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Calgary here, and I travelled to Toronto last December for the first time as an adult. When people say Calgary has no soul as a city, they are 100% correct. Our city center is so stale and lifeless compared to a place like Toronto. It's just office drones going out for lunch during the day and crazies going out for drugs at night. I used to pass through downtown after evening courses at MRU and I never felt so isolated and alone and unsafe which is ridiculous for a city of over 1 million people. I was really jealous of all the amazing hole in the wall restaurants literally everywhere. We've got a few fast food chain places, and some scattered Tim's, Starbucks, and Good Earth's. In Toronto I felt like I was in a real city, not like Calgary which tries so hard but will always just be a giant small prairie town. That being said, I'll probably always live here because I love Kananaskis Country so much I couldn't stand to leave it. It really is a gem of a place in Canada.
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Jun 8, 2017 09:29
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:LOL YEAH- no one has to work on weekends in Canada except the druggies, what a paradise!! Us normals don't do drugs or drink, and definitely don't pay to get even more drugs!! We were discussing downtown Calgary, not the entire country. Have you been there much on evenings and weekends? It's exactly like a small town only bigger. Hardly anything is open and the streets are mostly deserted. It's really bizarre for a so-called big city.
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Jun 10, 2017 02:12
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In one of my classes at university, we had a a social worker from the Nakoda reserve speak to us about conditions in Morley, Alberta after the 2013 floods. A lot of the houses were condemned from water damage, but the people living in the community weren't allowed to do repairs because they're government property and were expected to wait for government contractors to come in and do the work. Of course, they're at the bottom of the priority list. So what were they supposed to do if they weren't allowed to live in their home or fix it? They weren't allowed to move into relatives homes due to fire code violations. There was temporary housing on the way, but it hadn't arrived yet and this was several months after the fact. There were also limitations on the number of pets allowed in each home. So even if they could move into a relative's place, they might not be able to bring their cats and dogs because they'd be over the limit. Any defiance of rules meant they could be kicked out, because the government were pretty much landlords. I spent a lot of summer weekends in Cluny, Alberta, which is on the Siksika reserve. They didn't have clean water, it smelled and tasted really strongly of sulphur, probably from H2S, and had rusty metal flakes floating around in it. This is an hour and a half drive from Calgary. I'm not sure if the situation has changed since I was a kid, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. When buildings burn down there they don't get replaced. I remember there was plans to build a new firehall, but a thunderstorm blew the frame down and they didn't have enough funding to start over so it just never happened. I think they still rely on fire coverage from Gleichen which is over 1/2 hour away. This isn't the community not putting in enough effort or getting their poo poo together, this is blatantly the government loving them over.
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Jun 14, 2017 05:24
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:Add to that the startlingly large number of corrupt band leaders that funnel the bands government funds to line their own pockets and those of friends and family members, it's no wonder so many bands are on the skids. They're getting hosed from outside and inside. There's a lot of infighting between bands behind the scenes as well, as poorer bands resent the more prosperous and successful bands, seeing them as having some sort of backroom dealings with the government, or some such other collusion that would explain their success. On the flipside, many of the more prosperous bands look down on the less successful ones, viewing them as shiftless or lazy, and bringing down the larger country-wide community as a whole, so it can be tough for native canadians to band together for their own greater good. Yeah, the Nakoda reserve ended up signing a contract with a Chinese company for oil and gas extraction on their land to try and bring in more money for the community and rely less on the government. Whether that'll be true or not remains to be seen, but they were able to rebuild Chiniki rest station after it was torched, and the new one is wonderful and I stop there for post-mountain fun snacks frequently. But what's really hilarious are Albertans being pissed at them for "ruining the land for greed" while defending the oilsands.
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Jun 15, 2017 05:41
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Wow, somehow I missed that. I've interacted with hundreds if not thousands of First Nations people, they're family, friends, coworkers, customers, fellow students, politicians, business owners, people on the bus, people on the street. I just did an internship with the Canadian Parks Council and hung out with a bunch of elders who were there to work with parks staff from across Canada developing relationships between Native communities and parks. My university has weekly powwow and Native art classes for anyone to join and sometimes dance and drum in the cafeteria. First Nations people are everywhere. Like, can you not tell who's Native?
