Moving to Canada, round 2: Ottawa

In My Humble Opinion
1

OK, I’ve decided. Though I’m still sending out random job apps when it looks good to almost anywhere (for instance, in the last week I’ve sent my resume to Sudbury, Ontario and St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador), I’m not sanguine about finding a job from down here. The few responses have seemed mildly astonished that I want to move to Canada from Denver.

So, I’m figuring on going up cold, and if that’s the case, it’s Ottawa.

It’s a nice city. Though I didn’t spend as much time there as in Toronto, I liked it. I have an aunt and a step-grandmother there. It’s (though mountainless) pretty country. There’s enough culture and restaraunts to suit me, it’s the size of a city that I like, and it’s in a good location for weekends in Toronto or Montreal, or for catching a train to Halifax or Vancouver. I’m 98% certain I’d be happy there.

Where I’m looking for advice at the moment is on rental of an apartment or house. I’ve been looking on Craiglist, and most prices seem reasonable, but I’ve no idea on what part of town is good.

I’ll be 50 when I move, and frankly, I want quiet nights; I’m well beyond being able to sleep through the bars closing. But another priority is to be within an interesting walking area, where there are places and people to eyeball as I stroll along. Are these incompatible in Ottawa?

I’ve noticed that on the Hull/Gatineau side places seem to be better and cheaper. Is this true? Quebec has a different retirement plan from the other nine provinces. Better? Worse? Would I be able to get along on that side of the river before I learn French?

Five appliances are fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer, and dryer, right? I assume four is without the dishwasher, and three is without the washer and dryer, and two is only a fridge and a stove. I’ve seen some that expect the renter to bring their own appliances; is this common? Does an air-conditioner (for July and August) count as an appliance?

No parking available is right out.

Well, any advice and comments are not only welcome, but needed.

2

Ottawa! Yay! My home town - I love it to bits :slight_smile:

Nope. But that probably means you’d be living downtown. Sandy Hill is very much that way; you’re a short walk from the Market, which is the centre of Ottawa nightlife - and, really, weekend life, too. It’s not just bars but bars and restaurants and shops - and, much of the year, a farmers’ market with fabulous produce.

You can also live in the Byward Market/Lowertown area. New Edinburgh is getting further afield but is also nice.

The Glebe is one of the great spots to live and it’s closer to the Canal and has its own social scene. Then there’s the area off Elgin though bits can be iffy.

A lot of people work in Ottawa and live on the Quebec side. Pretty much everybody in Ottawa-Hull is bilingual. You do want to check into prices, though. Quebec used to have higher income tax and deadly expensive car licences and insurance.

People who rent houses can be expected to bring appliances sometimes; it’s less common with apartments. Air conditioners don’t count as appliances; you should ask if it’s available. When I last lived there, not everybody had it by a long shot; people got by as they could. It’s not like living in Texas or Florida in the extreme heat; it’s not impossible to manage without a/c.

I believe you can email me from SDMB if you have any questions. I’m going to Ottawa and Montreal in July and will be talking to my buds there beforehand so if you need any info and hear from no Ottawans, I’ll find out what I can for you.

Are there Ottawans on SDMB? I know there’s a Carp-er :smiley:

3

I have a great-uncle and various styles of cousins in B.C. If you turn out to be a relative… As long as your ancestors don’t come from Saskatchewan. (Where I also, according to my mother, have various styles of cousins.)

Thanks for the info!

4

I doubt it - I don’t have many relatives and there’s maybe one in BC who’s female and way too young to be your great-uncle.

Well, in fact, my dad was from a teeny French town in Saskatchewan.

5

If she was born to a missionary in China, one of us is totally off-base.

:smiley:

6

This recent study by MoneySense magazine says it’s the best place to live in Canada.

Good Luck to ya!
.

7

Ottawa is a beautiful city. I wouldn’t mind living there at all; I should have followed my sister there.

8

Actually, what I’d say is that most people in Ottawa and Gatineau (which now includes Hull) are able to speak English at least well enough to hold a conversation. Not almost everyone is bilingual, as a large number of anglophones in Ottawa don’t speak French. Frank’s post seemed to imply that he wants to learn French, so I shall warn him that, as in any other place where most people know enough English to get by (Montreal is another example), he might find himself having trouble practicing his French, since francophones will switch to English to “help” him once they figure out that he’s more comfortable in English.

