Saskatchewan!, the provincial government's advertising campaign geared to recruit out-of-province residents, has one former Alberta family raising exclamation marks of its own.
"Maybe they meant for only the rich to come here!" said Tracy Mercier, who was lured to Saskatoon from Edmonton by the ads.
Photograph by : SP Photo by Richard Marjan
Mercier along with her husband, Sohel Arifin, are surprised by Saskatchewan's lower wages, lack of day-care spaces and rental housing shortage, while the provincial government is touting Saskatchewan's "red hot" economy, career opportunities and low cost of living.
Mercier and Arifin were planning to move from Edmonton with their daughter because of rising costs when they first saw the government-sponsored Saskatchewan! ads in April. Mercier researched the cost of living in Saskatchewan on the promotional website, www.saskatchewan.ca, using the cost of living calculator the site provides.
The cost of living calculator allows people to look at the cost of living in specific cities in Canada and compare them with the price tag of living in Saskatoon. The calculator breaks down the annual costs of income tax, tax rebates, health premiums, retail tax, gas tax, rent, auto insurance, telephone and electricity.
The family decided it would be advantageous to move to Saskatchewan, and did so, on Aug. 1.
They weren't expecting "the red carpet" treatment, Mercier said, but they are stressed with the reality of living here.
Arifin has taken a cut in wages. He earned $16 an hour in Edmonton and now has taken a job with a different company in Saskatoon for $10 an hour.
According to Statistics Canada, in 2005 the average family income in Alberta was $71,000, while Saskatchewan families averaged $56,300. The government website doesn't mention this income disparity while it promotes Saskatchewan's low cost of living.
Mercier is a trained child-care provider and, ironically, she can't look for a job in her profession because there are no day-care spots for her own child.
The family's monthly income has dropped by $2,000 -- a loss of $24,000 a year -- since the move because Mercier is now a stay-at-home mom.
The family was also surprised at the cost of rent. According to the website, average rent for a single person in Saskatoon for a year is $5,742, which works out to about $480 a month.
The website doesn't show estimated rental costs for families. Instead, it assumes families making $50,000 a year are homeowners, estimating annual mortgage costs at slightly more than $7,000.
Saskatoon property manager Tony Chew said the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment for his properties in Saskatoon is about $600 a month.
Mercier said they pay $689 a month for their two-bedroom west side apartment. A rent increase was just announced in their building, so when their lease runs out they will pay $839 a month, putting a kink in her plans to go back to school.
Mercier said part of her family's struggle in Saskatchewan is because she and her husband don't have set careers yet.
Warren McCall, the province's minister of advanced education and employment, is responsible for the campaign. He said the housing situation is of concern, but added the numbers on the website in the utilities, and auto insurance categories are correct and up to date.
McCall said there is always a bit of a lag when dealing with statistics, but the government is trying to be as responsive as possible.
"Saskatchewan is happening. It's a bit hard to keep up sometimes with how fast it is happening," he said.
McCall said in an interview Friday the numbers for housing on the site should be "updated in a matter of days."
Mercier says she and her family will stick it out here regardless. She says they don't want to move anywhere else and risk getting tangled in another boom.
"It seems to be going everywhere we move," she said, referring to their last move from Montreal to Edmonton.