I am starting the process to immigrate to Canada from the US. Maybe unsurprisingly I find I have no ideas where I would like to live. I do enjoy mountains, and don't want to be in the heart of a city.
I am starting the process to immigrate to Canada from the US. Maybe unsurprisingly I find I have no ideas where I would like to live. I do enjoy mountains, and don't want to be in the heart of a city.
I definitely require high speed internet access. Other than that, I could use some help! EDIT: Mountains are not a deal breaker. Water would be nice, but sea level rise is a concern.
EDIT: Oh, Come ONNNN!!!!
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If you want to be near mountains, want affordable living and are progressive, Lethbridge, AB may be your best bet. The landscape there is a bit weird. Looks kind or like Iceland or something. Super hilly with big valleys and very few trees outside or the city, but definitely not a big city vibe like you'd find in Edmonton or Calgary.
Pretty mild climate too.
But the Alberta government is fucking idiotic, so I can't say what will happen in the future with healthcare and human rights.
Oh that's easy. They'll be destroyed by a party that can't lose an election.
The UCP just introduced the most extreme anti-trans legislation in North America. They have been methodically and relentlessly destroying public healthcare, and handing private contracts to their friends. Education has been revamped with a curriculum that explicitly promotes oil and gas production, denies the harm of residential schools, and encourages rote memorization over comprehension. Oh yes, and public charter schools. They've recently started to make inroads on ultimately banning abortion.
And they'll get reelected, over and over again.
You do not really have mountains there. Maybe Canmore would be better ( pretty small but takes no time to get to Calgary ).
Always windy
60km/hr all the damn time...
Hmm, the others are saying Alberta is right wing
The thing about Alberta is that they consistently elect the most hardcore right wing crazies in all of Canada.
And they also consistently elect genuinely progressive, openly socialist governments of the kind you imagine Bernie Sanders might run.
There are no middle of the road centrists in 'Berta. You're either a frothing mouthed "Jewish Space Lasers" kind of crazy, or you're a proud union member ready to give everyone UBI and free education.
The latter tend to be found more in the cities, as always.
Unfortunately the former seem to have the edge overall in elections.
So, politically, it's definitely not a great environment, but culturally you'd actually find a lot of like minded folks there. The problem is that right now you'd probably spend your time hanging out with those like minded folks grumbling about your QAnon premier as she sells off the entire healthcare system and deletes sex education from schools.
Consistently?
Alberta has had one NDP government in the past 50 years, all other governments were conservative and if we count the social credit before that is close to 100 years with conservatives in power.
Sorry, what I meant by that is that individual voters either vote for one or the other. I wasn't referring to the overall state of who actually wins. But I get that that wasn't clear at all from how I phrased it.
Ah ok, I reread it, you were talking about municipal government. Yeah, sadly municipalities can't do much if the provincial government gets in their way and with first past the post and electoral districts... Well, conservatives win Alberta 95% of the time!
Go to any Canadian news website and search Danielle Smith.
She is Alberta's premier (equivalent to a US governer).
Most of western Canada is right-wing. Especially Alberta and Saskatchewan. Outside of Vancouver (where living is beyond unaffordable for most), BC is also pretty conservative, albeit less overall I'm sure than Alberta. The tricky part is that quality of life is quite good in Alberta. Housing is affordable and we're the least taxed province, so if you can live with the occasional stupid hick with a "FUCK TRUDEAU" flag or decal, life is pretty good here. It's really your only affordable option if you want to live near the mountains. Otherwise the Appalachians do extend into the eastern maritime provinces. Jobs are just extemely scarce and often seasonal out that way.
I immigrated from Michigan back in 2017. I'm very left-wing and so is my wife who has lived here her entire life. The province nearly flipped last election so things have been improving on that front, and you're certainly not going to be the only leftist around. Well, unless you move to a small town or Grand Prairie or Fort Mac.
Lethbridge and Edmonton are the most left-leaning places in the province. Edmonton, however, is fucking huge.. So you're not getting away from the city up that way.
