Opening a business in Canada + Architecture work

[mariotroise]

Me and my girlfriend are planning on moving to Canada. We've both lived there in the past, in Kingston and Montreal.

I run 2 companies and work as an art director. I'm considering opening an office for both companies in Canada. My job involves a lot of creativity and I have to find great designers to help me. I also need to be close to a big center for distribution and retail (and it will be nice to be closer to NY!). I'm 23, graduated in business administration.

My girlfriend is an architect, she wants to work a couple of years at architecture companies before opening her own business. She is 22.

We are divided between Ontario and Quebec. I love Montréal, so I'm more inclined in that direction. We both speak English and French.
My questions are:

- Where is the best place to open a business in Canada? Is it too slow or expensive? I'm not going to open a store, but a studio to design our products and an administrative office.
- Do you know what is necessary for her to be a certified architect in Canada? I know there is a test, but I don't know if she is required to study again.

My family is Italian but I'm currently living in Brazil. Italy and Brazil are both too bureaucratic and slow. You have no idea how hard it is to run your own business here.
Taxes are high, workers are too expensive for the company and there is always too much paperwork... The reason I want to move is to have more time to focus on my real work instead of spending much of my day with useless tasks.

All help will be appreciated!
Thanks,

Mario