Sean F

Thanks for the information. Do any of you have kids? If yes, do you send them to public or private schools? I've got a daughter going into kindergarten and the school system is a little confusing. In the US, it's pretty straightforward and you can pick the area based on a relative ranking of all schools in your state. Seems like private might be the way to go in Toronto.

Thanks,
Sean

pongobaz

Yup, I have 2 kids born and raised here. I chose the public school system, however because: 1- I'm bilingual and went to English and French schools and 2- Catholic (severely lapsed though), I was able to put them in the French separate school system. Benefit is that it's a small school (300 total kids from JK to GR8), they get door to door bus service and it's totally free (it's really like a private school without the cost). The students also score higher in provincial testing there, than in most of the private schools. Best of all, my kids a fully bilingual now and will have many opportunites because of that. BTW: consider at the very least, offering your kids the gift of mulitple languages by placing them into a french immersion program; lots of schools offer that here.
IMHO: I think the public school system in Canada is way better than what you find in the US; my brother lives in Michigan and he moved his daughter to private schools very soon into her schooling.
All the areas that you'll be house hunting in, have very good schools. Go and meet with the principals and decided for yourself.

AM993

Same here: my daughter (5) goes to the public school / French program (we are French, originally) in Mississauga. The school is brand new (opened in September last year) and there are 12 kids in her class, instead of the typical 25 in the English program.
Compared to the private school my daughter was attending in Houston, TX until last year, the only difference is the price: it's free in Canada! The program is very good for kindergarten, with reading, writting, maths classes (and not just drawing and singing...). My son (2.5) will start the same program in September.

fc-racer

I drove the 993 Turbo on Pirelli race tires all winter. I even had to drive in snow some days. The snow is pretty "sticky" here compared to the west coast where I came from. I didn't drive on salty days, but I was surprised how often I was able to drive, especially this mild winter. My first winter here, I stored the car and regretted it so many beautiful sunny days in that winter. The second winter, I drove it all the time and really enjoyed it. When I'm laying on my death bed, I won't be thinking about the memories I had while my Porsche sat in the garage during winter, I'll be thinking about the lurid slide I pulled coming out of the parking lot in the snow