Whats up guys?!
How you doing today?
Welcome back to this Youtube channel...
Its your guy Igor here..
Today's video is going to be..
Little bit controversial...
Because it is about...
Calgary, Alberta
And specifically mostly Alberta..
Pros and Cons
Of moving to Alberta...
So some people are going to find..
in this video really helpful..
because I'm going to express a opinion..
but then this opinion
is again my personal opinion..
and it can actually trigger some people...
who are living in Alberta
so..
I'm going to tell some good points..
and some bad points...
and what I want you to do guys is..
Look at those points..
ask me more questions..
and tell me if you agree on them..
and what you disagree on...
I want to know your opinion..
in the comments under this video..
Wit this being said guys...
let's begin
Let's start with the positive things..
and I'll tell you the negative things in the end of the video..
So first positive thing..
about living in Calgary
and specifically Alberta..
every province in Canada has their own healthcare system..
and their own budget and everything..
so the best thing in Alberta that I found out
is that
there's a health card that you can get right away..
I know that in Vancouver..
for example in British Columbia..
you have to pay for your health card..
In Toronto...I had some problems
in getting my health card as an international student
They wanted my Permanent Residence and
there's some kind of other regulations..
there are obstacles to get it..
In Alberta you don't have any problems getting it
You just have to have your..
study permit, work permit
or visa..
a permanent residence
and you have to just prove that you are living here
meaning that you just have to bring your bank statement..
or your debit or credit card (statement)
with your address proving...
that you are staying or a lease agreement
and this is the way that you can get your health card
in the health system
Healthcare in Alberta
is one of the best in the country..
so far
and I think that this is one of the most positive things...
about Alberta..
The second positive point is that
you have to know about Alberta is scenery..
Rocky Mountains...
and beautiful...
beautiful places
look behind me right now
those are Rockies..
I am located on the Tunnel Hiking trail
Its basically up the mountain..
and I'm just on my way there
but I decide to record a video
before going there
so Rocky Mountains, Banff area, Canmore
is one of the most beautiful places to hang out
with the Lake Louise and everything..
I think the scenery and nature is beautiful in Alberta
you get (to see) all the animals on the way here
We have seen a moose...
we have seen deers on the road
and sometimes you can see bears
so its really close to the nature..
and has really nice scenary
so you liking like a country lifestyle
where you go out with your family for hiking..
and enjoy the nature..
enjoy the waterfalls..
lakes...
and other beautiful scenaries in the mountains..
then I think Alberta is the best place
in that sense..
when I lived in Toronto..
there was not too much of scenaries
other than Toronto downtown...
you don't get that mountains like here
and everyone at my current workplace..
where I work
people coming from Toronto
Everyone is just amazed
by the scenary that Calgary Alberta has to offer..
to Canada..
The third positive point about Alberta is that
the taxes...
I know that Ontario has GST and HST..tax
and Alberta just has
the GST tax
so the prices are just going up by 5%
from what you see
in the retail store..
when your buying them
it goes by 5%
I remember when I lived in Ontario..
it was going...I think by 13%
It was way higher..
It was like double then what you pay taxes here
and the other thing that I would like to say
also about the retailers..
in Ontario there's monopoly for the liquor stores..
there is... Government..
owned LCBOs....Beer stores and those kind of things..
Alberta has privately owned licensed enterprises..
that are selling liquor...
and liquor..appears to be way cheaper..
in Alberta...
I would say that its cheaper to have some alcohol..
in Alberta than it is to have alcohol in Ontario..
and other provinces..
which makes this another positive point
towards this place and towards this province..
The fourth positive point for Alberta is ..
going to be really.. one of the most important for
many of us...is the wages
What I have noticed is that in Alberta..
for the same jobs... you are getting way more money
than let's say in...
Montreal, Quebec... or Toronto..
for the same jobs you are getting..
a higher percentage...its just a way
its just a little bit more per industry..
for...for the same job that you are doing..
in Ontario...you are going to get more money
in Alberta
For example let's say gas fitters..
I head that gas fitters in Toronto are getting
closer to $20 an hour
and $22 per hour
Alberta gas fitters are making anywhere from $28 to $35 per hour
sometimes even more
so its just
the same jobs..
you pay less taxes..
you are actually making more money..
here and working for the same kind of positions..
even for the same companies..
the same company branch in Toronto would pay a little bit less
just a little bit less
money
for the same job that you would do
but I am talking about entry level jobs..
and medium...you know
intermediate jobs
I am not saying about the
Highest executive management...
those guys
they are making a lot of money where ever they are Toronto...
or Alberta
or Calgary or Edmonton
If you are CEO of course you are going to make more
But if you are a regular worker like myself
or other people
within the country...you are going to be benefited by
being in Alberta by making more money
The fifth point is going to be also
a positive one..
its going to be multiple points in one
I would say
the gas is generally cheaper
in Alberta...in Calgary than in other cities
in Canada because of the oil industry that is
situated here
also
the cars are slightly cheaper..
and better quality because
There is less salt on the roads..
