Cost of living depends on where you're moving to. Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary are getting higher in terms of cost of living. I can only speak for Vancouver since I grew up there but I can say that living in Malaysia has saved me a lot of money vs living in Vancouver.

If you want to live in the heart of Downtown Vancouver, average price for say a 1 bedroom 650sqft (60sqm as you guys use here) can run you around $2200CAD/month rent (approx 6,820MYR)
If you want to live farther out in the suburbs of say New Westminster or Coquitlam the price for the same sized unit is around $1,600CAD/month rent (approx 4,900MYR)
Even farther out to say Abbotsford which is over an hour drive from Vancouver the same sized unit will probably be around $1,200-1,400/month (Around 3720MYR)

If you're planning to buy a car, Vancouver has the highest gas prices in Vancouver. As of right now, cost for regular gas is around $1.54-$1.70CAD/ltr which is around 4.77MYR/Liter. A lot of Vancouverites if they're close to the boarder will hope across the boarder to fill up gas and save around 30-40% depending on your car.

In terms of cost/standard of living, a lot of my friends I've grown up with are finding it harder and harder to live in Vancouver due to the rising cost of day to day things. They're starting to move farther and farther away from Vancouver into the suburbs. Economy in Vancouver has been fueled by offshore real estate purchases (mainly Chinese) and the influx of Chinese migrating to Vancouver. For me, I compare the cost of food, restaurants, shopping, and day to day costs almost the same as living in Singapore. I lived in Yaletown which is in the heart of Downtown Vancouver and the cost of living was getting ridiculous.

Our taxes in Canada are also pretty ridiculous. I don't miss that at all.

In all honesty, I cannot see myself living in Vancouver anymore unless my employment ends with my company, but I would look for alternative countries to live in. Vancouver is beautiful, I miss the friends and family, lots to do in the spring/summer if you're an outdoors person, and skiing/snowboarding in the winter. But the weather from Oct-Apr does get cold/rainy and the past few years Vancouver has been getting a lot more snow. I don't miss that lol.

Again, I'm only speaking for Vancouver but cost of living does change from city to city. Halifax and smaller cities will definitely have a smaller cost of living, but also a smaller spectrum of job opportunities.



Anyone else has any questions on Canada I'm more than happy to do my best to answer them.

I can share my personal experience to answer some of your questions.

SURVIVAL JOBS, QOL ETC

For reference, in Dec 2017 I moved to Canada without a job offer.  At that time, I left behind in KL a senior executive level job in an O&G with a paycheck of MYR8.5K a month. When I left, I did not have any substantial assets left behind (no house, car sold).

After landing, I got survival jobs starting in a literal sandwich shop, then moved to other retail jobs (petrol station, supermarkets, big department stores) for about a year.

During this time, I make roughly CAD2k a month working retail jobs at min wage x 40 hours a week.

From this income, my expenses as a single person to live in Calgary, Alberta are roughly:

$500 - room rental all utils included
$400 - food
$80 - health insurance
$180 - car insurance
$100 - gas
$200 - groceries & other essentials

During this time which is about the whole duration of the year 2018, I managed to keep sending CAD400-500 a month back to Malaysia.

During this time, my quality of life personally improved compared to when I was in KL. Most memorably: I have a working car paid off in cash, I have a comfortable living quarters, I live in a safe neighborhood surrounded by parks, I had healthcare coverage which became essential when I was diagnosed with a major health condition in Oct 2018.

In 2019 I got married so since then, I am on dual income with my spouse, so my experience financial-wise after that may not be of interest to you.

I don't have data on how QOL will compare after I get qualified and get back to working in my profession. I will try to come back here and update once that happens, hopefully soon.

JOB PRIOR TO LANDING

On your question about finding and securing a job:

If your profession requires some sort of re-qualification process, chances are you won't be a good candidate for the market until you are here and after you have completed the process.

I personally have spent the past 3 years being "underemployed" as I undergo the requirements to be qualified as a Canadian lawyer. But this length of time was mostly due to me taking it slow and easy because I had some health issues that I had to deal with. For example I was only done with my exams in 2020, when technically if I had started in Jan 2018 I could have been completed by Dec 2018. Today in August of 2021 I am approaching the finish line of that re-qualification process. From what I have gleaned from my mentors and network, I should be able to find a job close to the level of position I had in Malaysia as soon I hold that qualified status.

NEXT STEP/STAGE

Citizenship seems to be a sensitive topic amongst the other Malaysians I have met here in Canada. I suspect it's because our current Malaysian laws does not allow for dual citizenship, hence anyone who wants to apply for Canadian citizenship will have to be prepared to let go of their Malaysian citizenship.

Technically, you can keep your PR for an unlimited period as long as you fulfill the residency requirement. I have met Malaysians in Canada with clear plans to go back to Malaysia for retirement, but then again, this is also not an easy topic for conversation as people feel like this is a very personal topic.

Finally and as always, don't hesitate to DM me if anyone want to have a more personal discussion. I don't check this forum often but a DM should notify my inbox.