I agree that there are cheaper options
But I like having a truck and am willing to pay for the gas required to run it.
Springbank where we live has one of the best views of the Rockies I feel and the drive home from work well worth it. Now going to work in the first place is another matter :-)

Each to their own.

I own a Yukon as well as the Fiesta I use to travel to and from work. However, there is no way you would find me using the Yukon for my daily commute to work

Fiesta would be ok to work and back but we live on 20 acres and access to the house is via a very long drive way which climbs up the hill side so for us a good 4x4 is the best option. Like I said earlier I enjoy the truck it reminds me I'm in Canada :-)))

There are millions of old beetles and campers here in Mexico ,i was thinking of an export business for classic cars but probs too much red tape.

Heard that 'some' factory in Brazil is selling them off cheap :-))))

I saw a VW Beetle in Winnipeg for sale $5000 a "classic" ,my gfs 94' cost $900 ,spend a couple of hundred bucks on paint job etc and make a nice profit ,maybe!

Sounds a good idea, i could run the Calgary base of the
'Business' :-))

Thanks for the replies everyone. And yes, several golf courses keep staff through the winter. The seasonal staff are laid off, and the Superintendent and one or two others stay on.

I have worked as a Greenkeeper in Canada before, I have worked in Norway, Cyprus, Scotland and Ireland - all as a Greenkeeper. Many years education and qualifications behind me, and several industry awards for both my study and my work. Whats your position in the industry that makes you such an expert on Greenkeeping in Alberta?

Good luck Irishguy from the kingdom of Fife (im from Edinburgh) .I looked at moving to Canada as challenge ,if you do the same you will make it.

This. I would not move here to have the same standard of living. I came over and ended up worse off and I would not recommend that to any one. Living hand to mouth is not living IMO.

I suppose it depends on what you consider to be essential as to how little you can live on. Calgary is OK to get around via transit, but I cannot imagine relying on it to get around as my only source of transport. Therefore a car is essential to me and the other expenses that brings (insurance, finance payments, gas and maintenance as well as a set of snow tires when it was new). To me internet access is an essential in this day and age and as I was doing that I added TV and land line phone to my package. I don't have the most expensive package, nor the cheapest, but it's an expense I am not going to give up lightly. Extra health coverage is pretty essential for me, so taking out Blue Cross coverage is again pretty essential. Hopefully I will get a job soon that offers benefits and I can cancel the Blue Cross plan, but until then I need the comfort of knowing I'm covered if something unexpected happens. My food costs are higher due to being gluten intolerant so I buy the gluten free alternatives which have a premium price.
These are just some examples I can think off off the top of my head at work between phones calls, but it gives you an idea as to how easy it can be to spend extra money and suddenly go "wow, where did that $100k go?"

Well to me, my reason for moving out was career progression. I know I could secure a much better job out there than in the UK, and have a better chance of moving up the ladder out there than in the UK. Also, the money would be close to double what my wage is in the UK.

It still wouldn't be close to 100k, but for me and my partner we live on an income of about 22k per year in the UK. Its all down to lifestyle, we are not used to any added extras in our life because we cant afford them. So I just thought it was odd that people were suggesting a family would need 80 - 100k to survive in Canada, to people who survive on 22 in the UK.

But anyway, plenty of food for thought in this thread, and has definitely made me re evaluate whether this is something I want to do

Agreed you would survive on less than $100 pa, the biggest problem for many arriving in Calgary is the cost of housing salaries can be higher but rents are expensive as well. Affordable Housing or lack of it is a big problem in and around Calgary it has a average purchase price of $430k -

http://globalnews.ca/news/977825/red...e-for-concern/

all the best what ever you decide

I'm delighted you are well qualified and know your stuff. If that makes you the one guy they keep on all year, that's great.

In no way did I mean to put you down. I do not profess to be an expert on green keeping, and never suggested I was. However, I do live beside a golf course, and walk the paths everyday with dogs. There is not a lot of human activity, nor sight of any human work once those tarpaulins go on. The coyote footprints, deer and rabbit prints keep me interested though. If there is some busy green keeping work that is being done mid January and pays a decent salary when it's -25, then go for it!

My wife and I have been in Calgary for over 5 1/2 years now, came over on a TWP to work for a construction company. In the first couple of years I was earning $75-$80k, which was almost double the equivalent pay in the UK.

As it is only the two of us, we can live reasonably comfortably on that amount, we are not extravagant, however, rent costs us about $22,000 per year alone. Since the floods, our house would easily cost us $5/600 a month more if we were trying to rent it now.
Household bills, heating, elec, tv/internet, food, ins, car exp. etc are approx. the same again. We sold our home in Scotland 9 years ago, with the view to buying here after a few years. What we want to buy, and what we can afford is very different. At the current exchange rate, your UK 22k = $38k.

As a result, we are leaving Calgary in a few months to move to Nova Scotia.

Calgary is a great city, it has been good to us, but not a place to be living week to week. And as my work is outside all year like yours, I often only work 3/4 days a week during Dec to Feb, and have even lost days to the cold weather in May! For your type of work, have you thought perhaps the west coast of BC, or Vancouver Island?

As a footnote, it is 11am just now, and the temp here in NW Calgary is -31, and -40 with the windchill!

I am not saying give up, just look at all the options, and make sure the figures add up!

Are you planning a change of occupation in NS?