In Victoria BC and Hating every minute of it

[Drewski Canuck]

Weather is 6 - 10 C. Clear and sunny, people are catching winter springs to 15 pds. Grass is green, who wants to start mowing lawns in February anyway!!

Lets face it, if someone could get a well paying job out here and not get taxed to death, it would be hard to live in Alberta

Drewski

[Mudslide]

Thanks: We really needed that. :)

[Walleyes]

Ahhh bite me...

[Daceminnow]

pick some fruit for us while you're out there.

[tyee33]

I hear ya brother.I work for one of the big 4 oil companies in AB and we just lost 5 workers to BC in the last 3 months. CHEAPER, less tax,( property tax) better quality of life for kids. They are flying to work and living the life outside of AB.Im right behind them and moving to Comox in the next year or so.Im not saying that my time in AB has been bad, Im born and raised here, Im AB through and through but Im also smart enough to see whats happening in the oil industry and people are jumping ship to a better life in BC. No -35, longer summers, more pay to fly too and from work, seems to be a trend. Like I say, we just lost 5 good AB born and raised workers to living in BC and those numbers are growing big time. Fishing is better, closer to my door, and I dont have to freeze my ass off to do it, I even will have grapes growing in my back yard. Just my opinion but MR. Stelmac, you had better look at this pretty seriously, the numbers dont lie

[Tofinofish]

I was actually in Victoria today as both of my kids had separate Hockey games there in the same day and the times didn't even conflict..That is a first!!
I do admit, the drive down to Vic from Mid Island was beautiful this A.M. with 0 to +4 all the way with clear sunny skies. Same on the way back, with sweet traveling weather.
Crazy part is, my son and I talked about Alberta hunting next fall, the what if s? and when we mights? etc, and he was also asking how soon we could go ice fishing.
I understand that this is coming from a 12 year old that hasn't had to freeze his stones off working -40 in the patch or any other hardship for that matter, but there are some great things about Alberta that has many B.C. people envious. In B.C. Taxes are tough, weather is better, hunting is not great - at least on the island, rains like a bit**h but we don't have to shovel very often, Fishing is unreal, Gov't sucks........A lot of ups and downs but we are fortunate to have two of the absolute best places/provinces on earth to live, and if you don't like what is happening in one place, you are only a 2 hour flight or 10 hour drive and you can be getting your fill of whatever you think you are missing.
Any of you guys that are relocating or just visiting, I'd be happy to hear from you if you have questions, I do know the island pretty well. I'm sure glad to leave it a few times a year to head to Alberta, but really is a great place to call home.
We'll be floating around a local lake tomorrow A.M. in the pontoon boats looking for Rainbows on the fly, and I'll ask him then if he thinks frozen fingers and shoveling snow would be better?

[Tofinofish]

Forgot to mention that the local Blue Green and White Hockey team isn't too hard to cheer for these days either,,,,

[Trey]

grew up in courtenay comox and i miss it, no work though

[big zeke]

Hmmm, Victoria. Home of newlyweds and nearly deads, no?

I understand this winter has been harsh but for me Lotus land is a place to visit, not live. By the time you get to a place where the weather is consistently nice, the cost of living is a killer. Don't get me wrong, a break from bad weather (regardless of where) makes you question life in a frozen climate.

Zeke

[PERCHY]

Forgot to mention that the local Blue Green and White Hockey team isn't too hard to cheer for these days either,,,,

until it comes playoff time and they blow it again......jk :)

[The Fisherman Guy]

We'll be on the ferry to Duke Point tomorrow night. Glad to hear the grass is already green!!

Anyone feel like taking two Alberians fishing out there for a reasonable price? :evilgrin:

Coombs Candied Salmon, Fanny Bay Oysters, Red Barn Veggies... Oh man OH MAN I cannot wait to have the sea air in my lungs again. Every time I return to the Island I wonder why I don't still live there.

Then I remind myself it's because of the Sedin Sisters and Bobby Lou letting in softie goals; I could NEVER cheer for anything that Crawford has touched.

Jokes, Jokes. Number one team in the NHL. BAH...

[mooseknuckle]

until it comes playoff time and they blow it again......jk :)

But what about all those Stanley cups they won?...... Oh right none.

I always tell the wife if I could combine the beauty of the island with the money of Alberta it would be paradise. Lived there for 5 years right on the ocean near the Cordova bay golf course. $750 month basement suite was pretty reasonable. Now we just vacation there every other year.

