Ambrose: Albertans have a right to be angry

[hobbyguy]

Actual costs of living are hard numbers to get to. Average family expenditures are indeed higher in Calgary, but mostly in the discretionary portions of household budgets. By that I mean categories like "recreation" and "clothing".

Even categories like "food" have discretionary elements - like do you put burgers or steaks on the grill.

Two areas do stand out: shelter and transportation.

Montreal does have a very good transit system, which lowers costs. I suspect though that a good part of the extra transportation costs comes down to discretionary choices like percentage wise, Alberta is the king of pick up trucks (and the big uns at that).

Shelter costs are essentially driven by market real estate prices. Calgary has been, until recently, a "boom" market. Some are saying that prices in Calgary will drop by 10% this year. That would theoretically lower the housing annual expenditure differential from $6,090 to $4,290. I suspect that it will actual drop more than that, as the pressure is off and rental markets will drop as well as vacancy rates climb.

At any rate, yes, Calgary is somewhat more expensive to live in than Montreal, but the real differential is not as high as what you would think. Most of the differential being discretionary. The only real base cost that is not discretionary is in real estate/rental prices. The bulk of the balance can be attributed to discretion, that being if you have more income, you spend more on things like recreation, fancy clothes, steaks, etc.