Alberta ( ) is the most
populous and fastest growing of Canada's
three
prairie provinces.
It is
approximately the same size as the State of Texas
or the French Republic
and had a population of 3.7 million in 2009.
It became
a province on September 1, 1905, on the same day as Saskatchewan
. It is economically important primarily
because of its vast
oil reserves.
Alberta is
located in western Canada, bounded by
the provinces of British
Columbia
to the west,
Saskatchewan
to the east, the Northwest Territories
to the north, and the U.S.
state of Montana
to the
south. Alberta is one of three Canadian provinces
and territories to border only a single U.S. state (the others
being New
Brunswick
and Yukon
).
It is also
one of only two Canadian provinces that are landlocked (the other being Saskatchewan
).
The
capital city of Alberta is Edmonton
, located just south of the centre of the
province. Roughly
south of the capital is Calgary
, Alberta's largest city and a major distribution and transportation hub as well as one of Canada's major commerce centres. Edmonton is the primary supply and service hub for Canada's oil sands
and other northern resource industries. According to recent population estimates, these two metropolitan areas have now both exceeded 1 million people. Other municipalities in the province include Red Deer
, Lethbridge
, Medicine Hat
, Fort McMurray
, Grande Prairie
, Camrose
, Lloydminster
, Brooks
, Wetaskiwin
, Banff
, Cold Lake
, and Jasper
.
Alberta is named after
Princess Louise Caroline
Alberta (1848–1939), the fourth daughter of Queen
Victoria and her husband,
Prince Albert. Princess Louise was the wife of the
Marquess of
Lorne,
Governor General
of Canada from 1878 to 1883.
Lake Louise
, the village of Caroline
, and Mount Alberta
were also named in honour of Princess
Louise. Since December 14, 2006, the
Premier of the province has been
Ed Stelmach, a
Progressive
Conservative.
Geography
Alberta
covers an area of , an area about 5% smaller than Texas
or 20%
larger than France.
This
makes it the fourth largest province after Quebec
, Ontario
, and British Columbia
. To the south, the province borders on the
49th parallel north, separating
it from the U.S. state of Montana
, while on
the north the 60th parallel
north divides it from the Northwest Territories
. To the east the 110th meridian west separates it from
the province of Saskatchewan
, while on the west its boundary with British
Columbia follows the 120th meridian
west south from the Northwest Territories at 60°N until it
reaches the Continental Divide at
the Rocky Mountains, and from that
point follows the line of peaks marking the Continental Divide in a
generally southeasterly direction until it reaches the Montana
border at 49°N.
The province extends north to south and east to west at its maximum
width.
Its highest point is at the summit of
Mount
Columbia
in the Rocky Mountains along the southwest border,
while its lowest point is on the Slave
River in Wood Buffalo National Park
in the northeast.
With the exception of the
semi-arid
steppe of the southeastern section, the
province has adequate
water
resources. Alberta contains numerous
rivers and
lakes used for
swimming,
water
skiing,
fishing and a full range of
other
water sports. There are three
large lakes and a multitude of smaller lakes less than each.
Part of
Lake
Athabasca
( ) lies in
the province of Saskatchewan. Lake
Claire
( ) lies just west of Lake Athabasca in Wood Buffalo
National Park
. Lesser Slave Lake
( ) is northwest of Edmonton
. The longest river in Alberta is the Athabasca River which travels from the
Columbia
Icefield
in the Rocky Mountains to Lake Athabasca.
Alberta's
capital city, Edmonton
, is located approximately in the geographic centre
of the province, with most of western Canada's oil refinery capacity located nearby, in proximity to
most of Canada's largest oil
fields. Edmonton is the most northerly major city in
Canada, and serves as a gateway and hub for resource development in
northern Canada.
Alberta's other major city, Calgary
, is located approximately south of Edmonton and
north of Montana, surrounded by extensive ranching country. Almost 75% of the
province's population lives in the
Calgary-Edmonton Corridor, in and
between the two major cities.
Most of the northern half of the province is
boreal forest, while the
Rocky Mountains along the southwestern
boundary are largely forested. The southern quarter of the province
is
prairie, ranging from
shortgrass prairie in the southeastern
corner to mixed grass prairie in an arc to the west and north of
it.
The
central aspen parkland region
extending in a broad arc between the prairies and the forests, from
Calgary, north to Edmonton, and then east to Lloydminster
, contains the most fertile soil in the province and
most of the population. Much of the unforested part of
Alberta is given over either to
grain or to
dairy farming, with
mixed farming more common in the north and
centre, while
ranching and
irrigated agriculture predominate in
the south.
The
Alberta badlands are located in
southeastern Alberta, where the Red Deer River
crosses the flat prairie and farmland, and features
deep gorges and striking landforms.
Dinosaur
Provincial Park
, near Brooks, Alberta
, showcases the badlands terrain, desert flora, and
remnants from Alberta's past when dinosaurs
roamed the then lush landscape.
Climate
Alberta has a dry
continental
climate with warm summers and cold winters. The province is
open to cold arctic weather systems from the north, which often
produce extremely cold conditions in winter. As the fronts between
the air masses shift north and south across Alberta, temperature
can change rapidly. Arctic air masses in the winter produce extreme
minimum temperatures varying from in northern Alberta to in
southern Alberta. In the summer, continental air masses produce
maximum temperatures from in the mountains to in southern
Alberta.
