don't see them as being assimilated at all. The Acadians in Moncton arguably have stronger cultural institutions than the anglophones do (UdeM, CHU Dumont, Centre Culturel Aberdeen, Radio Canada etc.). They are culturally secure, but they have to live with the reality that the anglophone community in greater Moncton outnumbers them 2:1. Since the anglophone community is numerically stronger, it is only natural that the default language is English.

I don't see them as vendu or (mostly) assimilated but they clearly are more anglicized than their cousins in the north. I see all of the good stuff you've described and as I mentioned it's clearly more dynamic and authentic than what I've seen from Franco-Ontarians up to now. The real question is whether living in a large(ish) city like Moncton with lots of non-Acadians and non-francophones is a plus in that the presence of people who are "different" constitutes an enrichment for them, or is it a negative, subtractive thing because it ends up supplanting Acadian francophone culture among its native practitioners?

For me, the jury is still out on that.

[svlt]

Originally Posted by megadude

For those of you that have kids, and assume you'll have grand kids, do you take that in to account when thinking of where to retire?

If you live in a town or somewhere where there's very little opportunity, do you assume your kids will go to school and not settle in their hometown? So you know they were always going to be somewhere else. So do you retire to where they settle down after school?

Or do you assume your kids will be transient and make a few moves around the country for work so it would kind of be pointless to retire to where they happen to be at the time? Or could you see yourself following them (if they even wanted that)?

Are you in one of the major centres already and assume your kids, and therefore grand kids, will stick around so you're hesitant to go retire somewhere far away and not be able to see them more than once or twice a year?

I see that lots of AB people retire to BC. And if it's not too far over the border, it can be a destination for the kids and grand kids to come visit a few times a year if you're close to mountains and water.

I know a few people who retired to cottage country here by cashing out and enjoying the slower pace of life. They don't get to see their kids on the regular throughout the year but see them and the grand kids a lot in the summer as their house becomes the de facto cottage.

This is an important long term point to think about.

But frankly the goal is to make enough by the time you retire to not have to live in Canada for much of the year and can afford to be fairly mobile. I think in your very senior years when flight mobility becomes limited for health reasons, you just move to wherever your kids live.

If I can't be in BC I would pick Halifax, NS, if practical considerations like social net and career don't have to be considered. Failing that, Montreal or Quebec QC if I magically knew French (huge stretch of the imagination here), and afterwards Toronto or Ottawa ON. Calgary AB and perhaps Winnipeg MB would be the last places I could live in - I've done it for 2 in Calgary, and could stretch it for a few more.

If forced anywhere else long term in Canada I think I'd rather take my chances and start my career over as an entry level in another warmer country.

Personally I think the question is unfair if you can throw every main life consideration out the window. Canada is a country of compromise - we're in certain parts of it because it aligns to our current situation in life and not because it meets all of our desirability and livability criteria.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

Quebec, easily. The only province in Canada with a unique culture and politics.

In fact although I’m planning on moving to Kyoto, my second choice is Montreal.

I think some of the more homer like people on this forum may disagree with you about the only province with a unique culture.

I'm assuming money is no object in terms of which other province to move to. If so, it would be the mountains of BC for me.

[SaskScraper]

Poll results probably tend to show where posters are in their life times, I'm guessing most posters are later in their lives and thinking about where they'd want to be retiring.

As for now Saskatoon is right size that my husband & I like. Easy commute to work (amenities that cities two or three times the size don't even have) and Saskatoon is easy to get to other parts of continent, for example, ~6 hours or less to fly to each of LA or NYC, which only a few cities or so in Canada can say the same.
Weather wise it's not too bad, low rain/snow,.. or at least my husband says he prefers here over other places he's been that have higher humidity etc (he hates shovelling snow)

If we were close to retiring and had the extra money to pay the real estate prices, we'd probably pick BC, maybe the Island, as next province to live, just as long as it isn't as rainy as The UK.

