BC Lags Behind Other Provinces in Life Satisfaction

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by cKy

sorry, I think you misunderstood what I was saying. I am saying Victoria (and area) is a terrible place to raise a family.

I grew up in Calgary and I'm completely excited to bring my kids here to do the things I was able to do when I was young.

I got what you were saying...my post was just to speak to how good Calgary is in in that respect.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by rubecube

As a person with a disability, in need of quality health care, not a chance I would consider a move to Alberta with the UCP still in charge. BC's health care system is bad but Alberta's is worse.

Coming from someone who has lived under PC, NDP and UCP leadership, I haven't been able to notice a major difference in quality of health care based on the governing party.

In fact I went in June this year for an assessment by a specialist (which was ordered in March from my family doc) and had my surgery within 3 weeks of the assessment. That was some fantastic health care I received. Could BC do the same? Possibly, but I wouldn't be confident in it.

[8 Ball]

Originally Posted by rubecube

As a person with a disability, in need of quality health care, not a chance I would consider a move to Alberta with the UCP still in charge. BC's health care system is bad but Alberta's is worse.

I can’t find anything on line to corroborate this statement, but I’m not saying you’re wrong. Alberta has great care facilities.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Shiiet, how embarrassing of me. I actually do know the correct spelling and factoid, and was just telling me kids about it the other day.

Presumably in the voice of an old-timey Pirate.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

What makes you say that?
From everyone I know that has lived in both provinces, Alberta's health care is light years better. You can't even find a family doctor in most of BC.

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

Coming from someone who has lived under PC, NDP and UCP leadership, I haven't been able to notice a major difference in quality of health care based on the governing party.

In fact I went in June this year for an assessment by a specialist (which was ordered in March from my family doc) and had my surgery within 3 weeks of the assessment. That was some fantastic health care I received. Could BC do the same? Possibly, but I wouldn't be confident in it.

Originally Posted by 8 Ball

I can’t find anything on line to corroborate this statement, but I’m not saying you’re wrong. Alberta has great care facilities.

I did find something corroborating it, but it's from the Fraser Institute, so I'm going to look tomorrow for better sources.

EDIT: Anecdotally, I will say my experience trying to get a COVID test when I visited Calgary last September was an absolute nightmare that wound up with me wasting several hours in urgent care.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Locke

Presumably in the voice of an old-timey Pirate.

I prefer leprechaun.

[rubecube]

This is more anecdotal evidence, but the major disability I suffer from went undiagnosed for years in Alberta. I think it was more garbage doctors than a system failure, but I immediately got a proper diagnosis and treatment when I arrived in BC. I also had a friend of mine with the exact same disability and we would compare notes on the quality of care I was receiving in BC vs. what she was receiving in Calgary, and the system was much easier to navigate for me than it was for her.

It also isn't a good look for the province when the governing party is openly hostile and picking fights with its doctors and health care workers.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by rubecube

It also isn't a good look for the province when the governing party is openly hostile and picking fights with its doctors and health care workers.

I don't think you'll get many Albertans disagreeing with you on this point, but Albertans have to start speaking up on it or they will suffer in the long run.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by rubecube

This is more anecdotal evidence, but the major disability I suffer from went undiagnosed for years in Alberta. I think it was more garbage doctors than a system failure, but I immediately got a proper diagnosis and treatment when I arrived in BC. I also had a friend of mine with the exact same disability and we would compare notes on the quality of care I was receiving in BC vs. what she was receiving in Calgary, and the system was much easier to navigate for me than it was for her.

It also isn't a good look for the province when the governing party is openly hostile and picking fights with its doctors and health care workers.

I had a similar experience, but in Ontario. I was having issues with my digestive tract for years (probably 10 years) and our family physician played it off like it was nothing. Once I moved back to BC and got on with a family doctor here and getting the right referrals, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. I literally lost about 60 pounds and the doctor in Ontario was telling me to keep up whatever I was doing. Just a bad doctor, and not really a systemic issue. I think another doctor may have made the right referrals.

One thing I find in BC is that many of the clinics seem to use the medical practice as something to get people in the door to hock other products. My current doctor's practice even has a gym, personal trainers, IV hydrations therapy, an oxygen lounge, and a bunch of other pay-to-play side businesses going on. They aren't pushy about it, but they do make a point of mentioning their other services when you are there. Not really a complaint, but it's interesting. Maybe that sort of thing is going on everywhere.

[Locke]

Some Doctors are better than others. More news at 11.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

Coming from someone who has lived under PC, NDP and UCP leadership, I haven't been able to notice a major difference in quality of health care based on the governing party...

Well to be fair, so has everyone older than 8 in the province

[Winsor_Pilates]

Saw this news story the other night about BC's health care.
Absolutely terrible for someone to have to go through this.

https://globalnews.ca/news/9064004/b...osis-for-pain/

[JohnnyB]

The last specialist I saw told me it's probably not even worth it to keep trying to find a family doctor in Vancouver and to just try consistently going to the same doctor for walk-in appointments.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

The last specialist I saw told me it's probably not even worth it to keep trying to find a family doctor in Vancouver and to just try consistently going to the same doctor for walk-in appointments.

Ha, exactly what I do since I haven't been able to find a family doctor in Van for 12 years.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Table 5

It may not be the coolest thing to judge a city by, but I think Calgary's ability to offer a ton of accessible, and relatively affordable, recreational activities for families/kids is one this city's best traits.