Because Alberta extends for over from north to south, its climate
varies considerably. Average temperatures in January range from in
the south to in the north, and in July from in the south to in the
north. The climate is also influenced by the presence of the Rocky
Mountains to the southwest, which disrupt the flow of the
prevailing westerly winds and cause
them to drop most of their moisture on the western slopes of the
mountain ranges before reaching the province, casting a
rain shadow over much of Alberta.
The northerly
location and isolation from the weather systems of the Pacific Ocean
cause Alberta to have a dry climate with little
moderation from the ocean. Annual precipitation ranges from
in the southeast to in the north, except in the foothills of the
Rocky Mountains where rainfall can reach annually.In the summer,
the average daytime temperatures range from around in the Rocky
Mountain valleys and far north to near in the dry prairie of the
southeast. The northern and western parts of the province
experience higher rainfall and lower evaporation rates caused by
cooler summer temperatures. The south and east-central portions are
prone to drought-like conditions sometimes persisting for several
years, although even these areas can receive heavy
precipitation.Alberta is a sunny province. Annual bright sunshine
totals range between 1900 and 2500 hours per year. Northern Alberta
receives about 18 hours of daylight in the summer.The long summer
days make summer the sunniest season of the year in Alberta.
In southwestern Alberta, the winter cold is frequently interrupted
by warm, dry
chinook winds blowing
from the mountains, which can propel temperatures upward from
frigid conditions to well above the freezing point in a very short
period.
During one chinook recorded at Pincher Creek
, temperatures soared from to in one hour.
The
region around Lethbridge
has the most chinooks, averaging 30 to 35 chinook
days per year, while Calgary
has a white
Christmas only 59% of the time as a result of these
winds.
Northern Alberta is mostly covered by
boreal
forest and has fewer frost-free days than southern Alberta due
to its
subarctic climate. The
agricultural area of southern Alberta has a
semiarid climate because the annual
precipitation is less than the water that
evaporates or is used by plants. The
southeastern corner of Alberta, known as the
Palliser Triangle, experiences greater
summer heat and lower rainfall than the rest of the province, and
as a result suffers frequent
crop yield
problems and occasional severe
droughts.
Western Alberta is protected by the mountains and enjoys the mild
temperatures brought by winter
chinook
winds. Central and parts of northwestern Alberta in the Peace
River region are largely
aspen
parkland, a
biome transitional between
prairie to the south and boreal forest to
the north.
After southern Ontario
, Central Alberta is
the most likely region in Canada to experience tornadoes. Thunderstorms, some of them severe, are
frequent in the summer, especially in central and southern Alberta.
The region surrounding the
Calgary-Edmonton Corridor is
notable for having the highest frequency of
hail in Canada, which is caused by
orographic lifting from the nearby Rocky
Mountains, enhancing the updraft/downdraft cycle necessary for the
formation of hail.
Average temperatures in cities
City |
July(°C) |
July(°F) |
January(°C) |
January(°F) |
Medicine Hat |
27/12 |
81/54 |
-5/-16 |
23/3 |
Brooks |
26/11 |
79/52 |
-6/-17 |
21/1 |
Airdrie |
26/11 |
79/52 |
-3/-15 |
27/5 |
Lethbridge |
26/10 |
79/50 |
-3/-15 |
27/5 |
Edmonton |
23/12 |
73/54 |
-9/-17 |
16/1 |
Fort Saskatchewan |
23/11 |
73/52 |
-8/-19 |
18/-2 |
Lloydminster |
23/11 |
73/52 |
-10/-19 |
14/-2 |
Cold Lake |
23/11 |
73/52 |
-11/-22 |
12/-8 |
Fort McMurray |
23/10 |
73/50 |
-14/-24 |
7/-11 |
Red Deer |
23/10 |
73/50 |
-6/-17 |
21/1 |
Calgary |
23/9 |
73/48 |
-3/-14 |
27/7 |
Camrose |
22/11 |
72/52 |
-8/-19 |
18/-2 |
Spruce Grove |
22/11 |
72/52 |
-7/-16 |
19/3 |
St. Albert |
22/10 |
72/50 |
-8/-17 |
18/1 |
Leduc |
22/10 |
72/50 |
-8/-19 |
18/-2 |
Grande Prairie |
22/9 |
72/48 |
-10/-21 |
14/-6 |
Wetaskiwin |
21/9 |
70/48 |
-5/-16 |
23/3 |
History
The province of Alberta, as far north as about 53° north latitude,
was a part of
Rupert's Land from the
time of the incorporation of the
Hudson's Bay Company (1670).
After the
arrival in the North-West of the French around 1731 they settled
the prairies of the west, establishing communities such as Lac La
Biche
and Bonnyville
. Fort La Jonquière was established near what
is now Calgary in 1752.
The North West
Company of Montreal
occupied the northern part of Alberta territory
before the Hudson's Bay Company arrived from Hudson Bay
to take possession of it. The first explorer
of the Athabasca region was
Peter Pond,
who, on behalf of the North West Company of Montreal, built
Fort Athabasca on Lac La Biche in
1778.
Roderick
Mackenzie built Fort Chipewyan
on Lake Athabasca ten years later in 1788.
His cousin, Sir
Alexander
Mackenzie followed the
North Saskatchewan River to its
northernmost point near Edmonton, then setting northward on foot,
trekked to the Athabasca River, which he followed to Lake
Athabasca.
It was there he discovered the mighty
outflow river which bears his name—the Mackenzie River
—which he followed to its outlet in the Arctic Ocean
. Returning to Lake Athabasca, he followed the
Peace River upstream,
eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean
, and so he became the first white man to cross the
North American continent north of Mexico.

U.S.
