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Calgary & Alberta Economy

MissingMiddle said:
I fit into that 18-34 range, with most of my friends and professional connections coming from outside of Alberta - most young people I know would eagerly move to Calgary if the opportunity arose, a few already have, and a few more are currently planning it.

The general consensus is that living in Toronto or Vancouver is prohibitively expensive unless both you and a partner live together with a substantial subsidy from parents. Additionally, the Montreal job market is full of obstacles if you're an anglophone. Calgary is the logical conclusion. However, political inclinations are the most significant deterrent (thanks Kenny), with "comparatively affordable housing and the blue water of Lake Louise" being the definitive counter-argument.

I'm anticipating a large influx of young professionals moving to Calgary, mostly because it's already happening. Remote work has certainly enabled this trend.
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I don't doubt that all. It's only my own personal experience, but lately I can't count the number of people I've come across who are looking into moving to Calgary. I seems to be a few different things but the cost of buying a pl;ace in Vancouver, Ottawa, and Toronto, etc... has become prohibitive.You're dead on on about Montreal and it's similar for Ottawa. If you're not bilingual in Ottawa, your options are very limited these days. Years back you had a booming tech industry in Ottawa where you didn't need to be bilingual, but these days the jobs are mostly government jobs, and in Ottawa you can't go far unless you're bilingual.
Another thing is the economy seems to be picking up here. It's not booming but it's more stable and employment seems to be picking up. Calgary and Alberta still have that right wing conservative reputation, but it is slowly starting to melt away.

I'm bullish about the future here.
 
One of the issues is that Calgary and Edmonton don't really have enough of an independent reputation at the moment. People from Toronto call themselves Torontonians. Heck, a lot of people from Kitchener call themselves Torontonians. I've never met anyone who called themselves an "Ontarian". Same goes for Vancouverites. They don't call themselves "British Columbians". People from Vancouver Island say they're from "the Island". Yet, most people I meet in Calgary call themselves "Albertans".

So, to outsiders, when they hear "Calgary", they think "Alberta". And when they think "Alberta" they think scenes of grain elevators and oil wells amidst fields of wheat, with a pickup truck driving by.

Relatedly, a very common sentiment I've heard from people who live in Toronto and Vancouver is this: "I wish I could move, but I wouldn't want to go anywhere where I need a car and where there's no racial diversity". Calgary (and, to a lesser extent, Edmonton) are the obvious answers, but most people just don't buy it. This is why I think it's important that the urban identities of Calgary and Edmonton need to start cleaving themselves off from the rural identity of the rest of Alberta.
 
darwink said:
As they then buy a car, and move to a suburb which requires super-commuting and is less diverse than Saskatoon.
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At least among the people I hear this from, they live downtown sans car. That said, the suburbs of Toronto and Vancouver are tremendously diverse. And a lot of super-commuting occurs by transit.
 
Always_Biking said:
One thing not shown in the market reports is how much of Montreal/Quebec VC money comes from Quebec itself. Caisse Dejardins and Invetissement Quebec, and a couple of other Quebec based funds make up for most of the the Quebec VC money. From what I've heard Calgary gets theirs from a much broader source. Speaking of which, maybe money from the Heritage Fund can be used for VC funding in Alberta? It was always set aside for a 'rainy day' so to speak. It feels like thew rain has been rolling in for a while.
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It would makes sense to use it for VC type investing, but TBH we haven't been doing as badly as the media sometimes makes it out to be. I would say leave the fund for now and let the ball keep rolling.
 
I heard an interview with Andrew Phung on CBC radio yesterday about his new sitcom "Run the Burbs", which is based on his experience growing up in NE Calgary. He said they tried to film the show in Calgary, but there weren't any crews available, which he attributed to how quickly the film industry is growing in the city.
 
Neo Financial is expanding and taking the 4h floor of the Bay building (62 000sqft). I'm really happy they are helping to keep the Bay building alive (and hopefully occupied by the Bay), but surprised they didn't take any of the vacant space already set up for offices lol.

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/c...owntown-ties-calgarys-past-to-its-tech-future

Could Neo become the big bank Calgary has always coveted?
 
Mountain Man said:
Neo Financial is expanding and taking the 4h floor of the Bay building (62 000sqft). I'm really happy they are helping to keep the Bay building alive (and hopefully occupied by the Bay), but surprised they didn't take any of the vacant space already set up for offices lol.

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/c...owntown-ties-calgarys-past-to-its-tech-future

Could Neo become the big bank Calgary has always coveted?
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That's awesome, I always thought the Bay building would be a great office space for someone.
 
Mountain Man said:
Neo Financial is expanding and taking the 4h floor of the Bay building (62 000sqft). I'm really happy they are helping to keep the Bay building alive (and hopefully occupied by the Bay), but surprised they didn't take any of the vacant space already set up for offices lol.

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/c...owntown-ties-calgarys-past-to-its-tech-future

Could Neo become the big bank Calgary has always coveted?
Click to expand...
I guess Neo wanted to be close to one of its major promoters of their products. HBC has really been pushing their Neo backed card lately.

The modernization of the Bay with Neo as a partner is probably good for both companies.
 
JustDandy said:
I guess Neo wanted to be close to one of its major promoters of their products. HBC has really been pushing their Neo backed card lately.

The modernization of the Bay with Neo as a partner is probably good for both companies.
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Probably an offer they could not refuse. Old, redundant space that Hudson Bay was unlikely to find another use for. Faced with the prospect that it would sit empty forever, they acted. I think there is still the 5th and 6th floors left that they need to figure out what do with. Perhaps more office space.
 
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