If you can go to an Alberta Health Services clinic on a weekday it's pretty fast - pretty much go straight in. Aside from the H1N1 debacle I've never had major waits though.
As far as do they work - that depends on whether they get the strains right this year - it's generally targeted to the 3 strains that epidemiologists expect to dominate that year, but sometimes they get it wrong. Even for the right strain it isn't 100%, but it's pretty good if you've got a healthy immune system. I usually get a sore arm after; other side effects can happen but are extremely rare. Overall the risk-benefit is weighed pretty heavily in favour of getting the shot.
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