I switched to english from sociology and I'm finding the english courses available don't really fulfill what I was looking to get out of english. What I want out of english is learning how to write really well, understanding different uses of language for different purposes, rhetoric, ect, which Carleton doesn't really offer. I've looked at english programs around the country and my conclusion is that Carleton is great for anyone who wants to study literatures from around the world and post-colonial theory, but not the best if you are not in to that specifically. I don't think I'll be happy and successful in school unless I'm studying what I really want to, and looking at what classes I'll end up taking in 3rd and 4th year english year I don't feel that excited. Other schools, including UofT, have classes that sound more excited to me and more what I'm hoping to get out of school.
In terms of these stated goals, the only Canadian university located in Ontario that's going to meet your needs in the English department is Waterloo. Everywhere else, including UWO, U of T, etc., is going to have a few "hit" classes and a heck of a lot of "miss" classes. I'm speaking as someone who
extensively researched this; as someone who has considerable insider information from a number of the field's leaders (because I originally wanted to stay in Canada to study this for my PhD area). My profs hooked me up with the right people to get the right information before I chose to go to do my grad studies in the U.S.
Now, I'm not trying to devalue reasons why you might choose to go to a different program, I'm just trying to make salient the fact that, based on your stated academic goals, the only place that's going to meet that for you is Waterloo. U of T and others are not going to consistently have the things you're looking for out of English. It's important to realize that the classes that are going to "hit" for you are not the specialities of the PhDs teaching the classes, and therefore they're rarely offered compared to the kinds of lit that you're not so jazzed about (for reasons to do with academic politics, the important fact that the academy ranks teaching as, like, 3rd on the list of career priorities for academics, etc.).
So while there might be five courses that look fantastic to you, most programs will only offer one or two of them every two years. In essence, they're all going to be Carlton-esque except Waterloo.
Waterloo has the PhDs who genuinely like and research that kind of English focus, so that's where you need to be going if you rank your academic goals as your #1 priority. Adjuncts will teach what the department leaders want the department as a whole to focus on, which is, of course, areas and specialities that the tenured PhDs value.
I'm going to take on the role of your academic advisor and remind you that while it's your choice, I put my 100% vote in for Waterloo's English. I think this is where your heart will sing, where you will thrive academically, where you will do your figurative brain pushups that will let your thrive intellectually and creatively for the rest of your life. Further, it's really not that far from your gf.
You could both schedule your classes so that you're T-Th heavy and have Friday-Monday extra long weekends. Then you rotate weekends to travel and see each other. Most people dating in university only get to see their SOs once a week anyway, you'd probably see each other more frequently than most couples who live in the same city, since it's a waste of money and time to travel home every night!
It's so totally worth it to go to Waterloo. It will be the environment in which GZA can best thrive, best grow in ways that will let him be a better boyfriend, humanitarian, citizen, person, soul.
If you have a prof who is well-connected (but not too old, since this movement in English is
new) that you trust to give you an opinion that's in your best interests (rather than unconsciously trying to build up the value of their own interests), I'd get their perspective too. I'll bet they'd tell you UBC is #2 for choice and Waterloo is #1 for choice.