Quote:
Originally Posted by 1overcosc
It will be very interesting to see a development that bridges the two provinces. Currently the river provides a pretty solid buffer.
Pricing will be interesting. Real estate in Gatineau is significantly cheaper than in Ottawa, and the two cities basically have seperate real estate markets. It's rare for an Ottawan to move to Gatineau, and vice versa. When an Ottawan is looking for a new apartment, if he/she isn't really picky about neighbourhoods, they'll look all over Ottawa--downtown, east, west, south, but they won't even think about looking in Gatineau.
Why? Language issue is a big one. If you're anglophone Ottawan with children, moving to Quebec where your children will be obligated to attend school in French is not very appealing. There's also the fact that Quebec has way higher provincial income tax rates than Ontario, which deters a lot of Ottawans from even considering living in Gatineau. Even though in reality, Quebec's lower hydro rates & cheaper property taxes probably offset most of the difference.
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I'm willing to guess that the simple issues of changing provinces are a big enough hurdle. I mean there's a decent number of francophones and plenty of bilingual people in Ottawa. Dealing with changing healthcare systems, getting your kids in a new school system (that has different structures), dealing with the need for renewing your drivers license, etc. are all pretty non-negligible issues, even if you're a francophone.
Language is definitely an issue for some people, but there's a lot of other things going on.