Meanwhile, In Oil Country…

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• I guess it may depend on where you live in Alberta.

  My experience in Edmonton (as boring of a city as it is) has not been really negative, I think the perception of people in Ontario about Alberta is just as wrong as the perecption Albertans have of Ontario.

  Besides, have a look at these photos.

• Alberta's a fine place -- I have a number of friends from Calgary, Canmore and Edmonton. It's just that a number of Alberta-oriented online communities really have it in for Ontario and especially Toronto, but I'm certain that a number of Toronto-based hipsters see Alberta as some kind of redneck asylum.

  Yup, it is gorgeous out there. I was last in Alberta at the start of 2004 with Wendy attending Ashley Bristowe's and Chris Turner's wedding. Ashley, whom I met in my days at Crazy Go Nuts University, is a Calgary native.

• My biggest complaint with Alberta is that they have no clue on how to design cities though (okay, that's a north american desease).

  I though that Edmonton was bad, but then I drove through Calgary by daylight and was grinding my teeth

  On the plus side: Rogers Path is really nice (warning 40MB .MOV file, requires VLC or QT7).

  Personally, after living for a couple of years in Toronto, I have to say I like the West better.... Less people, more outdoors, though I still have to wonder at times when people are surprised to see a wild animal out there.

  I was going to a training camp for the Death Race and one of the girls there freaked out because she saw Cougar prints on the trail (and bear droppings too).

• One thing I forgot: The Western Standard is an odd thing anyways, I bought a copy when I first got to Edmonton (never had it seen before), and I lay almost laughing under the table at Starbucks when I was reading it.

  Those guys really just want to "stick it to the men" it is sort of the counter culture to the counter culture and they can't even argue straight (something they have a bit in common with the official counter culture).

  In essence they want to "stick it to the man" which would be the man in Ottawa this case (and of course nasty Toronto because all the banks are they and they only want to grab Albertas Oilmoney).

  Interestingly enough, most people I work with don't really think that a Western "independence" (with Alberta and BC) would work, nor are they really interested in it.

  Only my doctor thinks it would be a good idea, but I didn't had time yet to figure out what he hopes to get by doing it.

  Really, the funniest thing about this for me is the thought that the oilpatch is a "birthright" for Albertans, ultimatly they didn't originate here either (couple of generations back).

  But that's just the lefty in me speaking ;)

• Hey. I'm late to this conversation, so I'll keep it brief.

  80% of the people who live in Alberta now are from other places in Canada, most notably Ontario. Part of the audience for the snarkiness of this kind of cartoon comes from all these money-anaesthetised economic migrants who are thrilled to have their pink, three bedroom split level in the soulless outer suburbs of Calgary. It's a kind of sadistic, "...Suckers!", eating their own tail. I know some seriously western-centric Ontariophobes here in Alberta, and to a one they're economic migrants, retroactively bitter that they didn't have access to the brass ring in central/eastern Canada, and now living large on the oil economy.

  I could go on, but I'm frothing at the mouth and should back away from the computer now. I love Ontario. I live here because I'm from here. If my parents were in Ontario, I'd live in TO. But having a kid, I need the support that comes with having family in town (and down the alley - Brother John), period.

  Best, Ash