Mr. Average Red Deer

So the official Red Deer census is out. Back in the Spring of 2011 we had 91,877 human souls living in Red Deer. Males and females were split almost half (.1% more females). The average age is 33 years old. Red Deer grew compared to 2010, by 1793. Did I ever mention that I like stats? All the details are right here!

And zzzzz goes what limited audience I already have.

What I found most interesting is the average age. 33. I'm the average age! I've never been 'average' at much of anything. I'm below average height, I make below the average household salary, I married a minority, and I studied sociology/history in University. Even my own mother calls me a wee bit eccentric. But if I take a closer look at the people I meet in Red Deer, I do see that I have a fair bit in common with others that live here.

By 33 a lot of men have started their families. On Canada Day at Bower Ponds you'd think the whole city was run over by kids under the age of 5. I personally have a 4 year old and we are expecting another. Having such a young population means that there are a lot of kids. With so many kids, it means the parents tend to hang out at similar places - the playgrounds, Collicut Centre, attend the same events like the City Market or Canada Day, etc. Given that Red Deer isn't that big, you even start to see the same faces now and again.

At 33 years old, you tend to be fairly healthy, but not perfect. I've been for some minor treatments and while most of the people I see in the hospital tend to be my parents age or older, you do see the occasional younger face. But we don't overtax the health system. I was with a cousin this weekend at my parents house and he's the same age as I am. When our parents were 35-45 we remember them to be fairly heavy smokers and drinkers. Neither my cousin or I smoke. Our drinking is a couple of beers on a hot day with friends or family. My cousin runs half marathons (none of our elders are competitive in much of anything but the couch potato games), and I try to hike a mountain every now and again. While we both have a small gut, I think we do lead healthier lifestyles than our parents.

Another interesting thing is the age spread. Males tend to outnumber females until the age of 55 (except the 15-19 year cohort, they are almost exactly even) and then the ladies consistantly outnumber the men. I think this really speaks to our economy. While not every oilfield job is exclusively filled by men, there is certainly a domination of the Y chromosone in that industry. And that industry does tend to dominate the economy in this town.

I once heard a demographer say that statistics explain about 70% of the story. I agree with this. The quantitative side tells a good part of the story, but the qualitative side rounds it out, finishes it. While I am Mr Average, its my story and everyone else's story that makes this city so darn interesting.

A Big Black Cloud

On Canada Day, if anyone was outside after 6:30pm in Red Deer and area you couldn't miss the big black cloud that came from an oilfield transport company fire. Some people went to watch, but I decided to let the fire department(s) do their job tried to find out more information from home.

I access most of my news from the internet. In theory it should be the quickest way to get information out and ready to read. I don't bother with TV unless its a big national event and I only listen to radio in the car. I subscribe to the Advocate but I only have time to read a few articles a day. Call me ADHD but the internet satisfies my need for news.

So, there was plenty of pictures and broadcasts on Twitter and Facebook. But I couldn't get the full story. While social media is great for getting the news out, it not really accurate. This is why there is still a need for traditional media. We need professional reporters who are able to investigate a situation and give us an accurate portrayal.

There has been a lot of lamenting about losing the TV station. We've had a number of radion station fill the void, but they are music centred and I find that their news departments are lacking. Its also very hard to check like 8 different radio stations. The Advocate has moved to a pay format for local information but I didn't get any information about the fire until the next morning when I got the paper. Maybe I didn't check back late enough. This fire didn't even register a hit on the national media.

Its hard to find out what is going on in Central Alberta. This saddens me. We have a drawing area of close to 200,000 people. In Canada, this is not a small population centre, although it does get dwarfed by the two 1 million people centres to the north and south of us. There is a lot of things going on here in Central Alberta. But very little is being said about it. I wonder if an all news/talk radio station would work for Red Deer and area. As a news/political junkie, I would listen to it. I wonder if anyone else would.