The Wild (For me, Mild!) West

I’m zipping out to Calgary this week to visit with my cousin and life-long confidante Barbara-Anne. We are going to sketch out plans for a trip to Poland and Hungary in the spring. We’ve talked about going for a long time and this time I think it’s really going to happen!

When I visit Calgary, I don’t even bother trying to find where I lived years ago. In Red Deer, that was easy. In Calgary, not so much. It was the early 1980s and my stay only lasted a month or so. Back then, the city’s population was around 570,000. It seemed intimidating and huge to this small town girl. Now it’s around 1.6 million and growing at a rate of 6% every year. That’s close to 100,000 new people annually.

It’s partly immigrants and it’s just as many inter-provincial movers. International newcomers are expected to slow down due to federal guidelines. But the province continues to advertise for skilled workers from other parts of the country. Even with slower growth, Calgary is projected to hit 2 million people by 2029.

Go West, Young Person

Stats show it’s all about the job opportunities. I went west back in 1982 for the same reason. A radio station in Ontario had offered me an unpaid internship to answer phones. I drove to Calgary that summer thinking I’d see whether I could do better. From that vantage point, I visited every radio station within walking and driving distance. CKGY (CG Country) in Red Deer offered me a full time job on the air, so I stayed in Alberta.

It seems the growing tech sector along with energy and health care, continue to offer more opportunities in Calgary. Alberta doesn’t have provincial sales tax and houses are more affordable compared to Toronto and Vancouver.

I personally know of two families that moved to Calgary because of Alberta’s conservative political leanings. The province had a recent teacher’s strike, the largest in the its history. Premier, Danielle Smith ordered all 51,000 teachers back to work. Now nurses are on the verge of a strike. Unions are upset and that part of the labour market isn’t entirely stable right now.

There’s a world of outdoor fun available in Alberta, from snow sports and the Rocky Mountains, to the Calgary Stampede. The city has struggled to keep up with growth in some areas, but haven’t they all?

But Wait, There’s More

In keeping with the western theme, I’m also traveling by WestJet which I haven’t done in quite some time. They were the only choice for a direct flight out of London. WestJet used to be my favourite airline until Porter expanded service. I’m hearing that WestJet has stepped up its game again. I’ll let you know.

Meanwhile, if you have been to either Poland or Hungary and have any travel tips, I’m all ears. Visiting Auschwitz is on our agenda, along with time in Warsaw and Budapest. We have family roots to investigate and history to absorb. It’s going to be amazing.

(Online store deliveries will be on hold until November 17. Thanks!)