Territories, showing the Louisiana Purchase
In 1803,
with the Louisiana Purchase, part
of Alberta and Saskatchewan
was bought by the U.S. from France. In 1818
it was ceded to Great Britain.
The district of Alberta was created as part of the North-West
Territories in 1882. As settlement increased, local representatives
to the North-West Legislative Assembly were added. After a long
campaign for autonomy, in 1905 the district of Alberta was enlarged
and given provincial status, with the election of
Alexander Cameron Rutherford as
the first premier.
Demographics

Alberta's population has grown
steadily for over a century.
Alberta has enjoyed a relatively high rate of growth in recent
years, mainly because of its burgeoning economy.
Between 2003 and
2004, the province had high birthrates (on par with some larger
provinces such as British Columbia
), relatively high immigration, and a high rate of
interprovincial migration when compared to other provinces.
Approximately 81% of the population live in urban areas and only
about 19% live in rural areas. The Calgary-Edmonton Corridor is the
most urbanized area in the province and is one of the most densely
populated areas of Canada. Many of Alberta's cities and towns have
also experienced very high rates of growth in recent history. Over
the past century, Alberta's population rose from 73,022 in 1901 to
2,974,807 in 2001 and 3,290,350 according to the
2006 census.
Languages

Albertans have many different mother
tongues.
English is by far the most common, while French is rare.
The
2006 census found that
English, with 2,576,670 native
speakers, was the mother tongue of 79.99% of Albertans. The next
most common mother tongues were
Chinese languages with 97,275
native-speakers (3.02%); followed by
German with 84,505 native-speakers (2.62%);
and
French with 61,225 (1.90%); then
Punjabi 36,320 (1.13%);
Tagalog 29,740 (0.92%);
Ukrainian 29,455 (0.91%);
Spanish 29,125 (0.90%); and
Polish 21,990 (0.68%);
Arabic 20,495 (0.64%);
Dutch 19,980 (0.62%); and
Vietnamese 19,350 (0.60%). The most
common aboriginal language is
Cree
17,215 (0.53%). Other common mother tongues include
Italian with 13,095 speakers (0.41%);
Urdu with 11,275 (0.35%); and
Korean with 10,845 (0.33%); then
Hindi 8,985 (0.28%);
Persian 7,700 (0.24%);
Portuguese 7,205 (0.22%); and
Hungarian 6,770 (0.21%).
(Figures shown are for the number of single language
responses and the percentage of total single-language
responses.)
Ethnicity

Alberta's population came from many
countries, most in Northern and Eastern Europe.
Alberta has considerable ethnic diversity. In line with the rest of
Canada, many immigrants originated from
Scotland,
Ireland and
Wales, but large numbers also
came from other parts of
Europe, notably
Germans,
French,
Ukrainians and
Scandinavians.
According to Statistics Canada, Alberta
is home to the second highest proportion (two percent) of Francophones in western Canada (after Manitoba
). Many of
Alberta's French-speaking residents live in
the central and northwestern regions of the province. As reported
in the 2001 census, the Chinese represented nearly four percent of
Alberta's population, and East Indians represented more than two
percent. Both Edmonton and Calgary have historic
Chinatowns, and Calgary has Canada's third largest
Chinese community. The Chinese presence began with workers employed
in the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s.
Aboriginal Albertans
make up approximately three percent of the population.
In the 2006
Canadian census, the
most commonly reported ethnic origins among Albertans were: 885,825
English (27.2%); 679,705
German (20.9%); 667,405
Canadian (20.5%); 661,265
Scottish (20.3%); 539,160
Irish (16.6%); 388,210
French (11.9%); 332,180
Ukrainian (10.2%); 172,910
Dutch (5.3%); 170,935
Polish (5.2%); 169,355
North American Indian (5.2%); 144,585
Norwegian (4.4%); and 137,600
Chinese (4.2%). (Each person could
choose more than one ethnicity.)
Amongst
those of British origins, the Scots have had a particularly strong
influence on place-names, with the names of many cities and towns
including Calgary
, Airdrie
, Canmore
, and Banff
having
Scottish
origins.
Religion

Alberta has a large number of
different religions, of which Catholic is the most common.
As of the
Canada 2001 Census the
largest religious group was
Roman
Catholic, representing 25.7% of the population.
Alberta had the
second highest percentage of non-religious residents in Canada (after
British
Columbia
) at 23.1% of
the population. Of the remainder, 13.5% of the population
identified themselves as belonging to the
United Church of Canada, while 5.9%
were
Anglican.
Lutherans made up 4.8% of the population while
Baptists comprised 2.5%. The remainder had
a wide variety of different religious affiliations, although no
individual group constituted more than 2% of the population.
The
Mormons of
Alberta reside primarily in the extreme south of the province and
made up 1.7% of the population. Alberta has a population of
Hutterites, a communal
Anabaptist sect similar to the
Mennonites (Hutterites represented 0.4% of the
population while Mennonites were 0.8%), and has a significant
population of
Seventh-day
Adventists at 0.3%. Alberta is home to several
Byzantine Rite Churches as part of the legacy
of Eastern European immigration, including the
Ukrainian Catholic
Eparchy of Edmonton, and the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of
Canada's
Western Diocese
which is based in Edmonton.
Muslims,
Sikhs, and
Hindus live in Alberta. Muslims constituted
1.7% of the population, Sikhs 0.8% and Hindus 0.5%. Many of these
are recent immigrants, but others have roots that go back to the
first settlers of the prairies.
Canada's oldest mosque the Al-Rashid
Mosque
is located in Edmonton.
