Calgary vs. Edmonton

Between Calgary and Edmonton, which city do you feel is the better place to live?


  • Total voters
    58

tfaria

New Member
Jun 15, 2005
7
1
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My boyfriend and I have decided to make the move out to Alberta in August. Thats in less than two months! But of couse we can not decide on whether it is going to be Edmonton or Calgary! I hear great things about both cities, which hasn't made my decision any easier. Originally, we were set on Edmonton, I didn't even really consider Calgary. I don't know why. But after hearing great things about it and having prospect employers wanting interviews...lets just say it has left me totally confused!

I guess that I can say that I love the city life (coming from Toronto after all), but I also want to to be in a safe and clean atmosphere. I am in Interior Design and as for my boyfriend, he is in Advertising.

Any other opinions out there? Where is the place to go?
 

AirIntake

Electoral Member
Mar 9, 2005
201
0
16
I've been to both, I live in one of them. To tell you the truth, there both basically the same. If you're in the oil&gas industry I'd say Calgary is better for that. But since both of you aren't, it doesn't really matter much.
 

SECONDGEN

Electoral Member
Jun 7, 2005
110
0
16
Near the Rockies
AirIntake said:
I've been to both, I live in one of them. To tell you the truth, there both basically the same. If you're in the oil&gas industry I'd say Calgary is better for that. But since both of you aren't, it doesn't really matter much.

You got it airintake calgary for oil and gas but also a lot of other jobs too. We have a ton of head offices here and so our employment opportunities are vast and varied.
And yes Red Mile was a hoot. OMG all the people.it was amazing. Our Lilac Festival in May is just as great.
 

choppie

Nominee Member
Mar 24, 2005
99
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hahaha i havent missed a lilac festival in years....o0o0o0o i love it...Calgary is the better city....Edmonton is all busy highway-like roads.....too spaced out....yes, they have West Edmonton mall.....but thats it.....from Edmonton to Red Deer it's all "deer hitting, action packed, fun" (pardon the level of sarcasim) :roll: but.... you will be moving to Calgary when you find out that Edmonton is so brutal that you just can't stand it....
 

Diamond Sun

Council Member
Jun 11, 2004
1,366
1
38
Within arms reach of the new baby..
Ouch. Edmonton has so much more than highway like roads, and West Edmonton mall.

Edmonton also seems to have a greater mi x of people. I found Calgary to be full of yuppie business people who don't have time, or inclination, to talk to anyone but future business clients.

Plus, Edmonton just has more trees, more parks, and more green.

I'd rather drive the whitemud than the deerfoot anyday. And seriously, it's much easier to get around Edmonton than Calgary, what with all Calgary's NW, NE, SW, SE addresses. :)
 

choppie

Nominee Member
Mar 24, 2005
99
0
6
Ok i can agree with you about the deerfoot being bad....but you must have only been in downtown Calgary when you saw all the "yuppies" because everywhere else i go ..... people say hi to me all the time....and they even smile.....We have gorgeous little community's all over our huge city....in the NW SW NE and SE....As for the smiles and hello's....in my opinion is better than getting fingered on whitemud....... :roll:
 

Bubble

Nominee Member
Jun 22, 2005
90
0
6
Edmonton drivers suck but I like where I live (right in the middle) I'm 10 minutes from everything!(almost everything) I've never lived in calgary I wonder what it's like but I have been there at the airport I feel sorry for those poor employees that had to were hot red cowboy hats and mathing overalls. Someone who lives near the airport should tell them that! anyway I think licing in alberta is great it's like the safest province in canada(I've been around) I absolutly love it here besides the drivers of course!
 

Diamond Sun

Council Member
Jun 11, 2004
1,366
1
38
Within arms reach of the new baby..
Re: RE: Calgary vs. Edmonton

Bubble said:
I bet downtown calgary's as bad as downtown here and whyte ave!

I think Drivers are bad everywhere, and I find downtown Calgary pretty hard to navigate as well. They are big fans of the one way, just like Edmonton.

choppie said:
but you must have only been in downtown Calgary when you saw all the "yuppies" because everywhere else i go ..... people say hi to me all the time....and they even smile

Perhaps, I did spend a lot of time with oil and gas clients, but overall in the city I just felt that people didn't really give much time of day to anyone else. Course, that's pretty true in most big cities.

As for getting fingered on the whitemud, I'll take that over getting run off the deerfoot. ;)
 

Said1

Hubba Hubba
Apr 18, 2005
5,338
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Das Kapital
I live in Calgary when I was a kid and I liked it much better than Edmonton (only went once :D). I'm sure it's changed a lot over the last 19yrs, but I wouldn't know, since I haven' t been back since we left.
 

choppie

Nominee Member
Mar 24, 2005
99
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I agree with that as well.....I would hate to get run off the Deerfoot....and Crowchild and Glenmore(practically the same now).....but I'm sure people have been run off of Whitemud too.... :? hmm.....maybe we should have a poll about banning driving alltogether....
 

Diamond Sun

Council Member
Jun 11, 2004
1,366
1
38
Within arms reach of the new baby..
Oh, I will give you that the C-Train in Calgary is WAY better than the LRT system in Edmonton. However, they are planning to expand the LRT in Edmonton, then it might be better.

