I think you’re missing Sam’s point. He’s not saying there aren’t downsides. He’s saying they’re the right downsides to have.
Or to put it more simply; would you rather have the downsides of a recessing economy? Try living in Oshawa as GM closes up and see how bad Calgary seems then.
Exactly. We’re all feeling the pain of a strained infrastructure, and some people have been screwed through poor timing or bad luck. But pretty much everyone’s working, earning an income, and enjoying the fruits of our provincial wealth, even if that means nice parks and bike trails and decent roads and low taxes.
But in Newfoundland, 13% of the population can not find a job. The average Newfoundland resident makes $8,000 less per year than the average Albertan.
We are lucky to be living in one of the best places in the world to be right now. Alberta has one of the highest per-capita incomes in the world, taxes lower than any other Canadian Province and half the U.S. States, and we are in one of the most politically and culturally stable regions on the planet. And at a time when world power is shifting towards oil producers, Alberta is becoming one of the big ones. We’re pretty lucky to be here.
I talk to folks back home in Calgary who are convinced that it’s the scariest place ever now. So much crime!
We moved to Oakland last year. Let me tell you, Cowtown, it’s very safe up there.
We are definitely going back to Canada in the next year or two, but we’re waffling on whether or not it’ll be Calgary.
I have to say, going back in July and August was very different. Scoff if you will, but people seemed way nicer, more positive and less high strung than I remember from mid 2007.
Or maybe my new found mellow laid back California cool is contagious! 
Seems there’s a bunch of Calgarians right here on the Dope. I have to wonder if any of you have openings at your workplaces…
As I like to say, just because it’s not as bad doesn’t mean it’s good. I graduated high school in Saskatoon in 1984; I know very well what a recessed economy feels like. Having jobs and low taxes is great, but living in Alberta right now is not all sunshine and roses, but like I said earlier, maybe it’s living in Calgary that’s the problem, not living in Alberta. There are many Calgarians who are just bailing on this city; if Sam was right about how great it is to be here, why are so many people leaving? I’m not sure I understand why you guys are having such a hard time believing that there are Albertans who think life is kind of sucky here with all the unpleasant downsides of the boom.
The only other places I’ve seen in Canada where I’d like to live are in Nova Scotia (no jobs at a reasonable pay), Vancouver Island (again no jobs) or the lower mainland Vancouver area where I’m originally from. If people think that the traffic is bad in Calgary it is obvious they have never commuted in Vancouver. And commuting is the only option in Vancouver (unless a person likes a small box to live in) as housing prices there would make the typical Calgarian who bitches about housing prices here faint.
It is easy to bitch about what is bad here, but compared to other areas of the country it probably isn’t as bad as we think.
I think you’re both right. It seems to me that Sam is looking at things from the larger perspective–and when looked at in that way, Alberta (and Calgary) are doing quite well. Compared to other provinces, such as Quebec and Newfoundland, Alberta is economically attractive to many people. There are jobs, and people are needed to fill those jobs, and things in Alberta look pretty good to the Nova Scotia viewer of CTV News, or the reader of the Toronto Star.
But when you get down to Albertans’ personal stories, such as people have posted here, it’s obvious that it’s not all roses and sunshine. The high Alberta per-capita income doesn’t mean anything to a person who is making less than it (flutterby’s example). You need a network to get a good job (**Uzi’**s point, and Baffle’s request). When you can get a oilpatch job that gives you a nice chunk of change, the toll that it can take on your personal relationships can be unpleasant (as EmAnJ notes). Still, these and others are personal stories that are unlikely to be reflected and reported in the media, which (ISTM) prefers to report the larger, general picture that Sam mentions and which is indeed a rosy one.
Similarly, not living in a recessing economy doesn’t mean anything if the person is not doing as well as they could be. I’m sure we Albertans all know someone who is straining to make ends meet, who can’t afford certain things, and who is making it, but just barely. The comparison to Oshawa may not be apt–Oshawa is going to hurt more in the short term for sure–but if my memories of the recessions in Ontario during the early 1980s and early 1990s are accurate, then the Oshawa auto worker hasn’t yet encountered a nasty fact of modern business life: no job is forever, and employers will contract their businesses if it is in their interest to do so. At least the workers in Alberta are fully aware that if their employer isn’t doing well specifically, or the economy starts to tank in general terms, their jobs are on the line. Layoffs, firings, downsizings, rightsizings, and all the other euphemisms for “get lost, you’re not working here any more” are not as uncommon here as you might think, even during a boom. But that brings us back to the larger general picture vs. the specific and personal story again.
Sorry, man. I work overseas and would have to rebuild my network when I come back to work in Calgary again myself.
I don’t know if that’s necessarily true. Sure, a few years ago Vancouver prices were way higher than similar houses in Calgary or Edmonton, but the gap has closed quite a bit, especially in rentals. I think it’s usually still more to buy in Vancouver than in Calgary/Edmonton (depending on the neighborhood), but rental prices have gone up quite a bit in Alberta.
