Lloydminster is a Canadian city which has the unusual geographic distinction of straddling the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. Unlike most such cases (such as Texarkana in the southern United States), Lloydminster is not a pair of twin cities on opposite sides of a border which merely share the same name, but is actually incorporated as a single city with a single municipal administration.

Geography

The provincial border runs north to south, falling directly on 50th Avenue (Meridian Avenue) in the centre of Lloydminster. Addresses east of 50th Avenue are considered to be in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan and addresses west of 50th Avenue are considered to be in Lloydminster, Alberta.

Lloydminster is not the only city that straddles a Canadian provincial border. The city of Flin Flon, Manitoba, has a small section that is actually located within Saskatchewan. In the National Capital Region, Ottawa, Ontario, and Gatineau, Quebec, form a single metropolitan area, but they do not form a biprovincial city because there are separate municipalities in each province.

Lloydminster's distinctive situation is reflected in other legal matters, including its time zone. Alberta law requires the use of daylight saving time, while Saskatchewan does not observe daylight saving time. Lloydminster's charter allows it to follow Alberta's use of daylight saving time on both sides of the provincial border; this places the city in the Mountain Standard Time Zone and synchronizes clocks with those of Alberta. Lloydminster follows the Saskatchewan schedule when voting in municipal elections.

Controversially, Lloydminster was not exempted from recent anti-smoking legislation passed by Saskatchewan's legislature. Citizens responded by initiating a referendum against the wishes of the mayor, as permitted in the charter, which resulted in the enactment of a city-wide anti-smoking bylaw. The matter was made a moot point when Alberta enacted its own anti-smoking legislation, which was the solution that the mayor and council preferred.

History

Intended to be an exclusively British Utopian settlement centred around the idea of sobriety, the town was founded in 1903 by the Barr Colonists, who came directly from the United Kingdom. At a time when the area was still part of the Northwest Territories, the town was located astride the Fourth Meridian of the Dominion Land Survey. This meridian was intended to coincide with 110° west longitude although the imperfect surveying methods of the time led to the meridian being placed a few hundred meters west of this longitude.

While provincehood of some sort was seen as inevitable by 1903, it had been widely expected that only one province would eventually be created instead of two. The colonists were not aware of the federal government's deep-rooted opposition to the creation of a single province and thus had no way of knowing that the Fourth Meridian was under consideration as a future provincial boundary. Had they known, it is very unlikely they would have sited the new settlement on the future border.

The town was named for Anglican Bishop George Exton Lloyd, a strong opponent of non-British immigration to Canada. During a nearly disastrous immigration journey, which was badly planned and conducted, he distinguished himself with the colonists and replaced the Barr Colony's leader and namesake Isaac Montgomery Barr during the colonists' journey to the eventual townsite.

When the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created in 1905, the Fourth Meridian was selected as the border, bisecting the town. Caught by surprise, Lloydminster residents petitioned for the new border to be revised so as to encompass the entire town within Saskatchewan, without success.

For the next quarter century, Lloydminster remained two separate towns with two separate municipal administrations. Finally, in 1930 the provincial governments agreed to amalgamate the towns into a single town under shared jurisdiction. The provinces, again jointly, reincorporated Lloydminster as a city in 1958.

Commemorating Lloydminster's distinctive bi-provincial status, a monument consisting of four 100-foot survey markers was erected in 1994 near the city's downtown core.

Although the majority of Lloydminster's population once lived in Saskatchewan, that ratio has long since been reversed. The Alberta side of the border has seen most of the city's recent population growth. In 2000, the city hall and municipal offices were re-located from Saskatchewan to Alberta.

Since Lloydminster's founders were attempting to create a utopian, temperate society, alcohol was not available in Lloydminster for the first few years after its founding. A bylaw prohibiting nude entertainment is also in place.

