In perusing craigslist for an apartment in Ottawa, I’ve noticed that the Quebec side of the river tends to have better places cheaper than the Ottawa side of the river.
Is this simply due to lesser demand, or is (are) there serious downside(s) to living in Quebec instead of Ontario?
Would I be able to get along OK while I’m learning French?
I’ve always heard that income tax rates are higher in Quebec than in Ontario. You might want to look into that.
Are we talking rental or buying?
Something else you might want to look into is that rent is tax-deductible in Ontario. I don’t know about Quebec, but I know it’s not in BC.
There’s also that whole “Lease ends on June 31st and everyone moves on Canada Day” thing. Though matt_mcl tells me there are ways around it. You might ask him.
Is all the lease paperwork in French?
The drinking age is lower in Hull than in Ottawa. You get a lot of kids from Ontario going across for partying.
18 rather than 19?
I knew several 19 year olds from Ottawa who made this their every-weekend goal.
In this post, I will use “Gatineau” to mean the new city of Gatineau, created from the merger of the cities of Gatineau (the former one), Hull, Aylmer, Masson-Angers and Buckingham.
When I was studying at the University of Ottawa, several of my colleagues from abroad were living in Gatineau. (I mention “from abroad” since it means that they decided to live there when moving to the region, as opposed to people like me who lived in Gatineau since that’s where we’re from.) So I guess that it was worth it for them. I can’t say for sure why housing costs are lower in Gatineau than in Ottawa; I guess it’s because it’s farther from the economic centre of the region.
It’s worth noting that a rather large part of the population of the Outaouais region comes from other regions of Quebec or other Canadian provinces.
Certainly. Actually, your biggest problem might very well be that you won’t actually have to learn French. You can get services in English at the City of Gatineau, and many people, upon finding out that your French isn’t so good (or even upon finding out that your first language is English, even if your French were perfect) will switch to English. (I’ve been guilty of this at times.) A large proportion of Gatineau’s population works in Ottawa, particularly in the public service, so they have to speak English in day to day life anyway. Of course, you’d get even less opportunities to learn French in Ottawa, unless you live in some of the more francophone parts of Ottawa (Vanier, Orléans, etc.)
That is true. Taxes were lowered in the last Quebec budget, but they’re still higher than in Ontario. I don’t know if the difference in housing costs makes up for this; maybe Valteron would know, I believe he’s lived on both sides of the river. You do get more government services in Quebec, though, but maybe it’s services you don’t need. (Lower tuition fees, low-cost child care – with unfortunately a long waiting list – I don’t think any of this is something you would currently use.)
As well, Quebec residents must fill two separate tax records: one for the federal government and one for the provincial government. Residents of other provinces only fill one tax report, and their provincial income tax is calculated using the federal definition of taxable income. This means more work for you, once a year (but still quite easy, especially using software), but it also means that while in most cases you will pay more tax in Quebec than in Ontario, in some cases the opposite will be true. For example, for the last few years most of my income has been scholarships. At the time they were taxable at the federal level, and presumably in most provinces – they apparently aren’t anymore – but they weren’t in Quebec, so by living in Quebec I was actually paying less tax than if I’d been living in Ontario. Other special situations may also apply. Barbarian told me that he moved back to Quebec because his wife could benefit from a similar program to the following tax holiday for foreign experts. (Of course, if you work in Ottawa you may not be able to claim such a benefit anyway.) To sum up, what choice is more beneficial to you may depend on your particular situation, and I don’t know enough about the differences between Quebec and Ontario’s tax policies to give advice.
I’ve checked Revenue Quebec’s website and I don’t see anything to that effect. I’ve never heard about it either. It’s an interesting question since I’m currently renting an apartment too.
Yes, interestingly there is a June 31[sup]th[/sup] in Quebec! 
The week around July 1[sup]st[/sup] is one of the busiest for moving, but you can buy a house at any time, and some leases end at other times too. So Frank should be able to find a place to live, whatever the time he decides to move.
Social stigma of living in Hull.
Better to reign in Hull than serve in Heaven!
There is a story in one of my Fireside Book of Baseball where a father takes his son to Hull to watch baseball on a Sunday. One of the closing lines is the mother, “You took the boy to Hull?”
Thanks, severus, I figured it would be something like taxes. I dunno, I have some emotional attatchment; my name is from Quebec (five generations ago), and my mom was born in Montreal, though she was only there as a small child. We’ll see.
The good side is that it is that much closer to either Tremblant or the Canadian Ski Marathon. Jackrabbit rules!