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Surrealplaces

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Just want to say, that hopefully this doesn't turn into a hate Toronto thread, as it's meant to be more of a discussion about the pros of living in Calgary.
 
I jokingly say to friends, tell me about a great city and I'll tell you why Calgary is better. Only thing this city really lacks is a truly vibrant culture scene, I have a hard time arguing its culture scene is better than most places. But I do think it is there, just maybe not the BEST!
 
Does this count as a pro?
When I shovelled my driveway for a second time today at lunch, it was heavier and wetter, giving me some extra exercise that this mornings light and fluffy 6" of snow failed to provide....... ;)

Perhaps not the best day to ask people what they love about Calgary.....
 
“I returned to Toronto in September for a wedding and was immediately hit by the humidity, the crowds, the traffic. Something had shifted: My former home felt foreign.”

I remember having this same feeling when I returned to Toronto for the first time after moving to Calgary.

I love Toronto, and will always look back fondly on my time there! I miss the lake and days spent sailing or at the beach. I miss it’s neighborhoods and dazzling skyline. I miss its bars, restaurants, sports teams, festivals, and arts and music scene. I miss its museums and attractions. I miss being able to get direct flights to so many destinations. I miss my friends!

But as much as I miss all those things, I’m happy with what I have gained in Calgary. Owning a home in an inner city neighborhood was way out of reach in Toronto. Financially, my wife and I are a decade ahead of where we would have been had we not moved from Toronto 5 years ago. Quality of life is so much better too! Calgarians have a better work life balance, and it’s so much easier to be active year round here (cycling, mountain biking, hiking, skiing, outdoor hockey rinks, etc.). I will also never complain about traffic in Calgary! My tolerance is too high after living in Toronto.

Toronto was great in my youth, and I would recommend it to anyone in their 20’s and early 30’s looking for career opportunities and wanting to make friends (Toronto gets flak for being unfriendly, but I think it’s such a great city for meeting people and making friends). But Calgary is exceedingly better if you have a family and want to be able to get ahead financially.
 
I jokingly say to friends, tell me about a great city and I'll tell you why Calgary is better. Only thing this city really lacks is a truly vibrant culture scene, I have a hard time arguing its culture scene is better than most places. But I do think it is there, just maybe not the BEST!
There is a cultural scene, but it’s still in development. I do believe Calgarys’s cultural, seen has made leaps and bounds from what it was 20 years ago and though we still have work to go, we’re heading in the right direction.
 
I jokingly say to friends, tell me about a great city and I'll tell you why Calgary is better.
In my mind, the main sign that Calgary has really become a *great* city is when Calgarians stop talking about how great their city is and start complaining about how much better it was a decade ago.

I have a similar view of the two cities as @adamyyc. The one thing that would bring me back to Toronto (once my kids have grown up) is the walkability of the city. Sure, parts of Calgary are becoming increasingly easy to live without a car. But nothing in this city will ever compare with the experience of walking down one of Toronto's many main streets. You could spend a day or more just walking from one end of Bloor/Danforth to the other (or Queen, King, College, Yonge, etc, etc, etc) and you will never be bored. It's probably what made me become interested in cities in the first place.
 
In my mind, the main sign that Calgary has really become a *great* city is when Calgarians stop talking about how great their city is and start complaining about how much better it was a decade ago.
I don’t know if I agree 100%. I get where you’re coming from, but on the other hand, once people start to complain about how good it used to be better, maybe it was actually better at the time.

Overall though, these articles are merely opinion pieces, and nothing more. I could write up 100 different articles all with different opinions and different slants, 50 articles on why people would rather live in Toronto, and another 50 articles on why people would rather live in Calgary.
Another thing I find is there are always pros and cons, even people who would rather live in one city, or the other will still find things they like about each city.

I don’t know if there’s any point to these city versus city articles other than I guess they help sell newspapers.
 
I don’t know if I agree 100%. I get where you’re coming from, but on the other hand, once people start to complain about how good it used to be better, maybe it was actually better at the time.
My statement was about 50% joking and 50% serious. There's a kind of aspirational boostism in Calgary that can seem almost defensive, like it's masking a sense of inferiority. On the other hand, it is really nice to be living in a city that feels unambiguously that it's future will be better than its past.
 
