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Calgary

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City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
File:Calgaryflag.jpg File:Calgarycoa.PNG
Motto: Heart of the new west
Area: 712.14 sq. km.
Population

 - Total (2004)
 - Metropolitan (2004)
 - Cdn. Mun. Rank:
 - Cdn. CMA Rank:


 - Density

933,495
1,037,100
Ranked 3rd
Ranked 5th


1252.3/km²
Time zoneMountain: UTC-7

Latitude
Longitude

51°6' N
114°1' W

MPs
Diane Ablonczy, Rob Anders, Art Hanger, Stephen Harper, Jason Kenney, Deepak Obhrai, Jim Prentice, Lee Richardson
MLAs
Cindy Ady, Moe Amery, Neil Brown, Wayne Cao, Harvey Cenaiko, Harry B. Chase, Alana DeLong, Heather Forsyth, Yvonne Fritz, Denis Herard, Art Johnston, Ralph Klein, Ron Liepert, Richard Magnus, Gary Mar, Greg Melchin, Hung Pham, Dave Rodney, Shiraz Shariff, Ron Stevens, David Swann, Dave Taylor, Len Webber
MayorDavid Bronconnier
Governing bodyCalgary City Council
City of Calgary

Calgary is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is situated in the south of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains approximately 80 kilometers east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. As of 2004, the metropolitan population was at an estimated 1,037,100[1]. By 2005 the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) population is expected to reach over 1.2 million. It is the largest city in Alberta and the third largest by population in Canada. It is the largest city (by population) west of Toronto and east of Vancouver. It has the second highest concentration of head offices in Canada. Calgary's elevation is approximately 1000 metres (3,200 feet) above sea level downtown, and 1084 metres (3557 feet) at the airport. Calgary is also home to one of the world's best (and cleanest) fly fishing rivers, the Bow River, as well as North America's largest urban park, Fish Creek Park.

Calgary is a four-season playground with professional sport teams, world-class winter resorts and internationally renowned wilderness all in easy reach of this vibrant metropolitan city. It serves as the hub of the fifth largest Census Metropolitan Area in Canada. It is the central cargo hub for European freight into and out of north-western North America. Calgary is located in Division No. 6.

Calgary International Airport serves the city as well as the international traffic for Alberta and Saskatchewan. In December 2004, it was the third busiest airport in Canada after Toronto's Pearson International Airport and the Vancouver International Airport, and marginally busier than Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

Calgary's economy is largely centred on the petroleum industry, with agriculture and high-tech industries contributing to the city's rapid economic growth. Geographically, Calgary has a larger urban footprint than Los Angeles.

History

First settlement

North West Mounted Police post, 1875

Before Calgary was settled by white Europeans it was the domain of the Blackfoot people whose presence has been traced back 11,000 years. In 1787 cartographer David Thompson spent the winter with a band of Peigan Indians encamped along the Bow River in the Calgary area. He was the first recorded European to visit the area. By 1860 settlers began arriving to hunt buffalo and sell illegal whiskey.

The first recorded settler in Calgary was rancher Sam Livingston in the early 1870s, and in 1875 the site became a post of the North West Mounted Police (now the RCMP). Originally named Fort Brisbois, it was renamed to Fort Calgary in 1876. The detachment was assigned to protect the western plains from US whiskey traders. Fort Calgary was named by Colonel James MacLeod after Calgary (Cala-ghearraidh, Beach of the pasture) on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. When the Canadian Pacific Railway constructed a major rail station in the city, Calgary began to grow into an important commercial and agricultural centre. The Canadian Pacific Railway headquarters are located in Calgary today. Calgary was officially incorporated as a town in 1884 and elected its first mayor, George Murdoch. In 1894, Calgary was elevated to the status of city.


The oil boom

Oil was first discovered in Alberta in 1914, but it didn't become a significant industry in the province until the 1960s when huge reserves of it were discovered. Calgary quickly found itself at the centre of the ensuing oil boom. The city's economy grew when oil prices increased with the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. The population grew from 325,000 in 1974 to 647,000 in 1987. During this time, Calgary skyscrapers were constructed at a pace seen by few cities anywhere. The relatively low-rise downtown quickly became dense with tall buildings; a trend that continues to this day.

With the announcement of the National Energy Program in 1981 the oil boom started to subside. The NEP was cancelled in the mid-1980s by the Brian Mulroney federal government. Ultimately, oil prices would plummet and Calgary's economy would suffer.

Recent history

File:69 Calgary.jpg
Calgary in 1969

With the energy sector employing a huge number of Calgarians, the fallout from the economic slump of the early 1980s was understandably significant. The unemployment rate soared. By the end of the decade, however, the economy was in recovery. Calgary quickly realized that it could not afford to put so much emphasis on oil and gas, and the city has since become much more diverse, both economically and culturally. The period during this recession marked Calgary's transition from a mid-sized and relatively nondescript prairie city into a major cosmopolitan and diverse centre. This transition culminated in February of 1988, when the city hosted the XV Olympic Winter Games. The success of these games essentially put the city on the world stage.

