Thinking of buying a new home in Quebec? Here’s what you need to know
Many Ottawans who like the idea of getting more house for their money in a new development like Quartier Meredith in Chelsea are apprehensive about moving to Quebec, but Mathieu Farley, president of Exo Construction, thinks those feelings can be explained and some may be dispelled.
The two biggest question marks for Ontarians coming to Quebec are language and taxes, said Farley, but he believes that neither is as big an issue as some people might believe, depending on one’s situation.
Farley, who is also a chartered professional accountant, said while the marginal income tax rate might be slightly higher in Quebec depending on how much money you earn, there are other lower-cost items — like electricity rates and daycare costs — that help offset the taxes you pay. As for the language debate, he says it is essentially a non-issue in Chelsea.
“People from both languages have been living together here for a long time,” said Farley, who is himself a Francophone. He’s seen the harmonious interactions between the two linguistic communities first hand while coaching his children in soccer and other sports and thinks the two languages help enrich each other. “We’ve demonstrated in the past that we can coach soccer together, we can cross-country ski or mountain bike together. I think everybody’s been quite respectful.”
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE SERVICES
With a name like Chelsea, it’s probably no surprise that the community’s roots are English-speaking. Founded as a cottage area for Ottawa’s elite a century ago, the municipality remains very much bilingual today with the population being fairly evenly split at 50 per cent English-speaking and 50 per cent French-speaking. Farley says it’s very easy for people to get services in the language of their choice.
DAYCARE COSTS
Quebec’s daycare system is the envy of every province in Canada with provincially-subsidized rates beginning at $8.35 per day although the rate is tied to your income so it will be higher if you make more money. Even if you choose to place your child in a private daycare, the province offers a generous tax credit for childcare expenses that offsets the fees you would pay. The province offers an online calculator for you to estimate your childcare expenses.
THE EDUCATION SYSTEM
Chelsea has an English-language elementary school that is steps away from Quartier Meredith and a high school and Cégep are just a seven-minute drive from town. For post-secondary education, many students go to university in either Ottawa or Montreal. To be eligible for an English education in Quebec, one of the child’s two parents must have spent the majority of their education in English somewhere in Canada or the children or an older sibling must have already been educated in an
English system in another Canadian province. Farley says that even if they are eligible for English schools, some parents choose to send their children to French schools as a way to help them become more bilingual.
INCOME TAXES
Quebec’s income taxes and consumption taxes are higher than in Ontario, but not by as much as you would imagine, says Farley with his accountant hat firmly in place. It depends on which tax bracket you fall into, but he says the marginal rate difference between the two provinces is generally between two and five per cent. As for the Quebec Sales Tax and the Harmonized Sales Tax, the difference is less than two per cent with HST being 13 per cent and HST being 14.975 per cent.
PROPERTY TAXES
Being a small community, Farley says that Chelsea’s property taxes are lower than in Ottawa. Part of that is because Quebec residents have to pay an annual school tax that is normally factored into municipal taxes in Ontario, but even when the taxes are combined, they are lower in Chelsea.
UTILITIES
Natural gas prices are similar in both provinces and gasoline is more expensive in Quebec because of additional taxes, but Farley notes that many Chelsea residents commute to Ottawa on a daily basis and choose to fill up their vehicles for less money in Ontario. Where the savings really kick in are on electricity rates where Quebecers, who pay the cheapest rates in all of North America, pay as much as 40 per cent less than their neighbours across the river.
HEALTH CARE
Chelsea residents have access to nearby clinics and hospitals, but if you have a doctor in Ontario, you can still visit him or her with your Quebec health card or choose to go to an Ontario medical facility to seek treatment.
COMMUTING TIME
One of the great advantages of living in a small community with access to the great outdoors like Quartier Meredith in Chelsea, says Farley, is that you also have easy access to a big city like Ottawa and the commute is a mere 12 minutes to downtown which is a lot faster than driving from neighbourhoods in Kanata or Orléans.
THE HOUSING MARKET
To buy a house in Ottawa that is a similar distance from downtown as Quartier Meredith, you could easily spend $150,000 to $200,000 more, says Farley, but it will likely be smaller and not a new construction. Farley notes that even during the coronavirus lockdown, interest in the project remains high and they’ve sold houses to people who’ve only visited virtually.
Quartier Meredith’s model home at 248 chemin du Relais is open 1 p.m.-4 p.m. on weekends and by appointment during the week.
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