• Bike paths everywhere
• A great library system
• The ability to boat/kayak/float/fish in two rivers, or try white-water on Harvie Passage
• A truly world-class zoo
• Plenty of rec-centers, some that seem to rival Olympic venues
• COP (yeah it's not for everyone, but it's perfect for kids, and its right there!)
• Integrated parks like Fish Creek/Glenmore/Princess Island, and err, Nose Hill?
• Hockey/skating rinks/soccer fields in most communities
• Skateboarding and Pump tracks
• Heritage Park, Stampede, Science Centre etc.
• Private activity centers like climbing walls, go-kart tracks, gymnastics centers etc.
• All that, and the frickin' Rockies being next door for all your skiing, hiking, camping, biking needs.

Apart from a water park, better access to lakes, and better art/history museums (which hopefully the renovated Glenbow can help fix), I'm not sure there's that much missing for families. All in a relatively safe and stable environment. Calgary may not be the ultimate place for a 20-year old cool hunter or a 60+ retiree, but for those kid-raising years, personally I think it's pretty awesome.

And I'm not saying that places like Vancouver and Victoria don't have these things...but with the cost of housing being considerably less here, I think it gives families more breathing room to devote their money and time on these types of activities (and if something is missing, the ability to travel to other places to supplement).

Good list and this isn't even going into some of the unique small town feels you can get very close to Calgary in the smaller towns and bedroom communities like Cochrane, some of Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks, Nanton etc. Kids riding bikes on the street and many other things I remember as common as a kid that I don't see with as much frequency anymore.

You absolutely don't get that in most of the cities anymore or most places in that level of proximity to a city, especially Vancouver and Toronto. It's not my cup of tea, but a few friends moved out to Cochrane and Airdrie and seeing those vibes, I can start to understand why some parents were dealing with the longer commutes rather than choosing something within Calgary.

Calgary/Alberta absolutely has its pros and cons. But when it comes to raising kids, there are aspects that it definitely has an advantage to many other places. This advantage has only increased since the explosion of global work from home opportunities.

This based on quite a few conversations and anecdotes I've had with friends/friends of friends from Toronto/Vancouver of new family age or family planning age that I've spoken with. that has created a bit of a migration to Calgary/Edmonton from cities like Vancouver and Toronto (reason for some of the housing bidding war here). Some of these families are cashing out condos, townhouses and houses in Vancouver/Toronto areas and coming out here to transition from being house poor to low/no mortgage and huge cashflow to actually do things. They even have enough cash flow to go back and visit frequently, but for some of the conversations I've had, many end up just pay for their parents to visit instead or paying to meet up at a resort somewhere. This isn't even discussing some of the interesting trends of my peers and friends and/or their parents and out of town friends investigating buying acreages and cashing out to move further out.

I do honestly think this type of migration is quickly going to create a sort of temporary strain in Alberta for a few years. People will constantly complain about Calgary/Edmonton having slightly more inflation and busier entertainment venues than other places. But I feel like with the influx of money and opportunities that is happening (beyond O&G), most people in these regions will be able to just shrug off the inflation with a few more worries than complaints that it costs more than before. I've seen the explosion of improvement to the food scene in Calgary. That's great. I really hope to see additional explosions of other forms of entertainment like the arts or nightlife. I'd also expect to see additional explosions of more family friendly activity centres so that it isn't as insanely crowded at places like big box and sky castle.

I've often said that Calgary is a great home base. An excellent place to have high standard of living, accumulate resources, and then travel. Calgary isn't as strong as many other big cities for some of the special night lift, interesting points of interest etc. But it does have a superior day to day infrastructure, plus easier access to resources to visit point of interests in other cities. That's straight up not as accessible for some of my friends in Vancouver/Toronto because they have mortgages corresponding to a property value that is 1.5-2.5x more than a similar property here. A million buys you limited properties in Vancouver/Toronto. Here, even with rising prices, you can get a damn nice place meeting nearly all your requirements and still have enough money for a nice car or two and travel if you aren't saving it all up.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Locke

Some Doctors are better than others. More news at 11.

Some of the stuff I'm referring to includes which prescription drugs were covered and more easily accessible in BC vs. Alberta. That's a health care system issue, not simply a doctor issue.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

The last specialist I saw told me it's probably not even worth it to keep trying to find a family doctor in Vancouver and to just try consistently going to the same doctor for walk-in appointments.

I got really lucky when I moved back to BC. My doctor had just moved to Vancouver and I found out through someone and was able to get in without even having to look anywhere else. I brought my kid in for her vaccines and made her a patient as well. The thing that sucks though is that my wife was supposed to go in to meet her and become a patient as well, but she procrastinated and now there isn't room for her. She's been trying for the past 3 years now to find a doctor, and no luck.

Even still, I find going to the walk-in easier. My family doctor requires appointments like 6 weeks in advance because of her schedule which just doesn't cut it a lot of the time.

[Galakanokis]

What I found the worst about the lower mainland and I may have mentioned it already is all the damn driving you do for kids active. Some weeks I would be out in Mission, Tsawwassen and even the sunshine Coast for games. Not even counting Surrey, Richmond etc. It's a tonne of driving. Activities are not close and readily available.

Or this maybe a common thing everywhere but so many things want to start at 3:30 or 4. How on earth do you get kids to those times?

[Fuzz]

Butlers.

[rubecube]

Starting to get spicy out here. The government was busted for hiring scab labour, likely in violation of the labour relations code, and the union has filed a complaint. Now there's this:

https://globalnews.ca/news/9071932/b...urants-public/

A group that represents British Columbia’s private liquor stores says the province has imposed limits on alcohol sales at government-run outlets, effective immediately.

The Alliance of Beverage Licensees of BC (ABLE BC) says government officials have informed it that all customers, including bars, pubs, restaurants and the public, will be rationed to no more than three of any individual items of liquor, with the exception of beer.

This includes refreshment beverage products that come in 4-packs, 6-packs and other formats and will count as one product.

This will remain in place until the Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) distribution centres resume operations.

In a statement, the LDB said it wants to support the hospitality industry, particularly smaller businesses and retail customers.