r/YYC

Hey everyone,

I live in the northeast area of calgary and I’m looking to start playing some sports like basketball, badminton, volleyball, or honestly anything active. I’m completely new and have basically zero experience, so this is more about learning, having fun, and meeting good people.

If anyone is also a beginner or doesn’t mind playing with a fresher, let me know. Would be cool to make a small group and play regularly after work or on weekends.

No toxic competition — just good vibes, learning, fitness, and fun 🙌
It will be great to hear. I am open up for any suggestions.

Hey everyone!

I’m starting a small volunteer filmmaking group in Calgary to create weekly action short films, and I’m looking for people ages 18–20 who want to join.

🎥 Filming officially starts May 22
💻 First cast & crew Zoom meeting: May 21

We’ll be filming:
• Action short films
• Cinematic outdoor scenes
• Chases & fight choreography
• Behind-the-scenes content

I’m currently looking for:
• Actors
• Camera operators
• Sound helpers
• Production assistants
• behind the scenes camera operators
• Someone interested in coordinating action/fight scenes

No experience required — beginners are welcome.

📅 Schedule
• Wednesday evening planning Zoom calls
• Filming most weekends:
– Friday evenings
– Saturday daytime
– Sunday daytime

📻 What you need to bring
• Your own lunch & dinner
• FRS radio + headset
• Phone/tablet/laptop to view weekly call sheets
• Comfortable outdoor clothing

Everyone signs volunteer & safety paperwork and we use weekly call sheets to keep shoots organized.

Goal is to build a fun creative filmmaking group and make cool short films together 🎬

If this sounds interesting, comment or send me a DM!

Jason Nixon, Alberta's Minister of Assisted Living and Social Services, oversees two programs that now exist in direct financial relationship to each other.

The first: AISH (Assured Income for Severely Handicapped). As of July 1, 2026, most AISH recipients will be moved to ADAP — Alberta Disability Assistance Program. Maximum benefit drops from $1,901/month to $1,740/month. That is a $200-per-month reduction for roughly 70,000 disabled Albertans. The government's projected savings: approximately $96 million annually. As a percentage of Alberta's $79-billion budget, that is 0.12 per cent. One-tenth of one per cent.

The second: shelter funding and contracted recovery services. The Mustard Seed — the Calgary-based homeless and addiction-services charity founded by Jason Nixon's father, Pat Nixon, in 1984 — received approximately $8 million per year in government funding from 2017 to 2020. Under the UCP, after Jason Nixon and his brother Jeremy (who held the same ministerial portfolio until May 2023) entered cabinet, that funding rose to an average of $23 million per year from 2021 to 2024. In fiscal 2024 alone, The Mustard Seed received $27.1 million in government funding — 45 per cent of the charity's total revenue. That increase happened in real time, as AISH recipients began reporting increased housing instability.

Here is the mechanical logic: when you cut income support by $200/month for 70,000 disabled people, some portion of those people become unable to afford housing. They move into shelters or crisis accommodation. Those shelters are operated by organizations like The Mustard Seed. The Mustard Seed's beds fill. The Mustard Seed applies for more government funding. Jason Nixon's ministry — the same ministry that cut AISH — approves expanded funding to The Mustard Seed.

On October 16, 2023, Jason Nixon stood at a Mustard Seed facility in Calgary and personally announced $762,702 in government funding to expand the charity's women's shelter by 40 beds. His ministry stated that it already provided "$32 million annually to operate about 1,800 emergency shelter spaces in Calgary." The gap between "we need more shelter beds" and "we are cutting income support" is not accidental. It is structural.

The Mustard Seed is not responsible for this dynamic. The charity does essential work. But Jason Nixon is administering both ends of a system that generates instability (AISH cuts) and then funds the institutions that manage that instability (shelter expansion). His father founded The Mustard Seed. He worked there as an Executive Director from 2006 to 2011. He holds a pension through the organization. His brother held his exact job until two years ago.