As for now Alberta, either Calgary or Edmonton, would probably be our next pick to live. The cities aren't too expensive or too big, easy to get around, would be easy to commute to work etc, & they have almost all the same amenities as Canada's 3 largest cities.
Lethbridge or Med Hat are smaller Alberta cities but i'd consider since they have most amenities we'd use on daily basis & lots of welcoming snow melting Chinooks that keep Lethbridge's average day-time highs above freezing year round.

Anywhere farther east in Canada we'd have to weigh the pros and cons of living there. It would depend on career opportunities and benefits out weighing being further from family, and living somewhere with harsher humidity/weather etc
(I don't think we could live somewhere like Quebec that has lots of weather related power outages) https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...s-autumn-storm or a non-robust infrastructure. https://calgaryherald.com/transporta...e-50a7b69bf5c8
plus the province if language/race discrimination made more of an obstacle to live.

I must say I don't think we could live in maritimes at this point in our lives because we wouldn't want to be too isolated from entertainment and sporting events etc as mentioned on last page.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

Saskatoon is easy to get to other parts of continent, for example, ~6 hours or less to fly to each of LA or NYC, which only a few cities or so in Canada can say the same.

Considering it only takes about 6 hours to cross the continent, that would be true of most Canadian cities. Toronto is 5-and-a-half hours from LA and 1 hour from NYC, while Vancouver is 5 hours from NYC and 3 hours from LA, for example.

I guess another way of looking at would be to say that given it's northerly location, Saskatoon (along with Regina and St. John's) is one of the few major Canadian cities that's >5 hours from both New York and Los Angeles.

[GreaterMontréal]

(I don't think we could live somewhere like Quebec that has lots of weather related power outages)https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...s-autumn-storm

We don't have more power outages than in the rest of Canada. Most people only lost electricity for about 10h max. That was the most important even since the great ice storm in 1998. Unless there is a tornado or a major wind event, Hydro-Québec has a pretty robust network.

We primarity employs electric home heating systems. Only 5% of Quebec households rely on natural gas for home heating.

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Considering it only takes about 6 hours to cross the continent, that would be true of most Canadian cities. Toronto is 5-and-a-half hours from LA and 1 hour from NYC, while Vancouver is 5 hours from NYC and 3 hours from LA, for example.

I guess another way of looking at would be to say that given it's northerly location, Saskatoon (along with Regina and St. John's) is one of the few major Canadian cities that's >5 hours from both New York and Los Angeles.

Cities like Halifax, Quebec City, Ottawa show fastest commercial flights to LA at about 8 to 9 hours. Even Hamilton, Ontario you'd have to drive an hour to Pearson to catch a 5 & half hour flight to LA.

On the other side of the country, Victoria and Kelowna you'd have to either fly to Vancouver, Seattle or Calgary to catch a flight to NYC, taking minimum 7 hours.

My point is that Saskatoon has an airport with enough flights & is centrally located to fly to BOTH coasts in ~6 hours or less.
Again, Saskatoon YXE (and Regina YQR) along with YYC, YEG, YWG, YVR, YYZ, YUL, have flights* to LA and NYC with travel times ~6 hrs or less.

*with one stop or less

[urbandreamer]

Gabriola Island half the year; somewhere in the Shenandoah Valley VA or New Hampshire the other half.

[balletomane]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

I'm surprised 7 people have said Manitoba, and only 1 for Newfoundland.

I'm also surprised. Generally, I find Manitoba to be underappreciated/overlooked, however it is normally considered a have-not province (which I understand considering the headlines as of late about crime), but I thought it would have only 2 or 3 votes.

[CityTech]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

Cities like Halifax, Quebec City, Ottawa show fastest commercial flights to LA at about 8 to 9 hours. Even Hamilton, Ontario you'd have to drive an hour to Pearson to catch a 5 & half hour flight to LA.

On the other side of the country, Victoria and Kelowna you'd have to either fly to Vancouver, Seattle or Calgary to catch a flight to NYC, taking minimum 7 hours.

