i must share my experience here. We landed in Edmonton, AB and had no trouble settling down here in a few days. gov of Alberta has many programs for new immigrants and people who need gov help at any later stage they give you affordable housing here specially for families with small children, you get education grants to improve your qualification according to Canadian levels not only you get free up gradation but you also get some money to support your family while you study, if you are unemployed. i don't recommend people to abuse these facilities and apply ONLY if you really deserve. However, we got settled so quickly with a full time job in a bank that we didn't need any of these ..
survival jobs are available here but you should know where to begin.... if you come to Edmonton you will see job vacancies everywhere these days specially in stores such as old navy, gap, Walmart etc.. in Edmonton there is a company called Manpower which hires on behalf of shaw you can approach them. Shaw gives you good pay as well as great bonuses.. there is another telecommunication company Telus. these companies usually have job vacancies all year round, I am not talking about any technical jobs in these companies i am mentioning about "customer service representatives" kind of jobs they usually pay $19 per hour here which is a good start and with quarterly bonuses based on your sales (which is not at all impossible even an inexperienced person can get at least $200 bonus) they give you full training so previous experience is not an issue if you have language skills and your are people friendly kind of person.
for housing and other things you can use
www.kijiji.com this is a free classified website and you can post or see free ads from other people or you can search for accommodation but again be ware of fraudsters you should cross check before making a final decision on getting an apartment/house/condo or any other item..
another thing that people have in mind about Edmonton is that the weather is too cold .. well i moved from UK and i found it better because here we see proper summer unlike rainy England all year round ... but for winter it get quite cold but its bearable not really hard to get settled .. this year Toronto had more snow storms than Edmonton so i think its not too bad after all.. plus you get free heating here (Gas bills are included in rent) so you get 24/7 heating and you don't feel cold inside the house and also you don't have to worry about the gas bill..
mobile service is same throughout canada its quite expensive in canada.. but you should keep an eye on wind mobile deals they are usually cheaper than others..
i hope this will help you decide where you want to start your life in canda
