Cost of living

[scubaculture]

Hi guys

i know this is an odd question for a scuba board but here gooes.

Can the Toronto people give me some details on cost of living, insurance etc etc. I know you guys probably hate those damn immigrants but I am looking to relocate to Canada.

Anyone wanna sponsor me?

Thanks
Wade

 

[chip104]

Cost of housing is high compared to other cities in canada. But it depends where you look and what you're looking for. Great place to live though. Have you thought of anywhere else? Maybe Baffin Island . heheh. Jokes.

I've got no problem with immigrants. I was once one too. All the best with your move!

 

[Groundhog246]

Do yourself a favour and move to Kingston, ON. Cheaper place to live, much friendlier and home to the best wreck diving in Canada.

 

[gitterdun]

Yes, I agree..... Anywhere north of the city is much cheaper. I live about 40 minutes North (depending on trafffic..lol), and you can actually afford to eat after the rent is paid. There are some condos downtown that are being built, and targeted toward a lower budget, but in my opinion, North is better.......... closer to diving and much cleaner air.

 

[Doppler]

Do yourself a favour and move to Kingston, ON. Cheaper place to live, much friendlier and home to the best wreck diving in Canada.

Agree that Kingston is a great little city... but have to wonder about the best wreck diving in "Canada." Certainly handy access to some of the best wrecks in Ontario waters but there are a couple in quebec and a few on the coast you might want to consider!

 

[sharkybait]

East of Toronto is still quite nice. You can get an affordable home with a bit of land. You're close to undeveloped areas (although they are going fast). property taxes are going up........ But you're closer to Kingston than living inToronto and you've also got lots of smaller lakes and rivers to explore.... and you can by-pass Toronto to get to Toby.....
Hope this helps....
Go Springboks...

 

[chip104]

kingston's a great town. My brother's a Queens alumni (I'm a McGill alumni so it was quite the rivalry!) so i used to go there all the time to visit. The first time I ever went I was really surprised there were panhandlers in the downtown district. didn't expect to see them there. A lot of great places to chill and have a drink.

If you're thinking about moving to Canada, kingston is a nice place to consider. Definitely not as urban as Toronto, and sort of the mid point to 3 major cities (Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal--so if you want to get your urban fill you can just drive to these places). And don't mind the Queens students, they feed off of attention. heheh.

How big of a place were you looking for? Just to let you know of my encounters:

When I was in Montreal downtown my roommates and I were renting a super cheap apartment for $1150 a month (for a 6.5 apartment this is towards the bottom price on the scale). Our friends who were renting out studios were paying the same price as us or slightly cheaper (~$950). The really really nice studios to rent were up to $3000. You can find some really nice places in the city for super cheap.

When I was in Toronto downtown (Bay & Dundas) one of my brothers and I were renting an apartment in a regular condo (2 bathrooms, 2 bedroom, living room, kitchen) for $4500. Our other bro is renting out an apartment in an older condo (1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, living room, kitchen, storage closet) for $2000. But this is in the city core, as you get further out you can find some cheaper places.

When my bro was in kingston, him and his 4 of his other mates were renting out a nice slim house infront of a high school (KCVI) for only $1750.

My other bro lived in waterloo, him and 7 of his friends rented out a regular house for only $1800. But I know they got lucky on the price for this place.

anyway, hope you find other info on the net about the different cities. I'd love to move to Calgary or Vancouver someday. i'm sure you'll come across better housing cost than what I've given you. And of course there are other things to consider like job opportunities, public transport, & personal preferences. www.google.ca is a great place to begin your search .

Oh yeah, chewing gum was $1.15 in montreal, in Toronto it was $1.50. Just FYI. I love my excel and dentyne ice...

 

[mrobinson]

When I was in Toronto downtown (Bay & Dundas) one of my brothers and I were renting an apartment in a regular condo (2 bathrooms, 2 bedroom, living room, kitchen) for $4500. Our other bro is renting out an apartment in an older condo (1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, living room, kitchen, storage closet) for $2000. But this is in the city core, as you get further out you can find some cheaper places....