[Walleyes]

You are absolutely right Tofinofish, the 2 provinces definitely have some awesome points its hard to decide between the two.

For ourselves in the next few years we plan on spending our winters in A.B. working the patch and we hope to spend our summers on the island doing some charter work,, we will see.. I think its kind of the like the old saying,, The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

The cold really doesn't bother me I quite enjoy it.. I mean its not like its -40 every day our winters are very enjoyable. Give me 3 feet of snow over 3 feet of rain any day,, that gets old pretty fast..

[Topwater]

I hear ya brother.I work for one of the big 4 oil companies in AB and we just lost 5 workers to BC in the last 3 months. CHEAPER, less tax,( property tax) better quality of life for kids. They are flying to work and living the life outside of AB.Im right behind them and moving to Comox in the next year or so.Im not saying that my time in AB has been bad, Im born and raised here, Im AB through and through but Im also smart enough to see whats happening in the oil industry and people are jumping ship to a better life in BC. No -35, longer summers, more pay to fly too and from work, seems to be a trend. Like I say, we just lost 5 good AB born and raised workers to living in BC and those numbers are growing big time. Fishing is better, closer to my door, and I dont have to freeze my ass off to do it, I even will have grapes growing in my back yard. Just my opinion but MR. Stelmac, you had better look at this pretty seriously, the numbers dont lie

Tyee33 I see your in Cold Lake. I dont think calling life in B.C. cheaper then Alberta is fair. From my own experience Cold Lake has the highest property taxes I've ever seen anywhere. The misses and I looked very seriosly into moving there a couple of years ago. One house we looked at the property tax was almost 10grand and you could smell the darn garbage dump. We looked into buying a bare lot in town on the water and the taxes were 3000 for a bare lot. I'm pretty sure that Alberta has the lowest taxes in the country when you factor in income taxes, property taxes etc. I cant argue about the warmer weather.

Steve

[duffy4]

If it weren't for hunting white-tail deer I could live on the Island and fish in the salt-chuck! As it is I'll live in Alberta and make the odd trip out there to drift fish for salmon and others. And watch the eagles wheel over head and smell the salt spray and watch for Orcas in the misty cool mornings...........

[tyee33]

My taxes are outrageous as you mentioned, most Cold Lakers cant understand why we pay more than people in Edmonton or Calgary with 1/2 the services... Been that way for as long as I have been here.As for cheaper here than the island,not true!! We almost put an offer on a home last summer, here is our proof. When we researched the cost, including the utilities, I couldn't believe the difference. They dont pay $90 a month for water and recycling, I do, water is part of the annual property tax, they heat a house with electrical other than natural gas, now as the temperatures are no where near what I get in Cold Lake, a one month electrical bill was 1/2 of what I pay, (thanks to deregulation of power).A heat pump is used to circulate water for heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.I wouldn't have to use my air conditioner at all.As electric is the main source of heat and its no where as cold, goodbye my 140 month gas bills.A 400k home in Courtney is a 500K home in Cold Lake. You will only pay HST on NEW homes, not older.And yes, a pair of jeans at the West Ed mall cost the same as Eaton's place in Toronto or any shop in Victoria.A block of cheese doesn't cost me $12 like what I pay here. All in all, probably a $300/month savings on what I pay in Cold Lake, PLUS I get to do exactly what I do now for a job and live almost on the ocean, ski in my back yard.No brainer, seen far to many of my coworkers leave and rave about it. Me nor my family would not jump ship without doing a pretty good review, I just do not want to be the last one on my crew not fishing on the ocean on my days off, we will see what happens..

[Scott h]

If you can find work it's not such a bad place to live:)
I jumped ship from Calgary years back and it's been a great move so far. That doesn't mean I haven't thought about going back on occasion. My wife says she'll miss me if I do !!! Having family to go back and hunt with sure helps. It makes a good trade for them to come stay at the place in the Charlottes in exchange for a little upland hunting east of Calgary. It's not all fun and games tho. I just spent a good part of the weekend getting the spring yard work done.
:sHa_shakeshout:

[Jwood 456]

If I could find good paying employment around Victoria, I would be cutting grass in Febury instead of shovelling and blowing 2ft of snow in Alberta.:sHa_sarcasticlol:

It would also be really cool to be able to be minutes away from the ocean where I could catch 100+pound halibut.:sHa_shakeshout:

[Tofinofish]

We'll be on the ferry to Duke Point tomorrow night. Glad to hear the grass is already green!!

