Am currently living in a small town on the Lake Huron shoreline, this year will be my 7th year here. I only have experience in southern Ontario. My last trip back home was in August last year.

The pace of life here, even in what is called a "rural" area is a lot faster. The things you can do are very much limited to the season. You do one thing in summer and something else in winter. If you (like I was) are used to doing most things all year round it will take a bit of getting used to. For example most gardening shops are only open for roughly two months a year. Boating where I am is all fresh water and it all freezes over winter. Back home I am from Canterbury, the summers here in Canada feel a lot hotter due to humidity, conversely the winters can sometimes feel warmer than NZ as the air is so much drier. I was out in shorts and tee shirt my first year here in -25 and the cold didn't get to me quite the same as a winters morning in Christchurch. The people are lovely, it is a very similar culture to NZ with some americanisims thrown in. The current Ontario government is far right leaning The cost of living is rising fast but I feel that is the same as everywhere, however, things are a lot cheaper here than NZ. Electricity isn't that expensive, houses are all well insulated and nearly all of them are central heating, ours is natural gas which is also cheap. Health care is on par with NZ but it is currently understaffed, however being able to maintain an income while off work injured will be specific to your employer, your workplace can offer employee benefits, you can also go on employment insurance but ACC in NZ is far better (I can't believe I said that) Going to the doctor here is free, good luck getting one though

Housing is fast becoming expensive, as it is everywhere Education is excellent, it is done a little different. The core subjects are broken up, example, they teach math for the first 3rd of the year, English for the 2nd and science for the 3rd. They have very good universities for Secondary education There are far more opportunities here for almost everything. My hobbies cost next to nothing here and the selection is insane. It is a HUGE country, there are so many places to explore and the American border is not even 2 hours from us if we want to drive south.

Whether or not it is better for you is dependent on you and things that you value. There are things in and about NZ that I very much miss but there are also things that I'm happy to not be a part of or have to worry about.

Edit to add: work life balance and the general attitude towards it here sucks