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Alberta is one of Canada's provinces. Its capital is the
city of Edmonton. Other cities and towns include Banff, Calgary,
Red Deer, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. See also: List of communities
in Alberta.
As of 2004, the population of the province was 3,183,312
(Albertans). 81% of the population lives in urban areas and
19% is rural.
The Premier of the province is Ralph Klein. See also List
of Alberta Premiers.
Alberta is named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848-1939),
the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.
Princess Louise was also the wife of Sir John Campbell, who
was the Governor General of Canada from 1878-1883. Lake Louise
was also named in honour of Princess Louise.
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Contents [showhide]
1 Industry
2 Agriculture and Forestry
3 Government
4 Transportation
5 Culture
6 Religion
7 History
8 Fauna and Flora
8.1 Fauna
8.2 Flora
9 See also
[edit]
Industry
Main Article: Industry in Alberta
Alberta is the largest producer of conventional crude, synthetic
crude, natural gas and gas products in the country. 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 Tar Sands (now referred to as the Athabasca
Oil Sands) have estimated oil reserves in excess of that of
the rest of the world, estimated to be 1.6 trillion barrels
(254 km³). With the advancement of extraction methods,
bitumen and economical synthetic crude are produced at costs
nearing that of conventional crude. This technology is Alberta
grown and developed. Many companies employ both conventional
strip mining and non-convention methods to extract the bitumen
from the Athabasca deposit. With current technology, only
315 billion barrels (50 km³) are recoverable. Fort McMurray,
one of Canada's youngest and liveliest cities, has grown up
entirely because of the large multinational corporations which
have taken on the task of oil production
While Edmonton is considered the pipeline junction and refining
centre of the province, Calgary is known for its senior and
junior oil company head offices.
With concerted effort and support from the provincial government,
several high-tech industries have found their birth in Alberta,
notably the invention and perfection of liquid crystal display
systems. With a growing economy, Alberta has several financial
institutions dealing with several civil and private funds.
[edit]
Agriculture and Forestry
Agriculture has a significant position in the province's economy.
Over 5 million cattle are residents of the province at one
time or another, 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
(bison) 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, with other grains
also prominent. Much of the farming is dryland farming, with
fallow seasons interspersed with cultivation.
Alberta is the leading beekeeping province of Canada, with
some beekeepers wintering hives indoors in specially designed
barns in the southern part, then migrating north during the
summer into the Peace River valley where the season is short
but the working days are long for honeybees 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 and plywood, and several
northern Alberta plants supply North America and the Pacific
Rim nations with bleached wood pulp and newsprint.
[edit]
Government
Main Article: Government of Alberta
The government of Alberta is a parliamentary democracy. It
consists of one house -- the Legislative Assembly -- of 83
members. The government is headed by the Premier, Ralph Klein,
and the city of Edmonton is Alberta's government seat. The
province's revenue comes mainly from the taxation of oil,
natural gas, beef, softwood lumber, and wheat, but also includes
grants from the federal government primarily for infrastructure
projects. Albertans are the lowest taxed people in Canada,
and Alberta is the only province in Canada without a provincial
sales tax. Alberta's municipalities have their own governments
which (usually) work in cooperation with the provincial government.
Alberta's politics are more conservative than those of other
Canadian provinces. Alberta has traditionally had three political
parties, the Progressive Conservatives, the centrist Liberals,
and the social democratic New Democratic Party. A fourth party,
the strongly conservative Social Credit Party, was a power
in Alberta for many decades, but disappeared from the political
map when the Progressive Conservatives came to power in the
early 1970s. Since that time, no other political party has
led Alberta.
New elections are expected to be held in 2004. See Alberta
general election, 2004.
See also: List of Alberta Premiers
[edit]
Transportation
Alberta has over 180 000 km of highways and roads, of which
nearly 50 000 km are paved. The main north-south corridor,
Highway 2, enters Alberta just south of Lethbridge at the
Coutts border crossing. It travels northward through Lethbridge,
Calgary, Red Deer, and Edmonton before dividing into two highways,
one which continues northwesterly into Grande Prairie and
the Peace River country, and the other, which continues to
Fort McMurray, the location of the oil sands.
Alberta has two main east-west corridors. The northern corridor,
known as the Yellowhead Highway, runs from Lloydminster in
eastern Alberta, through Edmonton, and then west to Jasper
National Park and into British Columbia. The southern corridor,
the Alberta portion of the Trans-Canada Highway, enters the
province near Medicine Hat, runs westward through Calgary,
and leaves Alberta through Banff National Park. On a sunny
spring or fall day, one of the most scenic drives in the world
is along the Icefield Parkway, which runs some 300 km between
Jasper and Banff, with mountain ranges and glaciers on either
side of its entire length.
Alberta is well-connected by air, with international airports
at both Edmonton and Calgary. Calgary's airport is the busier
of the two, as it is a hub airport for more of the connecting
international flights in and out of Alberta. There are over
9 000 km of operating mainline railroad track, and many tourists
see Alberta as they pass through on Canadian National Railways'
ViaRail service.
[edit]
Culture
Main Article: Culture of Alberta
Alberta is well known for its warm and outgoing friendliness
and frontier spirit.
Summer brings many festivals to the province. The Fringe
Festivals, Canada's largest Folk Festival, Multicultural Festivals,
Heritage Days -- just to name a few -- 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 the Bus Barns and the Winspear
Centre. Alberta also benefits from having the largest Francophone
population west of Ontario; poutine and Bonhomme de Carnaval
are no strangers to most Albertans.
