nr, prices in Banff and Jasper have always been exorbitant, just due to being tourist traps.
As to feedlot jobs, there are lots out there, and if I could find the one that pays 70K a year, I'd take it! Unfortunately, 17/hr is more like it, and at the 30.000 head lot where I work winters, there are four pen checkers at the moment, one of them an Aussie who will be leaving before Christmas. My lot pays less than the rest of them in the area, and the boss just figures if you need more money you should work more hours, so I'm pretty sure he'll be issuing head lamps so we can work in the dark. With only four pen checkers, it isn't possible to get everything done before dark in the winter, but reading tags for sorts in the dark is tough! Trying to do the 'afternoon' check on calves in the dark is a real challenge too.
My son is about starving to death working there, and is seeking a different job, and he doesn't have any huge payments. He does have a house payment and a vehicle payment, but who in that age group doesn't? The cost of fuel, farrier, and horse replacement (it's damn tough on horses when no one is doing any pen scraping, and there are only four of you in the whole lot) mean you are working several hours every day just to cover those expenses.
It isn't just pen riders, but maintenance, box scraper guys, etc. I'm pretty sure there are a dozen jobs needing filled at my lot alone. They have been bringing in Mexican Mennonites to fill some of them but some of them have come and gone too.