The Not so Great Things about Living Here

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Last week, I talked about all the things that make the grass green on this side of the fence. But now I must discuss the reality of the many things that make this place not so great.

1) Cost of Living

In the midst of an economic boom last summer, I was in a little pickle of a situation. My rent was ridiculous. Now I know in places like Fort McMurray you can rent places like a Holiday Camper sitting in someone driveway or a basement apartment that only includes a couch and a bathroom for astronomical amount of money. I guess it is what it is, but my first experience living in an oil town was an expensive one but not to that extreme.

Housing can be very volatile as the price follows the up and downs of the economy.

I would also like to bust a myth that keeps going around. The price of fuel. If you live in Southern Alberta or Edmonton chances are you will see lower prices at the pump. Unfortunately, that statement doesn’t hold true for the entire province. Today at my local gas station the price of a liter of regular is 1,14.9$. Compare that to the 1,13.9 in Moncton or 1,19.7 in Halifax and the saving are very minimal.

If you want to look at day-to-day items, I would say they are mostly the same. If you factor our low 5% GST and 0% PST then most items are cheaper.

2) Staff Retention

From fast food restaurants to banks, every employer has the same problem: Keeping their employees. When you have multiple companies fighting for a small number of capable workers there are bound to be people that will jump from one job to another.

Unfortunately this problem is deeper than a few employees jumping from job A to B. Some restaurant owners don’t want to open new locations because they feel they can’t hire the staff to run them.

Therefore, if you want a burger at lunch, you will have to wait. If you want a coffee at 7 am you will have to wait. Some coffee shops drive-thru look more like parking lots and the line-ups inside are often at the door. Imagine Moncton, Halifax or Fredericton with only 3 coffee shops (I won’t tell you the name of this coffee shop, I think you can figure it out for yourselves). There would be madness in the streets I am sure of it.

The labor shortage is somewhat relaxed in the summer when most students are on summer holidays. But I feel very awkward being served by 12 or 13 yr old at a restaurant store or gas bar. Maybe it’s just me but I thought the only jobs acceptable for pre-teens were a paper delivery boy, babysitter maybe even lawn mower. I guess times have changed.

Personally, I see the effects of this problem at my place of employment. When I started working with my employer, our office was staffed with 12 employees. In a few months we fell down to 10, then 8 then 6. I can assure you, our office ran a lot better with 12 employees rather than 6 but that’s the reality of this market.

3) Services

With exploding populations, governments can’t keep up. Most streets are mediocre to poor condition. The main roads are clogged with traffic. There are other numerous issues as well but they are basically the same you would find anywhere else in Canada.

In the end, for me, I felt I had two choices. Stay on the east coast and continue to work at a dead-end job, living a life that I felt was going nowhere. Or, move to Alberta; get a career and my life in the right direction. So far, I'm happy with my decision.