Jews constituted 0.4% of Alberta's population. Most of Alberta's
13,000
Jews live in Calgary (7,500) and Edmonton
(5,000).
Visible Minorities and Aboriginal Peoples

Visible Minority and Aboriginal
Population as of the 2006 Census.
Alberta
is the third most diverse province in terms of visible minorities after British
Columbia
and Ontario
with 13.9% of the population consisting of visible minorities. Calgary
and Edmonton
are very diverse cities in Canada with almost one
quarter of their population belonging a visible minorities group. Alberta
has been attracting immigrants who are for the most part are
visible minorities with the
opportunities available in a booming economy.
Aboriginal Identity Peoples make up 5.8% of the population with
half that consisting
North
American Indians and the other half consisting of
Metis. There are also small number of
Inuit people in Alberta. The number of Aboriginal
Identity Peoples have been increasing at a rate greater than the
population of Alberta.
Economy
Alberta's economy is one of the strongest in Canada, supported by
the burgeoning
petroleum industry and to a
lesser extent,
agriculture and
technology. The per capita GDP in 2007 was by far the highest of
any province in Canada at
C$74,825.
This was 61% higher than the national average of
C$46,441 and more than twice that of some of
the Atlantic provinces. In 2006 the deviation from the national
average was the largest for any province in
Canadian history. According to the 2006
census, the median annual family income after taxes was $70,986 in
Alberta (compared to $60,270 in Canada as a whole).
The Calgary-Edmonton Corridor is the most urbanized region in the
province and one of the densest in Canada. The region covers a
distance of roughly 400 kilometres north to south. In 2001, the
population of the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor was 2.15 million (72%
of Alberta's population). It is also one of the fastest growing
regions in the country. A 2003 study by
TD Bank Financial Group found the
corridor to be the only Canadian urban centre to amass a U.S. level
of wealth while maintaining a Canadian style
quality of life, offering
universal health care benefits. The
study found that GDP per capita in the corridor was 10% above
average U.S. metropolitan areas and 40% above other
Canadian cities at that time.
According to the
Fraser Institute,
Alberta also has very high levels of
economic freedom. It is by far the most
free economy in Canada, and is rated as the 2nd most free economy
of U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
Industry
Alberta is the largest producer of
conventional crude oil,
synthetic crude,
natural gas and gas products in the country.
Alberta is the world’s 2nd largest exporter of natural gas and the
4th largest producer. Two of the largest producers of
petrochemicals in
North America are located in central and north
central Alberta. In both Red Deer and Edmonton, world class
polyethylene and
vinyl manufacturers produce products shipped all over
the world, and Edmonton's
oil
refineries provide the raw materials for a large
petrochemical industry to the east of
Edmonton.
The
Athabasca
Oil Sands
(sometimes known as the Athabasca Tar Sands) have
estimated unconventional oil
reserves approximately equal to the conventional oil reserves of the rest of
the world, estimated to be 1.6 trillion barrels
(254 km³). With the development of new extraction
methods such as
steam
assisted gravity drainage, which was developed in Alberta,
bitumen and synthetic crude oil can be produced at costs close to
those of conventional crude. Many companies employ both
conventional
strip mining and
non-conventional
in situ methods to extract
the
bitumen from the
oil sands. With current technology and at current
prices, about 315 billion barrels (50 km³) of bitumen are
recoverable.
Fort McMurray
, one of Canada's fastest growing cities, has grown
enormously in recent years because of the large corporations which
have taken on the task of oil production. As of late 2006
there were over $100 billion in oil sands projects under
construction or in the planning stages in northeastern
Alberta.
Another factor determining the viability of oil extraction from the
Tar Sands is the price of oil. The
oil price increases since
2003 have made it more than profitable to extract this oil,
which in the past would give little profit or even a loss.
With concerted effort and support from the provincial government,
several high-tech industries have found their birth in Alberta,
notably patents related to interactive
liquid crystal display systems. With
a growing economy, Alberta has several financial institutions
dealing with civil and private funds.
Agriculture and forestry
Agriculture has a significant position
in the province's economy. The province has over three million head
of
cattle, and Alberta beef has a healthy
worldwide market. Nearly one half of all Canadian beef is produced
in Alberta. Alberta is one of the prime producers of plains
buffalo for the consumer market.
Sheep for
wool
and
mutton are also raised.
Wheat and
canola are
primary farm crops, with Alberta leading the provinces in spring
wheat production; other
grains are also
prominent. Much of the farming is dryland farming, often with
fallow seasons interspersed with cultivation. Continuous cropping
(in which there is no fallow season) is gradually becoming a more
common mode of production because of increased profits and a
reduction of soil erosion. Across the province, the once common
grain elevator is slowly being lost
as rail lines are decreasing; farmers typically truck the grain to
central points.
Alberta is the leading
beekeeping
province of Canada, with some beekeepers wintering
hive indoors in specially designed
barns in southern Alberta, then migrating north during the summer
into the
Peace River valley
where the season is short but the working days are long for
honeybee to produce honey from
clover and
fireweed.
Hybrid canola also requires
bee pollination, and
some beekeepers service this need.
The vast northern
forest reserves of
softwood allow Alberta to produce large quantities
of
lumber,
oriented strand board and
plywood, and several plants in northern Alberta
supply North America and the
Pacific Rim
nations with bleached
wood pulp and
newsprint.
