Not so fast. The west end of Montreal is pretty anglo. Go a little further west, just before hitting the Ontario border, and it’s even more anglo. And for the time being, it’s still relatively cheap, compared to Toronto, Calgary or Vancouver. In fact, pretty much anywhere from Montreal’s West Island to Kingston Ontario along Highway 401 you can probably get a decent house with 52K plus a teacher’s salary, as long as you can muster a decent down payment. But it’s changing quickly. House prices in Montreal have been going up in price five to ten percent per year for the last five years.
If you’re fine with smaller towns, check out Cornwall, Kingston, Belleville and Brockville (all in Ontario). Or check out Canadian towns that have a military base. Maybe you’ll make the switch some day.
Well, another Canadian from one of those Northern BC towns here. (Hi EmAnJ!) I’d like to echo what some others have said. Most of western Canada (especially Alberta and northern BC) is in the middle of a bit of an economic boom right now. I have seen housing prices increase around 300% in the last eight years. So even EmAnJ’s numbers there are looking a bit dated to me, they would undoubtably be higher now. (EmAnJ Even Tumbler Ridge’s prices have doubled even with the mine closed, and Fort Nelson have gone completely nuts!)
So if you’re not looking for work, you will probably have better luck with housing on the east coast. We have a lot of east-coasters who move out here for the jobs, and from what they’ve told me, housing is around a quarter of the price on the east coast compared to here, and this town only has 18,000 people in it! So if you already have a job, I’d look east. Keeps you closer to the UK as well.
Are you sure? It seems to me that the Rigaud-Vaudreuil region is mainly French-speaking.
The West Island, of course, has a large quantity of anglophones. And it’s certainly possible to live in Montreal without knowing French (although it’s certainly better to know it well enough to be able to communicate).
$52,000 CAD/year is decent, depending on where you decide to live. I third (forth? fifth?) either the maritimes or central Canada. Winnipeg is a bit like Glasgow, if you’re into that sort of thing - not my first choice of city, but afordable. Or there are many small towns that are great and within spitting distance of a larger city. Climate wise the west coast is probably closest to many parts of Europe (mild, quite a lot of rain, occasional snow).
As to living here without immigrating - if you have a job making $52,000 a year, the CDN govt would be happy to let you live here and partake in a variety of Canadian goodies - I know this because one of my good friends did that very thing - she was faculty at a UK university with a Welcome trust award. Nobody had any trouble, whatsoever, with she and her husband living here for years. Eventually they decided to immigrate and they had to jump through a bunch of hoops, but as well educated professionals from another Commonwealth country it wasn’t that difficult for them.
So - moving to Canada - make a list of things that are “must-haves” post them and us Can-dopers can offer suggestions for places where you might find many/most/all of them.
IMHO, the nicest places to live in Canada in terms of natural setting and activities are in BC, with emphasis on the Lower Mainland, the Okanagan Valley, and Vancouver island. Of course, you have to watch your $$$ in these areas…
Halifax has a population of about 300K, combined with Dartmouth and Bedford (which are essentially connected it comes to around 500K). Housing prices have increased here within the last 5 years (our house went from 170K to about 300K in value), but there are still a number of affordable areas. The Halifax airport is a nice little international airport which now offers some direct flights to UK. Most, however will go through Toronto. The airport alone is almost enough for me to reccomend the place, especially after experiencing the horrors of Stanstead. For more affordability, RickJay mentioned Truro, which is only about 45 mins from Halifax and 1/2 hour from the airport.
The climate around here is pretty mild by Canadian standards, ~ 25C in Summer, ~-5C in Winter. Lots of nice coastline and attractions Cape Breton
To see what housing prices are like, go to this site http://www.mls.ca/ . It gives lots of listings from all over the country.
I think this is your best bet, Corporal_Nobbs. Canada has lots to offer; what are you looking for?
By the way, I just took a trip through Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and the Okanagan Valley. I wouldn’t move to any of those places. Everything’s relative, though - all these places were either too crowded or too inaccessible for me, but your opinion might be different.
As for renting in Calgary, we just had a news story about a landlord who is raising his rents from $700/month to $1900/month in a city with a 0.2% vacancy rate, and the Alberta government sees no need for any kind of rent controls in this here bastion of capitalism.
Balduran, Halifax sounds just like what I’m looking for, but unfortunately I’m a fourth-generation Westerner, and we’re not allowed to move east of Manitoba.
Vancouver Island is too inaccessible (actually Vancouver is, too - it’s on the coast, not in the middle of the province, and all my family are in AB and SK), and Okanagan Valley and Vancouver are all too crowded for me. Oh, they’re too expensive, too; almost forgot that.
Oh, ok. You mean inaccesible from where you live currently.
Vancouver is crowded, yes, but VA and the OV? Really? I didn’t think they were that bad… Metro Victoria is only 330K, I think, and the Kelowna is, what, 150Kish?
It is up to you to break the cycle! I am from the same background. My family has had land near Vegreville for over 100 years. Before I went to Uni in Ottawa, I had never been father east than Sask. I thought the East was just full of crooks, bums, and Peter Pocklingtons.
My mother is moving here from Calgary soon, and she keeps running into people that are selling out and moving to Nova Scotia. Her realtor has also said there are lots of people doing this. I am wondering if some of these are Easterners that have decided they have made enough money and are now coming home?
Well, I guess it depends on the exact location. I have friends in Hudson and just outside of Saint-Lazare and in Rivière-Beaudette. Plenty of anglos. We went to a restaurant in Hudson, and I don’t think anyone in there was French. But you’re right, I incorrectly characterized the area as an unbroken string of anglos from West Island on.
House prices are also all over the place west of Montreal. They’ve shot through the roof in Hudson, for example.
The only real advice I have for Corporal_Nobbs is to look at areas that have a military base. Petawawa, maybe? In case he ever decides to get citizenship and make the switch. Or is he navy? Then east coast sounds best.
If you like your seasons I am going to throw Winnipeg into the mix.
We definitely have seasons
Easy access to an international airport with (I think) direct flights to England.
It’s a medium sized city with decent housing prices - at 52000/year you would qualify for a mortgage of about 156000, you can still buy a decent house with a great yard for that much - more so if you would consider a bedroom community less than 1 hour away.
We have hot summers, frigid winters and everything in between - if you want more info you can check out www.winnipeg.ca
