Australia To Canada (Toronto) (crime rate, houses, best schools)

[Auggie11]

Hello
I am a student who is sick of Melbourne. I have been researching alot and have been told that Canada is one of the best places to live. Aside from the weather which i am told is quiet cold (Duh i know sorry i wanted to know what is it like. I have read alot on the forums but it seems it is more for the family man. What are the universities like? What are the people like? (if you read the canadian people forum on the Canadian Embassy website (AUS) it seems you guys like your personal space. What ever the hell that means.) So as you can guess i am not getting the proper info. So please i beg of you fill me in. Oh and one more thing. What is the crime rate like. I have been told quiet low but still am wondering about the real Toronto.
Regards
PS any extra info will help out greatly.

[nickjbor]

It’s cold.
No, I mean it, you will spend your first winter swearing. “Cold” is something you normally only experience when you pop your head in a freezer, so just be weary that it will be colder then you think.
Also be aware that it’s not always cold. In the middle of summer you might wonder if it’s hotter in Canada or Australia. Winter itself tends to be more mild in places like Toronto, on average wearing a jacket and a hat will do you fine, but some days (today for example) you just don’t want to go outside at all.

Unfortunately I don’t know much about Australia to compare or contrast with. Politically I can tell you that our Liberals are more like your Labor party. We have a social democratic NDP party, and a large Conservative party that alternates with the Liberals for power. In terms of money the dollar is about equal (in that I mean generally, when you start talking about the price of a house, you will see a difference, but when it comes to going to the store for some milk, the difference is likely to be only a few pennies) and we have the queen on our cash too

Healthcare is free, at least to you and I. The government pays for it with our taxes. Forget about private healthcare, the only way to jump the queue is to go to the US for treatment. As far as I understand, Australia is more car-friendly then Canada is, at least the bigger urban areas. We have two cities with subways (Toronto and Montreal) and one with a subway-like network (Vancouver) Commuter rail exists but its not as big as down under.

Crime in Toronto is… well, to put it bluntly, mostly the people to get beat up or killed are in gangs to begin with. When innocents do (like two in the past few weeks) it makes FrontPage news. With the exception of the Jane and Finch area, if you keep your head on, you’ll be fine. Things like when you see a thug staring at people on the subway, just look away. Deciding that now would be a good time for a staring competition is not the best idea. I feel safe in the city. I even went to Jane and Finch at 3am to prove a (ridiculous) point – that I did not die. At the same time, I don’t know if I’d want to live in a high rise in the area, as you never know who’ll decide to do something illegal in the lobby just as your walking in from work and all of a sudden you find yourself in the middle of a mess.

If there are any specifics you want to know about, feel free to ask.

[Frank_Carbonni]

I can really only speak extensively about Winnipeg, so I cannot tell much about the local culture of Toronto other than about half of the people there are born outside of Canada.

Summers in most of Canada are pretty hot and the extremes in temperature the biggest in the prairies. You will find a problem with winters.

Oh, and with the exceptions of seafood and most Asian food outside of Vancouver (well, Toronto has a large Chinese population, so I'm probably wrong), you will eat better in Canada than in Australia. Trust me, I've lived in Canada for many years and I currently live on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Australians are beaten badly in meat, pizzas, donuts, and pretty much everything.

There will be a fair bit more products in the stores and more television channels. Virtually all houses have basic cable (free) and a lot of houses have pay cable, they have quite a few more channels than FOXTEL and Austar.

Oh, and Canadian girls like Australian guys. So if you are a guy with halfway decent social skills and aren't ugly, you're in.

[MidKnitEBLueBird]

Hey There!!

I noticed your Post & thought I'd drop you a Note.
I actually Live in Toronto, Canada & am considering ReLocation.. 3 Locations I'm thing of is Melbourne, AUS; Vancouver, & New Zealand.

I've been bouncing back&forth frm Toronto to Melbourne every 6 or so yrs, & have Cousins there.

As well, just recently last Feb.'08 was visiting NZ!!
I just Luv it DownUnder!!

Haven't been to VanCity yet.. I would Luv to ExchangeNotes if your willing!!

/\/\.

[minibrings]

Originally Posted by Auggie11

Hello
I am a student who is sick of Melbourne. I have been researching alot and have been told that Canada is one of the best places to live. Aside from the weather which i am told is quiet cold (Duh i know sorry i wanted to know what is it like. I have read alot on the forums but it seems it is more for the family man. What are the universities like? What are the people like? (if you read the canadian people forum on the Canadian Embassy website (AUS) it seems you guys like your personal space. What ever the hell that means.) So as you can guess i am not getting the proper info. So please i beg of you fill me in. Oh and one more thing. What is the crime rate like. I have been told quiet low but still am wondering about the real Toronto.
Regards
PS any extra info will help out greatly.