From talking to friends who live in BC, I understand that BC has rent control, in that landlords can only increase the rent by 3.8% per year (cite). In Alberta, landlords can only increase the rent once per year, but there’s no limit on how much they can increase it.
For example, I moved in February 2008, but prior to that I was renting a bachelor apartment. It was $639/month in 2005, $714/month in 2006 (11% increase), and $864/month in 2007 (21% increase from 2006, 35% increase from 2005). Looking online, my old apartment is currently renting for $959/month (50% increase in three years).
I’m currently renting a basement suite (about 400 square feet) for $750/month, and that’s a pretty good deal, even though I’m in a less desireable neighborhood.
And if they want you out to go condo, the sky’s the limit for the rent increases.
Good perspective, Spoons.
Just noticed this isn’t as clear as I’d like. To make this clearer, I mean “contract” in the sense of “shrink”; I do not mean “contract” in the sense of “make use of contractors.”
Thanks, featherlou!
I’ve done rather well in the Calgary housing market so I suppose I’m better off. Also, instead of a me I’m now a we so I’ve basically doubled my income.
However, the biggest negative I’ve noticed is that it’s TOO EASY TO GET A JOB. People have little motivation to do well at work - entry level jobs such as store clerks and food service people are who I’m talking about. It used to be you’d get someone who was new, didn’t have much experience and didn’t know much but was at least trying.
Now you get surly, obnoxious jerks who would never be employed in any other economy because they are assholes who are bad at their jobs. It frustrates me. A lot.
Honestly, some people have no place in the job market. They should be on social assistance or AISH or something because they have no skills, terrible attitude, no desire to do well, and a total refusal to try to improve at their jobs even if on the job training is offered. Those people are employed in Calgary and I have to deal with them every damn day. Grrrrr.
If you look at them as mobile organ donors you’ll have a lot better time in dealing with them.
My wife has noticed the same thing at the grocery store where she is working part time while going to school. Her co-workers are either FOB’s (fresh off boat) or the normally unemployable youth who expect mommy to wipe their ass for them. Management has complemented her multiple times on her work ethic saying it is nice to have someone working for them who knows what they are doing. SHE’S ONLY WORKED THERE FOR 5 DAYS!!! I noticed it at the local Canadian Tire. Any reasonably competent person should be able to stage a coup and bypass the competition into upper management relatively easily it seems.
No kidding - when I actually go in some place and meet someone who has half a clue and is trying to be helpful my jaw almost hits the floor. I’m currently trying to recruit a replacement assistant at work (as my current assistant is pregnant) - that job pays a LOT more than $14/hour and we still can’t find reasonable applicants. I mean, you would assume if you were applying to be an admin assistant you would at least proof read your cover letter, right? Apparently not.
Sam didn’t say *the City of Calgary * was the ideal place to live. He can’t; he’s from Edmonton, it’s against the law there to compliment Calgary.
Honestly, though what I think we’re looking at here is Adams’s Law; people have a certain amount of whining they have to get our of their systems before they die. It’s not all sunshine and roses in Calgary? Well, no kiddin’. It isn’t sunshine and roses anywhere. Life’s relative, and anyone who lives in almost any part of Canada’s fucking lucky. In Alberta there’s a little bit of added luck right now.
Ahem. I think rather than having a tizzy, you could look at what Featherlou actually said.
Calgary is not so bad. It’s just much, much worse than it used to be, and it got much, much worse really, really quickly so it’s rather noticable. It’s like we went from being Saskatoon, SK with it’s sort of issues, to Toronto, ON (that’s an exageration) with it’s issues, but none of it’s infrastructure, in about two years.
Those of us who’ve been here for a while sort of miss that fact that this used to be an uncommonly nice place to live. Now it’s just another big city with limited culture, limited diversity, and enough old boys to make it unhospitable for folks slightly left of centre.
No, it’s not the worst place on the planet. Yes, it’s better than Beruit. However, I used to be a lot better.
I tried to edit, but the hamster had a short nap - I wanted to fix that to say that ‘it’ used to be much better instead of ‘I’ used to be much better and also to add this:
Edited to add - at this point, we have gang shootings/killings about twice a week if not every day. That NEVER used to happen even as little as two years ago. And apparently the gangs are importing members from the US because too many of the home grown ones are already dead. I wish I was kidding.
Yeah - I know it’s not Marlborough that’s the actual problem - it’s just a neighborhood that’s had some bad luck lately.
All the same - I’m glad we don’t live there anymore.
The lack of infrastructure is a really big thing. Then you add that pretty much every street in the downtown is missing a lane or two due to contruction of the innumerable office towers and condos that are going in…and traffic gets bad. And people get frustrated.
I don’t think you can separate Alberta the province from Calgary the city, because Calgary is where I live in Alberta. For me and people like me the Alberta Advantage is being (at least partially) negated by the Calgary Crapola.
What’s Medicine Hat like? Not being canadian, I always pictured the city as a big hat!