Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton are all about the same size. London is about half the size of the other three. It's a nice city, quite placid and some would say boring.
Calgary is the most business-oriented of the bigger three. Ottawa is more of a government town but it's not just that. Ottawa has a rep for being boring but I don't know that it is moreso than Calgary or Edmonton. In terms of fun these three are likely fairly similar. Ottawa has a better location that the two others, with NYC, Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Quebec City, Niagara, etc. in the vicinity.
Ottawa and Calgary have better recreation offerings than Edmonton IMO.
All three cities are fairly diverse and have most major communities represented. A big difference in Ottawa is that the metro is 35% French-speaking, with a city of about 300k people (Gatineau) right across the river and operating in French in basically all aspects of everyday life.
Calgary is much more boring than Ottawa in my opinion. There is better street life during the day in Ottawa thanks to the tourists coming to see the parliament and museums and there is more interesting festivals as well. Edmonton is more boring than Ottawa but slightly less boring than Calgary thanks to the better nightlife and better arts/culture scene. This is just my perspective though. A city can be as interesting as you want it to be.
Calgary is much more boring than Ottawa in my opinion. There is better street life during the day in Ottawa thanks to the tourists coming to see the parliament and museums and there is more interesting festivals as well. Edmonton is more boring than Ottawa but slightly less boring than Calgary thanks to the better nightlife and better arts/culture scene. This is just my perspective though. A city can be as interesting as you want it to be.
Well, Calgary seems reasonably vibrant in its central Beltline-East Village areas. Neither of the two Alberta cities have the old world (ish) charm of older parts of Ottawa like the Byward Market of course. But they are much younger cities.
Thanks everyone! Just an update I've visited each city this year for interviews and I was impressed with Vancouver and Montreal. I feel more comfortable with the idea of learning French during residency now. Felt Calgary was nice but definitely the downtown seemed more empty. Ottawa was nice as well, particularly Byward market but not as densely populated as I would like most likely.
New ranking for me I believe from a city point of view (did not interview in Winnipeg): Vancouver > Toronto > Montreal >> Ottawa > Calgary > Edmonton > Hamilton > London > Halifax > Saskatoon
Vancouver actually gets less rain than Sydney, Australia, but it's the drizzle aspect of Vancouver's rain that can makes it seem to go on and on.
No, Vancouver definitely does not get less rain than Sydney (check weatherspark) but you are right about the drizzle effect.....some places (but not Sydney) have a heavier average precipitation but less drizzle which is more bearable to me.
As they say, in Vancouver, it's not a tan, but rust. I couldn't stand the brown dirty of the Chinooks either, that's why I enjoy living where it's never winter, and never constant rainy gloom. Just unbearable heat and humidity.
A reminder of how I do not like to live in the Northwest...last weekend finally we had some sunshine and Sunday we took the dogs to our favorite off leash dog park, it was still soaked wet after last week dumping and the dogs were a mess at the end..a mudfest...but I could not rinse them because the water taps were shut down for the winter because freezing pipes concerns.....grrrrr!!!!!
A reminder of how I do not like to live in the Northwest...last weekend finally we had some sunshine and Sunday we took the dogs to our favorite off leash dog park, it was still soaked wet after last week dumping and the dogs were a mess at the end..a mudfest...but I could not rinse them because the water taps were shut down for the winter because freezing pipes concerns.....grrrrr!!!!!
Vancouver is Southwest, not Northwest. The Northwest is a term to describe the region in the United States, not Canada.
A reminder of how I do not like to live in the Northwest...last weekend finally we had some sunshine and Sunday we took the dogs to our favorite off leash dog park, it was still soaked wet after last week dumping and the dogs were a mess at the end..a mudfest...but I could not rinse them because the water taps were shut down for the winter because freezing pipes concerns.....grrrrr!!!!!
You could always come down to Australia and face the heat.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