My point is that Saskatoon has an airport with enough flights & is centrally located to fly to BOTH coasts in ~6 hours or less.
Again, Saskatoon YXE (and Regina YQR) along with YYC, YEG, YWG, YVR, YYZ, YUL, have flights* to LA and NYC with travel times ~6 hrs or less.

*with one stop or less

He meant that Saskatoon was the only city where neither New York or Los Angeles is less than 5 hours away. Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, etc. are less than 5 hours to New York. Vancouver, Calgary, etc. are less than 5 hours to Los Angeles. Saskatoon is less than 5 hours away to.. neither.

From Montreal/Ottawa, you can actually drive to New York in about six hours. They're really not that far apart. Although you have to pass through hours of some pretty boring/empty areas of upstate New York to get there

[rousseau]

These two posts are so incredibly awesome. So much to enjoy. You've really upped your game.

The world needs more people from Saskatchewan looking down their noses with metropolitan haughtiness at the rest of the provincial rubes. It would be a great premise for a sitcom. A couple of names for the show come to mind: Corner Ass, Little Toff on the Prairie etc.

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

Poll results probably tend to show where posters are in their life times, I'm guessing most posters are later in their lives and thinking about where they'd want to be retiring.

As for now Saskatoon is right size that my husband & I like. Easy commute to work (amenities that cities two or three times the size don't even have) and Saskatoon is easy to get to other parts of continent, for example, ~6 hours or less to fly to each of LA or NYC, which only a few cities or so in Canada can say the same.
Weather wise it's not too bad, low rain/snow,.. or at least my husband says he prefers here over other places he's been that have higher humidity etc (he hates shovelling snow)

If we were close to retiring and had the extra money to pay the real estate prices, we'd probably pick BC, maybe the Island, as next province to live, just as long as it isn't as rainy as The UK.

As for now Alberta, either Calgary or Edmonton, would probably be our next pick to live. The cities aren't too expensive or too big, easy to get around, would be easy to commute to work etc, & they have almost all the same amenities as Canada's 3 largest cities.
Lethbridge or Med Hat are smaller Alberta cities but i'd consider since they have most amenities we'd use on daily basis & lots of welcoming snow melting Chinooks that keep Lethbridge's average day-time highs above freezing year round.

Anywhere farther east in Canada we'd have to weigh the pros and cons of living there. It would depend on career opportunities and benefits out weighing being further from family, and living somewhere with harsher humidity/weather etc
(I don't think we could live somewhere like Quebec that has lots of weather related power outages) https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...s-autumn-storm or a non-robust infrastructure. https://calgaryherald.com/transporta...e-50a7b69bf5c8
plus the province if language/race discrimination made more of an obstacle to live.

I must say I don't think we could live in maritimes at this point in our lives because we wouldn't want to be too isolated from entertainment and sporting events etc as mentioned on last page.

So much goodness. Eastern Canada has harsher weather than Saskatchewan? Check. Calgary and Edmonton have practically the same amenities as a place like Toronto? Check. Quebec is racist compared to, uh, Saskatchewan, or indeed any Prairie city with a huge Native population? Check.

But the greatest, most original and truly innovative gambit for one-upping the rest of us plebeians has to be the joyous benefit of being only six hours by air to both LA and New York, making Saskatoon more convenient for getting away from. Is there a chamber of commerce tourist slogan or employee recruitment hook in there somewhere? Gotta be.

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

Cities like Halifax, Quebec City, Ottawa show fastest commercial flights to LA at about 8 to 9 hours. Even Hamilton, Ontario you'd have to drive an hour to Pearson to catch a 5 & half hour flight to LA.

On the other side of the country, Victoria and Kelowna you'd have to either fly to Vancouver, Seattle or Calgary to catch a flight to NYC, taking minimum 7 hours.

My point is that Saskatoon has an airport with enough flights & is centrally located to fly to BOTH coasts in ~6 hours or less.
Again, Saskatoon YXE (and Regina YQR) along with YYC, YEG, YWG, YVR, YYZ, YUL, have flights* to LA and NYC with travel times ~6 hrs or less.

