relocating to toronto

Whew..it's a big city and it depends on what you like.  Will you be renting or buying?  Will you have a car?  Generally being on the subway line is a plus.  Georgraphically the city is also HUGE, so you probably don't want to get too far out in the suburbs as you can really be quite far away.  What sort of price range are you looking at?  Do you have work?  What do you like in a neighbourhood and how young are your kids?  It's my home town so I will let you know what I can...

Toronto is very much a city of neighbourhoods, and depending on where you want to live, if you get into a nice neighbourhood, that would be great.  There are areas that are devoid of this...mostly suburban areas with many subdivisions, and areas with a LOT of apartment blocks.  Because the city is so geographically big, I would find work, and then look for housing somewhat near that, preferably on the subway line.  Certainly you would want to live on the same side of the city as your work, in rush hour you could easily look at 45 min to an hour to get to the far side.  That isn't in January.

For now that's the best I can let you know....there would be a union of registered gas fitters which would be a good place to start to find out if your qualifications rate...I imagine you would have to take some courses as the names are probably different for some items, and the regulations are bound to vary in some way. There is both union and non union work as far as I know.

With your wife, care is general so I am not sure exactly what you mean.  Babies?  Geriatric?  people with disabilities?  Doctor, Nurse, ?????

OK, you DO NOT want to live in St James town, nor in the Jane Finch area.  They are as close as we get to nasty neighbourhoods within Toronto.  I think outer anywhere would be a drag, but I tend to think that if you live in a city, live in the city so you can get to it, either that or live properly out of the city so you get some of the benifits of living the the country, ie more space and cheaper housing.

So I would avoid outer Etobicoke, Mississauga, outer Scarborough, Outer North York...if you stay near the subway lines it is hard to go wrong, though right downtown with a children can be challenging.  If you were near the University of Toronto there would be a fair amount of green space still, though there would also be a lot of students.  Not entirely a bad thing, just sometimes noisy.

The Toronto Star carries listings of places, which can give you a feel for prices, and if you read the Toronto Star website for a while you may get a bit of a feel for the areas, and there is also the MLS real estate listings that will show some rentals and more to buy.

Does it help?

livzak, As for me, I think I have said all I have to say on the topic of neighbourhoods in the post above.  It is difficult to give more advice as I do not know how you like to live. 

Pharmacueticals are giant multi-nationals.  Many of them, you may be able to get transferred internally.  If not, you probably know more about the industry than I do.

Sorry, wish I could help more.

O

Can I suggest that the questions and answers stay on-line here if they aren't too personal?  That way they may help other people that are looking for similar information.