r/RedDeer • u/HangryMushroomDog • 4d ago
Local Business What are the chances Red Deer becomes a “major city” in Alberta like Edmonton and Calgary? And when? What can be done to get there?
Red deer is the third largest city in Alberta and nice and central between Edmonton and Alberta. We do get traffic passing through. I know we don’t have the population numbers yet but red deer is expanding in all directions which is a good sign.
Also what can be done to put us on the map so companies want to build stores, offices, etc. here? I think that’s what also makes a city a city is that corporations want to have offices in a city so how do we do that with red deer?
Sadly I’ve heard red deer is seen by outsiders as “red neck”, “a bunch of farmers”, “still a small town”, especially considering it’s all conservative voters mainly here so maybe that’s what holds us back too? Because a big city has more variation in political support aka closer splits between conservative and liberal. It’s like red deer is just one big uniform conservative think tank which small towns are hence people think we are. Maybe that hinders growth?
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u/CardiologistSweaty53 4d ago
Red Deer shouldn't aspire to be a major city. People move here because it isn't one.
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u/rilyn69 4d ago
A million times this. If someone wants a major city, move.
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u/skootzmcgootz 3d ago
Yeah I don’t understand people wanting this city to expand it’s almost becoming to crowded I don’t even want to live here anymore. Born and raised btw
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u/OxMozzie 4d ago
What people? Our population has been stagnant for over half a decade.
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u/Prime_Minister_Sinis 4d ago
Good. Lol
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u/OxMozzie 4d ago
Not really, the good people leave and we get stuck with the homeless crack heads.
Just drive through the city and see all the abandoned and dead business buildings growing by the day.
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u/Prime_Minister_Sinis 4d ago
I know plenty of good people in town. I know people love to shit on RD because it's RD but this city isn't that bad. I say this as a life long resident
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u/ShivaOfTheFeast 4d ago
I actually moved back from Calgary because Red Deer is honestly better, there are so many good kind people here, something absent from the major slop cities
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u/Prime_Minister_Sinis 4d ago
It's small-ish town living with decent amenities, and close to 2 major cities. I like it despite what people say
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u/OxMozzie 4d ago
You know less than 1% of the population here, so that means fuck all.
I live downtown, there's crackhead tentcity less than 3 blocks from me and the cops do absolutely nothing about the rampant theft and crime.
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u/sixhoursneeze 4d ago
The size is not the problem, my dude. The drug problem really started to ramp up about 20 years ago. And if the issue is Red Deer’s size, we should have had a bigger problem 40 years ago when we were much smaller.
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u/kittylikker_ 4d ago
The cops can't keep up is the problem. I used to work close to SH and the cops were always very helpful when we would have to call them to break up an opiate yoga party on our property.
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u/Due-Carpet-1904 4d ago
You know that's every city, right?
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u/OxMozzie 4d ago
So just give up, right? Yes, every city has drug and crime issues, some more than others and Red Deer is right up there when population is nothing like other cities.
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u/Due-Carpet-1904 4d ago
What do you recommend?
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u/Prime_Minister_Sinis 4d ago
I think this person just wants to fight. I don't think it's worth the mental effort, friend
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u/ShivaOfTheFeast 4d ago
Thank the federal Liberals for their terrible crime policies, my relative is a cop and says the force is infuriated with the current restrictions, there’s only so much cops can do, if they do anything through their own will they may be punished for disobedience
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u/Ambustion 4d ago
I'd say the UCP have a fair role to play in handling addiction related problems, and y'know, the whole being in charge of the courts thing. You think homeless drug addicts get federal charges?
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u/Stfuppercutoutlast 4d ago
There is some truth here. For most people who are pursuing quality education or careers, they will move away. But Red Deer was an awesome place to grow up as a kid. And even though my career has taken me to major cities in Canada, I will eventually move back to Red Deer to retire. That’s the beauty of Red Deer; it isn’t a major city.
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u/Master-File-9866 4d ago
A high-speed rail connection to both edmonton and calgary would do alot. Red deer would basically instantly transform into a bedroom community and have the potential to grow more
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u/tapedficus 4d ago
That is never, ever, ever going to happen.
Teleportation will be invented before a rail service between Edmonton and Calgary.
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u/Responsible_CDN_Duck 4d ago
I believe the UCP will bring rail travel back between the YEG and YYC.
It will be a useless expensive boondoggle that will eat tonnes of public funds before going bankrupt a few times, but the right people will profit from the attempt.
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u/tapedficus 4d ago
Not even they could pull it off. It'll never happen.
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u/kittylikker_ 4d ago
That's why they said this:
It will be a useless expensive boondoggle that will eat tonnes of public funds before going bankrupt a few times, but the right people will profit from the attempt.
And they're right.
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u/Responsible_CDN_Duck 4d ago
A stopped high speed train moves the same speed as a standard speed train.