As far as I know, it is correct that housing prices are lower in Gatineau than in Ottawa and many people who move to the region opt to live in Gatineau. As you point out, income tax is higher (with some exceptions: scholarships aren’t taxable in Quebec while they are in Ottawa and presumably the other provinces), but our government is currently trying to include tax cuts in its budget, so we’ll have to see what happens.

Oh yes. Grey is in Ottawa, I believe. I used to live in Gatineau until January (and I’m currently posting from my parents’ in Gatineau), and I believe that Valteron also lives here. Actually, consider [post=7674892]this post[/post] from last August.

9

Born and raised Ottawan here. :smiley:

There are a few of areas of the city to stay away from. (If anyone here lives in these areas, please don’t be offended, but you know these are the bad parts of town.)

  1. Mechanicsville (Scott Street Area) - bad drug/hooker area.
  2. Caldwell/Morrisette Streets - bag drug/crime area.
  3. Ledbury Street - bad crime area.
  4. Parts near the Bayshore mall - bad crime area.
  5. The “Four Holes” apartments - Baseline @ Woodroffe area. They recently totally refurbished them, but still not a great place to live.

Also, if you want quiet nights, stay away from the areas around the 2 Universities and Algonquin college. Very affordable rent, but mostly students.

Living in Hull/Gatineau and working in Ottawa can be a pain in the butt. Dual taxes etc. The rent is cheaper in Hull/Gatineau, so that might make up for it. Mostly everyone in the Hull/Gatineau area speaks English. I’m not bilingual and never have a problem going there. Also, Montreal is an easy city for someone who only speaks English, as long as you stay in the city, otherwise, you’ll find yourself in trouble. :stuck_out_tongue:

If you want to be within walking distance to interesting things, try The Glebe. It’s a little more pricy down there, almost the Yuppie part of town, but it’s on the #1 bus route that takes you down town in 10 minutes max. The only problem I can see with living in The Glebe may be parking. Overbrooke and Sandy Hill are also good choices. Close to downtown, but not too noisy.

Any places for rent in Barrhaven, Orleans and Kanata are the outskirts of the city. Bells Corners, Nepean, Ottawa South are inside the outskirts.

Most apartments come with Fridge & Stove, that’s almost a given. Washing machine is the most common 3rd appliance, but doesn’t always come with a dryer. Dishwasher/microwave are less common, but not unheard of. I think the only way you’ll get a/c included is if it’s central air.

Most apartments are plus utilities (hydro, gas etc), but some are inclusive. Hydro is rediculously expensive here. So, if you want central a/c and/or heating, try to find some place that has utilties included. A bit more montly, but you’ll be comfortable year round.

July and August can be pretty hot and humid, so be forewarned.

It’s a BEAUTIFUL city. Along the canal, Dows Lake, just gorgeous. It’s also a really easy city to drive. The only place confusing is down town with it’s one way streets, but even then, it’s not so bad. The Queensway is the major artery in the city. You can drive from Orleans to Kanata in about a 1/2 hour during normal traffic. During rush hour though, it’s a night mare!

There is generally lots of stuff to do around here. Except concerts. Ottawa generally gets skipped by most concerts. So, if that’s your thing, expect to travel to Montreal when you wanna see your favorite band.

We also have the NAC which is a great place. Always a variety of entertaining things going on there. Also, there are 4 major museums in the area.

Museum of Science & Tech
Museum of Nature
Museum of Civilization - Hull
And, the brand new War Museum

Hmm…can’t really think of anything else, but if you have any questions, ask away!!

Krista

10

I do. I would start learning it down here, but I’m afraid I would be learning French French instead of Quebec French.

Lady Venom, that is extremely useful information. Thank you!

11

I’m currently attending school in Waterloo, but I hope to return to Ottawa after graduation.

