You really dont have to live in T.O, you can live anywhere you want.
Pilots here live everywhere in Canada from St-John's to Victoria.
Many live in the southern U"S and Carribean. A few courageous ones even do it from Europe.(They do that by bidding load beginning one month and load end the next month wich gives them a full month off)
Montreal is great , Halifax, or what about Quebec City , Calgary etc....
Cold winters? You can ski , skate, ski-doo, sit by the fireplace etc...
What about the suffocating heat of H.K?
High real-estate prices? Canada is still much cheaper than any 1st world european, asian country or the U.S for that matter.
If it's so bad here why has the U.N ranked Canada as #1 in the world for quality of life for quite a few years, wich I think last year we slipped to #2.
And yes the salary at A.C is slightly lower than C.X and some other european airlines but that is because the cost of living is almost double in Europe or Asia.
Can you rent a really nice 3 bedroom appartment for 900 $ in H.k or London?Of course not but here you can.
Compare apples with apples guys.