They don't mix too much salt...
Just like they do in other provinces..
and this doesn't make that much of corrosion
on your cars..
I'll tell you one negative point about it in the negatives..
But for say...for positive stuff
Also you can make more money with unskilled labour
than in any other province..
by getting for example job in oil rig
going up North...working in Northern Alberta...
making good money..
by working in the oil industry
because of harsh weather conditions..
and demanding jobs
they are getting..way...way more money
than you could get ever
anywhere else in Canada
working same kind of
let's say
unskilled labour..if you are doing something unskilled
The most amount of money you can make in Canada
I would say its probably..
in Alberta..just because
of the oil fields and oil manufacturing
which makes this province...pretty good
for
unskilled labour..
and people who are coming here for fast
and nice cash
Alright guys..its time for negative points..
and I'm really excited
there is sun coming out
so I'm going to shift the camera a little bit to the right
Just to remove that glare
So the negative points...
I've been waiting for this moment
First thing is that as I told you about the salt
because there's less salt
Also in Alberta.. you would have to fix your windshield
A lot..
So this is one of the first negative points
When you are driving in Alberta
they use gravel and sand on roads
not to use salt
which is good..for your car..not rusting
but at the same time..you are going to be spending more money
on replacing and repairing your windshields
which is a good business opportunity
for you if you are coming to Alberta
having a glass repair shop
for cars..which there are so many already here
because it just keeps on getting broken
all the time from the gravel flying from the cars..
which really...actually sucks!
It's dangerous when you drive like that..
second negative point about Alberta and Calgary I would say
It's a cost of living..
It is pretty expensive here
Unreasonably sometimes expensive
The rent is kind of high..
Also the groceries are more expensive..
If you go to a restaurant...I've been to Toronto recently
If you want to get food from outside
its cheaper in Toronto
than it is in Alberta
way cheaper...that's what I've noticed
Ofcourse the tax is less...yeah the tax is less
But it doesn't mean that the businesses
are going to lower down their prices
They are compensating by having prices
higher than in other places
just because they assume people are making
better living here
which...its not always the case
and its going to be on my next negative point..
#3 is layoffs in oil industry
Yes Alberta is a land of opportunities...
where you can get really good money..
real fast..
even with unskilled labour... working in oil fields
But the problem is
with this place is...
that everything is so much
reliable on oil
Everything relays on oil
and if oil goes down
companies go down
the economy goes down right away..
Oil fields...oil companies start laying off people
There is right away... huge unemployment layoffs
and there's lots of problems with that
People who are used to make a lot of money are
unemployed...going on employment insurance
having mortgages...they cannot afford
cars
that they cannot afford anymore...not having the job
and it takes few years for oil to go up
sometimes 5 years
so whenever the oil goes down
people from Alberta start moving
out to other provinces
that kind of sucks
because the entire economy goes down
its not just the oil
because every customer...everyone
who is relying on oil
those people who are having those jobs
They are buying houses...they are buying Jacuzzies
They are buying expensive products..
and all of a sudden
everyone stops buying everything
what happens with businesses
other business slow down
Logistics, transportation
slows down..
construction slows down
everything slows down and
people get laid off all over the place
the entire place
and last time when there was huge lay offs
I remember I went to Sunridge...
I believe it was Sunridge mall... or closer somewhere there
There was like .
I believe thousands and thousands of people with their resumes
they had a job fair there
and I was just there...I was surprised
amazed...how many people there are ?!
and the most ridiculous thing is that they couldn't even
accommodate the amount of people standing in line there
which kind of sucks
if you are in such situation
you have the mortgages
you are relying on your job
and then everything drops and
you just go bankrupt...loosing your house
loosing your car
and all that kind of stuff
just because of oil prices
and that really sucks about Alberta
When oil goes down...
everything goes down..
Point #4
is that Alberta has 4 seasons
One of them is fall...winter....spring
and road construction season
What I am trying to say is that
there's lots of construction going on and
there's lots of problems I see
in it
the thing is Alberta has a different mind set
as the province
and let's
if you look at city of Calgary
for example
last year they were building some roads
and then it became...winter started all of a sudden
first of all they...
they were building like the entire year..
then all of a sudden winter started and..
they left roads as it is..
and now they are doing road construction again..
so its basically same things goes over and over for the second year now
what I am trying to say is..
that Alberta is little bit slower and little bit
having more orthodox views..
old style of views...old school
versus....versus the other part of...Canada
versus the eastern part of Canada
Western part of Canada...specifically Alberta is like
more slow...
