• grte@lemmy.caOP
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    1 year ago

    Of course, the stereotype is mostly a product of marketing. Fewer than 100,000 of the ~2 million workers in Alberta are employed in oil and gas. Whereas 1.5 million of them are employed in services of some sort. 81% of Alberta is urban, which is in line with the Canadian average. The average Albertan is pretty much the same as the average Canadian, an underpaid urban service worker. With a small, well paid minority of workers who really mess up the stats.

    • Funderpants @lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      I was in a bar stateside once and met another Canadian, we got to talking about our most and least favourite cities and I mentioned that I find Calgary to be my least favourite major city. She asked why and I told her I find it to be a bit fake, among other things. She asked me what I meant by fake and I told her, ‘In Calgary the Realtors wear cowboy hats on their billboard ads, have you ever seen a Realtor in Halifax wearing a Sou’Wester?’

      Anyway, this is just to agree that the perception is not unearned, their governments and local marketers chose to present them this way.

    • baconisaveg@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      The number of lifted pickup trucks I see driving around 'berta seems to defy that ratio though. Well, that and bald tires.

      • grte@lemmy.caOP
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        1 year ago

        Lots of Albertans buy into the marketing even if an actual assessment of their circumstances would show they aren’t living it.