Why Calgary?
 

I have spent the past two months researching Canada and its provinces, taking everything into consideration as a family ,we have decided to take advantage of the Alberta Provincial Nominee Program, especially Calgary. We are a young(gist) family ,mum,dad 3 kids 4,5,12. Dad is a qualified carpenter with City and Guilds, Mum is a homemaker worth her weight in gold!! Tell me if I have made the right decision, I don't want to go to Toronto (even though my family are there). Can I expect to have a decent life and let my kids enjoy their childhood. Any thing has got to be better than the situation we have now. Dad loves Guinness!!l !!! Do they have Guinness in Canada:)

Re: Why Calgary?
 

They have guinness on tap in most places and it can be bought in cans in the liquor store.

Rest of the question requires the ability to predict the future, which despite my best efforts I still haven't mastered. Lots of peoples' dreams come true in Canada, for many others it is a disaster.

Re: Why Calgary?
 

Why Calgary?
Lowest tax in Canada.
It's on the dry side of the Rockies.
It's also on the edge of the prairies.
Winters are broken up by chinook winds, so they aren't so continually harsh.
If you like winter sports, we have Canada Olympic Park.
It's not Toronto :p
Most people are still friendly.
Houses don't cost an organ.
There's a lot of Brits here if you really need to mix with them.
Kid's skating and hockey is way less expensive that Ontario.
The province is still very empty - you don't have to go too far to get away from any of three "large" cities.

Re: Why Calgary?
 

Please can I come come tommorrow??? !!!! I have a very large suitcase I can squeeze into!!. Why are we still here?? The more I read the more I wonder why we did not make this decision many years ago. We wil hopefully see you in a years time !!!!!

Re: Why Calgary?
 

No offence to any English people reading this - I moved to England from Scotland in 1986, since I got to Canada in 2001 I've kicked myself multiple times for not having done it sooner. Leicester was home for 15 years and I still have good friends there, but I really wish I'd been in Calgary all that time.

I tried Ontario first before moving to Alberta. Calgary probably sounds great based on my opinion - there's a chance you might not like, not everybody loves Calgary! Lots of people like Ontario, I don't.

Re: Why Calgary?
 

Okay, where were you in Ontario and how long were you there?

Re: Why Calgary?
 

Just round the lake from Toronto for a month - long enough to take a dislike to to Toronto - it's amazing how quickly you to form an opinion of a place when you really don't like it :)

All together now .... it's only my opinion and you're welcome to it, Canada is a big and diverse country, with many and different blah blah blah ... is this a question on the citizenship test?

We've been here before with this discussion, you know my opinion.

Re: Why Calgary?
 

why calgary? that's what we always ask ourselves here in vancouver.. :) Although you certainly had the better hockey team this year... ;)

Re: Why Calgary?
 

What city in Ontario?

At least you had the moxie to try elsewhere in Canada when you decided that the Toronto area just wasn't for you. You ended up relatively happy in Calgary, and you deserve credit for persevering. Imagine where you would be now if you had ran back to the UK.

Re: Why Calgary?
 

Vancouver is a great cosmopolitan city set in a beautiful location, but BC's past government didn't have it's priorities right when it came to advancing the provincial economy. Whereas, Alberta - with some missteps - has been very business friendly and has really grown its economy as a consequence.

Vancouver is interesting, but it hasn't had Calgary's economic buzz over the last decade - although Vancouver's economy has very recently picked up.

Re: Why Calgary?
 

Alberta's economy has grown due to its oil.

There is a myth that Albertans cultivate which is that their economy is in good shape because of their incredible commercial savvy and entrepreneurial government. Nonsense. It is no coincidence that Alberta was dirt poor before 1948.

Re: Why Calgary?
 

We've had this discussion before. While it's correct to state that the oil/gas industry in Alberta has been a very major part of Alberta's economy. It is a huge oversimplication to state - as you have - that Alberta's success is only due to the oil/gas industry.

During many years over the last two decades (perhaps most years), the oil/gas industry in Alberta was in the doldrums and contributed absolutely nothing to the province's economic growth during those years of very low oil/gas prices. The rig counts where dropping annually, but Alberta still managed to do better than many other parts of Canada. So how was this possible? Low income tax rates, the lack of a provincial sales tax, business friendly labor laws, low rate of unionization, reasonable worker's compensation rates and rules, pro-development policies regarding new construction, politicial support for NAFTA, Provincial Government funding to aid in the diversification of Alberta's economy, all contributed to Alberta's economic success.

Hundreds of thousands of people with their business savvy were attracted to Alberta because of the above policies and greatly contributed to the province's economy whether there was oil/gas under the ground or not. I was one of those people who established a business that had nothing to do with the oil industry. You on the other hand, came to Calgary to work in the oil industry during a boom time, so it might seem like the oil/gas industry is the sole driving force behind the province's economy from your perspective. However, you didn't operate your own business so it is perfectly understandable that you don't have any appreciation for the above listed policies brought in by the Government of Alberta and the affect that those policies have had on business in the province. Partly because of these efforts, no other city in Canada has a more diversified economy than Edmonton.

In addition, to purport that the oil/gas industry is solely responsible for Alberta's economic growth is to ignore the huge growth in Alberta's forest products/lumber industry over that last two decades. Alberta's cattle industry also was making large gains (up until MAD cow) and turned many ranchers into millionaires. And lets not forget the tourism industry that had made large gains (up until 9/11) because the Provincial Government enacted policies to encourage development.

Alberta's economy is much more than it's oil/gas industry, and because of that, Alberta is much wealthier than any OPEC country of any significant size.

The reason Alberta was "dirty poor" in 1948 was because of the "dirty 30's", where year after year of severe drought bankrupted much of the province's agricultural industry. So that's a poor argument to make to support your premise. Those farmers could have been the most business savvy in the history of mankind, and they still would have been broke because they had no income due to something they couldn't control or foresee - the weather. During the mid 1970s, many farmers were turned into millionaires because of very high grain prices, but you forgot to mention that part. Those farmers made virtually nothing from the oil industry.

Re: Why Calgary?
 

"Alberta has an open economy with a high per capita income and a sizable annual trade surplus. Its wealth is based on oil and gas output (about 33% of GDP), and the fortunes of the economy fluctuate with the prices of those commodities. Since 1973, Alberta has undergone a profound transformation from a poor region to a modern province with a high standard of living. At present levels of production, oil and gas reserves should last for more than 100 years. The government has increased spending on job creation and infrastructure expansion and is opening up its utilities to greater private sector involvement."

Does this sound fair?

Re: Why Calgary?
 

It's inaccurate; the fact is Alberta has not been eligible to receive transfer payments from the Federal Government since 1964. That essentially means that its GDP/capita was comparable with the Canadian average. So to call it a "poor region" after 1964 is simply in error. The oil boom didn't really occur until after the Arab oil crisis in late 1973. You were saying?

Re: Why Calgary?
 

The passage comes from the CIA world factbook summary of the economy of the UAE. I swapped "Alberta" for "the UAE" in the passage, along with a couple of geographical references that would have been dead giveaways.

- http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...k/geos/ae.html