pros and cons of where you've lived

my fiance and i are hoping to make our home in canada some time in the next few years (he's canadian but i am not) and are considering different areas... we are leaning towards either the west coast or the east coast, but i'd like to hear about any other places too.

i guess i want to know about political and cultural views, environmental situations (for example, recycling AND the way it looks) population, tourism, that sort of thing.... so to make it easy, you can just tell us about your town, or a place you'd reccommend living thanks a lot for any info you want to share!

i ask because it would take far too long to google every canadian town or area

 

texas to alberta isn't that much of a jump.

 

texas to alberta isn't that much of a jump.

 

hmmm.....

Saskatchewan.... conservative, but a different type of conservative. And the level of conservatism varies from town to town, city to city. The people here are simple and uncomplicated, and somewhat closed minded... but would never actually SAY anything to your face if you are different from the norm. Not big on the confrontation, i guess.

(now, keep in mind, Ohio is conservative too.. but very different from Saskatchewan. In Ohio people still thought enough of Bush to re-elect him, while Saskatchewan-ites thought the Pro-Bush people were off their rockers. People in Ohio were much more likely to do or say something if they thought you were weird too.)

Basically, its conservative, but no one bugs you if you aren't conservative. I mean, people leave me alone!

Recycling varies, again, from city to city. More recycling centers in the citys that in a small town. But, you can always take your recycling into the city when you go for some other reason (say, to go to a movie or something)

SK has a tiny, tiny population... less than a million people. The land in the south of the province is flat and mostly agricultural, although there is also some oil drilling. Towards the centre of the province you get more hills and trees.... but you also get less people. Continue further north and it's just you and the elk... basically no people at all.

 

Are you serious... Less then a million people in saskatachewan?

 

i live in new brunswick ..no cons here ..have lived throuout canada .lets just say i' m not big on cities.i was raised in the united states ..in a city ..there i am sure i will never return to live

 

icedtea, that was an awesome description on saskatchewan, thank you sooo much

tuatara, you prefer new brunswick over every other place you've lived? that's awesome that's an area my fiance is interested in... says they're very liberal over there, but the fishing is wiped out and so perhaps the environment isn't as nice as it once was.... care to share any more info?

i've heard a few things about alberta... that it's a lot like west texas- flat plains, oil drilling, farming, very conservative. is that what you were referring to spooner?

 

West coast gets my vote, i will try to write up a little description here

i'm gonna asume when u say "west coast" we are talking within 2 hours of the actuall Coast, so here goes:

I live in an area currently 30 minute drive from being in DOWNTOWN vancouver, the price range of houses in my area are from 320,000$ - just over 2mill

this is considered a fairly highend area though, alot of areas surrounding mine are much much cheaper, but still being an hour from downtown vancouver in any direction could be very expensive depending on what u consider pricey.

Vancouver is my favorite city in the world, and although i've been to a limited amount of places, my views are so strong towards vancouver i dont think another city could ever change them

Vancouver and the surrounding areas are very laid back, politcal views are generally put aside and Multi-Culturism rules, seriously coming from texas u will experiance a MAJOR culture shock if u come to vancouver

as for how it looks, again Vancouver is an absolutely georgoues[sp] city, the picture in my signature shows one side of the city skyline from the oposite side which sits on the ocean

from vancouver u have Whistler, another amazingly beautiful city, which starts the first of many along the sunshine coast, branching off into small and island communities

then u have vancouver island, another very nice Gem, and from what i hear a great place to live, on the oposite side of the spectrum u go east and into the kootneys/interior

some of the cities in this region are very very nice, but they are for u if u like living in a smaller, less "cosmopoliton" city, as vancouver itself is very very trendy and up to date compared to a little more laied back, slower pace cities in the eastern parts of BC

pretty much i cant say enough good things about the province itself, i have relatives all over the province and have been around a fair bit, so feel free to ask any quesitons u want

 

Pros and Cons of Victoria BC
+Relatively Safe
-Downtown has "junkie" culture (i.e. Methheads)
+Beautiful
+Relaxed
+Good Art scene
+So many restaurants (great for vegetarians)
-Can be a little dull at times
-Mock English Tourist culture
+Bicycle path

Pros and Cons of Toronto Ontario
+Nightlife
+Art
-Overpriced housing
-Cold Winter (or at least it is if you're a Victoria native.)
-Overpriced Transit with horrible North/South connections.
+Multicultural
-Ugly architecture

 

just have to say that this is a problem all across canada. i lived in a tiny town in sask with population 400 and meth was as much a problem there as it is on the island, sadly

i've lived in 5 provinces and one state. if i ever left the island, it would be to move overseas to new zealand. if i thought that the island was going to drop off into the ocean and i didnt feel like leaving canada, i'd head for the kootenays. it's paradise here in every way i can imagine. cant beat it. cheers!

 

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Pro's
-fairly quiet
-affordable housing
-job opportunities in min wage positions fairly common/easy to find
-some verrry nice neighbourhoods
-university and the university culture
-east side is pretty nice

Con's
-rough west side
-rather high rate of violent crimes
-boring as all hell (only three good bars, a few movie theatres, small-time theatre productions etc.)


I've always felt like S'toon was a great place to raise your kids, but I woudln't want to spend my whole life here. Great to grow up in, but you have to escape every so often.

