- Nancy Flight is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Justin Everett is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- John Westover is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Nora Etches is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Edward Henderson is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Bharadwaj Chandramouli is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Dean Chatterson is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Marius Scurtescu is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Robert Parkes is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- James Murton is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Susan Doyle is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Vincent Strgar is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Helen Spiegelman is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Subir Guin is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Kimball Finigan is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Joanne Manley is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- David Leach is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Joel Berger is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Heather Sapergia is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Dittmar Mundel is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
Is Calgary Canada's Top City?
Not by a long shot. At least not yet.
It's always an event when The Economist notices Canada. (Remember when they called us cool? That was awesome!) But I sometimes wonder who feeds the witty and anonymous Economist scribes their Canadian info.
Case in point, the July 26th issue, wherein the magazine addressed Toronto's declining fortunes.
"[F]or the first time in a century," they wrote, "its status as Canada's pre-eminent city is being challenged. The contender is Calgary, in Alberta, the western base of the country's booming energy industry. Though its population is only 1m, it is growing fast. Calgary is building new schools, hospitals and roads and luring corporate head offices."
Right. Listen, Calgary's my hometown. And there's no doubt the place is booming. But it takes more than millionaires, condo kings and the Stampede to make a city great. And while Cow town has plenty of jobs and more Ferrari driving day traders than a Michael Douglas stock exchange flick, the list of what it doesn't have is still pretty long.
For one, despite its many riches, Calgary still cheaps-out on the arts. The city spends way less per capita than do other big Canadian cities. For another, its media scene is flatter than the prairies. The daily broadsheet has yet to recover from the strike that crippled its newsroom in 2000. And the tabloid, well, the tabloid still employs this guy, who can write a straight faced column calling Rob Anders the "rock star of Canadian federal politics. That's the same Rob Anders who voted against giving Nelson Mandela honorary Canadian citizenship and had to rely on heavies from the head office to beat back a challenge from fed up locals.
And sure, Calgary is building new schools, hospitals and roads. But not nearly enough of any of them. The city's population has pretty much doubled in 20 years. And for most of the great dark Klein era, infrastructure spending suffered at the expense of a quixotic debt repayment scheme. So over-clogged roads and overstuffed hospitals will be a reality for years to come.
So when seen from The Economist's London offices, Calgary may look pretty hot. But look a little closer and it's clear the Stampede city still has a long way to go before it approaches anything near great. ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
- Bill C-38: the Environmental Destruction Act
- Canada's Economy, Deconstructed (by a 12 year-old)
- Is the 'Living Wage' Enough?
- What About Just Guaranteeing Everyone a Basic Income?
- Van Dongen No Hero to Me
- Republicans, get in my vagina!
- Tories admit to closing enviro research group because they disliked results
- Does BC Stand for Ban Clotheslines?
- 'Cagey' Clark's Pipeline Prevarications
- I Breast-fed My Preschooler. Big Whoop
- Bill C-38: the Environmental Destruction Act
- Seven Ways to Help Folks Fall in Love with Cycling
- It's no yolk: Breakfast crew share $21.4M Lotto 6-49 jackpot in Ontario
- Is the 'Living Wage' Enough?
- North Island College Cutting Down on Face Time
- Gov't Moving to Keep Farm Disease Outbreaks Secret
- 'The Coca-Cola Case'
- 'Cagey' Clark's Pipeline Prevarications
- Meet BC's 'Changemakers' of Aboriginal Learning
- BC Hydro Management Process Flawed: Internal Audit
- Does Simon Fraser University Need a Men's Centre?
- Seven Ways to Help Folks Fall in Love with Cycling
- Does BC Stand for Ban Clotheslines?
- Tyee Builders Tally: Amazing!
- Celebrating the Difficult Mother
- 'Storage Wars'
- How Our Immune Systems Exaggerate Fear
- Politicians with Hair on Their Faces
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- BC's Emerging Green Faith Movement
10
Login or register to post comments
Booker
4 years ago
Oil towns
I can't think of an oil town anywhere that could ever be considered "great". I suspect it has something to do with the mentality of the people such cities attract. Calgary seems to have a lot more in common with Dallas than with any of the more interesting large American cities. It certainly has economic clout, and at the moment, political power, but as Warnica says, it takes much more than that to be considered a great city. I'm not a huge fan of Toronto, but it is preferable to Calgary in every way, and it is much more of a magnet for creative people.