:11: cough, cough.... did I read that right? I thought I was getting ripped off at $700 for a 2 bedroom here (just outside of downtown)

anyway, hope you find other info on the net about the different cities. I'd love to move to Calgary or Vancouver someday. i'm sure you'll come across better housing cost than what I've given you. And of course there are other things to consider like job opportunities, public transport, & personal preferences. www.google.ca is a great place to begin your search ....

I'd give up alot to move out to Vancouver/West Coast. BTW the pollution warnings over there in the Toronto area are crazy. (Whenever I accidentally put on the weather network - they mention it.)The advantages of Calgary are overwhelming. A job here is a dime a dozen. Apparently the rent is cheap cheap - like $400/mth sharing an apartment to $1500/mth for nice houses. Gas for some reason is a little high considering we're the drillers/processors and not far for the travelling. (Right now it's 89-94 cents a litre.) Training and programs for the new immigrants is constant but I think most of Canada is like that. Crime isn't too bad - I feel pretty safe at night in downtown but you can check it out here:
http://www.calgary.ca/cweb/communities/community.asp?UserID=2&CommunityID=203
Plus no sales tax in Alberta! Every July for 10 days we have the Calgary Stampede. Some local people hate it but most immigrants join the spirit and throw on a cowboy hat for 10 days - it's a lot of fun with free food, free dancing and entertainment,etc. You can go to our famous mountains in an hour and hike/dive/etc. to your hearts content.
We have about 6-5 dive stores. 3 of them have their own pools.
We have Chinooks! (Warm wind that keeps the winter temps up to like plus 20 degrees C. Since we have less humidity here than those Easterners, -30 degrees C here feels much warmer.)
Bad sides: You pay alot of tax to the Canadian Government and alot of users fees here in Calgary. Parking downtown insane - like $2 for 15mins to $25 a day. Also the transit pass is about $70/mth. Since we don't get ANY Cdn govt. money for things like "the culture fund" the most culture you're going to find is in the "plains" section of the Glenbow Museum. We have a small folk festival every year too - that's it. If you have a degree in anything - it might not count here. A sad reality is many of our immigrants with great degrees from other countries are janitors here. Finding a family doctor is impossible - I'm actually in conversation with my MLA about it now. (If there was an actual emergency - you and I would be looked after.) I think Alberta Health Care fees are pretty reasonable. You can check it out here:
http://www.gov.ab.ca/home/index.cfm
If I missed anything, just ask or PM me. Good luck!

 

[Groundhog246]

Sorry Doppler, best might best a bit overstated, but less so than Toby being the "Dive Capital".

There's a reason why many folks are buying homes an hour and more away from Toronto and commuting. The doctor shortage is all across Canada, not just Alberta. We've thousands here on Kitchener without a family doctor. My oldest son has a family doctor, his two kids don't, he has to take them to emerg or a walk in clinic. They were going to his (former) girlfriends MD, but he retired and couldn't find anyone to take over the practice.

 

[Wayne A]

Hi guys

i know this is an odd question for a scuba board but here gooes.

Can the Toronto people give me some details on cost of living, insurance etc etc. I know you guys probably hate those damn immigrants but I am looking to relocate to Canada.

Anyone wanna sponsor me?

Thanks
Wade

Wade, to give you an idea of the Kingston vs Toronto etc debate : Toronto = JHB but a ton cleaner and less chance of getting c-jacked at a robot. Figure cost of living similar to Constantia in Cape Town.
Kingston= East London without the beach and decent surf. Cost of living about the same as Durban.

Your choice of cities might eventually be decided by your line of work. I can tell you that if you're used to diving at Sodwana and Aliwal shoal you are going to be in for a f$#%$g huge shock when you get here both from a diving point of view and the general "sordies" lifestyle that makes it all the more so enjoyable. I did 10 years in Cape Town so the diving here wasn't a shock but I do miss Natal terribly - to the point where it is featuring in a possible decision to move back home. If you need any more advice PM me and I'll give you what I can.

Hope that helps

Wayne (once from Umhlanga Rocks now 2 hrs west of Toronto)