What are summers in Vancouver like?

I am so undecided where to work - Toronto or Vancouver?

• I am a 25 year old single guy who is very eager to work in either Toronto or Vancouver later in the year or possibly early 2010. I am coming on over from Grimsby, UK on the BUNAC Work Canada program on the 1 year working VISA. I hope to come on over around December/January 2010. I was set on travelling to Vancouver but I have now had second thoughts. The reason why I have my doubts is because of the Winter Olympics fast approaching and high prices for renting that have me slightly put off. I know it rains most of the time throughout the year and weather all year round is very mild. I went to Toronto to summers ago but didn’t spend a lot of time checking the area. Where as I have never been to Vancouver and don’t know what to expect. What about crime, which has the worst crime? I also understand that Toronto can get very hot and humid weather during the summer season and on the other hand the winter season is extremely cold. The weather doesn’t concern me but it’s all about the general prices, location, being able to feel comfortable, and the friendliness of its local people. I enjoy socialising and site seeing and I am also into my sports. I am very passionate in tennis and football (Soccer). So finding somewhere to play regular tennis at a tennis club would be essential. I am a British born of Chinese descent so living in an Asian community doesn’t really bother me at all. I just want to feel comfortable in a neighbourhood with nice friendly people. I am from a small town called Grimsby, UK and coming to a city such as Toronto or Vancouver doesn’t faze me. I have visited London on numerous occasions so I know what to expect from city life. For me London life is very hectic and personally I wouldn’t like to live in London just because of its sheer size in population and it over crowdedness and the locals not being too friendly. I hope Toronto or Vancouver can offer me that as I hope to settle down for a year to work. I need some valuable information on which city would be the best place to settle down and find work. I am so torn and I cannot decide which one is best suited to me. So many questions to ask but for now these will do, cheers!

• Answer:

  Wow, a tough decision you have to make. I currently live in Vancouver (or rather a suburb of the Greater Vancouver areas) but am originally from Kitchener, Ontario--which is about a 45 minute drive from Toronto. First of all, Toronto is VERY busy. Vancouver has traffic problems but has a rather smaller community atmosphere.. You have the weather of both cities down relatively well. Personally, I don't like the rainy winters in Vancouver (lack of sunshine and low cloud sucks the life energy out of you) but the summers in Toronto are UNBEARABLE--I can't stand the humidity in combination with the air pollution. In terms of culture--well if you are wanting to be around a lot of Asian people, then Vancouver is the place for you. There is a HUGE Chinese population here. Having come from Ontario, I find that people there are more straight forward in terms of forming friendships. People here in Vancouver seem to be more cautious of forming friendships but are outwardly friendly. I am an extremely extroverted individual and have had difficulties forming friendships out here. In terms of cost--well, Vancouver is the most expensive city to live in in Canada. This is aside from the 2010 Olympics coming--prices for everything are more expensive than anywhere in the country. There is a saying that BC which stands for British Columbia actually stands for Bring Cash! LOL Toronto however, is not cheap either in terms of housing cost and rent. In terms of crime--both cities have moderate crime rates. The Greater Vancouver area has recently undergone a surge in gang related crime including the victimization of innocent bystanders. It is not any different than Toronto a few years back having a surge in gang related killings of innocent bystanders. In general, Canada has a reasonable low crime rate when compared to our neighbours to the south. Vancouver has the Downtown East Side where there are lots of homeless people and drug addicts. I work with these people and although I would never walk around there at night alone, I find this area more sad than scarey. Toronto has its own areas that are downright scarey to be in. But that is just my opinion based on my experience. You have a difficult decision to make. I like both places but for very different reasons. I would however, never live in Toronto central as it is TOO busy for my liking. The other thing I want to point out to you is the difference in the pace of life--in general, people in Ontario live a faster pace of life--things are fast--ie) service in restaurants, traffic moves very quickly--everyone is always in a hurry. Personally, I prefer this. People in BC live a much slower pace of life--service is slow, people seem to saunter and piss around and people drive a lot slower. These type of things drive me nuts. So you need to decide for yourself how the positives and negatives of each city will factor in with your preference. The other thing I would suggest is looking outside of Toronto to settle--like the communities of Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge-Guelph. These communities have basically grown together, are reasonably affordable and have 3 Universities and a College within them which will give you acess to lots of people in your age group!. They are only 45 mins drive to Toronto and have good employment opportunities as well. There are at least 500 000 people in those 4 cities together--but they are all separate cities and slower than Toronto.