Funnily enough I've made more friends quicker here in Calgary than in Toronto. In Toronto you would definitely be "discriminated against" less but quite honestly I don't really know if you really are being discriminated against or if it's just redneck ignorance. I'm not excusing it in any way by the way because my wife (who is also latin) tends to get ignored or get stuck in bureacracy in a way that I don't but on the other hand I'm as white as you can possibly get (milk lol) and I get treated like I'm a knownuff too just because I'm not Canadian. On the other hand I find a total lack of connection to some of my new Calgarian "friends". It's like it takes a half hour of awkwardness to start a conversation and many of the conversations seem to be about "look at me I just bought a nice new truck" or "look at me my furniture is better than yours" etc. That said, they are just fine to work with, working conditions in Canada I have always found to be much better than in the UK, less politics and less backstabbing by far (not saying there's none, just less). But then again, my mate from my home town has the exact opposite experience.

Where I will agree 100% is that there's a very strong streak among especially the uneducated (who I would refer to as redneck hillbillies) who just don't like anyone coming here and "taking their jobs". Their ire is not only reserved for foreigners but also for fellow Canucks.

If you don't have any friends, I suggest you join a couple of clubs. I'm not talking about the gym. Maybe something like a kung fu class or maybe a continuing education course or something, where you will end up talking to people eventually. I've found Canadians much easier to relate to (in fact you can't shut them up - especially the one guy who comes to my desk at work every day and blabbers on and on lol) when you have something in common with them.

My 2p/2c.

Before I start, let me just say, this post will not go down well with Edmontonians - but it's not meant for them. I hope this thread will be read by people weighing up the pros and cons of the various Canadian cities. A recce is just a snapshot and warts-and-all, unbiased info (not just sugar-coated tourist rubbish) is hard to come by. Consequently, this piece may seem overly negative, but my intention here is not to anger or antagonize, but merely to redress the balance. Believe it or not I've gone easy, I've left out personal stuff that's happened, some of which would not make for comfortable reading on a forum such as this. (You can review crime stats etc. elsewhere)

So let's cut right to the chase, Edmonton is not the "world class" metropolis it's marketing people would have you believe. It's a blue collar city that rises and falls on the strength of it's economy - people relocate here from overseas and from other provinces for the work and for that alone. People looking for the whole "quality of life" thing, would be advised to seek it elsewhere. The city has a lamentable infrastructure, horrible architecture and doesn't show any sign of getting better any time soon.

The cities "downtown" area is a bit of a joke. It has none of the vibrancy or energy you would expect in a city this size. Very few pedestrianised areas or natural outdoor gathering places. There is also a very serious panhandling and aggressive begging problem, (which sometimes escalates into actual violence and recently death), although this is a problem not just restricted to the downtown area. Once out of the city centre Edmonton is your average mixture of generic condo blocks (flats), older "character" homes, strip-malls and the ubiquitous avenue after avenue of newly built McMansions. Property in Edmonton is relatively expensive by Canadian standards.

On the culture and entertainment front Edmonton is mediocre at best. There's stuff out there, but it's all pretty average and fairly generic, cinemas, clubs, galleries etc. Edmonton sells it's self as Canada's year round "Festival City", although most of these "festivals" are again pretty generic and mainly bunched together during the short Summer months. The better ones tend to be smaller and consequently sell out fast making tickets hard to come by. Eating out here is never a great experience, the restaurants are on the whole terrible - indifferent service and poor quality food.

Edmonton's "Crown Jewel" is it's "River Valley". The North Saskatchewan river valley effectively cuts Edmonton in two diagonally and provides some welcome greenery (during the summer) and a few miles of cycle trails. Unfortunately it also provides cover for an unofficial shanty town of tents and shacks housing many of the towns bums and vagrants during the Spring through to Autumn. Consequently, Edmontonians consider the river valley a no-go-area after dusk which is a shame.

Everyone mentions the driving, I confess, I do not drive. That said, I have witnessed more driving accidents and near misses in one year in Edmonton than in the rest of my 40+ years put together. No exaggeration. Yes, some of these were just winter prangs, but the majority were just caused by careless driving on ice-free roads. Crossing a busy intersection with one hand on the wheel while talking on your cell phone appears to be compulsory here. And man, do Edmontonians love the horn (insert puerile joke here).

The people of Edmonton are for the most part very nice. They are on the whole polite and welcoming - though I suspect being white has helped me out on that front. I'm pretty shocked at how quickly many (Caucasian) Edmontonians, regardless of age or background, can turn any discussion on the cause of Edmonton's woes in to an opportunity to be blatantly racist about either Natives Americas, Blacks or various "Asian" groups . (That said, these views may appeal to the "Daily Mail" type expat!) Canadians I've got to know from other parts of the country don't seem to fall back on these tired old clichés so often.
There also seems be a strange preoccupation bordering on an obsession with Calgary. Edmontonions generally seem to hate the place with a passion, whilst at the same time, desperately aspiring to be more like it. The fact that Calgary appears to be many Edmontonian's only yard-stick by which to judge it's own city gives some insight into the depth and breadth of the average Edmontonian's world view. Unfortunately, it doesn't help that Calgary is indeed a more appealing city in most respects, and at least has some character and sense of it's own identity.

Overall, after spending a year in Edmonton, my advice to anyone planning on making Canada their home would be to consider other cities before even looking at Edmonton. You don't get that whole "quality of life" thing here, far from it. I freely admit, we came here for the work and for that alone, and when the time is right we will be getting the hell out of here. I hope for the sake of the city and it's people the economy stays strong, Edmonton now isn't great, Edmonton during any kind of protracted slump doesn't bare thinking about.

Evidence please. I know that posters on here believe the whole of Alberta to be redneck central, butI have never heard that Alberta is deemed to be the hotbed of racism in Canada.

Calgary has the highest rate of hate-motivated crime in the country, according to a new study released by Statistics Canada.

In 2006, 92 hate crimes were reported in Calgary — about nine incidents for every 100,000 people in the city, or three times higher than the national average of three per 100,000, said the agency Monday.

Hate crimes per 100,000 population
Calgary 9.1
Kingston, Ont. 8.5
Ottawa 6.6
London, Ont. 5.9
Toronto 5.5
Source: Statistics Canada
Calgary was one of five cities that reported data higher than the national average. The other four cities were all in Ontario.