Tourism
Alberta
has been a tourist destination from the early days of the twentieth
century, with attractions including outdoor locales for skiing,
hiking and camping, shopping locales such as West
Edmonton Mall
, Calgary
Stampede
, outdoor festivals, professional athletic events,
international sporting competitions such as the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games, as well as more eclectic
attractions. There are also natural attractions like
Elk Island
National Park
, Wood Buffalo National Park
, and the Columbia Icefield
.
According to Alberta Economic Development, Calgary and Edmonton
both host over four million visitors annually. Banff, Jasper and
the Rocky Mountains are visited by about three million people per
year.
Alberta tourism relies heavily on Southern Ontario tourists, as well as
tourists from other parts of Canada
, the
United
States
, and many international countries.
Alberta's
Rocky Mountains include well known tourist destinations Banff
National Park
and Jasper National Park
. The two mountain parks are connected by the
scenic
Icefields Parkway. Banff is
located west of Calgary on
Highway
1, and Jasper is located west of Edmonton on
Yellowhead Highway.
Five of Canada's
fourteen UNESCO
World heritage sites are located within
the province: Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks
, Waterton-Glacier International Peace
Park
, Wood Buffalo National Park, Dinosaur
Provincial Park
and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
.
About 1.2
million people visit the of Calgary Stampede
, a celebration of Canada's own Wild West and the cattle ranching industry.
About
800,000 people enjoy Edmonton's Capital Ex
(formerly Klondike Days). Edmonton was the
gateway to the only all-Canadian route to the Yukon
gold fields, and the only route which did not
require gold-seekers to travel the exhausting and dangerous
Chilkoot
Pass
.
Another tourist destination that draws more than 650,000 visitors
each year is the Drumheller Valley, located northeast of Calgary.
Drumheller, "Dinosaur Capital of The World", offers the Royal
Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Drumheller also had a rich mining
history being one of Western Canada's largest coal producers during
the war years. The Canadian Badlands has much to offer in the way
of attractions, cultural events, celebrations, accommodations and
service.
Located
in east-central Alberta is Alberta Prairie Railway
Excursions, a popular tourist attraction operated out of
Stettler
. It boasts one of the few operable steam
trains in the world, offering trips through the rolling prairie
scenery. Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions caters to tens of
thousands of visitors every year.
Alberta
is an important destination for tourists who love to ski and hike; Alberta boasts
several world-class ski resorts such as
Sunshine
Village
, Lake Louise
, Marmot
Basin
, Norquay
and Nakiska
. Hunters and fishermen from around the world
are able to take home impressive
trophies and
tall tales from their experiences in
Alberta's wilderness.
Taxation
The province's revenue comes mainly from royalties on non-renewable
natural resources (30.4%), personal income taxes (22.3%), corporate
and other taxes (19.6%), and grants from the
federal government primarily for
infrastructure projects (9.8%).
Albertans are the lowest-taxed people in Canada, and Alberta is the
only province in Canada without a provincial
sales tax (though residents are still subject to
the federal sales tax, the
Goods and Services Tax of
5%.) It is also the only Canadian province to have a single rate of
taxation for personal income taxes which is 10% of taxable income.
The Alberta tax system maintains a progressive flavour by allowing
residents to earn $16,161 before becoming subject to provincial
taxation in addition to a variety of tax deductions for persons
with disabilities, students, and the aged. Alberta's municipalities
and school jurisdictions have their own governments which (usually)
work in co-operation with the provincial government.
Transportation
Alberta has over of
highways and roads, of
which nearly are paved.
The main north-south corridor is Highway
2, which begins south of Cardston
at the Carway
border
crossing and is part of the CANAMEX
Corridor. Highway 4,
which effectively extends Interstate
15 into Alberta and is the busiest U.S. gateway to the
province, begins at the Coutts
border
crossing and ends at Lethbridge. Highway 3 joins Lethbridge to Fort
Macleod
and links Highway 4 to Highway 2.
Highway 2 travels northward through Fort Macleod, Calgary, Red
Deer, and Edmonton.
North of Edmonton the highway continues to
Athabasca
, then northwesterly along the south shore of
Lesser Slave
Lake
into High Prairie
, north to Peace River
, west to Fairview
and finally south to Grande
Prairie
. The section of Highway 2 between Calgary
and Edmonton has been named the
Queen Elizabeth II Highway to
commemorate the visit of the monarch in 2005. Highway 2 is
supplemented by two more highways that run parallel to it:
Highway 22, west of highway 2, known as
"the Cowboy Trail," and
Highway
21, east of highway 2.
Highway 43
travels northwest into Grande Prairie and the Peace River Country; Highway 63 travels northeast to Fort
McMurray
, the location of the Athabasca Oil Sands
.
Alberta has two main east-west corridors.
The southern
corridor, part of the Trans-Canada
Highway system, enters the province near Medicine Hat, runs
westward through Calgary, and leaves Alberta through Banff
National Park
. The northern corridor, also part of the
Trans-Canada network and known as the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16), runs west from Lloydminster
in eastern Alberta, through Edmonton and Jasper
National Park
into British Columbia
. One of the most scenic drives is along the
Icefields Parkway, which runs for
between Jasper and Lake Louise, with mountain ranges and glaciers
on either side of its entire length.
Another
major corridor through central Alberta is Highway 11 (also known as the David Thompson Highway), which runs east from
the Saskatchewan River Crossing
in Banff National Park through Rocky Mountain House and Red
Deer
, connecting with Highway 12 west of Stettler. The highway connects many of the
smaller towns in central Alberta with Calgary and Edmonton, as it
crosses Highway 2 just west of Red Deer.
Urban stretches of Alberta's major highways and
freeways are often called
trails.
