1. Everyone complains about the economy in Alberta. It’s a province of oil dependency. Oil currently drives this province and because of that it’s literally a religion to a lot of folk. Folk can be cynical and miserable and because they’ve been paid so much to work in the oil sector they don’t want to lose that, so are very passionate and outspoken about it. When oil prices rise- people are happy and businesses benefit. When oil prices drop- it’s the opposite. It’s a boom and bust economy here. It’s also why a lot of people move here from other parts of Canada and from around the world- to benefit from the boom. Then leave when it busts. (It’s also why I won’t buy a house here because I don’t want to live in Calgary forever and be stuck with a house I can’t get rid of)
2. There are thousands of jobs going. All sorts of things in all sorts of areas all the time. I personally have found companies value transferable skills a lot more than they do in the U.K. Yes there’s high competition for jobs but- I’m not sure of a place where there isn’t.
3. Coming from the NE of England- I think the transit is excellent in Calgary. (That’s my comparison). I lived in the NW of Calgary for my first year and a half here & didn’t have a car for the first year and had no issues getting around on the trains and busses- though it was a pain in the butt sometimes. Transit is cheap here! And also a million Uber drivers which helps too. As mentioned, I didn’t buy- I rent because I don’t plan on staying here. But depending on the size of house you’re looking for $400k seems kinda reasonable- though I know the NW and SE of Calgary a lot more (I now live in the East Village after 8 months in Inglewood so I’m also fairly familiar with downtown too). All the new build 3 bedroom places that are popping up seem to be at least $500k, a lot at least $600k.
4. The cold is nothing like the cold in England. There’s no humidity here. It’s a completely different kinda cold. It does not sink into your bones here. It can give you frost bite in 10 mins when it’s real cold but that’s why you buy some decent winter kit. And I mean, proper snow boots, a buff, gloves, and on real cold days you probs wanna wear an extra pair of pants. But when wearing the right stuff it’s honestly fine. Husband was cycling to work still mid winter. Plenty people do. We were still going for plenty of hikes and skiing and stuff.
Though- I would absolutely still recommend at some point getting a car. It will make your life so much easier here- Calgary doesn’t have anything stopping it from expanding so it is- and everything is far apart. So a car helps. And also means you’re not limited to where you job search.

For the most part I very much enjoy living in Calgary. It was 8 degrees and sunny this morning (as usual- it’s always sunny- it makes the cold bearable- so have some decent sunglasses for all year round too) so I sat on the balcony with just a tshirt on and wasn’t cold at all! The lack of humidity really does feel very different!

Hope that sort of helps.

I like Calgary and have visited it quite a lot as my husband’s family lived there. His mother and brother came to us in France for a few Christmas visits and complained constantly about how cold our weather was!

Canada has the cold sussed...there really is no need to be chilly here. Calgary’s cold is, as mattandsuze said, dry and does have really warm days and it’s sunny. Don’t move to eastern Canada we have heavy wet, long winters and you would hate it...I do too!

Very best of luck deciding...not easy

Ehhh, that's not really true. You'll always be able to sell your house here - just sometimes it takes longer than you'd hoped for. Also, there's often a gap in reality between what people think their homes are worth, and what the market thinks it is worth, leading to the home sitting for months before they finally listen to the realtor and drop the price.

East Village is hardly the "SE". The SE sprawls another 20kms south of the East Village!

Amen! Was out washing the cars in shorts and a t-shirt yesterday, although it was reading 6 degrees in the west

Firstly when it comes to buying- it’s totally my choice. Always being able to sell a house yes- getting what was paid for it depending on when it needs to be sold- maybe not- having to have it on the market for ages first- yeah also a possibility that I don’t want. So- sometimes if a person doesn’t plan on staying in an area for too long it can be a lot easier to simply rent. I am aware of many people who have moved out of Calgary recently and had to rent their home/apartment instead of selling it because they’ve fallen into negative equity- and that’s not a situation I can be in. I find renting more convenient and therefore don’t want to buy- so I can’t speak to that- if you can- I’m sure the OP would be interested to know how you’ve found it here.

And I’m fully aware of where the SE spreads- but just because I live in an area doesn’t mean I don’t spend time in other areas close by. 20km is hardly a massive distance. I’ve lived in the bottom end of Inglewood by the train lines and frequent plenty places further south than that. But- yeah- EV is still SE. I’m sorry it’s not SE enough for you that you don’t think I can give an opinion on that. Again- feel free to share how you’ve found things.

I am simply providing answers to the persons questions based on my experiences- you don’t have to instantly shoot someone down- you can simply share your own findings instead. They will probably differ because of our different lifestyles- but that’s why people ask these questions on the forum.

The great benefit of using public transport is I never have to worry about car insurance 😁