About Calgary

Calgary is home to around one million people and is located in Southern Alberta, on the western boundary of the Canadian prairies.



Clean and attractive, with a modern, tempting downtown, Calgary is just an hour's drive from the Rocky Mountains. The Rockies, rising majestically in the western sky, form a dramatic backdrop to the city while the Bow River forms a centrepiece as it meanders through the city centre.

Calgary basks in a generous amount of annual sunshine and has low rainfall - indeed rainfall is so low that Calgary is semi-arid, leading to a somewhat brown landscape.

Like other prairie cities Calgary has long, cold winters. Unlike most Canadian cities, Calgary benefits from warm Chinook winds from the Rockies, bringing some mild days in winter.

Most of Canada's large oil industry in centred in Alberta and Calgary has benefited enormously from oil money, transforming it into one of Canada's wealthiest cities.

Calgary's economy has not benefited solely from oil money. Businesses have flocked to Calgary because small businesses in Alberta pay just 16 percent tax. There is no sales tax in Alberta, so businesses don't have the administrative burden of collecting it and consumers benefit from cheaper shopping.

Calgary is growing quickly and it can seem at times that there will never be an end to new suburban residential developments and road building.

Culturally, with cowboy boots, cowboy hats and rodeos, Alberta is aligned very much with the United States. Alberta's government pursues more free-market economic policies than other Canadian provinces - whose people sometime poke fun at Albertans, and Calgarians in particular, as "rednecks".

Calgary has outstanding parkland featuring jogging paths and cycle ways and is a very clean city. In 2004, Mercer Consulting carried out a quality of life survey of the world's cities. They concluded that Calgary has the cleanest environment of any major city in the world.

Calgary has a good public transport system. The c-train (a light railway) is reliable and takes commuters from the suburbs into downtown Calgary. In downtown Calgary you can travel free on the c-train. Outside downtown, there are free park-and-ride car-parks for buses and for the c-train.

Ironically, Calgary's success in attracting new businesses and new people has become one of its biggest problems. The city's infrastructure has begun falling behind its rapid population growth, leading to traffic jams at peak times. House construction has outpaced school construction and some children have long journeys to school.

Homes in Calgary are priced competitively compared with Vancouver or Toronto. As a result, owing to relatively high salaries, Calgary's residents enjoy a higher standard of living than residents of these other cities do. There are, however, fewer cultural outlets such as art galleries and theatres in Calgary than in the larger cities.

Alberta is a huge province with a tiny population, so it's very easy to get in the car and head off somewhere beautiful and quiet.

The vastness of the territory leads some migrants to feel Calgary is isolated - an island city in the middle of a vast prairie. Unlike Toronto, there are no other sizeable towns and cities nearby. It's also a long, long way from the sea or sizeable lakes.

On the other hand, summer or winter, sports opportunities abound in Calgary and there are fantastic winter sports facilities at Canada Olympic Park.

Calgary's "best" areas are in the North West and South West of the city. The South East and North East are quite industrial in comparison.

Most migrants, provided they can cope with the cold winters, find Calgary offers an extremely attractive lifestyle.