 

fishery in new brunswick dead??that would be a surprise to the thousands that work in the fishing industry ...the cod fishing may be dead but it's not the only fish in the sea or should i say crustacean.........woods have been overharvested but as a general rule most of the province still enjoys a relatively clean and stable ecology.as far as the crime rate here .........there is some but mostly negligeable ........i haven't removed my keys from my vehicule in over 7 years ..it's stuck there and have yet to lock a door on my house.....you can go for a walk alone at 2 am in town here and feel safe .ideal environment to raise a family

 

Saskatoon , SK >

+The countryside is nicer than the city
+Beautiful river and dry warm summers, lack of humidity
+Inexpensive to live, probably the cheapest city in Canada in terms of housing and food costs(along with Regina)
+If you like the prairie, there are some beautiful river valleys in the province

-Lots of gang activity, assaults and violent crime which is on the rise
-Rural schools are a bad option for children in Sask, some of the city schools are o.k.
-Not much to do, good if you are saving money for travel elsewhere lol
-Lack of diversity compared to some other Canadian cities (such as those on the west and east coasts)
-Cold winters and windchill, which increase costs of living in winter

 

The Greater Toronto Area
Whitby aka Whiteby
~shity ass bylaws (ie.your boat can not be parked in your driveway because it is classified as an 18 wheeler, and many more that i have encountered)
~shitty people (ie a neighbour keeps calling the town on us- our fence 'misteriously' fell down after being secured with wire that was cut)
~absolutly nothing to do (the kids around here just go from house to house (basements/backyards) drinking and getting high on whatever they can aquire)-many a party has been at my house
~whitby used to be a small town but now everyone from TO is moving out here and so every single tree in whitby is being cut down to make more subdivisions and big boxes
~if you like living in subdivisions and having walmarts and Mcdonalds and other american run corporations invade your town- then it's pretty good
~its easy to commute to TO
~its in the middle of oshawa and ajax
~the recycling is ok except if you don't get it out early enough they won't take it (and they come early)
~the political views are rather conservative and the nieghbours are pretty in your face about them
~it's kinda safe (i've walked the streets many times alone in the middle of the night and nothing has happened) but crime every where is going up
i don't know i really hate whitby so i'd advise you to stay away

 

LoL I live in Ajax and its basically the same here...

One BIG STRIP MALL and monopoly type houses that use up every milimetre of land they can possibly squeeze out.

Its basically a bees nest of human beings. Human BEES even!

 

I have to disagree with you on that one. I think our rural schools are pretty damned good, and would much rather my children go to a rural Saskatchewan school than a city school.

 

Pros and cons of Saskatoon, SK
+university town, fair amount of art and culture lots of young people from all over
+friendly people, plenty of diamonds in the rough, not snotty
+river in the middle of the city, several bridges
+inexpensive to live
+lots of native people sweat lodges pow wows and stuff happen in and around there
+not too big not too small
+lots of sunshine
+big skys
+Ness Creek(festival)

-COLD in the winter, I would never spend a winter there again
-lots of covert and overt racism towards native people
-very corrupt police force
-pots expensive
-gangs, but not like the states
-lots of conservatives
-flat land


pros and cons of Nelson BC, kootenay mountains
+Beautiful, lots of trees and mountains
+magical place full of quartz crystal
+lots and lots of cheap or free weed
+for the most part very liberal people
+beautiful lake right in the middle of town
+tons and tons of artists and musicians for its size
+lots of skiiing and snowboarding
+chinese medicine school
+beautiful Saturday market in the summer with drum jam and waterfall
+lots of cool parties including shambala
+very small
+organic grocery stores

-snotty hippies
-people that practice magic and aren't necessarily good
-nobody is from there but everybody wants to be from there
-can be very difficult to find work
-attracts weirdos and I mean weirdos
-expensive to live
-lots of millionaires
-stagnacy
-in the winter lots of hippies leave and are replaced with snowboarders
-very small and gossipy
-wet cold in the winter lots of snow
-energy vampires

pros and cons of Saltspring Island, west coast
+beautiful, mountains, oceans, huge trees deer everywhere
+magical place on a bed of rose quartz
+really cool Saturday market where everything is handmade, in the summer
+nude beach
+travellers everywhere
+very friendly people
+lots of rainbow family there
+just a boat ride away from Vancouver and Victoria
+lots of weed
+not very many cops
+tons of artists and musicians
+good elementary schools
+small
+largest and most commercial of the gulf islands
+probably my favorite place in Canada
+warm in the winter for Canada
+population decreases by half in the winter
dont know if its a pro or con but lots of retirees

-lots of millionaires, Goldie Hawn has a house there
-even more expensive than the koots to live, even food costs alot cause its an island and all
-can be boring in the winter
---rain rain rain rain rain
-weird sexual energy
-very little work unless you commute
-gossipy
-largest and most commercial of the gulf islands
-touristy
-population decreases by half in the winter

 

teehee

 

sorry dble post

 

oi, lots of folks posting from SK so far!

well, a little over 2 hours north of Saskatoon. Closest to Big River, closer to Prince Albert than Saskatoon is. Fun enough festival but lots of folks posturing/pretending, not being themselves tehre or being judggemental of others for not meeting the appropriate dress code (apparently jeans and a t aren't hippie enough for folks *sigh* )