Hi trinatocanada,
are you right now in Ottawa? could you please talk about the town? (jobs, people,feelings...) I got the visa and would like to land in Ottawa. But I don't know any things about the city.
Your comment could be a great help
Thanks
Al
Hi trinatocanada ( and others)
I went to Ottawa and Toronto to talk to some prospective employers. After visiting , Saskatoon, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal , I fell for Ottawa. I think, Ottawa is a nice mix of European and American styles. The city itself if beautiful, there was still a small window of good weather when I got there. Public transport is quite efficient. That is also true for Toronto and Montreal. You can mostly forget about public transport in Saskatoon. It is quite also a small city. My occupation (medical physics) is very specific and there are only quite a few places I can work at. That does not bother me now because the occupation is till in high demand. I don't know much about other jobs but it was my feeling that you can get jobs readily in all these cities, especially if your English is really good. It really comes down to a matter of choice. Toronto for instance is really expensive, Montreal has some weird rules about sending your children primarily to French schools and things like that. In general Quebec seems to take better care of its residents. Nightlife in Montreal and Toronto are superior to that in Ottawa. Since Montreal is only a two hours or so away from Ottawa, you can have some fun there over weekends.
There were more jobs in Montreal even in my field, than in other cities. I also heard from friends that there were more of other job openings in Montreal. In Toronto, you have to prepare to be a fighter and have lots of money or at least have someone to lodge you for a while.
My general feeling about Canada is that apart from the weather in winter, I will be more happy here. People are nice, not too much administrative stuff, every official document I have come across is easy to understand etc. Government fees for documents are less or nonexistent for corresponding documents in Europe.
For banking, we have opened accounts at President's choice, this is one of the banks with no monthly fees or hidden costs. For those who want to do basic banking, just go to President's Choice, it is an online bank but I haven't heard anyone having any problems, the representatives are still everywhere in the cities. I have heard that they are not good for building your credit but for me that is not a problem now, I am coming to settle at a later time and will investigate more about that. I learned that some other banks, including Bank of Montreal allow creation of accounts from abroad, in case anyone needs to do that.
Today there was lots of snow, we had to move snow to get the door opened. For those who forgot what the Saskatchewan winters are made of, there was a harsh reminder, so anyone coming to Saskatoon in the winter, be very very prepared
Until next time.
Teddy
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