For
example, Highway 2, the main north-south highway in the province,
is called Deerfoot Trail as it passes
through Calgary but becomes Calgary
Trail as it enters Edmonton and then turns into Saint Albert
Trail as it leaves Edmonton for the city of St.
Albert
. Calgary, in particular, has a tradition
of calling its largest urban
expressways
trails and naming many of them after prominent
First Nations individuals and tribes, such as
Crowchild Trail, Deerfoot Trail, and
Stoney Trail.
Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, and Lethbridge have
substantial
public transit systems.
In addition to buses, Calgary and Edmonton operate
light rail transit (LRT) systems.
Edmonton LRT, which is underground in
the downtown core and on the surface outside of it, was the first
of the modern generation of light rail systems to be built in North
America, while the Calgary
C-Train, although
operating mostly on the surface, has almost 4 times more track than
the Edmonton LRT and the highest ridership of any LRT system in
North America.
Alberta is well-connected by air, with
international airports in both Calgary
and Edmonton.
Calgary International Airport
and Edmonton International
Airport
are the fourth and fifth busiest in Canada
respectively. Calgary's
airport is a
hub for
WestJet Airlines and a regional hub
for
Air Canada.
Calgary's airport
primarily serves the Canadian prairie provinces (Alberta,
Saskatchewan and Manitoba) for connecting flights to British
Columbia, eastern Canada, 15 major US centres, nine European
airports, and four destinations in Mexico
and the
Caribbean
. Edmonton's airport acts as a hub for the
Canadian north and has connections to all major Canadian airports
as well as 10 major US airports, 3 European airports and 6 Mexican
and Caribbean airports.
There are over of operating mainline railway, and many tourists see
Alberta aboard
Via Rail or
Rocky Mountaineer. The
Canadian Pacific Railway and
Canadian National Railway
companies operate railway
freight across the
province.
Government

Alberta's Legislative Building in
Edmonton.
The government of Alberta is organized as a
parliamentary democracy with a unicameral legislature. Its
unicameral legislature—the
Legislative
Assembly—consists of eighty-three members.
Locally municipal governments and school boards are elected and
operate separately. Their boundaries do not necessarily coincide.
Municipalities where the same body act as both local government and
school board are formally referred to as "counties" in
Alberta.
As Canada's
head of state,
Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state
for the Government of Alberta. Her duties in Alberta are carried
out by Lieutenant Governor
Norman
Kwong. Although the lieutenant governor is technically the most
powerful person in Alberta, he is in reality a
figurehead whose actions are restricted by custom
and
constitutional
convention. The government is therefore headed by the
premier. The current premier is
Ed Stelmach who was elected as leader of the
governing Progressive Conservatives on December 2, 2006. Stelmach
was sworn in as the 13th
Premier of
Alberta on December 15, 2006.
The Premier is a Member of the Legislative Assembly, and he draws
all the members of his Cabinet from among the members of the
Legislative Assembly.
The City of Edmonton is the seat of the provincial government—the
capital of Alberta.
Alberta's elections tend to yield results which are much more
conservative than those of other Canadian provinces. Alberta has
traditionally had three political parties, the Progressive
Conservatives ("Conservatives" or "Tories"), the
Liberals, and the social democratic
New Democrats. A fourth
party, the strongly conservative
Social Credit Party, was a
power in Alberta for many decades, but fell from the political map
after the Progressive Conservatives came to power in 1971. Since
that time, no other political party has governed Alberta. In fact,
only four parties have governed Alberta: the Liberals, from 1905 to
1921; the
United Farmers of
Alberta, from 1921 to 1935; the Social Credit Party, from 1935
to 1971, and the currently governing Progressive Conservative
Party, from 1971 to the present.
Alberta has had occasional surges in
separatist sentiment. Even during the
1980s, when these feelings were at their strongest, there has never
been enough interest in secession to initiate any major movements
or referendums. There are several groups wishing to promote the
independence of Alberta in some form currently active in the
province.
In the
2008 provincial
election, held on March 3, 2008, the Progressive Conservative
Party was re-elected as a majority government with 72 of 83 seats,
the
Alberta Liberal Party was
elected as the Official Opposition with nine members, and the
Alberta New Democratic
Party elected two members.
Municipalities
- Largest municipalities and metro areas by population
Census Metropolitan
Areas: |
2006 |
2001 |
1996 |
Calgary CMA |
1,079,310 |
951,395 |
821,628 |
Edmonton CMA |
1,034,945 |
937,845 |
862,597 |
Cities (10 Largest): |
|
|
|
Calgary |
988,193 |
878,866 |
768,082 |
Edmonton |
730,372 |
666,104 |
616,306 |
Red Deer |
82,772 |
67,707 |
60,080 |
Lethbridge |
78,713 |
68,712 |
64,938 |
St. Albert (included in Edmonton
CMA) |
57,719 |
53,081 |
46,888 |
Medicine Hat |
56,997 |
51,249 |
46,783 |
Grande Prairie |
47,076 |
36,983 |
31,353 |
Airdrie (included in Calgary
CMA) |
28,927 |
20,382 |
15,946 |
Spruce Grove (included in Edmonton
CMA) |
19,496 |
15,983 |
14,271 |
Leduc
(included in Edmonton CMA) |
16,967 |
15,032 |
14,346 |
Districts (3 Largest): |
|
|
|
Strathcona County (included in Edmonton
CMA) |
82,511 |
71,986 |
64,176 |
Regional Municipality of Wood
Buffalo |
51,496 |
42,581 |
35,213 |
Rocky View County (included in Calgary
CMA) |
34,171 |
29,925 |
23,326 |
Health care
As with all Canadian provinces, Alberta provides for all citizens
and residents through a
publicly-funded health care
system.
