Expatriates in Canada, Help!

[GDAEx2]

I am a finalist for a position in Ontario.
I have been invited to come up with my family to meet the staff and see the area.
What information do I need to have in order to make an informed decision re: relocation, should an offer be made to me?
I've been searching for cost of living/tax calculators, but I'm not finding anything helpful.
Advice from someone who has been in a similar situation would be most appreciated!
This is not in a major metro area (Bruce/Grey).
Thanks in advance.

[HeresyLives]

1. Is this the area you're looking at?

http://www.elections.ca/scripts/pss/PopUpWindows.asp?ED=35026

It's a pop-up map from this site:

http://www.elections.ca/scripts/pss/Map.aspx?L=E&ED=35026&EV=99&EV_TYPE=6&PC=&Prov=BC&MapID=&QID=-1&PageID=13

I don't know what town or city you'd be near, but you can google whichever one it is.

http://www.e-owensound.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Sound,_Ontario

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanover,_Ontario

It's a very beautiful area, and the Bruce Peninsula there has a lot of cottages.

I'm not an ex-pat. I live in the southern part of this province, and have never been to that area, so I don't know what information you require.

[GDAEx2]

2. thanks for the reply

Owen Sound, Port Elgin/Southampton and Kincardine are the towns in the area.
I guess a big question is what sort of tax rate should I expect?
I have scoped out some real estate sites and can see what to expect in that regard.
When we visit we can look in the grocery stores at prices.
Just trying to cover all the bases.

[HeresyLives]

3. This is a toughie.

We have a progressive income tax, so what you pay depends on what you earn. For this you get medical care for everything and so on.

Property tax should be shown in the house listings. For this you get garbage pick-up, street lights, paved streets, police & fire protection and all the other things.

The only other tax is GST. Currently 5% down from 7%. It matters on a major purchase, but only pennies at the store otherwise.

At least this is for a Canadian. For an American coming into the country you'll need a real ex-pat to tell you the differences to expect.

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. isn't there also a provincial sales tax on top of GST? n/t

[HeresyLives]

5. Oops sorry.

I just think of it as 'the sales tax', but there are actually 2 separate ones.

8% provincial, and 5% federal. The federal one has just been lowered from 7 to that 5%.

They'll likely be 'blended' soon, and there will just be one. Hopefully lower than the two together.