The ads are part of a $2.6 million campaign launched by the Alberta government;  to recruit workers from Toronto and Vancouver.

Province launches ‘Alberta is calling’ talent recruitment campaign | Globalnews.ca

I have heard these ads and in fact, the campaign has been on for more than a week. The idea is to attract younger people with promises of cheaper home affordability, no provincial sales taxes, great scenery and skiing (The Rocky Mountains) and lower gas prices, among other things. 

My brother lives in Calgary and both he and his wife mostly like the place, although they're not fond of any of the respective governments. 

As noted by betaylored, what they don't tell you is that the weather is even worse than Toronto, unless you like a ton of snow and temperatures that can regularly reach -30C or lower, without the wind chill, in the dead of winter.  He tells me almost everyone there has a plug sticking out of their cars - and not because they're electric vehicles. They have to plug them in overnight during the winter to keep the battery warm if they have a hope of starting them in the morning. 

And while Alberta is booming right now thanks to high oil prices, there was a time in the not too distant past when people couldn't find a job because the fossil fuel industry tanked. So I guess a lot depends on what's going on with oil and gas. 

Anyway, to bring this back to radio, apparently you're only hearing the first part of this campaign. A second version will be on stations here across the city in September. 

paterson1 wrote:

No provincial sales tax, cheaper rents and home affordability, great scenery and skiing, lower gas prices, lots of job opportunities etc. would be very appealing to younger people.
 
The weather to me is a moot point.  Alberta also gets chinook winds every winter that melt the snow and gives you a taste of summer like weather for a few days. Two or three chinooks can blow in during the winter months to break up the cold.   Plus young people if they are active don't care as much about the cold weather.  And of course Toronto is a "damp" cold and Alberta is dry.  

Both Edmonton and Calgary are big towns of over one million so they get lots of concerts and have  adequate hustle and bustle but not the headache of never ending gridlock.  And as I mentioned Calgary and also Edmonton are great radio and media towns.  We have all known people over the years that have moved to Alberta or BC and would never move back east.  And others as betaylored mentioned that wanted to come back to Ontario. 

This is a little different advertising campaign, and it will be interesting to see how successful it is and what the second part entails.  Nice to see that they are making radio a big part of the campaign. 

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/rocking-out-3-5-large-acts-a-year-skip-calgary-due-to-saddledomes-drawbacks

quite the list of major acts that skip Calgary, now this is not a recent article and things may have completely changed, my point was it's best to know beforehand it's an entirely different cultural experience

and I agree with you paterson1, it's fantastic they're making radio a big part of the campaign, their timing is smart too, going into fall, fresh starts etc.

Last edited by betaylored (August 25, 2022 12:27 am)