Crime is 20% Higher in Canada than Finland

Plenty of work up North. Aplly and if you get an offer that is a pretty good in I would imagine. I have gone up North very often over the past year and the job market is excellent. The price of living is high and the wages can be (but not always).

If I was moving to Canada from abroad, I would probably move to Montreal. It's a great place to move to as an "entry point" until you get settled long term.

-Large, multicultural city
-Strong job market
-Reasonable housing costs

Downsides:
-Traffic. Not just busy... but really, really nutty drivers. (Excellent subway and commuter train system though)
-Weather. Really cold winters

As for folks who make blanket statements about weather, I think they're missing the mark. The country is just too big... the weather is dramatically different from one region to another.

If you don't like the weather, just wait 10 minutes... it'll change.;)

Montreal, while somewhat a shadow of its former self, is still one of the greatest cities in the world, IMHO. Of course it depends on what you're into, but it's got most things covered. And the economy is on an upswing, which is nice. Toronto is very multicultural. The city itself tends to be mostly working and upper class, with all the middle class moving out to the burbs (yours truly). Both Montreal and Toronto have an extremely large weather range - very cold winters (regularly hits -30 in Jan/Feb) with plenty of snow, very hot summers (regularly hits +30 in July/Aug). Vancouver is a very beautiful city, with an amazing downtown waterfront. Much more temperate climate, rarely dips below 0 in winter. Toronto and Vancouver are stupid expensive for housing, Montreal is more moderate but climbing. Montreal has easily the best transportation system and least traffic of the 3 (though admittedly I've only visited Vancouver, not lived there).

Halifax is apparently also a great city - smaller (300K I think?) with more moderate cost of living. Calgary as someone said is a boomtown and housing prices are going through the roof. Edmonton is better, but also colder. Winnipeg is a really cool city as well, though they get nasty winters. Lots of history there.

Taxes are high, maybe not as high as Finland, but I get the impression that you don't get as much for your taxes here as you would in northern Europe.

Overall, I think you would probably find Canada similar. Canada and Scandinavia have generally always ranked very high on the UN index for overall quality of life. Much higher than the rest of Europe and the US.

Funny thing about Halifax is that the housing is almost as expensive as Montreal... especially true if you're renting. Halifax is a cool city, but for my money I'd just as soon be in Montreal for roughly the same cost.

Depends on what you're looking for too. We've mostly been talking about cities, but maybe you're looking for a log cabin up in the Northwest Territories where you can skin your own animals in front of a fireplace? Or maybe a small, reclusive prairie town where you can marry your cousin, her cousin and an aunt... and the neighbors won't seem to mind?

Seriously though, do you have anything in particular in mind? What kind of industry do you want to work in? Do you an want urban or rural setting? Do you want to be on the seacoast or inland?

I would love to move to Quebec!!! I absolutely love that place. I actually prefer it to Montreal.

I have not been to Vancouver yet, but I've heard a lot of great things about it.

Jake made some good points - the soul of any culture usually lies in its rural areas, and Canada has many different shades of rural communities, from your basic farming towns to forest dwellers to hunters, whatever your game is.

Arvin, thanks - we've forgotten about Quebec City. The first European settlement in the "new world", it's not only a beautiful old-world style town with cobblestone streets and a remarkable history, it's also a modern, vibrant provincial capital with a great night life.

Yep, Quebec city is fantastic. Very beautiful and great people... it is truly the "heart" of Quebec. It could be tough to move there if you don't speak french, whereas Montreal is so multicultural, you could speak Klingon and get by.

Even if you speak 'real' French nobody will understand you in Quebec, practice some 'quebecois'

just from visiting, i like montreal and toronto, with montreal getting a slight edge... never been to vancouver but think it would end up on top of my canadian cities list.

you sure you just can't change the scenery to the same (large) extent by moving around the u.s.?

Hey, Parisians & Quebecois both understand me just fine....And I speak with a slight American accent.

Unless you are worried about being murdered:

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita

I am still open for all suggestions, lotsa reading to be done.

Now I know that there is a 2 year wait for a work permit..

Thank you all, I will try to PM some of you for more information :)

There would be a wait for a Work Permit if you have to go through the HRSDC.

But if you qualify as a Skilled Worker and you have a job offer in writing, then you can disregard the HRSDC process, and apply immediately for a Work Permit.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/skilled/index.html

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/index.html

Lower British Columbia rocks!.. :)

I tried doing a "test" there and I think I scored 89 out of something. It said that I would be a skilled worker allright.

In any case, if any of you canadians have a jobs available in near future, I would be glad to know :)

I understand that Thunder Bay, ON, is one of the largest Finnish speaking cities in the world.

What is your skill set? We are hiring about 35 IT people, need SAP module expertise, particularly in SD and BW....if you have those or any other IT skills, please contact me asap....

Dennis Kalma
VP IT....

Zendalar....if you decide to move over to this side of the pond.....make sure you bring your '72 Targa...there's not many of them around here anymore! :)

Heh :) Thanks, thought of that :)

Hopefully there are no emission / noise restrictions, since my car a Megasquirt and straight through mufflers.

This move, will propably happen some time in near (i hope) future.

Zendalar,

Hannu and Ritva came over from Finland with their young family to Annapolis Royal, about 15 years ago. Initially, they had just stopped in Nova Scotia for a short visit, while headed to the US to check out job markets and fell in love with this place. When they returned to Finland to pack, they had changed their plans.

There's lots of good advice above, (and some not so good). If you are bringing a trade with you, I suspect things will be easy.

Good luck.

Les