My statement was about 50% joking and 50% serious. There's a kind of aspirational boostism in Calgary that can seem almost defensive, like it's masking a sense of inferiority. On the other hand, it is really nice to be living in a city that feels unambiguously that it's future will be better than its past.
I can see that, and there's a bit of both sides in Calgary I think. Calgary's a city that has attracted a lot of people from other parts of Canada over the years and it's common to hear about the things that are better in other cities, while at the same time there have been good things to boast about in Calgary. Before the days of forums and social media, I never had strong of opinions on Calgary or any other city really. After being on SSP for a while, I was convinced everyone in Canada hated all cities or provinces in Canada except their own. lol.

Here in Calgary it seems like people boast about the city as soon they get the chance, often because they're tired of hearing about how much better other places are, and then there are people who consistently point out the negative things about Calgary often because they're tired of hearing how great Calgary is. It becomes an endless cycle. Just my observations.
 
But as much as I miss all those things, I’m happy with what I have gained in Calgary. Owning a home in an inner city neighborhood was way out of reach in Toronto. Financially, my wife and I are a decade ahead of where we would have been had we not moved from Toronto 5 years ago. Quality of life is so much better too! Calgarians have a better work life balance, and it’s so much easier to be active year round here (cycling, mountain biking, hiking, skiing, outdoor hockey rinks, etc.). I will also never complain about traffic in Calgary! My tolerance is too high after living in Toronto.

Toronto was great in my youth, and I would recommend it to anyone in their 20’s and early 30’s looking for career opportunities and wanting to make friends (Toronto gets flak for being unfriendly, but I think it’s such a great city for meeting people and making friends). But Calgary is exceedingly better if you have a family and want to be able to get ahead financially.
I'm the same way. I love Toronto, and naturally there are things I miss, but I also like it here in Calgary. I have a good life here and like you, I am able to live in an inner city home, with a couple of kids. Work is a 10 minute drive, 15 minutes bus ride or a 20 minute bike ride. I would never be able to pull that off in Toronto. The access to outdoor lifestyle is great, etc. The pace is slower and I find people in the city are generally friendlier than Toronto, but I also agree though that Toronto is friendlier than people make it out to be. I usually cringe when I hear people gripe about Toronto. If you take away the high cost of housing, it's a pretty good place to live and of course there's things I miss from Toronto as well. for example, It would be nice to have a Cambodian restaurant in Calgary.
 
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I'm the same way. I love Toronto, and naturally there are things I miss, but I also like it here in Calgary. I have a good life here and like you, I am able to live in an inner city home, with a couple of kids. Work is a 10 minute drive, 15 minutes bus ride or a 20 minute bike ride. I would never be able to pull that off in Toronto. The access to outdoor lifestyle is great, etc. The pace is slower and I find people in the city are generally friendlier than Toronto, but I also agree though that Toronto is friendlier than people make it out to be. I usually cringe when I hear people gripe about Toronto. If you take away the high cost of housing, it's a pretty good place to live and of course there's things I miss from Toronto as well. for example, It would be nice to have a Cambodian restaurant in Calgary.
Not to be a nitpick, but I have found the Cambodian restaurants in Toronto, to be more like Thai or Vietnamese places with a few somewhat Cambodian dishes on the side. Of course Calgary doesn't have anything close to Cambodian, so I shouldn't complain about Toronto. Vancouver has a place that is legit Cambodian, or at least they used to 10 years ago.
 
A Cambodian place would be awesome. I've had it a couple of times and both times it was great.
 
There are a few Khmer places in town but they all have either Thai or Viet menus with Cambodian dishes as well. Makes sense given the popularity of those cuisines. This place is legit: https://goo.gl/maps/hVqreh9XWawnnXiv9.
I'll have to check it out. I've only had it a couple of times. One of the places I know the owners were from Cambodia and the dishes were authentic, or so I was told from the Cambodian dude that took me there. Fish Amok, is one of the main dishes, if they have that I'll be happy.
 

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