Top 5 Reasons NOT to Move to Ottawa Canada
Whenever you are deciding to relocate your life, making the final decision can be incredibly daunting. Does the city offer enough entertainment and nightlife for your age group? Will my interests be catered for? How easily can I adapt to life there? Can I afford the city life and get a job easily? Below, we have included the top 5 reasons not to move to Ottawa, Canada. Within these five reasons we have broken down the truth and the myth behind each belief and whom this drawback may affect, in the hope that it will help you decide whether Canada’s capital city is the place for you.
HERE ARE THE Top Reasons NOT to Move to Ottawa Canada
1) “IT’S BORING”
When researching the various cities in Canada, it will often find that Ottawa is considered the most quiet and boring city in all the country. This reputation, mostly, is completely out of date. The city absolutely comes alive during the summer months with special museum exhibitions at the National Gallery of Canada and political conferences. The biggest events in Ottawa also happen to occur during the summer. From Ottawa Fringe Festival to Canada Day celebrations and Ottawa Bluesfest. Of course, attracting big names from the realms of music and art continues to be a struggle for Ottawa, but it is definitely improving.
In particular, if you are aged between 17 and 27, you may find entertainment in Ottawa more lacking than others. Nightlife fizzles out after 9pm (although this is an improvement considering only years prior, the city fell asleep much closer to 6pm), unless there is a special event or festival taking place. However, Ottawa has good transportation links to both Toronto and Montreal, who are both renowned for their lively night-life. Of course, a party (or in this case city) is only as boring and dull as you make it, you can always find the exciting and interesting parts of any city (and if not, make it yourself).
If you find Ottawa does not offer you enough entertainment during your teenage years or your twenties, you may find yourself belonging to a different group in the future. Many people born in Ottawa, that leave to seek adventure often return when they are ready to settle down and start a family. This is due to the city being named one of the best places to live in Canada when considering your income, unemployment rate, housing, lifestyle options and the weather. There are plenty of activities available for families and children in Ottawa, especially outdoors. With ski trails and snowboarding parks, horse-back riding, kayak rapids and canoeing rivers.
2) You May Need To Be Bilingual
The key word in this phrase is ‘may’. You do not need to be bilingual in order to live easily in Ottawa, however it will seriously help you integrate into society if you can at least learn simple words and phrases in French. They offer many services throughout the city in both English and French, and if you are looking to apply for a job within the government, they may require you to speak French. Of course, if you live in Ottawa, it is common for children to be taught French whilst they are at school, which will give them a head start for life in Ottawa. But if you are moving to Ottawa from an area that is heavily anglophone, you may struggle with employment opportunities. Although, we must reiterate, Ottawa is not an official bilingual city.
3) “It’s Too Expensive”
Of course, when you are moving to any city around the world from a non-city location, you will inevitably see an increase in your cost of living. This is no different for if you are relocating to Ottawa. Perhaps you have heard of Ottawa’s ‘Fat Cat’ reputation, which relates to the sheer number of federal government employees that live within the city. In recent years, this number has been significantly reduced, and therefore bringing a fairer balance to the local economy. This is not considered a fully resolved issue though.
As Ottawa is the capital city of Canada, there are an enormous amount of great employment opportunities. Like any city, especially a capital, the largest employment sectors are health and education, finance, trade and construction. Of course, with such a high population (Ottawa’s population stands at over 900,000, which makes it the fourth largest city in Canada), the service sector industries like retail and hospitality are also large.
Overall, it is important to remember that the cost of living within any location is reflected in your salary. Your salary for a specific job will always be greater when you live in a city compared to a smaller or rural location as the cost of you living in said location will be higher.
4) The Weather
Ottawa has a semi-continental climate, with warm and humid summers and particularly cold winters. During the winter, Ottawa can see temperatures drop to 21 degrees Fahrenheit in December, which declines even further in January with temperatures as low as 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Across the course of a typical year in Ottawa, the city can receive (on average) around 69.5 inches of snow.
The hottest month of the year in Ottawa tends to be July, with temperatures on average reaching up to 71 degrees Fahrenheit. When you are experiencing these high weather conditions living in Ottawa, you have to be aware of the mosquito season. Across all of Canada, mosquitoes are more common from May through to September. You must be punctual when receiving treatment for any mosquito bites. The residents of the city are working together to eliminate standing water, which is the ideal location for mosquitoes to lay their eggs.
5) Mass Transit That’s Still Under Construction
Ottawa is renowned for having one of, if not the, best transit systems in all of Canada. It is not, however, very popular with Ottawans. OC Transpo operates the city’s transportation, and while it has a successful and expansive bus service, the O-Train lines have always favored transportation to and from the downtown core of the city. This, to a degree, is understandable because of the bulk of jobs being in the downtown area. This will be a thing of the past though, as the city has put a sizeable amount of investment within the O-Train network with another 27 stations being added to the line. The work on this development, however, seems to be never-ending.
That concludes our list of the top 5 reasons not to move to Ottawa. Whenever you are moving to any location, you should always consider your personal goals for the specific time of life you are currently in. Every location always offers their own niche benefits and drawbacks and finding your dream home location will be dependant of what you are looking for. Ottawa, with its growing entertainment sector, competitive job market and developing transportation links, may or may not be the perfect place for you. The city offers you a safe, high level of quality of life where you can embrace the enormous amount of green areas and a multicultural society.
