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Why rag on the suburbs? Believe it or not, not everybody that lives outside of downtown has to drive into downtown to work. Why not just leave that gem of advice to "live near your workplace"
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Even if you live near your workplace, car dependancy is still a problem in the suburbs because people have to travel around for reasons other than just work.
Unlike Calgary's downtown area, the suburbs weren't designed with walkability in mind. With few exceptions, most suburban Calgarians will still need a vehicle to run day-to-day errands like going to the nearest grocery store, pharmacy, liquor store, convenience store, post office, restaurant, pub, doctor's office, etc. In the inner city, all of those can easily be reached without having to own a private vehicle.
This is a handy website to test how walkable a neighbourhood is. My condo in the Beltline scores 92/100 for a rating of "Walker's Paradise"; my friend's house in Copperfield scores 23/100 for a rating of "Car Dependant".
http://www.walkscore.com/