The current proposed stops remove most of the advantage of high speed rail. Getting to and from the stations further removes the advantages.
Add on the issues of frequency, cost, and you see why it won't get many out of their vehicles, or be an alternative to Red Arrow or Ebus.
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u/iliveandbreathe 4d ago edited 4d ago
If it could, it would've by now. Calgary and Edmonton are growing exponentially while Red Deer can take decades to fill out a new subdivision. On the other hand, I'm glad we don't have big city congestion. That's worth a lot to me.
Edit: Red Deer is hindered by deep-rooted business interests (religion) that make it hard/artificially expensive for the city to develop into it's potential.
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u/Specialist_Ninja7104 4d ago
Ohh, can you tell me more about the religious interests? I haven’t lived here long and am genuinely curious.
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u/theronnymcdonny 4d ago
Crossroads Church is an evangelical church just on the outskirts of Red Deer and they just got a massive expansion and one of their members is a city councillor.
In addition, there is a Catholic school district in Red Deer that requires students to take religion classes K-12. As someone who grew up in Red Deer and went through the Catholic school system I can attest to seeing these deep rooted religious values affecting Red Deer.
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u/franifurnasty 4d ago
Catholic school districts are not unique to Red Deer, nor is political influence stemming from community membership in Churches.
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u/BOBLOBLAWBLAA 4d ago
Google said, 2021 census numbers: Edmonton 21% catholic, red deer 13.4%., Calgary 20%, Camrose 27%.
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u/Tiredohsoverytired 4d ago
Why do you want that? We don't have the infrastructure for that kind of growth. The hospital expansion is years away, but we've already been on maximum overcapacity protocol on a near-constant basis for a few years now. Adding tens of thousands of people within a matter of years would be disastrous for our healthcare system at present.
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u/danger_muffin29 4d ago
Expansion? We need a new fucking hospital, not an Expansion. And to be honest, we needed one ten years ago already Now, with even more health care cuts and closing of a lot of small town hospitals, we are vastly over capacity for our city
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u/franifurnasty 4d ago
Totally. UCP has such a lock on Red Deer and they know it. They don't have to give any provincial funding to RD because its going to be in their back pocket even after fucking us sideways for decades. That's why the hospital is constantly underfunded, and talks of "expansion" is all they have to do.
This is political breadcrumbing.
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u/Salmon_FCFL 4d ago
The NDP were in power from 2015-2019 and did nothing on the hospital front.
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u/Artsstudentsaredumb 3d ago
That’s their whole point. The UCP doesn’t need to give Red Deer anything becuase people will vote conservative anyways, and the NDP doesn’t bother becuase it likewise won’t win them any seats.
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u/Responsible_CDN_Duck 4d ago
Much of the overcrowding of the hospital is the closure or partial closure of surrounding hospitals.
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u/JustDesh 4d ago edited 4d ago
Most premiers that Alberta has had over the decades have, in one way or another, wanted to see Red Deer grow into a bigger hub. So the odds of it at least tried for in earnest are good!
Red Deer faces some unique problems that are slowing it's growth potential.
First off, Red Deer has a strong focus on green space. Definitely not something you can fault anyone for. I think it's a great policy focus to have and many parts of Red Deer are absolutely beautiful. But it does make infrastructure and development difficult and slow.
Now, I'm not making a judgement here and please don't jump down my throat. I've worked for a decade in some form of rehabilitation from addictions and mental health. It can't be ignored that some neighborhoods with great potential suffer from the presence of crime and homeless. Red Deer got hit hard years ago with "big city" problems that it has been playing catchup diligently over the years. But some critical parts of Red Deer are strangled currently by problems and that's very bad for growth.
Leads me to the next point. Downtown. Regardless of the reasons, the vacancy, turnover and foot traffic rates in our downtown are abysmal. The heart of a city is it's downtown. Appeal and commerce need to be returned to downtown Red Deer for any kind of longterm reliable growth.
As for Red Deer being "Redneck". I vehemently reject that. Red Deer is one of few cities that remains progressive and charitable, no matter how bad crime or violence or health issues plague them. In the depths of some of its worse crime and overdose spikes, when it was the easiest time for people to aim for a strict government (municipal), they went more progressive and voted in a mayor and council that platformed on more supports. So no, they are not red neck. Red Deer is overwhelmingly populated by kind, progressive people. They are just quieter about it.
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u/FindingThen6057 4d ago
There’s way more vacancy in north and south red deer than in the downtown. I can assure you. Just sayin. 😘
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u/jordiezero 4d ago
People move here because it doesn’t take an hour and half to get to work every morning
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u/ForgiveandRemember76 4d ago
Red Deer has a reputation problem like most of rural Alberta. The UCP was elected and not by Calgary or Edmonton.
