I'm was born in Toronto and live in Ottawa.
I would never even consider Toronto for a place to live. That city stresses me out! It's very busy, smoggy and the driving/traffic makes me want to down a bottle of Xanax.
On the plus side, there is so much to do in Toronto and the surrounding cities and towns.
Ottawa is beautiful. I don't find it nearly as hectic as Toronto BUT it is on the boring side... great if you like that, but you won't find the variety and diversity of some other Canadian cities. It's very conservative being the nation's capital.
You will not find employment easily without speaking French. We're enrolling our daughter in immersion this year so she can avoid the struggle others in our family had due to lack of French.
I have family that lives in Barrie and it seems really pretty and clean and is reasonably close to the major hub of Toronto. I don't know about employment though.
As for health care, there are definite advantages to it being publicly funded BUT the quality has diminished and there are long wait times to see specialists. I rely heavily on RateMDs so I can request doctors that have a good reputation, rapport with patients, etc. and sometimes we have requested our doctor refer us out of city to be seen sooner.
I would disagree that better care is offered in larger cities versus smaller ones. That isn't always the case. In fact, often doctors with many years of experience will move to a smaller town with the goal of slowing down closer to their retirement. You cannot judge a doctor by the size of his/her town
and this is why I rely more on what I read about them online.
Incidentally, we just took my niece to Kingston to see an ENT after being told she'd wait
at least half a year here to see one. The ENT she saw has impressive education and experience.. as good or better than any doctor here. You'd be lucky to get an MRI in less than a year and that's even agreeing to be seen at odd hours (like 2 am!).
As with anything, there are pros and cons but I'll gladly work around the kinks and stick with our system.