Both cities brag of their first-class Canadian Football League
and National Hockey League teams. Soccer, rugby and lacrosse
are played professionally in Alberta. However, Alberta's last
Pacific Coast League baseball team, the Edmonton Trappers,
left the province (and Canada) after the 2004 season.
In 2001 one British journalist nicknamed Edmonton 'Deadmonton'
for its lack of culture and night life. He later changed his
mind after being given a tour by the mayor.
Tourism is also important to Albertans. Thousands of visitors
come to Alberta each year just for Calgary's world-famous
Stampede and for Edmonton's Klondike Days. Edmonton, as the
kicking-off point to the only 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, also
has a history of early air service to the North. Many of the
first bush pilots, among them Wop May, flew out of Edmonton's
Blatchford Field.
Visitors throng to Calgary each year for a taste of "Stampede
Fever," ten days of celebrating Canada's own Wild West
and the cattle ranching industry which is a symbol to many
Albertans of the province's independence and self-reliance.
Only an hour's drive from the Rocky Mountains, Calgary also
makes a visit to tourist attractions like Banff National Park
something which can easily be done in a day.
Alberta is an important destination for tourists who love
to ski and hike; Alberta boasts several world-class ski resorts.
Hunters and fishermen from around the world are able to take
home impressive trophies and tall tales from their experiences
in Alberta's wilderness.
[edit]
Religion
Many Albertans practice some form of Christian faith; however,
a wide variety of other faiths also present, as well as many
people professing no religion. Alberta has a higher percentage
of evangelical Christians than other provinces.
The Mormons of Alberta reside primarily in the most southerly
part of the province. Many descend from Mormon settlers who
emigrated from Utah around the turn of the twentieth century.
Alberta also has a large Hutterite population, a communal
Anabaptist sect similar to the Mennonites and Amish in holding
to more traditional Christian values.
Many people of the Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim faiths also make
Alberta their home; one of the largest Sikh temples in Canada
is located just outside of Edmonton.
[edit]
History
Main Article: History of Alberta
The present province of Alberta as far north as 53°N
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 northwest of the French in around 1731 they
settled the prairies of the west, establishing communities
such as Lac La Biche and Bonneville. Fort La Jonquière
was established near the what is now of 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, cousin of Sir Alexander
Mackenzie, built Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca ten years
later in 1788. Mackenzie followed the North Saskatchewan River
to its northernmost extent 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 Riverupstream, eventually reaching the
Pacific Ocean, and so being the first white man to cross the
North American continent north of Mexico.
The district of Alberta was created as part of the Northwest
Territories in 1875. Additional privileges and a local legislature
were added as time went on. In 1905 the district of Alberta
was enlarged and given provincial status.
Populations of Alberta since 1901
Year Population Percentage of
Canadian Pop.
1901 73,022 1.4
1911 374,295 5.2
1921 588,454 6.7
1931 731,605 7.0
1941 796,169 6.9
1971 1,627,874 7.5
1981 2,237,724 9.2
1986 2,365,825 9.3
1991 2,545,553 9.3
1996 2,696,826 9.3
2001 2,974,807 9.9
[edit]
Fauna and Flora
[edit]
Fauna
The three climatic regions (alpine, forest, 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. They were virtually destroyed by early white settlers,
partly for sport, partly for the warm buffalo fur, which was
used to make coats, and partly as one means of destroying
the culture of the native people. The white settlers felt
that the best way to "civilize" the natives was
to make sure that they thought and behaved like the white
men, and by removing the buffalo, a critical element of native
culture, thought they could do so. Since then, buffalo have
made a strong comeback, and thrive on farms and in parks all
over Alberta, and the native culture is also growing stronger
again.
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 dog and cat
families include coyotes, wolves, fox, lynx, and mountain
lion (cougar).
Herbivorous, or plant-eating animals are found throughout
the province. Moose deer (both mule and white-tail varieties)
are found in the wooded regions, and pronghorn antelope can
be found in the prairies of Southern Alberta. Bighorn sheep
and Mountain goats live in the Rocky Mountains. Rabbits, porcupine,
skunk, squirrels, and many species of rodents and reptiles
live in every corner of the province. Alberta is fortunate
in that it is home to only one variety of poisonous snake,
the prairie rattlesnake.
Central and northern Alberta and the region farther north
is the nesting-ground of the 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
which dot northern Alberta. The eagle, hawk, owl and crow
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, pickerel, white fish 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 which make
their homes in Alberta.
[edit]
Flora
In central and northern Alberta the arrival of spring brings
the prairie anemone, the avens, crocuses 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 part of Alberta is covered by a short
grass, very nutritive, but dries up as summer lengthens, to
be replaced by hardy perennials such as the buffalo bean,
fleabane, and sage. Both yellow and purple clover fill the
roadways and 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
birch, poplar, and tamarack. Many species of willow and other
shrubs grow in virtually any terrain. On the north side of
the 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 needle-shedding
tamarack.
[edit]
See also
Canada
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Provinces and territories of Canada
List of cities in Canada
List of Alberta lieutenant-governors
List of Alberta premiers
List of Alberta Census Divisions
List of communities in Alberta
List of Alberta universities
List of Canadian provincial and territorial symbols
Dominion Land Survey
Prosperity Certificate
This article is licensed
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Wikipedia
article "Alberta".
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