Road To Canada Forums

Hi all, my husband is currently in Toronto on a "look-see" trip and has been meeting with some agents in the hope of a temporary work offer. (We will be putting in our PR application through Sydney office when he returns early September).

Before he left, we researched cities to live and Toronto was our first choice, mainly because of the warmer climate compared to other cities. However after seeing his resume, a company in Edmonton is willing to work with him to get him into Canada on a temporary visa. You can imagine our dilemna now because of Edmonton's weather which we certainly aren't used to.

We're now not sure whether to further this option which will get us into Canada sooner, therefore expediting our PR application, and then we figure once we receive the PR status we can then move if we want to. So it could be only 12 months of living in Edmonton. On the other hand we don't want to be so miserable if Edmonton truly is unbearably cold. The agent told my husband he is having trouble filling some jobs in Edmonton. (I guess that should be a hint for us!) For anyone who doesn't know the Sydney weather it's similar to Los Angeles or Florida.

Also this agent deals with companies in Calgary too. Is Calgary warmer than Edmonton? Our first choice is Toronto, but we would love to move to Canada earler. He's only in Toronto for 3 more weeks. Should he forget about Edmonton, and just hope something else comes along, or take the chance that nothing may come along, and then we just wait until after our PR comes through in 18 mths, or possibly something in the meantime? Thanks. (sorry for scroller).

Any urgent answers would be great given our time constraints. Thanks again.

Tell you a secret - Toronto weather can almost be as nasty as Edmonton! Yes, Calgary is warmer BUT housing is more expensive (if you can find it)

Many people love Edmonton and it is only cold from October to March. So, you wear a coat! It does not seem to stop people.

If you want mild weather - head to Victoria or Vancouver.

The past couple of winters have not been bad at all for Edmonton. There is each year a week of very cold weather: -30, but it is usually just a week.
We like it in Edmonton and we wouldn't trade it for Toronto. I heard a lot of people complaining about the job market in Toronto... Alberta has a booming economy and there are a lot of job opportunities. Some employers are desperate for more people - there are just not enough workers to fill the positions and I don't think that it has anything to do with the weather...
But this is just our opinion. We have never lived in Toronto, so we don't have a fair comparison. We know a lot of people who moved from Toronto to Edmonton lately.

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I'm in Edmonton and find it to be a nice place to live. The economy is the reason for the desperation companies have for employees, there are simply more jobs then people to do them. I think they said some 80,000 positions will go unfilled this year.

I'm from Southern California so similiar weather to Sydney and have lived in other areas of cold weather and its not that bad, life goes on.

Toronto doesn't have the best of winter weather either, if you dont want cold or snow Vancouver would be your best bet....

I think Alberta offers the best chance for immigrants to start off on the right foot and to be successful in their move vs other areas of Canada.

The housing issue in Edmonton isn't as bad as Calgary either.

We know a fair number of people from Toronto here in Edmonton, all they do is complain about the job market in Toronto, now I have never lived there so I only know what I've been hearing from those from Toronto.

how do you like those communities like medcine hat?
Red deer?

hi indigo blue
sounds like your husbands trip to canada has gone well! what line of work is he in? is he finding that quite a few ppl would hire him on a WP?
i think Edmonton will be ok...I know a few ppl there and they seem to like living there..let us know what happens.
cheers
p.s. i think if you apply in syd youll be in for a long wait...i saw a few guys on another forum that waited 19 and 21 mths from AOR to IA.

Yes Canadian Hopeful, his trip went very well, we decided against the Edmonton position. We thought that although it would get us in the door, we don't plan to settle permanently in Edmonton, therefore we would have to uproot our children from school a second time to move to Toronto which we don't want to do, so have decided to stick with our original decision of Toronto. We don't want Vancouver - rains too much, probably more like Melbourne weather. And their summers aren't hot enough for us, we prefer to have a summer and winter so to speak. We don't mind the snow, but after research it seemed that Edmonton was substantially colder than Toronto.

My husband is in IT and had very positive comments from the many people he met with, a lot of companies obviously only want someone with a visa, but a lot of the larger companies are willing to hire because they have their own depts that handle that. But I still think it depends on the individual, my husband has very good experience and qualifications for his line of work, and everyone who saw him was very impressed and were willing to interview him immediately if a position was available. In fact he had interviews with some companies/agents so when a job comes up, he can bypass this process. He has brought back a few contact names with him who have asked him to keep in contact on a very regular basis, and as soon as something becomes available they are interested in hiring him. As far as Canadian experience - it was never even mentioned to him.

By the way, as far as applying in Sydney, I was under the impression that a 19 or 21 mth wait is pretty good, especially compared to other contries. In any case, we have no option but to apply in Sydney. Cheers.