skytek

I've been in Ontario now for 3 years. I came to Canada for love and I am happy to say that things in that department are great. I also find myself much happier in Canada than in the UK. I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity to live in Ontario. However, my Canadian partner and I get the feeling that another province may provide a better life style and more opportunities for us. We are thinking about Alberta as a destination.

These are the things attracting us to Alberta:
More job opportunities for my partner
Better tax rules for my business
Much higher salaries
People having generally more money to spend (good for my business)
Calgary is newer and cleaner
Better scenery, more hills
Summers are less hot and humid (something I really hate here)
Hopefully less flies in our faces when outdoors


These are the things putting us off moving:
Winters are longer and colder (We already find winters in Ontario bad enough)
Although salaries are higher everything costs more (so does it balance out or are people generally better off there?)
More American than Ontario (cowboys, bull riding, muscle cars, etc.)

The thing is one person tells us one thing and another tells us the opposite. The same is true for websites. So I can't get a true picture.

We are a reasonably young couple (28-33) with no kids and no family ties. I would love to hear from other people who have made the move.

Lychee

What are your interests, besides acquiring material wealth? Do you have any hobbies? How do you spend your leisure time? It's the oil economy and conservative politics and attitudes that makes Alberta more American than Ontario, not the cowboy culture. Calgary may be more progressive than people give it credit, but it's still entrenched in a conservative "oil at all costs" urban sprawl environment.

Calgary, like most of Alberta, is flatter than Ontario - but the Rockies are an hour and a half drive west. Once in the Rockies, then the topography gets interesting. Calgary has a dry, variable, extreme climate. Thunderstorms in the summer, dry subzero winters. Late, short summers and no humidity.

Piff Poff

We've been in Alberta for 9.5 years and are planning to move to Ontario in the next few years. A big reason why is the length of most winters and lack of diversity. In between the big cities the small towns are pretty uninspiring for something to do. The mountains are too far really for day trips, however ftom Calgary its an easy drive. To put it blunt the lifestyle Alberta offers us no longer adds up, so we are doing what many many people do - trying to make as much money as possible and then move.

don't get me wrong, I love Alberta, the sun shines so much, it's beautiful here, the mountains are stunning as is the Red Deer river Valley, Drumheller is gorgeous, there is much to love here and I will miss a lot when we move.

Shirtback

My sort-of-step-kids (your age group) moved from Mtl to Calgary this year, for the "plus" reasons in your post.

One of them loves it : making money hand over fist. But spending it just as fast (to my mind) , mainly on living expenses. His wife, not so much: see your "negative" points list.

Their dad is about to follow them out there. For the money. He applied for, & got, a ridiculously stupid job, for silly money, compared to back here in the East.

I'll be visiting Calgary next month. It's going to have to tempt me with a lot more than money & Cowboys to convince me to go West

skytek

It's not that our only interest is acquiring material wealth, it's just that we have had to start our lives again in Ontario after I gave up a lot back in the UK to come here and we would like to be earning more so that we can work towards buying a house and building financial security.

We aren't into bars, nightlife, alcohol. We're not at all into hockey or any other activity where a group of people move a small object around a rectangle or try to be the fastest at something . We like the semi-country life. By that I mean we like some space around us, fields, trails and water but still a 15-20 minute drive to the city. We do stay at or close to home a lot and when out we like the simple things like walking the dog, going for bike rides, taking the dinghy out on the pond, trying new places to eat, planet gazing with telescopes, fixing up furniture, painting (art not walls). We're quite health conscious and don't eat meat. We don't spend much money on clothes, vacations, cars. Here in SW Ontario we have found that everyone roughly our age that we meet sees drinking, bars and more drinking as the main or only pastime.

We have bright, friendly personalities but haven't made any friendships beyond street convo level because no one wants to 'go dog walking' with us unless it also involves a trip to the pub afterwards or a party or 'dinner and drinks but mainly the drinks' or "come round to ours for some beers and shots" or lets drink beer at the cinema and you guys can drive us home. Much like the UK in that respect only a bit more that what I'm used to. Our closest city right now is London and we spend a lot of time there getting things we need but every time we drive through the city it's depressing. It just looks rough, everyone smokes, and it has a run down feel. Job opportunities are also bleak here compared to other cities and provinces (from what I'm told). We're now in the position to move anywhere we want. But where?

Alberta is a such a big move and will cost thousands to do so. We don't want to get there, realise it's not what we thought, regret it, and have wasted many thousands of dollars moving ourselves, our stuff, our business, our pets. We want to make a well educated decision.

skytek

I can't work out what I would prefer; Alberta's long cold winters but dry mild summers or Ontario's still pretty long cold winters and long hot sticky bug ridden summers. What is the bug count like in summer in Alberta? Where we are the summers get a lot of sun and heat but much of it is sticky and the insects are such a pain in the bum. For much of the summer we just don't want to go walking on trails and doing outdoor activities because of the humidity and the insects. We actually go out more in winter and in summer we are mainly in the city or doing indoor things. I wonder if overall we would be happier to put up with the colder winters of Alberta if the summers are much more enjoyable. I would love to hear more about the summer comparisons.

ann m

I love the summer here in Alberta but of course it's not long enough. June can be very wet but it's pretty much the only rain we get all year so I'm ok with that because we're parched! July, August and September are generally gorgeous, with momentary patches of bleugh.

