[Calgary_Girl]

I'll comment on Calgary, Alberta (Canada)...home sweet home.

Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Length of Stay: Born and raised here (about 30 yrs without me giving away my true age )

Cost Of Housing: Pretty affordable and ranging anywhere from $180K (CAD) to over $1 million for a house. A new condo can still be bought for $100K (CAD).

Weather: The local saying is "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes". One minute it's raining, the next the sun is shining. Winter's can be pretty cold and can get as cold as -30F but this only lasts a few days. Other than that, it's bearable. We have the most sunshine out of any province in Canada...I don't think I could live in Vancouver where it rains all the time and is always cloudy. It's quite funny because most Americans think Canada is the tundra but I remember two years ago on Christmas day where it was 50F in Boston (where my husband is from) and it was 70F in Calgary.


Cost Of Living: Average. Not as expensive as Toronto or Vancouver. We have no provincial sales tax (all the other provinces do) and we have the lowest personal and business income tax rates. The local economy is rocking and we just paid off the last of the provincial debt. The government now has to decide what to do with all of this extra money, which is a good problem to have.

Health Care: I've never had a problem with it but I hear there can be waiting times for certain procedures. Alberta is looking at opening some private clinics and with the local economy booming more money is being put into healthcare.

Recreation: Can't beat it! 45 minutes from the Rocky Mountains and some of the best skiing in the world. We have a ski hill 5 minutes from our house with world class luging and bobsledding (left over from the 1988 Winter Olympics). Every summer we host the Calgary Stampede and we have a ton of festivals and outdoor exhibits.

Hubby and I plan to retire here since life is pretty good.