Thinking about a big move.

firstdoo

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

you can get a nicer house in Sparwood for about 350.

i think I’ve looked at every house that’s on the market in Sparwood and Elkford on MLS already. All of the lots look larger than what we get in town in Stony Plain. Looks like there are a few new builds that have been on the market for quite a while.

What are the schools like for kids? Anyone have kids currently enrolled in the schools in both Sparwood and Elkford?
 
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firstdoo

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Curious to see how many S&M's are living in the Sparwood area and how many are employed with Teck. If theres any Teck guys on here would you mind shooting me a pm?
 

LUCKY 7

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Throttleopps is a teck guy and lives in Elkford. he should be on his 2nd day on today.
Curious to see how many S&M's are living in the Sparwood area and how many are employed with Teck. If theres any Teck guys on here would you mind shooting me a pm?
 

firstdoo

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

What else is there in Sparwood other than Teck? Are they the main employer and all other companies are support/contractors? Keep in mind I'm a Millwright/Industrial Mechanic
 

LBZ

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

What else is there in Sparwood other than Teck? Are they the main employer and all other companies are support/contractors? Keep in mind I'm a Millwright/Industrial Mechanic
Not sure if mountain mechanical runs millrights or not but they are up there. There is another contractor that does electrical work that might have millrights also but can't remember who exactly that is. Apex maybe???
 

skegpro

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Wonder when the BC NDP will carry on with the Leap Manifesto and close all the coal mines in BC?

Then houses will be cheap in Sparwood and Elkford.
 
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firstdoo

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Wonder when the BC NDP will carry on with the Leap Manifesto and close all the coal mines in BC?

Then houses will be cheap in Sparwood and Elkford.


Don't scare me before I can get my application in.
 

skegpro

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Don't scare me before I can get my application in.
Just being honest with yeah.
Those crazy kunts did it in Alberta and it seems that Horgan and his band of morons are just spooling up.
 

catinthehat

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Another option in the area is Skookumchuck Pulp. They have a fairly high turnover right now because a lot of us are hitting the 25-30 year mark and are retiring. It was a good place to work but doesn't pay as much as the mines. The best tradeoff is most of the maintenance department work 4-10's. All dayshift and 3 day weekends.
 

LUCKY 7

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Job Global is now called Komatsu and is located in Sparwood and they took over the Finning shop. Sms is in Elkford. Finning is strictly on site only now. No shop or parts at all. All three are here for Teck and the odd smaller customer. I heard Headwater is expanding into this area is apparently building a shop but I have not seen it started.
What else is there in Sparwood other than Teck? Are they the main employer and all other companies are support/contractors? Keep in mind I'm a Millwright/Industrial Mechanic
 

firstdoo

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Just being honest with yeah.
Those crazy kunts did it in Alberta and it seems that Horgan and his band of morons are just spooling up.

That’s an inaccurate statement. The Alberta NDP’s aren’t closing down the coal mines, they are shutting down the coal fired generating stations (power plants). I’ve had a few frank discussions with Deron Bilous, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade, and the Alberta NDP want to lower the carbon emissions in Alberta by removing coal as a power source. I was told by him that “we do not want coal to be burned in Alberta, but if it is burned in other provinces and counties than it is out of their control and does not affect Alberta’s carbon foot print, even if the coal that is burned is mined from Alberta soil.” So the Alberta NDP is perfectly fine with having coal mined and shipped from Alberta as long as it’s not burned in Alberta.

I hope i didn’t just derail my info thread on a possible move to Sparwood.
 
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skegpro

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

That’s an inaccurate statement. The Alberta NDP’s aren’t closing down the coal mines, they are shutting down the coal fired generating stations (power plants). I’ve had a few frank discussions with Deron Bilous, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade, and the Alberta NDP want to lower the carbon emissions in Alberta by removing coal as a power source. I was told by him that “we do not want coal to be burned in Alberta, but if it is burned in other provinces and counties than it is out of there control and does not affect Alberta’s carbon foot print, even if the coal that is burned is mined from Alberta soil.” So the Alberta NDP is perfectly fine with having coal mined and shipped from Alberta as long as it’s jot burned in Alberta.

