The Bubble in Alberta

I lived in Alberta in the 70s and 80s. I went there just before the economy began booming and left just after it went bust. Ah, good times. I went back there recently and it came back to me why I left.

Calgary isn't a city... it is a parking lot. Things are so widely spread that you enter the city limits before you leave the country. Like it's sister city, Houston, if you live in the northwest, you have to pack a lunch to get to the southeast. There are very few local stores and almost no local pubs or restaurants in the newer sections of the city. Want a loaf of bread? Be prepared to travel for 10 minutes to the closest big box store.

But it is not just the travel time or size of the city. Just try to find a bottle of aspirin in a London Drug store. Hint? It is just past the electronics section between youth clothing and lumber.

What I experienced in the past is beginning all over again. I talked with a fellow in the north of the city. His house has been on the market for almost 3 months. His asking price is above what he paid for it but not by much. He admits that if he has to, he will take a loss just to unload the property. The real estate market is slowing to a crawl. I wonder if it will implode.

The guy driving the F350 at the FasGaz was livid when I told him that gas prices at the pump in Ottawa were on average three cents per litre lower than he was paying. Thankfully his gun rack was empty or there is no telling what might have happened.

I was out in the country on my trip and was confronted by a good ol' boy in jeans and a big straw hat. He was telling me that Albertans were rugged individualists... no need for government or hand-outs. I thought he was going to burst a blood vessel in his head when I asked him why Alberta had a Social Credit government for so long and why it was the home of the country's largest Co-op chain.

The bubble in Alberta has not burst, but the walls are thinning just a bit.