This is not allegation. These are audited charity financials, government press releases, and policy timelines all on the public record.

The moral calculation is identical to the one laid out in the AISH-to-ADAP debate: the province is willing to generate profound instability for savings so small they barely register inside the overall budget. But here is the secondary calculation: some of that instability flows directly into organizations managed by the families of the ministers making the cuts. The disabled Albertans lose $200/month of stability. The Mustard Seed gains $27 million in annual government funding. The province saves 0.12 per cent of its budget. And the cycle that generates crisis also generates the contracts that pay for managing crisis.

When peer workers ask why AISH is being cut despite the obvious human cost, they should also ask: who benefits when disabled Albertans lose housing stability? The answer is documented. It is your government, and the organizations it funds, working in concert — whether intentionally or through the sheer mechanics of structural conflict of interest.

The question for Jason Nixon is simple: how can you cut income support to disabled Albertans while simultaneously overseeing the expansion of shelter funding to an organization your father founded and you once led? That is not a hidden conspiracy. That is an open conflict of interest, playing out in real time, in audited financials and government announcements.

Disabled Albertans deserve better than a system designed to generate their own crisis.

Jason Nixon, Alberta's Minister of Assisted Living and Social Services, oversees two programs that now exist in direct financial relationship to each other.

The Alberta Recovery Model: What the Hell Is Going On? 🧵

A quick breakdown of documented links between Alberta’s recovery system, funding flows, procurement, and upcoming policy changes.

1. Political + Mustard Seed connections

The Mustard Seed was founded by Patrick Nixon.

Jason Nixon (current minister overseeing social services) previously worked in leadership roles at The Mustard Seed.

Jeremy Nixon (former minister in the same portfolio) later moved into lobbying/PR work at Navigator Inc.

Funding to The Mustard Seed jumped from ~ $8M/year (pre-2020 avg) to $27.1M in 2024.

2. Recovery contracts + procurement concerns

Calgary Recovery Community contract went to a BC operator via limited, invitation-style bidding with a 2-week window.

FOIP request: 436 of 485 pages withheld.

Auditor General is now reviewing Recovery Alberta procurement.

3. Disability supports being cut/rewired

AISH being replaced by ADAP in 2026.

Monthly support drops: $1,901 → $1,740.

Income exemption reduced ($1,072 → $700 before clawbacks).

Multiple cities asked for a pause. Government said no.

4. Bill 53 (forced detention powers)

Would allow forced detention for up to 3 months for “treatment.”

Medical + legal groups are warning about weak evidence and Charter challenges.

Major civil liberties concerns.

5. The bigger picture

Overdose trends are national, not just Alberta policy-driven.

Toxic drug supply is getting more volatile (carfentanil spikes reported).

Harm reduction tools were previously credited with tens of thousands of prevented deaths.

Now many of those systems are being reduced or removed.

Bottom line

Centralized contracts. Tight political-adjacent networks. Reduced transparency. Disability cuts. Expanded forced-treatment powers.

People are asking: who benefits from this system—and who pays for it?

is this a new low for Canada when a patient has to pay for her own neck after being hit by a car?

MISSED CONNECTION, YYC, I am a Mature F looking for a specific special Mature Male, Caucasian…

Hi, I was on a return non stop WestJet flight yesterday from BCN to YYC. I set my green leather Coach handbag down momentarily at the McDonalds in BCN and you saw another F dressed in white take my green bag. I am looking for the you, the man who was patient and kind enough to help me search for my green hand bag. I did get the bag returned, but I have been wishing that I had been more forward and hadn’t felt too rushed, too awkward/stalled out when I had the opportunity to have properly introduced myself during our conversations …But I didn’t.

You was ahead of me in the passport line and behind me boarding and disembarking, and we chatted about the luck involved in locating my handbag, and the weird coincidence/chances of being on the same flight and being seated in fairly close proximity during the return flight (priority boarding). Woke up in the middle of the night, jet lagged, couldn’t sleep, with this on my mind.

