The place file / Atlantic Canada
Newfoundland
It runs half an hour ahead of the rest of Atlantic Canada.
Nobody has ever persuaded it to round.
Salty Seniors place guide
Could I live here?The draw
Icebergs off the wharf
The catch
Fog, wind and 359 cm of snow
The question
How far is the nearest doctor?
Four moose arrived in 1904
There were no moose in Newfoundland until people brought some. A pair in 1878, then four more from New Brunswick in 1904. There are now about 110,000, and they meet cars on the highway several hundred times a year. Drive in daylight.
The island is bigger than Ireland and has about 485,000 people on it, most of them on the Avalon Peninsula at the eastern end. The Trans-Canada takes 903 kilometres to get from the ferry at Port aux Basques to St. John’s.
The place names were chosen by people with other things on their minds. Come By Chance. Heart’s Content. Joe Batt’s Arm. Happy Adventure. Dildo.
For almost five hundred years the reason to be here was cod. On July 2, 1992, the government closed the fishery, and about 30,000 people were out of work in a day. Some outports emptied.
The ones that stayed are why you are thinking of coming.
In spring, ice that fell as snow on Greenland ten thousand years ago drifts down the coast, and people drive out to look at it.
What stays open year-round?
St. John’s does, all of it. It is a capital city of about 110,000 with a university, the province’s main hospitals and George Street, which does not take a season off. The outports are another matter. Many of the inns, cafés and boat tours that made you fall for the place open in June and close in September.
What will winter ask of you?
A good shovel and a sense of humour. St. John’s is the snowiest, foggiest, windiest and cloudiest major city in Canada, with about 359 cm of snow a year and 124 days of fog. In January 2020 it got 76 cm in one day and stayed shut for eight. It is not especially cold. It is relentless, and spring arrives in June.
How close is the care you need?
It depends entirely on where you land. St. John’s has the major hospitals. In the outports the nearest emergency room can be an hour or more away, and some have closed for days at a time for lack of staff. About 30 percent of people in the province have no family doctor. Find out which hospital you would actually be using, and drive there once.
Could you live without a car?
In downtown St. John’s, more or less, if you like hills. Everywhere else, no. The railway closed in 1988, buses between towns are few, and the distances are long. Corner Brook to St. John’s is seven hours. You will drive, and after dark you will drive slowly, because of the moose.
What does a house cost?
Less than almost anywhere else in the country, though less so every year. The average sale across the province was about $375,000 in mid-2026, and a little over $400,000 in St. John’s. In the outports a house with a view of the water still costs less than a condo almost anywhere else in Canada. Check what it would take to heat it.
How do you get there?
By air to St. John’s, Gander or Deer Lake, or by ferry from North Sydney, Nova Scotia. The crossing to Port aux Basques takes about seven hours and runs all year. The one to Argentia, near St. John’s, takes about 16 and runs from mid-June to late September. Either way, set your watch ahead half an hour.
