Pros and cons of BC (Vic or Vancouver) vs. Southern Ontario (Toronto, London) (apartment, rent)

[ethanre]

What are the Pros and Cons of both:

BC (Vic or Vancouver) vs. Southern Ontario (Toronto, London)

Here's a hint at what I'm looking for, pick any of these to compare by:

crime rates
sever weather / climate / earthquakes
unemployment
cost of living (food and housing)
air quality
public transportation system
health care system
gang activity
reliability of the electric grid system
culture
how nice people are
fast paced or easy going
natural beauty
alternative medicine and spirituality
standard of living

yep, you got the picture.
Looking forward to your pros and cons!

[Fred Derf]

crime rates - Advantage Toronto (no contest)
severe weather / climate - Advantage Vancouver
earthquakes - Advantage Toronto (about a 0% chance)
unemployment - Short term prospects in Vancouver may be better. Ontario has a manufacturing slump.
cost of living (food and housing) - Both Toronto and Vancouver are fairly expensive
air quality - Advantage Vancouver
gang activity - Limited to certain areas of Toronto and Vancouver
fast paced or easy going - Toronto is fast paced, Vancouver is relatively easy going
natural beauty - Advantage Vancouver (no contest)

[ethanre]

Very helpful. thanks a lot.. anyone else with more pros and cons?

[f1000]

I'm more familiar with BC than Southern Ontario but spent sufficient time in both. Where is the OP from? Vancouver and Victoria are also very different centers.

Crime Rates: Vancouver will have a proportionately higher crime rate than Southern ON, esp. regarding property crime. Gang activity is concentrated in certain areas as the first respondent noted.

Severe weather: Southern ON has harsher winters and hotter, more humid summers. BC Coast has more cloudy overcast or rainy days throughout the year but cooler milder summers and far less harsh winters with much less chance of snow than any other part of the country.

Cost of living: Both regions will be among the most costly in Canada, but housing costs will be generally higher in BC. Southern ON is more central in terms of location, so costs of goods, etc. may very well be a little lower. Plus income levels are a little higher generally in ON than BC so there's likely higher disposable income for more ppl.

Public Transportation: Toronto is renown for excellent public transit. Vancouver and most of its closer suburbs have very decent public transit. Toronto's is of a grander more extensive scale.

Culture: Vancouver but not Victoria, is ethnically diverse but more towards Asian cultures. Victoria is not at all multicultural. Toronto is extremely ethnically diverse with literally people of all nations represented in that corner of Canada. Due to political/ cultural/ weather factors, there's a somewhat 'California-nesque' culture in some subcultures of Vancouver/ Victoria in regards to outdoorish, liberal, environmentalist, circles. But you notice this same subculture along the entire West Coast of North America.
Victoria is a university town capital located on an island, with a large proportion of seniors.
Southern ON is the main economic section of Canada. The "Golden Horseshoe" designation of the region implies its importance regarding business culture, and it is definitely more of a "big city" that way and its implications to overall culture.

- Niceness- depending where you are from to make a totally general observation. From my complete generalizations, I find people in Southern ON to be surprisingly 'nicer' than the seemingly more reserved types often found in BC. Vancouver is similar to the "Seattle freeze" often noted on this forum, so it may be a thing about the Pacific NW.

Fast paced or easy going: On a scale of Canadian "speed", Toronto/ Southern ON is definitely the fastest along with Montreal in terms of driving styles or work habits, but Vancouver is not slow paced. Victoria is totally slow paced- when I visited that area last year I couldn't believe how slow everything was! (I am relocated now in Vancouver but originally am from Seattle and Orange County).

Natural Beauty. Well Southern ON has Niagara Falls, lake country and rolling hills. BC Coast has mountains, oceans, lush forests.

* I think both these regions are the most desirable in Canada. If I were to live anywhere in Canada at this moment it would be Toronto. But the weather can be off-putting.

[ThroatGuzzler]

South-western Ontario has one of the highest unemployment rates around the country 10% - 15%. Does not include Toronto but (London, Hamilton, St Catherines, Windsor, Kitchener/Waterloo) as car manufacturing was a very predominant industry in South Western Ontario.. just as it was in the rust belt cities of the US.

[ethanre]

Thanks a lot for the info!!

[380lady2013]

I live on a disablility income. How would that work in Southern Ontario as far as renting an apartment? Are taxes high? I live in NE, US currently but would love to move.

Thanks in advance!
Tasha

[TOkidd]

Crime rates - both have very low rates of violent crime, and average rates of property crime. The differences are not so great as to make either region a clear choice over the other in this category. Toronto has a few inner-city neighbourhoods with street gang problems. Vancouver's gang problem is mostly in the suburbs. Vancouver has higher rates of car theft, but I think Toronto has more gun violence.

Weather / Climate / earthquakes - With global warming, Southern Ontario has been seeing shorter, warmer winters and longer, hotter summers. Something like nine of the last ten years are warmest on record. The Lower Mainland has rainy / dreary winters with a cold that can chill you to your bones. Southern Ontario has lower average temps than the LM and occasionally very cold weather, but taking the current (about to be past) winter as an example, there has been more rain than snow in TO and when it has snowed, it has melted within a week. There can be a major difference in the kind of winter you receive in Southern Ontario over a very short distance. The GTA and Niagara regions have warmer weather with less snow, while Barrie and other towns to the north of the GTA can be much colder and snowier. Summers in the Lower Mainland are warm with cool nights, and can be quite rainy / overcast. Summers in Southern Ontario are hot and humid, mostly sunny with frequent thunderstorms in the late afternoon after especially muggy days. There are occasional tornadoes in Southern Ontario, but the chance of earthquake is much lower than in the LM.