Anyone feel like taking two Alberians fishing out there for a reasonable price? :evilgrin:

Coombs Candied Salmon, Fanny Bay Oysters, Red Barn Veggies... Oh man OH MAN I cannot wait to have the sea air in my lungs again. Every time I return to the Island I wonder why I don't still live there.

Then I remind myself it's because of the Sedin Sisters and Bobby Lou letting in softie goals; I could NEVER cheer for anything that Crawford has touched.

Jokes, Jokes. Number one team in the NHL. BAH...

I'm about a week away form having a boat back in the water, otherwise I'd make you an offer on getting you out there for some Salmon action.

I did say it was easier to cheer for the Blue Green and White, but not a reason to be brainwashed to absolutley believe this is the year.....They have a great track record of crapping the bed...:budo:

[Drewski Canuck]

I have pictures of daffodils from the Sannich pool from sunday if anyone is interested. Yes, the hunting in southern BC and most of the south part of the island is pretty pathetic. As for taxes in BC, you will never get rich unless you know a politician, apparently, or have a grow op. In the mean time, I look forward to 18 years from now when my youngest daughter should be finished University, and think about what BC will be like then. Right now, you can find some really cheap real estate on the island, and maybe there will be a tree finally ready to harvest to support local industry.

Alberta has pretty much poached all the head offices from BC, and all the skilled workers. Alberta runs their opil patch, and will build a pipeline network to ship the stuff to China direct from Alberta. I hope in the next BC & Alberta Provincial Election some party puts forward the proposal of amalgamating the two provinces, so I don't feel so guilty about leaving Alberta, and I still will be able to come home to do all the things I love about Alberta. Until then, I will just have to be part of the Alberta Migration every summer.

Drewski

[Peace Country]

I just spent 4 weeks in Victoria, we rented a furnished house in View Royal what nice way to spend a month in the mid winter, green grass and flowers. Both Provinces have their good and bad points I lived in Campbell River for 6 years before I come back to Alberta and now I have the itch to spend the winters thier and maybe more time.

[Jwood 456]

If I could find good paying employment around Victoria, I would be cutting grass in Febury instead of shovelling and blowing 2ft of snow in Alberta.:sHa_sarcasticlol:

It would also be really cool to be able to be minutes away from the ocean where I could catch 100+pound halibut.:sHa_shakeshout:

Hmmm, I guess a couple of disadvantages of to the southern part of the island is that there wouldn't be as much places to drive my ATVs, and I probably wouldn't be able to grouse hunt either. I also love watching the intense thunder storms that occur in my area every summer, and on the island, there probably wouldn't be any of these awesome thunder storms to watch.:thinking-006:

[fluxcore]

I was born in Campbell River and raised on the Island and if I could find decent work there I would have never left. I miss the incredible steel head fishing throughout the warm winter, being the only one fishing mountain lakes full of trout, mushroom picking in the fall, salmon fishing in the ocean as well as the rivers and golfing in march. Oh well work in Alberta has been the tits so I can always use some of the extra money I make here and vacation there.

[tyee33]

or in my case, move there and continue working here, win win situation.Not a hunter so that doesnt really appeal to me, cost of living and poor quality of life here is what is driving me to move to the island, lost 2 more workers this month to B.C. and they will never come back from what they say.Work here, live there is the way the patch is moving too, atleast in my job classification anyway

[fluxcore]

or in my case, move there and continue working here, win win situation.Not a hunter so that doesnt really appeal to me, cost of living and poor quality of life here is what is driving me to move to the island, lost 2 more workers this month to B.C. and they will never come back from what they say.Work here, live there is the way the patch is moving too, atleast in my job classification anyway

I'm a manufacturing coordinator In Red Deer and its a shop day to day job so commuting from BC is impossible, sounds like you got a good thing going I'm jealous.

[Fishfinder]

I would move to Courtney/Comox area in a heartbeat if I could find work there. Super cheap and such a beautiful area with tons of gr8 fishing! Would like to retire there but will likely retire in the interior of BC, as by that time, the island will be non existent:sHa_sarcasticlol:JK....