Demographics

According to the Canada 2006 Census, the population was 24,028, of which 15,910 (66.0%) live in Alberta and 8,118 (34.0%) live in Saskatchewan. According to the 2001 federal census, the total population of the city was 20,988, of which 13,148 (62.6%) resided in Alberta while 7,840 (37.4%) lived in Saskatchewan. From 2001 to 2006, the population rose 21.0% on the Alberta side while the Saskatchewan side rose by 3.5%.

The two sides of the city rank 10th in Alberta and 11th in Saskatchewan in municipal population. If the city were entirely in one province or the other, Lloydminster's population would rank ninth in Alberta and fifth in Saskatchewan.

There are substantial demographic differences between the populations on each side of the border, with the population on the Saskatchewan side being substantially younger; the median age on the Saskatchewan side is 26.6, nearly seven years less than the the median age of 33.2 on the Alberta side. Even when combining the median ages for both sides of the city, Lloydminster has the youngest median age in all of Canada. Also, the specific age group of 20–24 is much more concentrated on the Saskatchewan side. The two sides of the city have virtually identical numbers of people in that age group (1,220 in Saskatchewan, 1,230 in Alberta) even though the total population on the Alberta side is nearly twice that of the Saskatchewan side.

The Census Agglomeration of Lloydminster includes both parts of the city, as well as the rural municipality of Wilton No. 472, the town of Lashburn, Saskatchewan, and the village of Marshall, Saskatchewan.

More than 8% of residents identified themselves as aboriginal at the time of the 2006 census.

About 94% of residents identified English as their first language. More than 1.4% of the population identified French as their first language, while 0.8% identified German, 0.7% identified Ukrainian, and 0.5% identified Cree as their first language learned. The next most common languages were Chinese and Spanish at about 0.3% each. Additionally, there has been a growing number of Filipinos coming in as skilled workers

More than 78 percent of residents identified as Christian at the time of the 2001 census, while over 18 percent indicated that they had no religious affiliation. For specific denominations Statistics Canada found that 30% of residents identified as Roman Catholic, while 18% identified with the United Church of Canada, more than 7% identified as Anglican, about 5% identified as Lutheran, almost 3% identified as Pentecostal, about 2% identified as Baptist, and just over 1% of the population identified as Eastern Orthodox.

Economy and taxation

The local economy is driven primarily by the booming petroleum industry. Agriculture remains an important economic activity, although many farmers in the area have been sustained financially by lease payments resulting from oil wells drilled on their land.

Lloydminster's bi-provincial status has resulted in special provisions regarding provincial taxation within the city limits. The Saskatchewan side of the city is exempt from that province's sales tax, preventing businesses located there from being placed at a disadvantage relative to businesses in Alberta, which has no provincial sales tax. There is no exemption for provincial income tax, which is based solely on the taxpayer's province of residence. Other differences surrounding interprovincial costs are reflected within the treatment of automobile insurance, and housing taxes. For example, residents on the Alberta side (under 25 driver) will pay approximately pay 2-3 times the average amount required of a Saskatchewan driver.

Politics

Residents on the Alberta side are in the electoral district of Vegreville—Wainwright for elections to the federal House of Commons, and Vermilion-Lloydminster for elections to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Residents in Saskatchewan are in Battlefords—Lloydminster federally, and Lloydminster for the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.

Education

Elementary and secondary schools on both sides of the border all use Saskatchewan's curriculum. Lloydminster provides post-secondary education through Lakeland College offering one and two year certificate and diploma programs.

Climate

Media

Radio

• FM 95.9: CKSA ("Lloyd FM", country)
• FM 97.5: CKUA-FM-15 (variety)
• FM 106.1: CKLM ("The Goat", rock)

Television

• Channel 2: CKSA, CBC
• Channel 4: CITL, CTV

References

External links

• City of Lloydminster homepage
• Lloydminster Development
• Lloydminster Tourism
• History – Official centennial Site
• Lloydminster's Community homepage
• The Canadian Encyclopedia. Lloydminster