G'day from a former South Australian (I moved to Toronto last year). Lets see cold... in Toronto its manageable. A few bad days, but it sure beats a heatwave in Oz! As long as you are dressed appropriately, you'll be all right. The trick to winter is to go outside and find things to do. If you stay cooped inside.. not good... I CAN tell you that insulation makes a difference in Canada.. When its close to freezing in Adelaide.... you feel it! I once had brekkie in Adelaide with 3 Canadians from Toronto and they were all complaining about how cold Australia was in the winter! So you know its cold when Canadians complain! here it may be below zero outside but you won't feel it inside.

I went to Uni in Oz and the US so can't advise but it seems to be more similar to the US.

As for people, they are more like kiwis. More reserved than Aussies. But polite enough. No worries there. I actually like it.. but I do on occasion miss strangers smiling and saying G'day when you go for weekend walks - but that's Adelaide, I know Melbourne isn't as friendly.

Crime in Toronto would be more like Sydney or Melbourne. It would depend on where you are. But again, you will be all right as long as you don't intentionally move into a bad section of town. Its a fairly safe city. And a lot more diverse than any city in Oz (50% of Torontonians were born outside Canada).

PS Bring vegemite... its hard to find in the city.

[Acajack]

Comparisons are always tricky but Toronto is probably the most similar city to Melbourne in Canada. Of course, there are significant differences in climate, population diversity, etc., but I did find the overall feel of both cities to be relatively similar.

Just for fun, I would say that Sydney reminded me of a cross between Vancouver (oceanside geography, architecture) and Montreal (size, vibe, etc.). Of course, there are stark differences as well, not the least of which is Montreal’s French character which has no relevance in Sydney.

Also, the SA city of Adelaide reminded me of Ottawa quite a bit.

[cturtle]

I think minibrings summed it up pretty good. As an Aussie you're probably more inclined to listen to one of your own anyway. haha.

What you were saying about this being a family man town isn't exactly accurate though. If anything, Toronto is more for students than anyone else. This may be a biased opinion, but many people would say Toronto has some of the best schools in North America. Not to mention there is no shortage of things to do for 20 somethings. I know what they meant about people here liking their space. You won't get a lot of people saying hello to strangers on the street, but hang out in any of the 500 college bars and you'll be laughing and having a good time with plenty of strangers in no time.

Crime in the core of the city is surprisingly not bad. It gets worse in the lower income cities that surround the city, but unless you live or work out there, most Torontonians don't bother venturing out those ways.

I hope that helps, and as far as Vegemite goes, we banned it 1987! haha. Seriously, we can't figure out how you guys stomach that stuff! I have seen it here though, but I have actually heard it's hard to find.

[ajau]

Originally Posted by nickjbor

Healthcare is free, at least to you and I. The government pays for it with our taxes. Forget about private healthcare, the only way to jump the queue is to go to the US for treatment. As far as I understand,

Or you can just "give a little something back" to the staff at your medical clinic. It's amazing what $200 in a plain envelope can do for an underpaid medical receptionist who just happens to have the specialist doctors schedule pulled up on her computer. It can make a 6 month waiting list disappear in no time. Friends calling in favors to get you to the head of the queue also works in Canada.

The market always wins in the end and that is why Canada's ban on Private Health Care is destined to fail...

[Robynator]

Canada is quite diverse depending on where in the country you end up. It's like trying to compare Australia basing comparisons on Alice Springs, Hobart, or Sydney - it all depends.

Toronto is the corporate heart of Canada. If you seek big, urban, and suburban, Toronto is where it's at. If you're seeking the outdoors, mountains, oceans, and wilderness, Toronto is NOT where it's at.

[cityboy2]

Originally Posted by Robynator

Canada is quite diverse depending on where in the country you end up. It's like trying to compare Australia basing comparisons on Alice Springs, Hobart, or Sydney - it all depends.

Toronto is the corporate heart of Canada. If you seek big, urban, and suburban, Toronto is where it's at. If you're seeking the outdoors, mountains, oceans, and wilderness, Toronto is NOT where it's at.

Vancouver's also much more laid back and the winters are milder. Nature-wise, the above poster is correct - Vancouver is where it's at. It's breathtaking.

On the other hand...

Toronto's night life is 10X more active and the summers are brilliant with all the music, film and street festivals. What I loved the most about Toronto, were the people. It leads the path on multiculturalism, and though my present city (nyc) has a larger immigrant population, Toronto lives more harmoniously. I miss that.

I guess in the end, it all depends what the OP is after.

I left BC in my early 20's for Toronto and from my standpoint, Toronto was better suited for my 20's/30's and Vancouver for my 40's....onward.