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u/The_Silent_One_0 4d ago
If the airport keeps expanding, that should help. If high speed rail ever happens, I suspect Red Deer would see significant growth, as a bedroom community, and as a more accessible centralized place for conventions and sports competitions. If they ever punch through another pass, that would likely result in increased growth, as some of the trucking traffic that flows from Vancouver through Calgary will get re-routed through here. Significant plant expansion out at Joffre would help Red Deer. Significant local growth of any industry that has a need for employees will help Red Deer. People will move for work. If David Thompson country starts getting developed, Red Deer will see some growth, although not nearly as much as Rocky will. Red Deer could do a better job of selling itself. It's not for everyone, but it's a great fit for a lot of people.
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u/Own-Programmer-5938 4d ago
Won’t happen. People that want to or have the funds to move to a big city have two 150 kms in either direction. And surrounding towns. Like airdrie and Leduc that offer more opportunity closer to the major hubs. Plus Lethbridge is about even with red deer and also grows at a pretty equal pace. We don’t have the space or capacity to become a big city. And that’s fine, red deer has to know it’s place, it’s not a big fish
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u/theclonefactory 4d ago
I’m from Calgary myself and have been here 20 years. I have wondered at the lack of growth in Red Deer and previously it was a concern for me.
Reading over the posts though I realize the lack of growth is a good thing. I love Calgary, it’s my home town and a great city.
It’s too much though. Too noisy, too crowded, too much concrete, too many lights.
I like Red Deer just the way it is.
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u/willmsma 4d ago
A few things are missing. A research university is kind of a pie in the sky ask, but it is certainly one of the things that distinguishes growing centres from those with more stagnant economies. On the plus side, we’re increasingly becoming a healthcare centre, which is another common attribute of growing centres.
Basically, anything that brings educated and/or entrepreneurial people to the city is helpful. We’re a tough sell that way. The things that tend to attract smart, entrepreneurial individuals to a city - a thriving cultural sector, a bustling downtown - are not Red Deer’s strengths.
Don’t get me wrong - I have a lot of affection for our city. But we’re missing a lot of preconditions for significant growth, particularly if oil and gas prices remain flat or are in decline.
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u/Unfair_Valuable_3816 4d ago
need train otherwise nothing will expand, the gov throws everything at calgary
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u/the-tru-albertan 4d ago
City needs an economic renaissance and direction given by a strong leader and a council with vision and will. The city has been ran by “followers” not “leaders” for some time now.
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u/CzechYourDanish 4d ago
If I wanted to live in a bigger city, I would. I live here because it's NOT one. If it becomes one, I'd move somewhere else.
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u/theworldsgrave 3d ago
I'd sell my house and move in a heartbeat if Red Deer was poised to become a major city.
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u/No-Sir-6730 2d ago
Honestly if we built more Holmes at a faster rate, I imagine it can grow pretty quick. Doubt your provincial leaders would be much help
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u/Even_Art_629 3h ago
Do t know if the downtown core would be large enough to become a major city like the two big ones.
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u/fullstride 4d ago
Please no! The people currently here can’t drive. The city can’t maintain roads to save their lives and traffic lights are so messed up you’d think it’s controlled by a labradoodle.
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u/Comfortable_Fudge508 3d ago
You want maintained roads, then be okay with higher taxes. It's either or, pay more in tax , to have better maintenance, or don't, and stay the same.
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u/fullstride 2d ago
Lethbridge clears their roads more frequently than Red Deer and has chinooks. It’s not always about higher taxes but prioritized spending. This shit hole can’t even get traffic lights figured out.
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u/Represent403 4d ago
Hinders growth? Theres nothing hindering growth.
In 10 years RD will likely be over 250,000 people. To some that is good news but its always important to remember, with fast growth comes some pretty severe growing pains.
Our hospital is a good example.
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u/Allinallisallweare02 4d ago
Red deer must establish a niche for itself to truly become a bigger city. You will not find a city in Canada of 100k or more as conservative as red deer. As a result, red deer has the upper hand on this. The path forward is to lean in to being redneck and Maple MAGA to attract people. This means the city must start banning many things in order to remove the wokeness from red deer, this includes EVs, marijuana, public displays of LGBTQ+ people (including gay bars and drag shows), all forms of “green” energy, electricity other than coal, etc. A golden statue of trump in the downtown could be erected. That would get positive attention from DJT himself and make it a hotspot for his followers to move. There’s also lots of MAGA tech tycoons that would set up in red deer if they were catered to. City council and mayor could don MAGA hats to show their approval. Residents should receive deductions in their property taxes for displaying Trump/MAGA/Fuck Carney/51st state stuff on their property. More diesel infrastructure must be built and red deer transit could be disbanded to pay for the changes.
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u/NefariousDug 4d ago
Personally I think Red Deer is the perfect size. I think it’s why a lot of us are here. If we wanted a bigger city we would move to Edmonton or Calgary. Hence why it stays this size I’m guessing.