I hope i didn’t just derail my info thread on a possible move to Sparwood.
Interesting.

And yes you probably did.

I'd get the fawk outta here if I still worked in the oilfield, nothing left in Alberta.
Gonna be a long time to the next boom.

Can't believe I am saying this but have you considered the states?
 

LUCKY 7

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

From what I have heard teck will do a phone interview first then if they want a face to face interview they will pay for you to come down. If you do get a interview and want a tour guide let me know.
 

firstdoo

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Interesting.

And yes you probably did.

I'd get the fawk outta here if I still worked in the oilfield, nothing left in Alberta.
Gonna be a long time to the next boom.

Can't believe I am saying this but have you considered the states?

I haven’t considered the states. Unfortunately the NDP put together a list of occupations that excluded TFW’s (a TFW is any worker that is from a foreign country including the USA) and that list includes Millwrights. I do know that the US administration has made the process for obtaining a work visa (green card) very difficult over the last 14 months as seen by the nurses that cross the boarder for there job down east and actually live in Ontario commuting every day. A lot of them had a hard time renewing their visas (if they we renewed). Quite a few were rejected unless they were a nurse practitioner. With Alberta excluding Millwrights for a work visa from foreigners it quite possible that the US may have done the same thing to us.

That being said, I’m not sure I would be interested in living in the states. I like Alberta but the more time I spend in BC the more I want to spend time there with my family, all the time. It could offer the best of everything that me and my family are looking for.
 

firstdoo

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

From what I have heard teck will do a phone interview first then if they want a face to face interview they will pay for you to come down. If you do get a interview and want a tour guide let me know.

That sounds great. If I do get a call/interview I’ll definitely take you up on the tour offer. Thanks again.
 
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skinnybitch

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Ive been trying to convince my wife to move to the mountains, it is a huge choice but so far everyone we have talked to that has moved from an Alberta city to BC has loved the choice they made. Im trying to get her to move to Valemount, so a really small town but we have property there so it just makes sense. I work overseas so finding a job wouldn't matter it would just be the choice of up rooting and being a 5 hour drive from our family and friends.

Worst case scenario you can always move back if its a disaster and you hate it. But if you don't take the chance you might end up always regretting not giving it a go.

We also have a place in Vtown and I would love to move there. If we could trade our home in the village for a nice acreage we would be rather tempted as my husband has said that he would be okay with working shift work in Alberta or even going overseas again himself. It could get interesting when they start breaking ground for the resort too! I certainly wouldn't mind a change of scenery and pace from the patch here and the good friends that we have would not mind the 4-1/2 hour drive to come and visit and ride!
 

Summit 934

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Just to clarify the coal that Teck mines here in the Elk Valley is used for making steel, not power generation or heating.
 

HotShotHarry

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

That is correct. All the Teck mines in the valley are metalurgical coal, whereas the mines that may face closures in Alberta are the thermal coal mines.
 

LBZ

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Job Global is now called Komatsu and is located in Sparwood and they took over the Finning shop. Sms is in Elkford. Finning is strictly on site only now. No shop or parts at all. All three are here for Teck and the odd smaller customer. I heard Headwater is expanding into this area is apparently building a shop but I have not seen it started.
That's interesting considering Fording and I believe Greenhills both got rid of Headwater on site as everyday contractor help. Which really sucks as they were really good. Would be great to have them back fulltime.
 

LUCKY 7

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

its just a rumour but it wouldn't surprise me as they are after work that Finning used to do. maybe its not true but time will tell.
That's interesting considering Fording and I believe Greenhills both got rid of Headwater on site as everyday contractor help. Which really sucks as they were really good. Would be great to have them back fulltime.
 
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