THE REAL ALBERTA
 

want to know what it is like first hand for brits day to day life in alberta area. Still cant make up my mind about alberta or ontario. It seems alberta jobwise I know that it would be a good move. Dont want to get there and find out anything is just so expensive and the crime rate is higher than the uk advice would be nice.

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

We are going through the same at the moment, love ontario but the wages are low, everything is pointing toward alberta even a company is interested now in OH ;)

Will keep an eye on here and see what people say ;)

Gill

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

crime rate is higer???? where on earth did you hear that?

from an inside point of view, (ex uk police, looking to start with calgary police) crime is much lower here.

we dont even lock the car when in town. and even in the heart of calgary i feel safe to leave my car safe it will still be there when i get back.

where i used to live in the UK was nice and safe, but here seems 100times better.

and i find overall its a lot cheaper living here than the UK.

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

Alberta all the way, you have the Rockies right there which can't be sniffed at.

Crime and costs both seem to be lower than the UK. Certainly the Alberta economy is really booming right now which is good for jobs but not good for rental accomodation or house prices

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

You also dont pay P.S.T. in Alberta.

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

Since we moved to Alberta we have more disposable income - even when I am between jobs which I have been for the last 5 months through choice.

Yes there is crime - there is crime, in every town, in every city, in every country, people are greedy and the human race is just awful.

We have gone out all day, pushed the remote for the garage door to close - it hasn't closed - we didn't know until we got back several hours later that the door had been left open. Anyone could have got in - not just the garage but the whole house - we found everything just as we left it.

There have been times in the Uk where you dare not leave your boot open incase the contents got nicked.

I can't comment on Ontario as I have only spent 5 nights there - 3 in Toronto, 2 in Niagra.

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

I live in Ontario. If I ever had a key to the house I don't know where it is.


then again, I lived in another part of Ontario and had my car vandalised week in week out for months on end. Disproportionate violence and consequent intimidation were required to bring that to a halt.

I expect one can find similar contrasts in Alberta. I suggest living in one of the nicer bits.

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

Living in one of the nicer bits may not stop your car from being vandalised, even in Calgary. My car was broken into while parked at the Glenmore Reservoir. Some of the most expensive houses in the city border that park. Maybe that makes one more of a target rather than less? Thieves took about $40 from my purse, but I must say they were considerate enough to leave the purse with all my cards and ID etc!!

Sorry Kittykerr but crime happens here too! ...and if you think your car is safe unlocked in the city center then you are in cloud cuckoo land and you are lucky that nothing has happened yet! If you do get robbed and police find you left things unsecured you will get little sympathy from the police, and not much out of any insurance company!

I was just reading the crime stats for Arbour Lake, where we live: So far this year there have been 3 break and enter homes, 23 break and enter shops, 21 theft of vehicles, 37 thefts from vehicles, and 62 vandalism cases reported.

This morning I woke to my radio telling of two more gun deaths in the city, and earlier this week a young woman was brutally sexually assaulted and is in hospital with her injuries. Now OK all this is shocking headline news here, rather than taken as commonplace, as it was starting to be before I left the UK, but don't be saying nothing bad can happen to you here! Last month I was on the C-train coming home from a show with my OH and the train was stopped due to a fight. A window was broken in one carriage which was not being used even before it got to us. Eventually everyone was ordered off the train, including the combatants who were inclined to go on beating each other up. Many Calgarians feel this is not the safe city it used to be, even in the past 5 years!

Look here for the latest:

http://calgary.ctv.ca/generic/genera...ime/index.html

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

i was referring to cochrane when i was saying about leaving the car unlocked. i lock the car in Calgary, but im happy it will still be there when i return. not so in most of the UK.

however yes crime does happen everywhere. however from what i have seen of the reality of crime Calgary has lower crime in most ways than Hereford where i used to live(a town of 40,000 or so, compared to 1,000,000 of Calgary)

you say the c train was stopped due to a fight, well Hereford was one of the lowest crime rates in the UK, but had literally 100's of fights everyday!, i know as i had to generally deal with the aftermath.


i know bad things can happen. however in comparison Calgary and the rest of Alberta is a lot safer than most of the UK..

all the examples you have quoted happen a lot more often in a lot smaller towns that i have policed in the past...

the crime stats you have quoted for arbour lake would happen in less than a week in the average UK town. ive dealt personally with 30 house/ garage breaks in one night!

