Author Topic: Cost of Living: Ottawa v Gatineau  (Read 6279 times)

jambongris

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Cost of Living: Ottawa v Gatineau
« on: June 09, 2015, 10:35:39 AM »
Has anyone else in the national capital region made the move across the border, either from Ottawa to Gatineau or vice versa?

If so, do you have any advice you can share on how the cost of living (housing, taxes, etc.) and the quality of life (access to healthcare, commuting across the border, schools, etc.) compare on the two sides of the river?

Thanks.

TrMama

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Re: Cost of Living: Ottawa v Gatineau
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2015, 10:40:46 AM »
Following. My DH had a bee in his bonnet last year about wanting to be transferred to Ottawa. If you live in Gatineau, are you stuck with the QC health care system or can you access the ON system?

BigBangWeary

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Re: Cost of Living: Ottawa v Gatineau
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2015, 02:50:56 AM »
I would also be interested in this. I imagine the cost of renting/owning would go up a bit from Gatineau, no?


MikeStache

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Re: Cost of Living: Ottawa v Gatineau
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2015, 10:06:26 AM »
I've always lived on the Ottawa side but I remember an Ottawa Citizen article from years ago comparing living expenses on the two sides. Cheaper houses on the QC side were balanced out by higher income taxes at that time (granted probably 10 years ago when prices were a lot lower).

From listening to traffic reports on the radio, it sounds like the bridges make commuting pretty messy too if you work on the Ottawa side. I'm not sure how the schools and health care are, but day care is really cheap ($8/day IIRC). When I Googled to try and find that Citizen article, one of the hits was this which  seems to be a pretty reasonable summary:

http://blog.amplifiedinvestments.com/2014/03/12/is-it-cheaper-to-buy-a-house-and-live-in-ottawa-ontario-or-gatineau-quebec/
« Last Edit: June 10, 2015, 10:08:07 AM by MikeStache »

jambongris

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Re: Cost of Living: Ottawa v Gatineau
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2015, 02:47:15 PM »
I've always lived on the Ottawa side but I remember an Ottawa Citizen article from years ago comparing living expenses on the two sides. Cheaper houses on the QC side were balanced out by higher income taxes at that time (granted probably 10 years ago when prices were a lot lower).

From listening to traffic reports on the radio, it sounds like the bridges make commuting pretty messy too if you work on the Ottawa side. I'm not sure how the schools and health care are, but day care is really cheap ($8/day IIRC). When I Googled to try and find that Citizen article, one of the hits was this which  seems to be a pretty reasonable summary:

http://blog.amplifiedinvestments.com/2014/03/12/is-it-cheaper-to-buy-a-house-and-live-in-ottawa-ontario-or-gatineau-quebec/

From what I understand there are a limited number of the $7/day daycare spots available and getting one usually involves spending several years on a waiting list.

human

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Re: Cost of Living: Ottawa v Gatineau
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2015, 06:00:33 PM »
Housing cheaper in QC but the newer tract single family homes are in rather strange locations, otherwise Aylmer is where a lot of anglophones settle. Chelsea and even further out in Wakefield are nice but further out. Health care on the QC side is a nightmare, the province was considering taking over the hospital. Getting a family DR could be hard and getting tests take forever, although I think there is a private MRI clinic there (Ontarians can pay to use it too so now advantage really). Most QC dwellers working in the capital try to work 7-3, the bridges and construction all summer long really slows things down. They tried a new rapid bus system where you transfer more often to get on more efficient routes on the main corridors in Hull and downtown Ottawa, but it seems to have lengthened commutes from what I hear.

I lived in Hull for 5 years and really the pain is the bus commute, if you work in du Portage (Hull) and can find a place nearby that would be ideal in terms of commute but Vieux Hull is pretty dodgy in terms of housing. I suppose biking to the ottawa side in the summer is nice and there are a few hardy souls that bike all winter, too much for me . . .

I live in Ottawa in a condo close to the canal, 20 minutes walk to work or 5-10 minute bike ride along the canal. I live in a 1000 square feet 10 year old condo, would go for about 420K now (a little high spec). Newer condos downtown 1 bdrm, 800 square feet go for maybe 350K, of course you have Kanata and Orleans no idea about prices there but brutal commute. Westboro real estate exploding (600k for newer semi-detach about 2000 square feet), bus commute is bad to westboro, not very walkable.

Edit I forgot to mention that I have no kids so not sure about schools but from what colleagues who live in QC tell me the waiting list for subsidized daycare is a couple of years long.  There are only a couple of English schools in Gatineau, if you are not an anglophone resident born in QC your kids go to school in French (which I think is best since they need to be bilingual for any decent jobs in Ottawa).
« Last Edit: June 10, 2015, 06:05:51 PM by human »

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!