12

They’re not all that different. It wouldn’t hurt to start learning now so you have a base. The difference is that Montreal/Outaouais French has a rougher accent and can add a lot of English in so you hear a funny mix of both. However, if you want to listen to news in French or do anything else more formal (like work), then you’ll want to learn standard French. BTW, the French spoken in the rest of Quebec, particularly Quebec City, is much closer to Parisian French than the French spoken in Montreal and points west, where you hear a lot of ‘joual’ - kinda like the Canadian version of Brooklyn English :smiley:

13

Semi-native Ottawan here. I can’t suggest decent places to live, as all the time I spent living there was with my parents, and I’ve never had to look for a place on my own. My mother’s on the boards, however, so she might be willing to offer a 50(ish)+ perspective. She goes by Das Glasperlenspiel if you wanna look her up.

Rysto - I went to WLU. Are you there or at UW?

14

Hey, no problem!

If you can, start learning the basics of french while you’re still in the States. It will make the transition all that much easier.

I’ve lived my whole life in and around the Ottawa area, and you don’t have to be bilingual to get a job.

15

UW, you mafia scum. :slight_smile:

16

Oooh! Burn!

At least I wasn’t goofy enough to bare my throat to some chucklehead who wanted to show me a “neat trick!” :wink:

I’ve gotta get up to the area someday soon. My wife has not yet seen any of the places where I spent my formative years…

17

I disagree with that. There are differences between the dialects of French spoken in the different parts of Quebec, but they’re minor compared to the differences between any of them and Parisian French. I can’t readily say which part of Quebec someone is from just by hearing them speak (unless they’re from the Saguenay, people from there do have a distinctive accent; I can also recognize Acadian and Franco-Ontarian accents but these are not from Quebec).

In any case, if Frank starts learning French in Colorado, it will probably indeed be a standard dialect from France, but there’s no problem with this, he shouldn’t have any problem understanding and being understood by Quebecers and Franco-Ontarians once he’ll be in Ottawa-Gatineau and he’ll pick up the regional dialect soon enough if he decides to keep speaking French once there. Which, as I said, might require some willpower on his part, since you can live in Ottawa, and even in Gatineau, without ever speaking in French.

I’ve never had any big problem with income taxes living in Gatineau and working in Ottawa, and neither have anyone I know with this living arrangement (keep in mind that it is extremely common for Gatineau residents to work in Ottawa, especially in the federal public service). Here’s how it works: if you live in Quebec, you are required to fill separate tax reports for the Canada Revenue Agency and for Revenue Quebec (Ontario residents pay taxes to Ontario, but they only fill a single tax report since Ontario income tax is computed from their federal taxable income and collected by Ottawa). If you live in Quebec and work in Ontario, Ottawa will deduce income tax from your paycheck at the federal + Ontario rates while Quebec will deduce nothing, so at the end of the year you will typically have a large sum to pay to Quebec and a large check from Ottawa, but in order to make it more balanced, you may choose to transfer up to 45% (or is it 40%?) of the federal income tax you already paid to Quebec. This doesn’t entirely balance things, but it may help. In any case, you certainly don’t have to pay income tax to both provinces.

18

I go to the University of Ottawa, which is near downtown and the byward market. I live in the northern part of Sandy Hill and I just love it here. Occasionally there are some ahem rowdy students, but I’ve only ever been disturbed late at night once. The places are nice, and the rents are reasonable. What size place are you looking for? Are you looking for a one or two bedroom apartment? House? How much are you looking to pay? You can find some good deals in this area, but you’ll pay more than if you were not near downtown.

19

Ack!!! Outed by my own kid! :o

Anyway, welcome (almost) to Ottawa! I can’t offer advice on where to live downtown as Herr 'spiel and I are country mice - way out in Manotick/Osgoode (south of the city, but still part of the city). I commute 30 km each way dailiy to work downtown.

I love living in Ottawa - it’s about the right size for a city. There are lots of places for walking, Gatineau Park is easily accessible, the cultural scene is good, as is the restaurant scene.

Get in touch once you get here!

das Glas

Oh yeah - we also have an NHL team - GO SENS!!!

20

Ottawa Expat here, living in Minneapolis now.

You got some great advice up above. You’ll love the place. Lots to do, lots to see. It’s a little city that wants to be big (and is, at heart). Beautiful parks, lots of green space, friendly folk, good transit system…

I miss the Byward market “like woah”. Seriously. Of all the things of home? The Market. Badly. There’s nothing like it out here… with all the shops and stands and museums and parks at walking distance? MAN I miss that. I used to live nearby, too. I had a small apartment at the edge of the downtown core (off of Albert St. passed Bay, at the flats ).