My family (husband and 5 year old) and I are moving to Toronto from the U.S. next month and we need a place to live! I was hoping you could help focus our search since we are not able to take a trip over before we move. The city and it's surrounding areas are so huge, it's hard to get a grasp on where we'd like to settle. My husband will be working at the airport YYZ and would like to spend less than an hour in traffic. We'd love to live in a place where we could walk to nearby shops and cafes, or outdoor markets. I would really rather not drive everywhere I need to go. Could I find this in Mississauga or Oakville? What about Etobicoke? For those with children, do private schools fill up quickly? I'd appreciate any help and if this is in the wrong forum, sorry!
Everyone has their own personal opinion so my first piece of advice not to listen to closely to us who reply.
Having said that, you have some good options available given your needs and wants with relation to proximity to airport, schools and cafes/etc. Oakville is about as far as you can get (in the west) from the Airport without expecting more than an hour's drive. Downtown Oakville is pricey but really nice. There are some pictures of it
here and you can read an article
here. There are expensive private schools in Oakville (that do fill up quickly tuition ~ 14-18,000 a year) but the city has nearly direct highway access to the airport via QEW/403. Oakville also has frequent train service to downtown Toronto via GO transit. But to be honest, you need a car in Oakville and the downtown is, while very pretty, small and probably can't serve all your needs.
Mississauga is a massive suburb that is starting to grow up. It is still the land of the car and there are not very many pockets where cafes and shops are walkable or existent. The same can be said about most of the York Region (Vaughan, Richmond Hill) and Brampton, all which are near the airport. Mississauga, though, has better GO train access to downtown toronto compared to the others listed in this paragraph. An depending on which mayor you talk to, the airport is in Mississauga. But don't take this claim to heart as it is really on the fringe border between Mississauga, Brampton and Toronto. But, as you mentioned, Toronto and its area is huge and the sprawl has made the bordered between these cities seamless.
I don't know much about Etibicoke but parts of it are much older than Mississauga and therefore have more development and history. There are a lot of condos near the lake in one section and then you have some older houses and industry mixed around the Mimico/Royal York area. This is a nice area but not the best and I can't remember how close it is to shops, etc.
The Kingsway is a nice but expensive neighbourhood that accommodate your needs but it might be out of reach, I don't know.
There are a lot of options really and I'll let someone else take it from here. Good luck.