Grumpy
4 years ago
Well not all infrastructure.........
Quote:
"infrastructure spending suffered at the expense of a quixotic debt repayment scheme. So over-clogged roads........will be a reality for years to come."
Yet Calgary built with LRT and the system is carrying in excess of 222,000 passengers a day. Unlike TransLink, who with great hype and hoopla announce great ridership increases on SkyTrain all the time, yet they refuse to tell how they count ridership!
One thing is for certain, Calgary's LRT cost less than a half to build; costs less than a half to operate; and carries more passengers than SkyTrain.
murdock
4 years ago
boom to bust in one month...
just watch how fast all those millionaires, leave town in the ferrari's with the day traders the day after oil prices crash, or if the LIEberals get elected and Dion enacts that 'green' plan which would make the cost to extract oil from the sands too much for $120/barrel oil...
rac
4 years ago
SkyTrain Ridership
I chatting with someone at TransLink a couple of years ago regarding ridership. He was more than willing to share details and data. Maybe all you have to do is listen and treat them with at least a bit of respect.
I don't remember the details though.
Calgary's initial costs may have been less expensive but maybe not over the long term.
Calgary's mayor said “As the city grows over time, we will need to look into putting the train underground.”
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2007/07/18/4349997.html
G West
4 years ago
Calgary isn't even on the radar as a decent prairie city
Saskatoon is a much better, and far more diverse and culturally alive place than Calgary in its most fevered imagination. And it does it without any of those high-priced pro sports franchises too.
freebear
4 years ago
Calgary Great?
I do not think so!
I have lived in both Calgary and Edmonton.
I preferred Edmonton, it seems to have a soul, whereas Calgary has no soul-it gets in the way of making money!
Soon Calgary will reach Canmore, as houses sprout like mushrooms!
And what happens when the oil & gas runs out-fossil fools?
I also think Calgary will soon face drinking water problems as Alberta is having a fire sale (must remain debt free and rich!) and the environment is being trashed!
And how much will that overpriced house be worth when the Bow River dries up?
MetisGirl
4 years ago
Calgary isn't a great city!
I lived there for eight months in 2002 and was just there visiting friends. There is only one gay and lesbian club, the restaurants are over priced, it's nearly impossible to find organic food or earth friendly cleaners. They still don't have recycling pick-up unless you pay for it, which most Calgarians are too cheap to do. As for the C-train, it runs every 15 minutes in off peak times, which sucks when it's -30. Calgary lives in the moment, future generations be damned! The little used bookstores in Kensington closed because of high rents which is sad.
Chris H
4 years ago
Calgary
"And for most of the great dark Klein era, infrastructure spending suffered at the expense of a quixotic debt repayment scheme."
After visiting last Summer, I have to conclude that Calgary is the ugliest city in Canada I've ever been to. The C-train is ugly and is like a scar running through the city (and if your a transit fan, the expansion of this beast is hilariously slow considering the land is relatively flat). Their downtown is horrible and the convention center is a joke. The little stream that runs by the city is so irrelevant, I wonder why people even make notice of it. On the plus side, their zoo is decent and they have nice malls.
You'd think with all that money in Calgary they'd build up the infrustructure somewhat, but I guess Calgary is more of a city you work in and less a city you live in. The sad thing is that it doesn't have to be that way. Oh well, if there is no political will to make a city worth living in, they shouldn't be surprised at all the people leaving for BC, Ontario, or wherever once their careers are over in Calgary.
Umslopogaas
4 years ago
Calgary Drivers.
If Calgary is so great why does everyone living there try to get to B.C. every weekend? Also, f you lined up all the cars on the planet end to end, some idiot from Calgary would still try to pass them on a double line, on a blind hill, with a blind corner.
Now Fort McMurray, there is growing city, the largest one in Newfoundland they say.
Jack's
4 years ago
the New York of Canada?
Let's (westerners) face it - For better or for worse, Toronto is the "New York" of Canada. Always has and always will be!
Which just proves a city doesn't have to be financially healthy to be great. But is does need culture.