*with one stop or less

Always read the fine print! Turns out Saskatoon doesn't actually have any direct flights to New York or Los Angeles, which would explain why travel times are relatively long for a seemingly shorter distance (yeah, I checked--I'm too much of a SaskScraper fanboy to have any shame about things like this).

"So with Victoria and Kelowna you need to fly to another city to catch a flight to New York, but from Saskatoon, well, there's only one stop on a flight to New York. The two scenarios are totally different."

This would be in the script for the sitcom. It practically writes itself. Anyone up for throwing together a few episodes and pitching it to Netflix?

[Denscity]

^^^ haha ya out of nearly 90 votes Saskatchewan only has 1!

[Darkoshvilli]

Gotta love that username though. SaskScraper.

Talk about an oxymoron.

[wave46]

I don't know. Honestly. In no particular order:

1. Quebec. It's always struck me as odd that I live in a country where there's a quarter of the population might as well be a foreign country to me. They do seem to have a better sense of 'self' - they stand as their own unique culture and lack the colonial mindset that permeates the rest of the country. It's convenient to where I live too, which helps. My notoriously poor French would be my biggest concern. It would be the risky choice, but probably the most rewarding one; I'd understand Canada as a whole better if I learn the other side of the 2 solitudes. Somewhere like Montreal would appeal to me.

2. BC (ahem, the Lower Mainland). The weather is less brutal. The areas there are gorgeous. Seattle is very close. The downside: oh, the costs of getting in - I've absolutely no interest in being house poor.

3. Oddball choice: Manitoba. I live in a place that has similar weather to Manitoba, so it's not a deal-breaker. In an unusual sense, it seems potentially the best place for future growth - there's some solid bones despite the pounding the province took in the '80s and '90s. The distance from the rest of the world would be the challenge, I guess - I'm spoiled that I'm but a few hour drive to the biggest cities in the country and a long-weekend trip to Toronto, Ottawa or Montreal is quite feasible.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by someone123

Saint John is nice and everything but they are not really comparable cities. It's not that far off from comparing Hamilton vs. Toronto. The inner city Halifax neighbourhoods have a lot more amenities and everything about them is higher end, like the demographics, shops, and schools available. Inner city Halifax is also growing way faster, with construction all over the place. A building you buy now will effectively be significantly more central in 10 years, with land values to match, while Saint John tends to remain static.

I will agree that Halifax has gotten expensive, with little box-style rowhouses in the North End going for $400,000+. Those places used to be a tiny fraction of that price, but were not renovated in the past. If you could still find a run down old rowhouse in the North End for sub-$200,000 it would be a good buy in that you could fix it up and make money off of it. If we compare that to Vancouver, there simply are no 1860's or earlier buildings to buy and comparable areas are priced in the millions.

I am talking about the peninsula and not the suburbs. There are some somewhat urban areas not on the peninsula like Dartmouth and Dutch Village Road/Fairview and they are more affordable.

Yea Halifax is really not cheap. Whether or not it should be is hard to say, but I've found it a bit pricey for awhile now, at least in terms of what one might expect for the region. That being said, it obviously makes no sense to just base one's expectations on the larger region where a city is located. Not only is Halifax in a completely different province from SJ, the metro area is over 3x larger, and the economy has a totally different foundation. But I suppose if someone is gauging the best place to live as an outsider whose current and future expected wealth is based mainly from outside sources, that makes much if the difference less relevant. I mean if you're just living some place because of a) how much it costs (lower the better) and b) how enjoyable it is, and your income is from various investment activities elsewhere in NA, Saint John might be pretty interesting.

For me it would be impossible to answer the question without also knowing what my career situation was. I think I could adapt to almost anywhere including some rural areas if given the right professional opportunities. If just choosing based on location preference, if I was in a position to comfortably afford a central location in Montreal or Toronto (not necessarily right downtown, but within 30 min from downtown by transit or bike) then I'd be all for it. Vancouver is a bit far from my root region given its smaller size which would generally be near the lower size limit from a purely preference standpoint. But obviously there's more to consider given that I'm in a smaller center currently.