Alberta became Canada's second province
(after Saskatchewan
) to adopt a Tommy
Douglas-style program in 1950, a precursor to the modern
medicare system.
Alberta's health care budget is currently $13.2 billion during the
2008-2009 fiscal year (approximately 36% of all government
spending), making it the best funded health care system per-capita
in Canada. Every hour more than $1.5 million is spent on health
care in the province.
A highly-educated population and burgeoning economy have made
Alberta a national leader in health education, research, and
resources.
Many notable facilities include the Foothills
Medical Centre
, the Peter Lougheed Centre
, Rockyview General Hospital
, Alberta Children's Hospital
, Grace Women's Health Centre, The University of
Calgary Medical Centre (UCMC), Tom Baker Cancer Centre and Libin
Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta
, in Calgary
; In Edmonton, the University
of Alberta Hospital
, the Royal Alexandra Hospital
, the Mazankowski Alberta Heart
Institute
, the Lois Hole Hospital for Women, the Stollery
Children's Hospital
, the Alberta Diabetes Institute, the Cross
Cancer Institute
, and the Rexall Centre for Pharmacy and Health
Research in Edmonton
. Currently under construction in Edmonton
is the new $909 million Edmonton Clinic, which will provide a
similar research, education, and care environment as the Mayo Clinic
in the United States
.
Health Care in Alberta is administered
by the unified
Alberta Health
Services Board. Prior to July 1, 2008 Alberta was divided into
nine
health regions:
Aspen Regional Health
Authority:
Calgary Health
Region,
Capital Health
(Edmonton),
Chinook Health,
David Thompson Regional
Health Authority,
East Central
Health,
Northern
Lights Health Region,
Palliser Health Region and
Peace Country Health
Region.
The
Shock Trauma Air
Rescue Society, a
nonprofit organization,
provides an
air ambulance service to
all but the most remote areas of Alberta, and some adjoining areas
of British Columbia.
Education
As with any Canadian province, the Alberta Legislature has (almost)
exclusive authority to make laws respecting education. Since 1905
the Legislature has used this capacity to continue the model of
locally elected public and separate school boards which originated
prior to 1905, as well as to create and/or regulate universities,
colleges, technical institutions and other educational forms and
institutions (public charter schools, private schools, home
schooling).
Elementary schools
There are forty-two public school jurisdictions in Alberta, and
seventeen operating separate school jurisdictions.
Sixteen of the
operating separate school jurisdictions have a Catholic electorate, and one (St.
Albert
) has a Protestant
electorate. In addition, one Protestant separate school
district, Glen Avon, survives as a ward of the St. Paul Education
Region. The City of Lloydminster straddles the Alberta/Saskatchewan
border, and both the public and separate school systems in that
city are counted in the above numbers: both of them operate
according to Saskatchewan law.
For many years the
provincial
government has funded the greater part of the cost of providing
K–12 education. Prior to 1994 public and separate school boards in
Alberta had the legislative authority to levy a local tax on
property, as supplementary support for local education. In 1994 the
government of the province eliminated this right for public school
boards, but not for separate school boards. Since 1994 there has
continued to be a tax on property in support of K–12 education; the
difference is that the mill rate is now set by the provincial
government, the money is collected by the local municipal authority
and remitted to the provincial government. The relevant legislation
requires that all the money raised by this property tax must go to
the support of K–12 education provided by school boards. The
provincial government pools the property tax funds from across the
province and distributes them, according to a formula, to public
and separate school jurisdictions and Francophone
authorities.
Public and
separate school boards,
charter
schools, and
private schools all
follow the Program of Studies and the curriculum approved by the
provincial department of education (Alberta Education). Home
schoolers may choose to follow the Program of Studies or develop
their own Program of Studies. Public and separate schools, charter
schools, and approved private schools all employ teachers who are
certificated by Alberta Education, they administer Provincial
Achievement Tests and Diploma Examinations set by Alberta
Education, and they may grant high school graduation certificates
endorsed by Alberta Education.
Universities
Alberta's
oldest and largest university is Edmonton's University
of Alberta
established in 1908. The University
of Calgary
, once affiliated with the University of Alberta,
gained its autonomy in 1966 and is now the second largest
university in Alberta. There is also Athabasca
University
, which focuses on distance learning, and the
University
of Lethbridge
, both of which are located in their title
cities. In early September, 2009, Mount
Royal University
became Calgary's second public university, and in
late September, 2009, a similar move made Grant
MacEwan University
Edmonton's second public university.
There are
15 colleges that receive direct public funding, along with two
technical institutes, Northern Alberta Institute of
Technology
and Southern Alberta Institute of
Technology
. There is also a large and active private
sector of post-secondary institutions, mostly Christian
Universities, bringing the total number of universities to
twelve, plus a DeVry
University
location in Calgary. Students may also
receive government loans and grants while attending selected
private institutions. There has been some controversy in recent
years over the rising cost of post-secondary education for students
(as opposed to taxpayers). In 2005, Premier
Ralph Klein made a promise that he would freeze
tuition and look into ways of reducing schooling costs. So far, no
plan has been released by the government of Alberta.
Culture
Summer brings many festivals to the province of Alberta, especially
in Edmonton.
