Having lived in alberta and nova scotia, and travelled through several other provinces...I say this, they are basically all the same. If you live in a subdivision, its just a subdivision. We don't live in mud floor shanties here in NS and people in Alberta don't all live in diamond encrusted mansions. Every province has poverty, and every province has wealth.
I know this post is old, so you may have changed your mind. However, if you are serious about wanting to move here, I suggest you look into various jobs and maybe take a long vacation here that involves some job hunting, just to see whats out there ... especially if you have a few contacts or such before arriving. Look into what is required for immigration. There is a website called British Expat, they have a whole section on immigrating to Canada and lots of people who have done so and can help with the steps... even if you aren't british.
http://www.britishexpat.com/expatforum/canada/index.php?sid=5aa0cb1a6e44da1551e1e785d55717ad
True we don't have oil jobs falling out of the sky, but we have a fair demand for teachers, medical personale, and other sectors. Job opportunites really depends on what you are trained in. Here are some links that might help you determine if its viable for you or not:
http://www.jobfutures.ca/
http://jobbank.gc.ca/
http://skillsns.ednet.ns.ca/
You ask a big question, so its rather difficult to answer. If you have a job, you can live quite nicely. You can afford food, a car etc... sometimes people make it sound like we all live on pogey and share one beat up old truck amongst all the townsfolk where as everyone else in the country drive porches and eat 4 course meals served to them on gold platters.
Housing tends to be cheaper than other provinces, in part because we don't have a huge city that drives up housing in surrounding areas. Try www.mls.ca if you want to look at housing prices across the country.
Food is more expensive. In the annapolis valley most meats [fish/steak/chicken] run around the $4/lb. Chicken legs/thighs can usually be found for under $2-$3/lb. Drumsticks are almost always dirt cheap. Shrimp is usually $10-15/kg, You can find mussels dirt cheap when in season, no more than $1/lb. Lobster depends on how good the season was. Scallops can be found $8-10/lb in season, sometimes cheaper, best place to buy them is from the fish monger with the truck on the side of the road, VERY fresh. Canned tuna less that $1.18..I refused to pay more than $1.10 and my cupboard is stocked with the stuff. Peppers for some reason are expensive, tho this season have frequently been on sale. lettuce $1-2, Frozen veggies vary from $1/kg and up. Local farmers markets have cheap veggies, lots of people have their own veggie patch. We don't have the vast variety of choice you would find in large population areas but lately I have noticed more options and speciality items on the shelves. heaps and heaps of U-Pick farms for anything from strawberries to plums. Also lots of local farms sell direct, you've probably seen many a small cart loaded with berries or squash at the bottom of driveways with a cashbox bolted to it.
If you have any farming experience or a willingness to learn you could do very well for a family raising a few yearling beef every spring than putting them in your freezer come late fall. Maybe raise some chickens. Farm fresh eggs seem to sell very well. We for some unknown reason have very few sheep farmers, maybe their is not a market for it or maybe no one thinks to raise them... or goats. Personally I have a gut feeling they are going to be a fast growing market as more Asian/Middle Eastern immigrants come to Canada. BUT I am not in the farming industry, so I couldn't say for sure.
Housing rentals in my area range from 400-800/month utilities included are variable. For apartments often, for renting a home not so much.
My power bill is about $125/month. We live in a generic split-level home that you would find in any subdivision built in the 70's/80's
I have hot water/oil heating which runs be about $2000 a year, give or take a few hundred depending on how cold the winter is. That is on an old 25+ year furnance. Just replaced it this spring, so winter heating may be less. Lets see ... my house insurance is about 400/yr. Car is about 55/month ... I have a drilled well, so don't have any water bill. My property tax is about $650/yr ... but I live outside of town, in town they are higher. Depends on which town you are in ... you can usually find the assessment rates on the town's website or phone the town clerk and they would be able to tell you.
A basic medical plan from blue cross is about $80/month. If you find work, your company may have a group medical plan. I disagree with the poster who said out medical services were "so-so" Halifax has several large hospitals, including a children's hospital, the valley also has a few, one very large and nice one known as the valley regional. Our wait times are no different than other provinces. Sometimes less, sometimes more. My mother has been waiting a year to see a knee surgeon but when my grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer, he had surgery two weeks later.
We could use more family doctors, especially in the rural areas and smaller towns outside the city but I don;t know anyone who does not have one. It just usually takes a couple of weeks to get a non-urgent appointment.
There are lots of outdoors things to do, depends on what you like.
Frankly, we live at the same level everyone else lives. The one thing I would say is our youth have a harder time getting those entry level post education positions at good wages. Which is sad and something I wish our governement would work harder on changing that.
So yeh, life is good here in my opinion. Its not perfect, can not find good beef jerky to save my life... one of the things I really miss about Alberta. Retail items tend to be higher here, but we have Frenchy's. Personally I find it all balances out. My relatives in Ontario live in a larger house and make more money [about 2x as much, they make well over 100k] but they don't own a newer more fancy car or take endless vacations or have money-stuffed pillows. They basically are living the same lifestyle we are here, only they have more access to a large city.
if you are making a gross of $40k plus you can live a normal middle-class lifestyle here. You'll get to grouch about taxes, complain that you never know when your money goes but are still able to pay for your kids school supplies and class trips and summer soccer, take the hubby out for a drink and see a movie and buy a new frock once in a while. You'll hate the gas prices but still be able to get where you need to. Your kids won't go to school with nothing but a butter sandwich... tho you can pretty much count on someone in the class having had no breakfast at home and having nothing more than that butter sandwich for lunch. Thankfully just about every school has a breakfast club where kids can get something to eat.
Oh and if you smoke, quit before you come ... our cigs are over $7 a pack if I am not mistaken. VERY expensive cigarettes. Which myself, have no problem with but eh, I'm not a smoker.
As I've said above, we do have poverty... real poverty.... but I don't know any place that doesn't. Only places where they don't want to see it.
I hope this helps a bit more on what it is really like here. Ultimately whether you like it, will depends on what you are expecting to find here. Research research research is my best advice.
Personally, I hope it works in your favour and you decide to make the move.
Cheers and best of luck
