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Yes, it can be done. You just need to choose where you live based on that criteria.
What parts of the city would be a good choice based on walkability?
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Originally Posted by Acajack
Maybe Halifax. But it's less than half the size of Ottawa, so there is less to do there. The transit system is also not as good as Ottawa's.
Kingston is pretty similar to Ottawa in terms of historic feel. But it's five times smaller.
Look up pictures of Ottawa with key words like Byward Market, Wellington Street, Parliament, Westboro, Rideau Canal, Château Laurier, the Glebe, etc. You'll see it's quite a bit older than Calgary and that it has more character.
Thank you! It looks great! Does life differ anything else between Calgary and Ottawa generally speaking, besides Calgary being an oil city and Ottawa a government city?
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Originally Posted by Acajack
Most any professional job comes with a certain number of paid sick days per year.
Oh okay, that is good. What sort of income would a person need to sustain a “normal” (middle class) life in Ottawa do you reckon?
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Originally Posted by Acajack
Probably about 1200 CAD per month. More if furnished.
1200 CAD is okay. More if furnished? From what I’ve experiences it is usually the other way around. Is it difficult to find an apartment in Ottawa now a days? It took me less than a week both times (2014 & 2018) I went to Perth, but several years back in Sweden after I started looking for a place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
Many of the professional jobs in Ottawa are government jobs, so reserved for citizens. But there are also lots of non-government jobs. Unemployment is below 5% I think.
What do you mean by government jobs, politics? I would gladly work within urban planning, sustainable development or something like that if I would find such a job. Would I be better off somewhere else in Canada?
How hard is it to find a simple first job (cashier etc.)?
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Originally Posted by Acajack
Both parents generally work when their kids are in daycare as even with the high costs you still end up with more money in the end.
When it comes to the first year of a child's life usually only one parents stays at home. The other works. Sometimes they split up the time: mom takes 6 months and daddy takes 6. Or mom take 8 and daddy takes 4.
Oh okay, then you must have very good salaries.
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Originally Posted by Acajack
The need to feel a high degree of moral superiority?
And they achieve that by being offended by everything? Ironically, the world has some serious issues (global warming, mass extinction, poverty, hunger, wars etc) and our governments works towards erasing words like ”sir”. Wow…
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Originally Posted by Acajack
In the summer months in Ottawa it gets dark between 9 and 10 pm. I've never experienced any issues at all with bugs in the heart of the city after dark in the summer.
Right now we are having the shortest days of the year. It gets light around 7:30 am and it gets dark around 4:30 pm these days.
Okay that is good, it means that you get the long summer days without the extreme of the short winter days that we have in most parts of Sweden. Do you guys have any theme parks or such close by? Famous lakes/mountains? Can you drive to the US to buy stuff without any paper work needed?
What do you mean by government jobs, politics? I would gladly work within urban planning, sustainable development or something like that if I would find such a job. Would I be better off somewhere else in Canada?
How hard is it to find a simple first job (cashier etc.)?
I mean government administrative jobs. Office jobs in the departments of fisheries, transport, agriculture, etc. There are tons of them in Ottawa. Maybe 20-25% of the jobs in the city. These are very good jobs in terms of benefits (benefits, holidays, pension, job security, etc.) but they are almost impossible to get if you are not a Canadian citizen. Plus many of these jobs require bilingualism in English and French.
The rest of the job market in Ottawa does not generally have citizenship requirements and is less demanding when it comes to knowing French. This job market is also quite healthy.
If someone is looking for job in retail or services, they are very easy to find in Ottawa these days. It's almost full employment and there are shortages of people in fact.
Do you guys have any theme parks or such close by? Famous lakes/mountains? Can you drive to the US to buy stuff without any paper work needed?
The closest theme parks are La Ronde in Montreal (2 hrs) or Wonderland in Toronto (5 hrs). The Ottawa area has two waterparks in the summer: Calypso is the big one and Mont-Cascades is the smaller.
The most famous mountain resort is about 2 hrs away and is called Mont-Tremblant. It's often rated the best ski resort in North America east of the Rockies.
There is also Lake Placid in NY State where the 1980 Winter Olympics were held. Also Jay Peak, Stowe and Killington in Vermont.
There are thousands (tens of thousands? hundreds of thousands? millions?) of lakes big and small in the area north of Ottawa extending for hundreds of km to the north. None of them I would call "famous", probably because there are so many.
You need a passport to cross into the U.S. from Canada. Canadians don't need visas or special papers. I doubt Swedes need them. Just a passport should be fine.
The border is about an hour from Ottawa but there is not much there. The biggest city is Syracuse NY which has about half a million people in the metro. It's about 3.5 hours from Ottawa. It has good shopping - as good or even better than Ottawa which is more than twice the size. (The U.S. is the U.S., of course.)
1200 CAD is okay. More if furnished? From what I’ve experiences it is usually the other way around. .
I just assumed that furnished offers you more so it will be more expensive. I may be wrong about this. I haven't looked for an apartment in over 20 years.
Thank you! It looks great! Does life differ anything else between Calgary and Ottawa generally speaking, besides Calgary being an oil city and Ottawa a government city?
Calgary is a very "new world" city. Ottawa is still definitely "new world" but does have quite a bit more "old world" and European feel than Calgary does.
It feels more established and more mature.
Ottawa also has a French-speaking element (15% of the city roughly) which Calgary has very little of, and a close to 90% French-speaking city of 300,000 people right across the river from it in Quebec, that is part of the same metro area.
Oh okay, that is good. What sort of income would a person need to sustain a “normal” (middle class) life in Ottawa do you reckon?
I don't know how to answer that, but I can say that most professional white collar people with university educations make 80 to 90,000 CAD in Ottawa, and often over 100,000.
OP, I know you said your girlfriend is a physiotherapist (which is actually a moot point for yourself and your own eligibility to immigrate since you aren't married to her), but what about yourself? I don't recall seeing anywhere in your posts that you've mentioned what your own skills and qualifications are. Some of the questions or comments you've made (just for example the mention of cashiering) make it sound as though you can't afford to come to Canada and don't have skills that are in demand and would make you an asset to Canada. So I'm curious to know what desirable skills and assets that are in demand in Canada would you be bringing to the table that would make you qualified and eligible to immigrate to Canada?
Personally I would throw out Hawthorne Meadows-Sheffield Glen but add Westboro and New Edinburgh.
Living in Byward Market is very expensive though in terms of rental and so on.
Glebe is not that bad by the way, as far as I remember: yet, I was in Ottawa only from January to April so I did not "enjoy" Canadian summer.
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Originally Posted by Zoisite
OP, I know you said your girlfriend is a physiotherapist (which is actually a moot point for yourself and your own eligibility to immigrate since you aren't married to her), but what about yourself? I don't recall seeing anywhere in your posts that you've mentioned what your own skills and qualifications are. Some of the questions or comments you've made (just for example the mention of cashiering) make it sound as though you can't afford to come to Canada and don't have skills that are in demand and would make you an asset to Canada. So I'm curious to know what desirable skills and assets that are in demand in Canada would you be bringing to the table that would make you qualified and eligible to immigrate to Canada?
.
He said above that he has a degree in Environmental Science, though he admitted to have no working experience in that field.
I also presume, in terms of skills, that he does not speak French as he ruled out Québec as a viable option.
A curiosity: how valuable is to speak both languages for someone wishing to immigrate to Canada?
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