[SignalHillHiker]

I chose Quebec. I haven't spent quality time in Toronto in years and everyone I know, in daily life and here on SSP speaks of it in very complimentary terms now, so without any contemporary experience there, Montreal is still my favourite of Canada's cities. It was the one with an aged, meaty, muscular presence back when I was living/working my way west.

Of course, if I had to move away from Newfoundland again, it'd almost certainly be east. Jealous of jeddy1989's year in Prague. I'd never choose there, but I could easily waste away a decade or two almost anywhere in Europe.

[CityTech]

Originally Posted by wave46

I don't know. Honestly. In no particular order:

1. Quebec. It's always struck me as odd that I live in a country where there's a quarter of the population might as well be a foreign country to me. They do seem to have a better sense of 'self' - they stand as their own unique culture and lack the colonial mindset that permeates the rest of the country. It's convenient to where I live too, which helps. My notoriously poor French would be my biggest concern. It would be the risky choice, but probably the most rewarding one; I'd understand Canada as a whole better if I learn the other side of the 2 solitudes. Somewhere like Montreal would appeal to me.

Montreal would be awesome to live in, but I feel like Montreal is not a great place to learn French as an interprovincial migrant. If you try to speak French in Montreal, people will just switch to English on you, so it's hard to get conversational practice.

If I was going to move to Quebec, I'd pick somewhere in the regions for the first year or so to learn French in a trial-by-fire, then I'd move to Montreal. I know enough French that I could probably just jump in and start using it and I'd improve over time. I'd still like to seek out official classes to take as well, though.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by CityTech

Montreal would be awesome to live in, but I feel like Montreal is not a great place to learn French as an interprovincial migrant. If you try to speak French in Montreal, people will just switch to English on you, so it's hard to get conversational practice.

If I was going to move to Quebec, I'd pick somewhere in the regions for the first year or so to learn French in a trial-by-fire, then I'd move to Montreal. I know enough French that I could probably just jump in and start using it and I'd improve over time. I'd still like to seek out official classes to take as well, though.

You are more ambitious than I. Montreal would be interesting for other reasons too - it would be the largest city I've lived in and definitely has that 'big city' vibe without the brutal costs of Toronto and Vancouver.

It's enough of a transition zone for the language that I wouldn't feel like I was underwater and completely unable to communicate with people. I believe that if I was unable to communicate in anything other than a very infantile respect, I'd quickly feel alienated and long for home.

[GlassCity]

In real life, I'd go wherever I found a job first. I'm really not that picky with places, and agree with what others have said that 90% of life happens at work or home anyway. I think I could adjust to living anywhere.

But for the poll, Manitoba was the easy choice for me. After having just spent two years there, I know the city and I have both the social and professional connections to make it a pretty easy transition. While it has its issues, namely sprawl and a weak downtown, underdeveloped infrastructure, and social issues, I'm not all that adventurous and would rather pick the comfortable option that I know I'd be happy and stress-free with. Plus, I do like my friends there and I 'd have the bonus of being able to buy a condo in a new highrise glass building downtown or a charming detached house in a streetcar suburb if I maintained my current income. I don't care about weather at all.

But if we count Manitoba as being too close to a home province, it gets a little trickier, and I'd be choosing between Alberta and Ontario. I love Quebec, but I'm way too lazy to operate semi-functionally based on language. Toronto would be cool, but if I'm leaving Vancouver, I'd want somewhere with an actual affordability advantage. I'm paying a "home" premium in Vancouver, not an amenity premium, and Toronto isn't home. So really I'd be choosing between Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa. Ottawa is closer to my own politics, but Alberta is close to Vancouver and I've actually been there so I'd be somewhat more familiar and would go with that. Since the poll only asks about provinces and not cities, I'm not gonna go through the hardship of choosing between Calgary and Edmonton

[goodgrowth]

Halifax is expensive? Are people talking about the total cost of living? Because just in terms of housing everytime I see the avg house price for various CMA's it still seems it's in the bottom half of cities.