How this Calgary Seniors Community is Transforming the Experience of Getting Older

When people reach their retirement years, they often look for ways to enjoy life without the difficulties of looking after the family home, and once they’ve made the transition to an older adult community, they don’t want to move again should they need extra health care. They want to simplify their lives while continuing to enjoy a positive, active lifestyle that encourages health, creativity and lifelong learning.

United Active Living is a senior living and retirement community in Calgary with two locations – Garrison Green and Fish Creek – that champion creativity and lifelong learning by integrating them into their daily offerings. To ensure the
programming is relevant and interesting to residents, many of the programs come from resident suggestions.

Both communities provide residents with the opportunity for emotional, creative and intellectual expression with a full calendar of interesting and informative programming and events every week.

The depth and breadth of opportunity available to each resident encourages active minds, bodies and imaginations, and is a big part of what makes United Active Living unique.

Residents have access to fully equipped art studios that are staffed seven days a week with professional artists who can provide guidance.

“I like to draw, but I’ve never had an art lesson in my life,” says Olive, a United Active Living resident. “When I came here, the creative facilitators introduced me to the art studio, and it turned out I had a natural talent for it!”

Libby, another United Active Living resident, says she has learned so many new things in her community. “The programming is basically over the top,” she says. “I couldn’t ask for more.”

Older adults are looking for a community that values their contributions, that provides a stimulating environment and supports their ongoing health needs. It’s a discussion that should happen when you are still in good health. In other words, make the decision when you want to, not because you have to.

One resident who moved recently into United’s Fish Creek community said, “I was so familiar with my community all my life so moving here was an adjustment, but I can’t say enough about the employees. They’re the most caring, efficient, pleasant, and helpful people.”

United’s large luxurious suites are appointed with everything residents need, and United offers a wide range of lifestyles, from independent living, to assisted living to memory care. A unique aspect is that those living with dementia aren’t separated from the rest of the community. They have the opportunity to take part in everything the communities offer.

That’s because United Active Living approaches aging from a social perspective rather than a medical one. Residents are in control of the programs and their activities. While the medical side is important, the emphasis is on the arts,
socialization and community, which research has shown can go a long way towards improving a person’s health and well-being.

As well, United Active Living believes that living in an older adult community should extend beyond the four walls to include partnerships with arts, cultural and educational institutions such as Mount Royal University, St. Mary’s University, the Calgary Philharmonic and more.

The whole idea of positive aging is to be able to give residents the opportunity to continue to grow and to learn, as well as to be part of a community that’s sees them as valuable contributors.

United Active Living can answer your questions about their unique approach to aging.

Tours can be booked through their website.

Related Topics:#CalgarySeniorsCommunity #FishCreek #GarrisonGreen #RetirementCommunity #SeniorLiving #UnitedActiveLiving

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Alberta

Low oil prices could have big consequences for Alberta’s finances

Published on April 26, 2025

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill

Amid the tariff war, the price of West Texas Intermediate oil—a common benchmark—recently dropped below US$60 per barrel. Given every $1 drop in oil prices is an estimated $750 million hit to provincial revenues, if oil prices remain low for long, there could be big implications for Alberta’s budget.

The Smith government already projects a $5.2 billion budget deficit in 2025/26 with continued deficits over the following two years. This year’s deficit is based on oil prices averaging US$68.00 per barrel. While the budget does include a $4 billion “contingency” for unforeseen events, given the economic and fiscal impact of Trump’s tariffs, it could quickly be eaten up.

Budget deficits come with costs for Albertans, who will already pay a projected $600 each in provincial government debt interest in 2025/26. That’s money that could have gone towards health care and education, or even tax relief.

Unfortunately, this is all part of the resource revenue rollercoaster that’s are all too familiar to Albertans.

Resource revenue (including oil and gas royalties) is inherently volatile. In the last 10 years alone, it has been as high as $25.2 billion in 2022/23 and as low as $2.8 billion in 2015/16. The provincial government typically enjoys budget surpluses—and increases government spending—when oil prices and resource revenue is relatively high, but is thrown into deficits when resource revenues inevitably fall.

Fortunately, the Smith government can mitigate this volatility.

The key is limiting the level of resource revenue included in the budget to a set stable amount. Any resource revenue above that stable amount is automatically saved in a rainy-day fund to be withdrawn to maintain that stable amount in the budget during years of relatively low resource revenue. The logic is simple: save during the good times so you can weather the storm during bad times.

Indeed, if the Smith government had created a rainy-day account in 2023, for example, it could have already built up a sizeable fund to help stabilize the budget when resource revenue declines. While the Smith government has deposited some money in the Heritage Fund in recent years, it has not created a dedicated rainy-day account or introduced a similar mechanism to help stabilize provincial finances.

Limiting the amount of resource revenue in the budget, particularly during times of relatively high resource revenue, also tempers demand for higher spending, which is only fiscally sustainable with permanently high resource revenues. In other words, if the government creates a rainy-day account, spending would become more closely align with stable ongoing levels of revenue.

And it’s not too late. To end the boom-bust cycle and finally help stabilize provincial finances, the Smith government should create a rainy-day account.

Alberta

Governments in Alberta should spur homebuilding amid population explosion

Published on April 26, 2025

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill and Austin Thompson

In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.

Alberta has long been viewed as an oasis in Canada’s overheated housing market—a refuge for Canadians priced out of high-cost centres such as Vancouver and Toronto. But the oasis is starting to dry up. House prices and rents in the province have spiked by about one-third since the start of the pandemic. According to a recent Maru poll, more than 70 per cent of Calgarians and Edmontonians doubt they will ever be able to afford a home in their city. Which raises the question: how much longer can this go on?

Alberta’s housing affordability problem reflects a simple reality—not enough homes have been built to accommodate the province’s growing population. The result? More Albertans competing for the same homes and rental units, pushing prices higher.

Population growth has always been volatile in Alberta, but the recent surge, fuelled by record levels of immigration, is unprecedented. Alberta has set new population growth records every year since 2022, culminating in the largest-ever increase of 186,704 new residents in 2024—nearly 70 per cent more than the largest pre-pandemic increase in 2013.

Homebuilding has increased, but not enough to keep pace with the rise in population. In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.

Moreover, from 1972 to 2019, Alberta added 2.1 new residents (on average) for every housing unit started compared to 3.9 new residents for every housing unit started in 2024. Put differently, today nearly twice as many new residents are potentially competing for each new home compared to historical norms.

While Alberta attracts more Canadians from other provinces than any other province, federal immigration and residency policies drive Alberta’s population growth. So while the provincial government has little control over its population growth, provincial and municipal governments can affect the pace of homebuilding.

For example, recent provincial amendments to the city charters in Calgary and Edmonton have helped standardize building codes, which should minimize cost and complexity for builders who operate across different jurisdictions. Municipal zoning reforms in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer have made it easier to build higher-density housing, and Lethbridge and Medicine Hat may soon follow suit. These changes should make it easier and faster to build homes, helping Alberta maintain some of the least restrictive building rules and quickest approval timelines in Canada.

There is, however, room for improvement. Policymakers at both the provincial and municipal level should streamline rules for building, reduce regulatory uncertainty and development costs, and shorten timelines for permit approvals. Calgary, for instance, imposes fees on developers to fund a wide array of public infrastructure—including roads, sewers, libraries, even buses—while Edmonton currently only imposes fees to fund the construction of new firehalls.

It’s difficult to say how long Alberta’s housing affordability woes will endure, but the situation is unlikely to improve unless homebuilding increases, spurred by government policies that facilitate more development.