christmasoompa

There you go, you've just answered your own question! Didn't even need us now did you?

Judy in Calgary

It's difficult for an outsider to break into public relations / event planning / tourism promotion in Calgary. When I say "outsider," I mean even a Canadian from another part of Canada. I have a Canadian friend whose husband's job brought them to Calgary from Ottawa. Back in Ottawa she'd had a thriving business as an event planning consultant. She had assumed she'd just pick up and do the same thing here. She found that the doors to that field were closed to her, and she ended up switching careers.

A British colleague of my husband moved here with a South African wife. She had twenty five years of experience under her belt in promotion of tourism / event planning / public relations. She found that in Calgary she could get only the most junior of jobs in that field.

They moved to Vancouver, and she found it less difficult to break in there. She got what she considered to be quite a reasonable job for her level of experience.

On the west coast, you might be able to exploit the fact that Vancouver and Whistler are going to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. But, if you want to benefit from that wave, you need to get your skates on. They've been gearing up for the Olympics for some time. I wouldn't have thought there was any point in arriving when the Olympics already were in progress.

The articles in the Job Hunting section of the Wiki tell you that it's important to network, to use the phone, to talk to people, and to do a recce trip so that you can meet people face-to-face. That advice is true for everyone. It is ten times more true for someone in your husband's line of work.

The Wiki called Finding Job Opportunities has a subsection called Hospitality. That section, in turn, has a link to HCareers. I did a search there for Marketing / PR jobs in Canada, and found that Sun Peaks [Ski] Resort near Kamloops is looking for a Sales Manager -- in case that helps.
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Mikey B

Dont forget it depends what area of BC you live, climate on the coast in Van is way different to the interior in areas such as Prince George for eg, so I guess it depends what you want.

tinytasha

I live in Edmonton, Alberta, and have been to the coastal region of BC many times. If you're looking at rural areas, they tend to be less costly as far as housing goes, but probably a bit more expensive in other needs, like heating groceries, etc.

Vancouver region tends to be more temperate year round, but is humid, therefore, it feels colder than Alberta much of the time. It rains a lot on the coast of BC...I was living there while training last June, and out of the entire month, we had 2 days where it wasn't raining, cloudy and gloomy.

Yes, Alberta can have an extreme temperature range, often ranging from -35 to +35 celcius, but it is very dry here, and it has to get to the very extremes of temperature before it feels as cold as it does in more humid areas. Some temp extremes can be difficult to bear, even for one who was born and raised here, but they are usually very short lived. Winter lasts fairly long here, but it is rarely at the -35 range.

I love both Edmonton and Vancouver, and I pretty much stay here because my family is all here. They both have different quirks and idiosyncracies. Both are expensive, and housing can be difficult to find, though I know that's changing to some degree in Edmonton. I'm not certain about Vancouver.

Hope this helps with your decision

R2D2

When we first began looking 3 yrs ago, we debated between AB and BC.

AB won, as hub had better job prospects here, his work connected to the oil and gas industry, cost of living and house prices (then) was less, and we liked the fact you could be (relatively) close to the Rockies.

We have often wondered wether BC would have suited us better, as AB doesn't quite hit the spot.

Winter, ..........its not so much the temps as the duration. It goes brown here. I mean, the grass, the trees, everything. Very colourless, and that lasts generally from October through to May. Maybe something to bear in mind. We were not aware of the fact the grass goes brown before we came here, only ever seen it in summer before. Been a big sticking point for us.
Yes, temps can hit minus 30 odd, but that usually doesn't last that long. Often it will hover around the minus teens, and that is fine if you dresss for it. Often, winter comes with clear, crisp blue skies too, so its not all bad.

You mentined country living. We too, wanted to live in a small town, but quickley changed our minds when we got here, as some small towns have a tendancy to feel a little hickey and backward. Depends what you want, but for us, we wanted a little more sophistication. The same is true (in our opinion) of a lot of small towns in BC. On our travels there, we have seen very few small towns that don't have that 'feel' to them. Again, down to personal preference, but thats how it feels to us, and we aren't city people either.

Its very hard to do a recce to cover all the different parts of BC and AB as everywhere is so spread out (another apect to bear in mind) but best of luck with your decision.

thesidds

We have had the same AB or BC debate for the past year,but after a 3 week recce trip last month - BC won our hearts, hands down!!!!
We arrived in Calgary and yes as far as citys go - it's a lovely one. Once you get out of the city there's a huge amount of flat wide open space, miles of very boring staight roads, masses of new housing developements, some very small one road towns and a veiw of the mountains to die for! For us, if you took away the Rockies, we found Alberta quite uninspiring - but that's just my personal opinion, it all depends what floats your boat!
We did a few touristy days in the national parks and then headed into BC . . . WOW. The scenery is awesome, mountains to rolling hills, huge lakes, waterfalls, winding roads - it is truely breathtaking. We spent a majority of our time in the Okanagan / Thompson vally region - what a great area to live.
There are two biggish cities Kamloops and Kelowna but lots of other small towns inbetween. Lots of rural villages with charm and charactor, but not isolated. Excellent recreation and lifestyle oportunities. Hot summers and mildish winters. For us this area ticked all the boxes, but take a look for yourself.

Good Luck

JonboyE

That is where we are so different. My lawn browns in August because I don't water it. It doesn't brown at all in the winter. In fact, I usually have to cut it until sometime in mid November and start again in February.

I have to be honest, that there are times in the winter where I would trade some cold temperature for a clear, crisp, sunny day. Only a few times!

'tis true.