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Jun 18, 2017 03:18
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PT6A posted:In Alberta you call a highway "the" if it has a name, like "the QE2" or "the Icefields Parkway" or "the Trans-Canada" but not if it has only a number. However, you may not use "the" preceding any highway which is followed by anything other than "highway." You may not say "the Stoney" or "the Glenmore." Quoting an old post, but the mountain highways have odd names that don't really follow many rules. Like Highway 40. North of the Trans-Canada it's called Forestry Trunk Road or Highway 40 North, south it's called Highway 40, Highway 40 South, or Kananaskis Parkway but no one says thay. The Icefields Parkway is also known as 93 North for the same reason, and the road from Castle Junction to Radium is 93 South. Most people don't use Highway when talking about them. Then there's Highway 742, which is better known as Spray Lakes Road, Canmore Hill Road, and Smith-Dorrien Parkway. It can get super confusing for non-locals.
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Jul 9, 2017 01:34
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Mak0rz posted:Oh wait it continues south 30km west of where it meets Cochrane for some reason. Why the hell is it considered the same highway? Same reason as 93 I guess. North and South are also about 30km apart, and south is only about 100km long before it connects to 95 in BC, and another 100km south you turn onto 3, then after a bit it comes back 40km north of the border and continues on as 93 in Montana. 1A is messy too, because it runs Lake Louise to Banff, then Canmore to West Calgary, I'm sure there's a reason and it likely makes some sense, but I don't have the attention span to find out why right now.
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Jul 12, 2017 07:39
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ilmucche posted:Last time I was in you could ask for the other type of lids and they'd give them to you This lovely standard lids shouldn't be an option. They shouldn't exist. Having to ask for the better option is stupid.
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Jul 14, 2017 15:50
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Lungboy posted:
I'd say that's totally decent if you don't blow your money away. My husband made $65,000 5 years ago and is now up to $80,000, we've paid off our mortgage on an inner city fixer upper house, put me through university with no loans, and travel abroad at least once a year. But a lot of people I know seem to think that they need a brand new McMansion in the distant suburbs as their starter home with two brand new vehicles every year or two, one being a jacked up pick up and the other an SUV, and tons of expensive toys and electronics so they get a 6 figure job in Fort Mac and end up saving nothing nor budgeting wisely. Then they get laid off when the cost of a barrel goes down and are left with jack poo poo and have to sell everything just to buy groceries. So I guess it depends on who you ask.
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Jul 19, 2017 23:48
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Calgary is great if you're into outdoor recreation. Rockies culture and community is unlike anything I've seen. Our bike situation is okay, but slowly improving. Pick up truck and SUV drivers will always hate you with a fury even if you stick to pathways. Your mere existence is a blight on the planet according to them.
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Aug 9, 2017 20:10
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I've bicycle commuted a lot, even from Forest Lawn to Mt Royal University which is a 30km round trip, and I avoid streets as much as I can even if it makes the trip longer. I've had people actively try and run me over because they clearly didn't want to give me the right of way even though it was correct. 4 way stop, I stopped first, then truck, I start going, truck glares at me and goes anyway, driving right at me. I'm grateful our pathway network is half decent for long commutes, because I do not feel safe on roads.
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Aug 10, 2017 03:30
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Calgary invented ginger beef and Caesars so that's a thing.
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Dec 18, 2017 09:57
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If you like Drumheller, make it a point to visit Dinosaur Provincial Park near Brooks. It's like Drumheller as far as the eye can see. A vast area of the park is completely off limits because they discover new dinosaur species all the time and don't want the public loving it all up. It's a great place for camping too, and is open for winter camping if you're Canadian enough.
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Jan 8, 2018 04:39
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I saw a very graphic pro-life billboard south of Calgary, I think De Winton area. I've also seen a lady in my nearby Co-op wearing some anti-Palestine t-shirt. Also trucks with rebel flag decals covering the windows.
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Mar 9, 2018 10:53
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Enjoy our mountains and please don't get lost! Although the mountain parks system have incredible search and rescue teams so you're in the best hands if you do call for help.
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Mar 18, 2018 09:25
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