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

Nevertheless, when I talk to people in Calgary, there is a widespread feeling that the city is changing, quickly, and not for the better.

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

Any city, which is rapidly expanding (like Calgary), will have the down side like high property values, crime etc. With so many people coming into Alberta for jobs/to make money, crime will definitely increase. If you stay careful nothing will happen to you.

Personal Example, Back in 2000, I was in Los Angeles in the night right in the one of the worst parts in south central LA. I lost my direction and ended up there where unsavory elements were doing "business" right on the road. Nothing happened to me. I simply drove off (Admit I was scared)

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

I agree with you that, if you mind your own business and stay away from "bad" areas, you are very unlikely to be the victim of violent crime.

But property crime is another matter. In the summer of 2006, my friend, who was staying at Mosquito Creek Hostel, just off the Icefields Parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper, had her car broken into and stuff stolen overnight. In a wilderness park, for cripes' sake! You could have knocked me over with a feather. Morwenna reported having her car broken into in the parking lot of Glenmore Park in Calgary. A few weeks ago my nextdoor neighbour had the windshield of her car smashed while it was parked outside the local service station overnight. And I live in a supposedly good area.

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

Although we still feel safe in Dalhousie I have to agree with you Morwenna this city is changing and changing fast.

It is no longer the same safe city I came to in 1974. A major by product of the massive growth in the last five or so years.

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

OK, Calgary is growing fast - but it's not all bad is it? Sure with a large influx of people you'll get an increase in crime, but this is a city - compare it with any city in the world and you'll get bad areas and good areas.

If someone decides to break into your car, they'll do it wherever you are parked. One thing I have noticed here is that people quite happily leave GPS, cell phones, CD's, IPods etc on show in car parks - inviting someone to break in. The fact that some people are so careless here and they seem to get away with it shows that Calgary isn't crime central. Parks such as the Glenmore Park, Bowness Park (like National Trust places back in the UK) are bound to be at risk because people leave their cars for a reasonable period of time - just because it's a beauty spot doesn't mean it's any safer.

I've been to many cities in the world and I feel much safer here in Calgary than I have done in many of the places I've stayed (well, Singapore's probably where I've felt safest - but that's not perfect either).

If you steer clear of trouble, use common sense e.g don't leave your TomTom on the dashboard, then that's all you can do. So let's stop scarmongering and making out that Calgary is decending into the crime hell hole of Canada. The truth is crime happens (and is generally on the increase) everywhere and as cities go, Calgary is still a good, safe place to live.

Re: THE REAL ALBERTA
 

Sorry Kittykerr, have to strongly disagree with your statement that Hereford has literally 100's of fights a day. This really is a gross exageration. I don't want to get personal, but feel I have to protect the good name of this city.

As a Police Officer, you really ought to think a little harder before you post, or the good people reading these threads might believe your statements to be accurate.

I am a 39 year old male, have lived in Hereford for the past ten years, and have a small retail business in the city centre. Of course, like anywhere on earth, fights happen, but, as a 'very ordinary' citizen, I have never been in a fight, or even threatened in Hereford. I would hazard a guess that this is most people's experience.

Certainly, of the people I know, none of them have been mugged or beaten -up. This is not to say that it doesn't happen, I'm sure you could quote many instances where it has, just that - despite what we may read in the papers or internet chat forums - it is still very rare.

In my shop I speak to literally hundreds of local residents every day, and believe me if anything happens I generally get to hear about it. If someone cycles the wrong way down our one-way street, local people will soon let you know. Sure, there are bad-asses and druggies around (as in every western society), and these people will commit a dissproportionate amount of crime. Most of us thankfully do not move in their circle, although obviously from time to time, ordinary people will fall victim to their crimes. I'm sure that if you hang around the local nightclubs in the early hours, looking for some action, you may well find it.

I understand, that as a Police Officer, you are dealing with the more undesirable elements of society (as you will be in Calgary), and we are all gratefull that you do that, but it must have given you a rather skewed view of life here, it really isn't that bad. May I suggest that if you don't like getting face to face with undesirables, or dealing with the effects of crime, you might consider changing profession.