The Edmonton Fringe Festival is the
world's second largest after Edinburgh
's. The Folk music festivals in both Calgary
and Edmonton are two of Canada's largest and both cities host a
number of annual multicultural events. With a large number of
summer and winter events, Edmonton prides itself as being the
"Festival City". The city's
"heritage days" festival sees the
participation of over 70 national groups. Edmonton's
Churchill Square is home to a large number
of the festivals, including the large Taste of Edmonton &
The Works Art &
Design Festival throughout the summer months.
Calgary
is also home to Carifest, the second
largest Caribbean festival in the nation (after Caribana in Toronto
). Edmonton has Cariwest, a smaller Caribbean
Parade in the downtown streets. Both Edmonton and Calgary are also
known for decent Film festivals.
The city of Calgary is also famous for
its Calgary
Stampede
, dubbed "The Greatest Outdoor Show on
Earth." The Stampede is Canada's biggest rodeo festival and
features various races and competitions, such as
calf roping and
bull
riding. In line with the western tradition of rodeo are the
cultural artisans that reside and create unique Alberta western
heritage crafts.
The Banff Centre
also hosts a range of festivals and other events
including the internationally known Mountain Film Festival.
These cultural events in Alberta highlight the province's cultural
diversity and love of entertainment.
Most of the major
cities have several performing theatre companies who entertain in
venues as diverse as Edmonton's Arts Barns and the Francis
Winspear Centre for Music
. Both Calgary and Edmonton are home to
Canadian Football League
and
National Hockey League
teams.
Soccer,
rugby union and
lacrosse
are also played professionally in Alberta.
Ecology
Flora
In central and northern Alberta the arrival of spring brings the
prairie crocus
anemone, the
three flowered avens,
golden bean,
wild rose
and other early flowers. The advancing summer introduces many
flowers of the
sunflower family, until in
August the plains are one blaze of yellow and purple. The southern
and east central parts of Alberta are covered by a short,
nutritious grass, which dries up as summer lengthens, to be
replaced by hardy perennials such as the
prairie coneflower,
fleabane, and
sage. Both
yellow and white
sweet clover fill the
ditches with their beauty and aromatic scents. The trees in the
parkland region of the province grow in clumps and belts on the
hillsides. These are largely
deciduous,
typically
aspen,
poplar,
and
willow. Many species of willow and other
shrubs grow in virtually any terrain. On the north side of the
North Saskatchewan River evergreen forests prevail for hundreds of
thousands of square kilometres.
Aspen poplar,
balsam poplar (or
cottonwood), and
paper birch are the primary large deciduous
species.
Conifers include
Jack pine, Rocky Mountain pine,
Lodgepole pine, both white and black
spruce, and the deciduous conifer
tamarack.
Fauna
The four climatic regions (
alpine,
boreal forest,
parkland, and
prairie)
of Alberta are home to many different species of animals. The south
and central prairie was the land of the bison, its grasses
providing a great pasture and breeding ground for millions of
buffalo. The buffalo population was decimated during early
settlement, but since then buffalo have made a strong comeback and
thrive on farms and in parks all over Alberta.
Alberta is home to many large
carnivores.
Among them are the
grizzly and
black bears, which are found in the
mountains and wooded regions. Smaller carnivores of the
canine and
feline families
include
coyotes,
wolves,
fox,
lynx,
bobcat and
mountain lion
(cougar).
Herbivorous animals are found throughout
the province.
Moose,
mule
deer, and
white-tail deer are
found in the wooded regions, and
pronghorn
can be found in the prairies of southern Alberta.
Bighorn sheep and
mountain goats live in the
Rocky Mountains.
Rabbits,
porcupines,
skunks,
squirrels and
many species of rodents and reptiles live in every corner of the
province. Alberta is home to only one variety of
venomous snake, the prairie
rattlesnake.

Various water birds in Edmonton
and northern Alberta and the region farther north is the nesting
ground of many migratory birds. Vast numbers of
ducks,
geese,
swans and
pelicans arrive in
Alberta every spring and nest on or near one of the hundreds of
small lakes that dot northern Alberta.
Eagles,
hawks,
owls and
crows are plentiful, and a huge variety of smaller seed
and insect-eating birds can be found. Alberta, like other
temperate regions, is home to
mosquitoes,
flies,
wasps, and bees. Rivers and lakes are well stocked with
pike,
walleye,
whitefish,
rainbow,
speckled,
and
brown trout,
and even
sturgeon.
Turtles are found in some water bodies in the
southern part of the province.
Frogs and
salamanders are a few of the
amphibians that make their homes in Alberta.
Alberta is the only province in Canada—as well as one of the few
places in the world—that is free of
Norwegian
rat. Since the early 1950s, the government of Alberta has
operated a rat-control program, which has been so successful that
only isolated instances of wild rat sightings are reported, usually
of rats arriving in the province aboard trucks or by rail. In 2006,
Alberta Agriculture reports zero findings of wild rats; the only
rat interceptions have been domesticated rats that have been seized
from their owners. It is illegal for individual Albertans to own or
keep Norwegian rats of any description; the animals can be kept in
the province by only zoos, universities and colleges, and
recognized research institutions. In 2009, several rats werefound
and captured, in small pockets in Southern Alberta, putting
Alberta's rat-free status in jeopardy.
See also
Notes
- AM Yisrael—The Jewish Communities of Canada
- ISBN 0-88975-213-3
- Interactive display system—US Patent U.S.
Patent No. 5,448,263; U.S. Patent for Touch Sensitive
Technology—SMART Technologies
- Alberta Livestock Inspections—August
2006—Alberta Government, Department of Agriculture
External links