Would you leave Vancouver for Winnipeg or Montreal?
I'm a US citizen / Canadian PR who has never lived anywhere else in Canada but Vancouver, where we've been for the last six years. I've been looking around at jobs for the last two months after growing jaded with my current role in finance/investing and have now gotten to final stages with two companies, one in Montreal and the other in Winnipeg. I have never visited either city and I don't speak French (though I'm happy to try and learn).
As incredibly beautiful as Vancouver is, I have found it nigh impossible to make friendships. I have heard people say this is a PNW thing but I had no problem making friends in Seattle when I lived there. No doubt part of that is my stage of life (39 yr old with a stay-at-home spouse and two kids, 6 and 2) but it seems like everyone has their friend group from high school and that's that. It's also depressingly expensive.
So for those of you that have lived in any combination of the three cities, what am I in for? Is the French barrier just going to replace one city of isolation for another? Is the lack of nature going to drive me crazy? Are the Winnipeg winters all that hard (I spent four years in Chicago)?