There is no escaping the right-wing brain rot. It's everywhere now. 2016 spread into Canada like wildfire. But when I came here my life improved tenfold. I make three times what I did back home for the same line of work (retail/produce management). I have healthcare, a daughter, bought a home with my wife this summer. It's a million times better than the States, but we are looking down the barrel of gun. I wish you the best on your immigration, and I hope you're as happy here as I am, wherever you wind up.
Alberta is the most taxed province as far as income tax though I think
It's one of the least taxed and there's no provincial sales tax
https://www.nerdwallet.com/ca/personal-finance/provincial-tax-rates
Yeah, no sales tax, but high income tax. You're paying tax - just in a different form.
...
Did you read what I said and checked the website? It has one of the LOWEST income tax in Canada AND no sales taxes. That's not even taking the basic exemption amount into consideration, with Alberta having the highest!
It doesn't have high income taxes by any sane metrics. You can compare to US States where the government provides no services to the population at all but then people are just paying even more to the private sector instead.
Compared to US it's nothing lol
This. An American left-winger still can seem right wing to many Canadians. Our right has been taking more and more pages from the religious right, and corporations are getting a stronger and stronger foothold up here, but even now, we are significantly less religious than Americans.
Moving from west to east, BC is a slightly leftist government at the moment. It's notorious for being insanely expensive. It has mountains and the pacific coast. Beautiful landscapes. I have had family there, and I have visited a few times. My dominant impression was rain.
Alberta will give you city, mountains, and decent internet, but has a growing anti-LGBTQ+ movement happening. Still lots of great people, and insanely beautiful scenery. I was born in Alberta, have great friends in Calgary, and have visited many times.
Saskatchewan is wide open prairie for the most part, with a couple of small cities, a few tiny cities, and a similar right, fundamentalist movement in power. In Saskatchewan you can see forever. If you love space, it's amazing. I grew up alternating between Saskatchewan and Ontario (mother in Regina, father in Mississauga), and spent a lot of time on my grandparents farm. I have family in Regina, Saskatoon, and some of the small towns, and friends in places like North Battleford.
Manitoba is currently a more leftist government provincially, a mix of plains, rivers, lakes, and forests. There's a lot of racism against First Nations, the capital city of Winnipeg is pretty diverse, but a bit stratified. The other cities in Manitoba are a bit smaller, but I'm afraid I can't tell you too much about them. I currently live in Manitoba.
Ontario has a very pro-corporate government. Depending on what part of the province you pick, you could be in wilderness, small town, cottage country, or metropolis. My brother and sisters live in Oakville, Mississauga, and Toronto. I lived in downtown Toronto and studied at The Second City, which was a blast. I can't tell you anything about Ottawa, another city in Ontario, but I'm sure others on here can help you out.
I've sent some time in Montreal, but not really any other parts of Quebec. I loved Montreal, but as basically a tourist, I can't tell you much about there. Others have already said a fair bit about Québec.
I spent time in New Brunswick when I served in the military. My exposure to nonmilitary people was limited to Fredericton primarily. Beautiful city, friendly people. My dominant memories are of forests, so I can't tell you much more than that.
For the rest of the maritimes I can't tell you much, I'm sorry to say. I also don't have any firsthand knowledge of our northern territories.
Manitoba and Saskatchewan get cold, really cold, in the winter. We're proud of handling it to the point of being a bit blasé about it, but we do get radio warnings sometimes about how many seconds it will take on a given day for exposed skin to freeze.
Most major Canadian cities have at least one university, so education is available, if you have kids.
Keep in mind, Canada is very big. In a good car traveling the highway speed limit of 100 km/h, or a little over 60 mph (to forestall the joke about bad cars), it takes 21+ hours to drive from the Toronto area to Winnipeg, another 6 hours to drive to Regina, another 7 to drive to Calgary, and another 10-11 hours to drive from Calgary to Vancouver. In the other direction, it takes almost 6 hours to drive from Toronto to Montreal, 8 hours to drive from Montreal to Fredericton, and about 23 hours from there to St. John's, in Newfoundland. All told, according to google maps, it would take 78 hours to drive from St. John's to Victoria, and that's just covering the east to west.
So you're looking at a lot of different ecosystems and sub-cultures to choose from.
What are your priorities?