Off-Island living ideal for families
When it comes to raising a family, it’s hard to beat Quebec. That’s the subheading on the 2018 MoneySense list of the best places to live in Canada for families. Speaking as someone who moved across the country to Quebec in search of a better place to raise my kids, I have to say I agree 100 per cent. As regular readers of my column know, I came to Quebec from B.C. a few years ago. Unlike many (maybe most) people who brave a cross-country move, we didn’t do it for the lure of a better job, or to be closer to family. We knew almost no one here. But with a pack of kids to care for, when we crunched the numbers and looked carefully at our options, Quebec consistently came up at the top of the list. Not only was it a more culturally interesting choice than other places in Canada we considered, it was by far the most economical. Even considering the hefty increase in personal income taxes, after we factored in housing, childcare and university costs for our three children there was simply no contest. Not only are homes much less expensive than in B.C., but the quality of schools in the areas where we were house hunting were much better. Of all the places we could have chosen to raise our family in the Montreal area, the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region quickly emerged as our top choice. So I’m not surprised to see Off-Island communities ranked highly in the MoneySense picks for families, too. This year, Vaudreuil-Dorion was ranked the fourth-best city in Canada in which to raise children (up from 15th last year). StLazare came in at 46 and Notre-Dame-de-l’Île-Perrot at 49. The rankings are noteworthy as an objective look at where communities rank on the practical considerations for families, such as the cost of housing, unemployment rates, access to daycare, amenities and crime rates. But of course, choosing a place to raise your family is about more than just practical considerations. Everyone’s got their own personal criteria about what makes a place somewhere they would like to live, and some of the most important factors are the least measurable. Often, it simply comes down to how a place makes you feel. After living here almost three years, I’m happy to say it feels like home.