Employment - totally depends on your field. Toronto is Canada's economic powerhouse, but that won't help you if you're an autoworker. There is a robust jobs market in Southern Ontario for skilled tradespeople.

Cost of living - both places are very expensive, but I would give a slight edge to Southern Ontario because outside the GTA housing prices are quite affordable. I think London has some very affordable housing.

Air quality - edge definitely goes to BC. The GTA can be quite smoggy in the summer. Often you can't see the downtown skyscrapers from just a few km's away on smoggy days. There are frequent smog advisories for people with breathing problems. It ain't Mexico DF, but the summer air in the GTA can be quite unpleasant. Add in the high humidity of the summer, and it can be downright nasty sometimes. Definitely need a working AC, or prepare to be very uncomfortable, especially when trying to sleep.

Public Transit - Toronto has good transit, the GTA has decent transit, but beyond that public transit is pretty crappy in places like Barrie, London. Vancouver's public transport is not as good as Toronto's.

Health Care - I've never used the health care system in the LM. Healthcare in the Toronto area is excellent in my opinion, though there are always people who will complain about one thing or another. My family and I have used the system a lot and been impressed with it every time.

Gang activity - I mostly covered that under crime. Toronto has more of an inner-city, American-style street gang problem (though it has Ndrangheta, Russian mafia and other more traditional forms of organized crime, they're not the ones killing each other in public), while BC's gangs are more suburban and sophisticated. I don't believe that BC has seen the kinds of public shootings that Toronto has, with innocent people being injured / killed, so I would probably give the advantage to BC in this department.

Reliability of power grid - Southern Ontario is too interconnected with America's northeastern seaboard so, as we saw in 2003, if there is a problem south of the border, Southern Ontrario is very vulnerable. I'm not sure about BC's grid, but since they haven't had a blackout of this size and scale I would give them the advantage.

Culture - depends on what you prefer. Others here have listed the differences pretty well. Toronto has an incredibly diverse, multicultural feel (more like New York) while the LM also has many cultures but more of a West Coast vibe (kind of like NoCal).

How nice people are - too subjective for me to answer.

Pace - I believe Southern Ontario is generally more fast-paced than the Lower Mainland. Toronto is definitely more fast-paced than Vancouver or Victoria.

Natural beauty - a lot of people will say it's no contest here, because BC's coast has some of the world's most spectacular natural beauty, but one can't forget Northern Ontario / Cottage Country and the Niagara Region as regions of tremendous natural beauty. Southern Ontario has Algonquin Park, which was made famous in the paintings of The Group of Seven. Northern Ontario has so many beautiful clear lakes with amazing swimming, fishing, boating, etc. if you own a cottage, lucky you, but many Torontonians rent cottages every summer up north or go camping in a Provincial Park. There are also amazing white sand beaches along the Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay coasts (plus countless sandy beaches in the aforementioned small lakes) BC's natural beauty is well-known and world famous, but Southern Ontario has plenty to offer in this department as well. It really depends on what you like.

Standard of Living - really depends on who you are and what you do. The standard of living can be extremely high in both places, but also surprisingly low if you're poor.

Geography - one point that has to made is Southern Ontario's close proximity to America's Eastern Seaboard. Cities like New York, Boston, and DC are all a day's trip by car or an hour's flight away from TO. On the other hand, Seattle, Portland, and Frisco are pretty close to the LM. Also, For world travellers, East Asia is much more accessible from Canada's West Coast while Europe is more accessible from Southern Ontario.

Both places are great in their own right. It really depends on what you like, and on subjective personal experience that can't really be quantified or predicted. Some people will move to Ontario and hate it. Others will love it. Same for BC. What makes the experiences so different? A million little things that are hard to predict. Best thing is to visit and explore each region yourself - you'll know intuitively which place you are more suited for.

[VIOcean]

One might consider the smaller centres on Vancouver Island as an alternative to Victoria.
Seems to me housing costs are high in Victoria and much less in Nanaimo; Parksville or Comox.
You still have reliable infrastructure; high speed internet; plenty of choice for shopping and of course much better weather than Southern Ontario.
I grew up in Toronto; have lived in Vancouver and Victoria. Would never move back to Ontario and much prefer the smaller communities of the mid- Vancouver Island.

[North 42]

Originally Posted by VIOcean

One might consider the smaller centres on Vancouver Island as an alternative to Victoria.
Seems to me housing costs are high in Victoria and much less in Nanaimo; Parksville or Comox.
You still have reliable infrastructure; high speed internet; plenty of choice for shopping and of course much better weather than Southern Ontario.
I grew up in Toronto; have lived in Vancouver and Victoria. Would never move back to Ontario and much prefer the smaller communities of the mid- Vancouver Island.

I wouldn't call highs below 20c in the summer to be better weather, just sayin'.