PEI: The New Elliot Lake
Retirement Living in Paradise

Elliot Lake is a community of about eleven thousand people tucked away in the wilds of Northern Ontario. It seems an unlikely retirement destination and more like the type of place you escape to for a weekend of fishing in the Canadian wilderness. Who are the marketing geniuses behind the transformation of an abandoned mining town with no hope of a future? How did a pit stop on the Trans Canada Highway become an affordable and thriving retirement community? The exciting metropolis of Sudbury is a lengthy 160 kms east of Elliot Lake and Sault Ste. Marie is a full 180 kms to the west, so its success is certainly a mystery, although it does speak to the demand for affordable retirement living as our population ages. Is it just a desire of ageing urbanites that seek a healthier lifestyle on the cheap as they reach their golden years? If so, Prince Edward Island is Canada’s obvious retirement paradise.

Our nation’s birthplace has long been known for its exceptional real estate prices and lower cost of living. It hasn’t been marketed specifically as a ‘retirement community’, but when you discover the affordable seaside real estate, the world-class golf, theatre, and music, as well as the vibrant cultural community, one wonders, why not?! Who doesn’t love Prince Edward Island?

People come from all over to visit the land of Anne of Green Gables, the beloved orphan created by Island author, Lucy Maude Montgomery. The beaches are spectacular and the lobsters grow bigger and taste better thanks to the warmth of the Northumberland Strait waters. Sorry Elliot Lake, but affordable retirement living is even more affordable on Canada’s Island Paradise. The boomers are beginning to catch on, too. It seems the PEI countryside, as well as more populated areas are seeing an influx of older residents redoing older farmhouses, or taking up residence in popular new condo developments.

Living the PEI dream will add years to your life. The crime rate is next to zero and you can leave your keys on the dashboard of your car overnight (not recommended). Young families are also coming to the Island in order to raise children in this secure and safe environment.

The winters in Northern Ontario’s Elliot Lake are far fiercer than in mild mannered PEI. It seems the Island winters of old could be quite the test, but in the past twenty years things have calmed down to acceptable levels of snow and wind. Only January and February pose occasional obstacles, although March may have its moments. And the affordability of your PEI real estate investment will make it possible to take an annual pilgrimage to your favourite vacation hot-spot, until the flowers bloom once again on Canada’s Island Paradise.