in this kind of sense
I'll say that
For example, if you are working for the government
those guys are more
they are more slow in doing what
they are supposed to do..
and that's why lots of things get out of hand
the projects that they start...
the city of Calgary starts..
some of them are really successful
some of them apparently is just going to say they suck
and they are getting done real slow
spending so much of money..
for subcontractors and other companies
without actually managing the budget properly
so I want to say is that...
the city of Calgary at the same time
when they are doing really good job
and bicycle routes.. and other things
managing lots of good things..
but Calgary kind of sucks
in roads and roads are just
destroyed and every summer they are trying to get it fixed
creating more traffic jams and
creating more mess
instead of actually...resolving
so that's the kind of negative thing that
frustrates lots of Calgarians
when I was making
a video about homelessness in Calgary
lots of people actually complained
saying that the real problem in Calgary
are the roads
which I did not notice as much when I first came here
but now I see
it more and more
getting my car...wrecked
couple of times
on the roads here this year specifically
and #5..the negative point
about Alberta and Calgary
let me move the camera little bit more to the right
again the glare is coming out
that there is not much night life
there are some pubs...there are some places
there's a Stephen Avenue
there are couple of places where you can go
and hang out
for young kids
but I don't see that much of night life for adults
who are closer in their upper 20 years...early 30s
for hanging out
I don't see that much of a night life here
in Calgary and Alberta
its kind of more slow
if you go to Airdrie... there's like literally few
places where you can go
what I am trying to say is that in Toronto...
you get way more of this kind of stuff
so if you are a person like
an urban person and you
are liking an urban life
there's a big city with skycrappers
and you have night life
and you stay in your own apartment
and you are enjoying this kind of you know fast
and all of this kind of things
that's the negative thing here
is there's not much of it
people prefer to stay in their own communities
close down
drive to their places
not interacting with other people
ofcourse there are some communities
that are really nice
but they are more further away from downtown
people who are closer to downtown
are more closed
trying to get from their work
to their homes with minimum
interaction between
other people which kind of
personally for me..I think that
that's a negative thing and
it kind of sucks
if people are not interacting
with each other
but for you it actually might
be a good point..
for example if you are a person
who are...
who is
liking night life
this might suck
for you if you are a person
who is an extrovert like myself
who likes to interact with everyone
it might suck for you
but if you are a person
who is more closed down...shy and doesn't want
to interact with anyone
and wants to get from point A to B
Alberta would be a perfect place for you
and final negative point
about Alberta and Calgary is that
there is harsh winter
it gets real cold
it gets real slippery
sometimes it snows so badly
there's so many accidents
and you really have to be a really good driver
in here
because its just
dangerous sometimes on the road
and
the winter is really harsh here
but at the same time..
there's one positive point
there's a Chinook...hot wind
that comes and melts
everything away and for few days
the -20...-30 weather can be
+5..all the snow melts away
and then it freezes again
so this is one that is kind of negative point really harsh weather
and the same time
atleast sometimes it gets warmer
which makes this place better than Saskatechwan
To sum this up...I want to express my own point
why I came here and why I am still here
first of all I love the scenery
Look at this behind me
all the forest...the wilderness...the animals
the beautiful...beautiful Rocky Mountains...
lakes and rivers...
waterfalls
hiking trails
you can go out in summer every single weekend
and have some nice hike
and nice fresh air
and water
its just beautiful as well as
you can get to work
from work
travelling from one point of the city
to completely different point of the city in half an hour
without having that much of traffic jams
is amazing
I don't really like night life and I'm more of a person who
is more nature oriented
even though sometimes I enjoy going to downtown
It works perfectly fine for me
I moved here...why I moved here
I moved here as an international student
from Toronto to find jobs
and finish my immigration
and it reality when I came here I was kind of missing all the night life
and all the city rush of Toronto
that was there
but
once I stayed here
and recently few weeks back
maybe 3 weeks or 2 weeks back
I went to Toronto
and what happened is
I realized how much I got used to and addicted to Alberta
how much I like it more
with the travel distances
with the time
and more freedom here
that you get
free from everything
with your own private spaces
for me this place and this province works..
perfectly and I think
there's lots of things that you can enjoy..
if you are living in Alberta
in fact I am
really proud of this place and this
I like this province
that's what I wanted to tell
Alright guys
I want to find out your opinion
are you living in Alberta..?
Are you staying in Calgary?
Do you like this place?
Have you lived in other parts of Canada?
what sucked about other parts of Canada..?
which you find way better in Alberta
and what you hate about Alberta?
I would love to see your comments...
in the section below..
in the comments for this video..
I want to know your opinion..
what do you not like..?
Do you agree on any of my points?
which points you think you disagree on?
Express your opinion...
in the comments of this video..
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videos like this
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in the next video...
Alright guys..
thank you so much for watching
We'll see you in next video...
Have a good one..