We don't get too many issues with flies or many insects around Calgary, except for mosquitoes for 3-4 weeks at end June into July -and they are not funny. Bug spray galore for a month.

I haven't been to Ontario yet, but it think your growing season is a fair bit longer - don't underestimate how that signifies that you are finally out of winter. April and May here are big teasers!

I've managed to live here over 7 years and do not have any connection with cowboys, bull riding or muscle cars. I'm sure they are around but I dont see it. There are some rodeos in my town in the summer but I simply don't go.

Come and visit for three weeks and have a good ol wander around.

Almost Canadian

You will have heard much about Calgary's "dry cold" and the Chinook winds.

I have met many people from Ontario in Calgary. They all state that, other than the very cold days here, winter "feels" warmer in Calgary than in Ontario.

Bugs are not an issue in and around Calgary at all. I have lived in the city and I now live in a rural setting.

Summers are relatively warm and are not humid at all.

HTH

Photoplex

"Has anyone moved from Ontario to Alberta

Judging by the swarms of vehicles with Ontario and Quebec plates I see driving terribly around the city these last couple of years, a lot have moved here

If you want to live "15-20 minutes" from the city and "be surrounded by fields" then look at a bedroom community of Calgary, such as Okotoks, Chestermere, or Airdrie. If you want to cut your travel time to the Rockies/Kananaskis/Ski Hills then look at Cochrane.

To be honest, it sounds like Calgary/Alberta would be a better fit for your lifestyle desires as you've expressed. As mentioned we have ridiculously cold days (usually at least once a winter somewhere in Alberta tops the coldest place on earth that day) it's a dry cold.

We get a lot of mosquitoes in the summer, but nothing compared to out east. Been particularly bad the last couple of years since the flood, but a little deet cream/spray and the problem disappears.

TanieBird

I must confess to not reading much past the highlighted part of this post, but I had to reply to this point in particular.

Calgary is a massive urban sprawl; it grows out and only recently has downtown starting growing "up". From the outer communities to downtown can be over 30 minutes (of course traffic or transit dependent), so to find the space you want, you will need to increase your time frame (double it at least). Also to have space (land) and be within spitting distance of the city you need to look at spending $2500+ a month in rent. I am currently in Airdrie (about 30km north of Calgary) and am looking at acreages for rent as far north as Carstairs/Didsbury (don't want to be South of Calgary) and not only are they almost impossible to find, they are just damned expensive and well outside of the 15-20 minute commute time to Calgary.

My boyfriend is from small town Ontario and worked on farms before moving to AB on advice of his brother and dad "for the money". We have both grown tired of Calgary and I think one day will move out of AB (once his kids are older). Winters seem to get longer every year - although saying that we are having a very mild December this year; almost no snow around as it's all melted! - summers are too short and Spring and Fall are one month events if you are lucky.

We are a boom-bust economy driven by oil and gas, so you can guess how good things might get here with the current downward trend for oil prices (love that petrol is only 84.4 right now though).

Yes there is money to be made, but it can go away very quickly with a downturn in the oil prices, if that is the main source of your income.

Come visit in March, when we typically experience our highest snowfall of the year and try to imagine dealing with the snow since September/October and know it might be around until the end of April. It might be a place that you come to make a quick buck and then leave for somewhere you really want to be afterwards, but only you can decide.

ETA: You are moving to Beef country, not great for veggies!

Lychee

I was also going to say, if you're health conscious and a vegetarian, you're probably going to feel out of place in Alberta.

Culturally, it sounds like Vancouver Island - Comox Valley, Cowichan Valley, Greater Victoria may be a better fit. Possibly even the Sunshine Coast. Economically, of course, none of those places will be able to offer the lucrative boom & bust oil economy salaries.

Photoplex

Financially (and they've explicitly expressed this as a concern), no.

Lychee

True, and I have since edited my response . No disrespect to Calgary, I like the place, but I'm not confident that it would be a good fit based on the further details they've provided.

Tinpusher63

Really...tell us why.

http://www.urbanspoon.com/t/15/2/Cal...ly-restaurants

http://www.happycow.net/north_americ...berta/calgary/

http://thecozyvegan.com/vegan-in-alb...an-in-calgary/

http://www.visitcalgary.com//explore...2599s-paradise

Need I go on?

Piff Poff

We get mosquitos, it does depend on where you are and whether your municipality sprays and whether your new muskeg etc to how may mozzie you get, I won't leave the house int eh summer without bug spray on. it gets hot, sometimes it's awful, the dry heat just sucks the air out of you (we have visited Ontario in August and found the humidity better for breathing whilst doing stuff, we didn't feel as exhuasted). Summer is May long weekend to Labour Day, your lucky if you get real summer weather beyond that. Last winter was particularly brutal, with many many days where it was just too cold to spend time outside, even walking the dogs was at times a chore and not enjoyable, when the dogs don't want to be out for more than 10 minutes you know it's not nice.

I'm thinking the same to be honest. I think the OP would be much happier with a more diverse environment. Food choices I think would be limiting. DD had a go at Pescatarianism for 5 years, it was tough.