I like your idea of banning driving completely! Let's all bike around! It's better for us, and it's better for our planet!
 

choppie

Nominee Member
Mar 24, 2005
99
0
6
With all the drunk drivers, Edmonton drivers, Calgary drivers.....we should only have public transportation to get us around....Both of our city's are growing so rapidly.....and in all honesty....no one is a good driver anymore.....I would ride my bike to work...everyday...except in - 30.....so I guess that means 2 months out of the year I could ride my bike....and maybe for a week or so in December when a warm chinook blows in.....
 

Travis

New Member
Jul 2, 2005
24
0
1
Alberta for the USA
:x Edmonton has far better parks and recreation than Calgary, and as far as trees in Calgary (what trees), Calgary is mostly brown, ugly and treeless year round. Calgary is cold year round winter and summer, and dry as a desert.

Traffic in Edmoton is not doubt one the best places in the world to drive through, and trains are underground, buses run fast and quick. Calgary forget it!, one of the worst place's to drive through, you will never get anywhere fast (traffic lights everywhere speed and red light cameras everywhere ready to steal your money) and there are not enough roads and only one freeway to drive on making it almost impossible to drive through. Tansit don't even go there, your better off walking or you will freeze your ass off if you don't get mugged.

Resturants in Calgary are always busy, messy, and dirty. Food severs are mean, slow, messy and hate there jobs. Hotels are highly expensive if you can even get a room, and hotel clerks treat you like garbage, your better off going to vegas.
you can't park anywhere in Calgary and downtown you have to empty your wallet to park on the street, never mind your bank accout in a parkade.

Everything is expensive in Calgary and unless your a fat rich oilman your really nothing and treated like nothing.

In Calgary there are bum's and homeless people everywhere, crime is rampant and out of control. You can't walk the steets at night and you can't sleep at night because of all the sireins and police helicopters flying over your head all night.

Every year 10 thousand people move to calgary, (because the economy sucks everywhere else in Canada), making the city a living hell to live in. Most people are under the age of 30 mostly from the east and they hate old people.

The color red is everywhere stampede, flames eveything is red from flags to monuments to public buildings, train stations, red everywhere, there is no other colors just ugly bright bloody red, it goes with the ugly brown grass. it's gross, ugly, and makes me want to puke.

Calgary has no vision or imagination, no other colors in Calgary just red and brown. Calgary has hardly any trees, the buildings are ugly as hell even new ones that go up look even worse (no thought at all in the attractiveness of the design). The new homes in Calgary are all the same and look like match boxs all bunched together no space between them. There is no level ground anywhere in Calgary, your always going either up or down.
The service everywhere is very bad, Calgarians are ugly, mean, and pushy, most people are from the east they are not true westerners, there is no true western spirit or hospitality.

Edmonton is a far better place to live
Travis
 

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,396
94
48
Having lived in both.......Edmonton is a lot more cultured,sophisticated has an excellent University and a great West Edmonton Mall. Calgary is too much of a cowboy town,with excessive US influence.

Glad not to have lived in either for a long time now...... :wink:
 

stratochief

Nominee Member
Jul 1, 2005
53
0
6
I've lived in a few Canadian cities and definitely wouldn't put Calgary in the top 10 cities in Canada to live. It might have made the top ten up until the mid 80's but since then it's deteriorated into a sprawling amorphous mega-suberbia that has all the character of a dead stick. It's a cultural wasteland in search of more pavement, plastic, steel all built around the latest Walmart and Superstore.

I DO like the location of Calgary....that's why I live here. I like being able to get out of the sprawl and in an hour be hiking in the mountains with no one around. I DO like the Calgary weather...great activities in both winter and summer.

My 5 favorite Canadian cities in no particular order:

-Montreal
-Quebec City
-Halifax
-Kingston
-Saskatoon

Edmonton definitely has more soul than Calgary but, unfortunately, the two cities will be indistiguishable in a couple of decades. All that growth means for Calgary is 'more growth' as in:

'let's build a freeway to help with traffic congestion'...only to extend a particular part the city to have another dozen cookie cutter subdivisions pop up within a decade.
 

Hank C Cheyenne

Electoral Member
Sep 17, 2005
403
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16
Calgary, Alberta.
In Calgary there are bum's and homeless people everywhere, crime is rampant and out of control. You can't walk the steets at night and you can't sleep at night because of all the sireins and police helicopters flying over your head all night.

.....ummmm actually Edmonton is a much more violent city than Calgary......Edmonton has more homicides and the area's north of downtown and downtown itself are some of the worst area's in Canada....so compared with Calgary ....I'll take my chances wakling around Calgary anytime.....

...there are some bad area's in Calgary though....Forest Lawn,Dover and southview...pretty much the area directaly east of where freeway 2 and 17th Ave meet......also the extreme east part of downtown is pretty filthy...
 

Semperfi_dani

Electoral Member
Nov 1, 2005
482
0
16
Edmonton
I live in Edmonton..so i voted for Edmonton.
Calgary has always been for me the pit stop to Banff.

But i do have family there (my great uncle was once fire chief of Calgary). And its fine.

Really..both places are to different to really compare. But with that said...

I hear alot that Alberta cities are cold, detached and cultureless. I think that is absolutely false...but when i see the way the country views Alberta, im not surprised by those kind of remarks. The thing is though, you go to any other city, and its all about history, the past and so on. And it is to a certain extent here..but we tend to be forward thinking citizens. So we don't think twice about tearing down historical buildings to make way for new ones.

So don't confuse lack of architecture for lack of culture. If you stay here long enough, you will find it.