Would have, should have, could have…

Hi everyone,

Currently working on a development project and have hit a bit of a wall. I’m trying to build a ML model optimized to parse text from printed Canadian receipts, but finding a localized dataset online has been impossible.

I’m now crowdsourcing some training data and would love your help. If you have any paper receipts lying around and wouldn’t mind snapping a quick, clear photo of them, and sending it to me, it would be a massive help.

The receipts should have merchant name, list of items and their individual costs, totals, subtotals, taxes.

Please feel free to blackout any sensitive info. You can drop it in the comments or send them directly to my inbox via DM.

For anyone in the software/data science space, I’d also love to hear any tips you might have on overcoming localized OCR hurdles.

Thanks everyone!!

I just don't understand their perspective. Do they want to join the USA? Be independent? What do you think is going to happen? Do you understand history?

We will instantly be a landlocked country in an increasingly dangerous neighborhood. To the south will be a Christian Fascist state very interested in raiding our resources. They will be more than happy to exploit us.

It's so foolish. They're being sold a fairytale.

Why do we put up with this? Why do we pretend this is so hard to solve?

House these people in jail cells and downtown would be transformed overnight.

It’s just flip this one switch and the problem is solved. Blows my mind that it seems impossible.

We’re relocating to Calgary this year with 3 girls (K, Grade 3, Grade 7) and trying to narrow down neighbourhoods. We currently live in an inner-city area with a really strong family/community feel and are hoping to find something similar in Calgary.

What we love about our current area:

• Kids walking between houses to see friends
• Neighbours actually know each other / hang out
• Strong school community
• Close to parks + river/pathways
• Character homes and mature streets
• Family-oriented but still feels connected and social

We’ve been focusing mostly on:

• Aspen Woods
• Elbow Park
• North Glenmore / North Glenmore Park area
• Lakeview

A few things making this harder:

• Kids are currently in French Immersion, so strong FI pathways matter
• We’d prefer a newer / lower-maintenance home if possible
• We have a high household income, but Calgary prices still feel like a jump compared to where we are now
• We don’t want to end up somewhere that looks beautiful online but feels socially disconnected in real life

One thing we’re trying to understand honestly:
Some newer planned communities we’ve looked at elsewhere in Canada felt a bit “everyone stays inside their own bubble” despite being family-heavy. We’re trying to avoid that and find somewhere where kids naturally build friendships and families actually interact.

Aspen Woods seems to check a lot of boxes on paper (schools, newer homes, family demographic), but I’m wondering:

• Does it genuinely have a strong community feel?
• Are there pockets/streets that feel less cookie-cutter and more connected?
• Do kids actually play outside / walk to friends’ houses there?

Also curious whether North Glenmore or Lakeview might ultimately fit us better if we value character/community over “perfect newer suburban.”

Would especially love insight from:

• Families with kids in FI
• People who moved from another city
• Anyone who debated inner-city vs westside and either loved or regretted their choice

Guys even in 6 degree Celsius, my 450 sq ft apartment is at 23 degrees and it genuinely feels so hot. I have AC but I don’t want to start using it yet bec my electricity bill jumps from $100 to $300. I will in July and August. But how are we sleeping in the night without feeling hot. Are we using fans or ACs?? I have not seen anyone turning on the ACs yet but for a place where people are used to -40, isn’t this weather extremely hot and sweaty already?

Posting here because I don't got enough of that sweet karma to post in r/Calgary.

Just wondering, what're your recommendations for a bodybuilding coach in Calgary? Does not have to be necessarily natty. Could be someone in Edmonton that does online coaching, but prefer in person in Calgary.

I'd say I'm an intermediate gym goer, doing a succesful body recomp but looking to dial in further and potentially do a show if I have potential.

Thanks in advance.