The economy in Calgary and Alberta is now booming, and the city of over a million people is still among the fastest growing in the country. In fact, Calgary is now second only to Toronto for corporate head offices. While the oil and gas industry and agriculture still comprise a huge part of the economy, the city has invested a great deal into other areas. Tourism is perhaps one of the fastest growing industries in the city. Over 4.5 million people now visit the city on an annual basis for its many festivals and attractions, as well as the Calgary Stampede. The nearby mountain resort towns of Banff, Lake Louise, and Canmore are also becoming increasingly popular with tourists, and are bringing people into Calgary as a result. Other modern industries include light manufacturing, high-tech, film, transportation, and services.

Climate

Although Calgary's winters can be downright cold, Environment Canada still ranks the city as having the 3rd most temperate climate in the country after Victoria and Vancouver. This is due in large part to the dry Chinook winds that routinely blow into the city from the Pacific Ocean during the winter months. These winds have been known to raise the winter temperature by up to 40°C and may last several days. Nevertheless, Calgary is a city of extremes and temperatures can range anywhere from as low as -40°C in the dead of winter to over +30°C in the summer. On average the temperature ranges from a minimum -15°C in January to a maximum of 23°C in July and August. Calgary is a dry city and receives very little rain or snow relative to other Canadian cities. Despite this, blizzards in the winter and thunder and hail storms in the summer are not uncommon.

Layout of the city

Downtown Calgary, 2003

Calgary is a large city in area, consisting of an inner city surrounded by various suburbs of decreasing density. Unlike most cities with a sizeable metropolitan area, most of Calgary's suburbs are incorporated into the city proper, with the notable exceptions of the small city of Airdrie to the north, the small city of Cochrane to the North West, and the sprawling Springbank district to the west.

The centre of the city consists of eight districts: the Eau Claire and Festival District, the West End, the Stephen Avenue Retail Core, the Commercial Core, the Arts District, the Government District, Chinatown, and the East Village. This is surrounded by inner-city areas such as the Beltline, Kensington, Bridgeland and Inglewood-Ramsay. The inner-city is in turn surrounded by inner suburbs, including Bowness and Westgate to the west, Park Hill to the south and Forest Lawn to the east. Lying beyond these, and usually separated from one another by freeways, are outer suburbs, often characterised as "commuter communities". These include Citadel and McKenzie.

Because of the size of the city, many areas of the city are separated from the rest and have adopted their own distinct characteristics.

City Sights

File:Stephen Avenue.jpg
Stephen Avenue

Calgary's downtown can easily be characterized by its numerous skyscrapers (including the tallest office tower in Canada outside of Toronto). To connect many of the downtown office buildings, Calgary also boasts the world's most extensive network of elevated indoor pedestrian bridges (known as the Plus 15 system because the bridges are usually 15 feet above grade). The city's downtown also features an eclectic mix of restaurants and bars, cultural venues, shopping (most notably, TD Square, Stephen Avenue, and 17th Avenue aka The Red Mile), and public squares such as Olympic Plaza. Downtown tourist attractions include the Calgary Zoo, the Calgary Science Centre, the Telus Convention Centre, the Chinatown district, the Glenbow Museum and Art Gallery, (the largest museum in western Canada), the Calgary Tower, the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts, and Eau Claire Market. Downtown is also home to Prince's Island Park, a relativey large urban park located just north of the Eau Claire district. Downtown Calgary is easily accessed using the city's C-Train rapid transit system.

On the west side of the city on the banks of the Glenmore Reservoir is Heritage Park Historical Village. The theme park is a re-creation of a historic Alberta town. Highlights include a working steam train, a historic Calgary streetcar, and an antique midway. Other major city attractions include Canada Olympic Park (and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame), the Aero Space Museum, Calaway Park amusement park, and Race City Motorsport Park.

Landmarks

Culture

File:Scotchmans Hill.jpg
Calgary in 2004, from Scotsman's Hill

Calgary's cultural scene has changed considerably over time. Today it has grown into a more cosmopolitan city despite its traditional culture of hotel saloons, hockey and western music.

Calgary is the site of the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, a 4 million cubic foot (113,000 ft³) performing arts, culture and community facility. The auditorium is one of two "twin" facilities in the province, the other located in Edmonton. The 2,700 seat auditorium was opened in 1957 and has been host to hundreds of Broadway musical, theatrical, stage and local productions. Annually, over 850,000 visitors frequent the performance space. The "JUBES" as they are known, are the resident home of the Alberta Ballet, the Calgary opera, the Kiwanis Music Festival, the Royal Conservatory of Music and the annual Canadian Legion Remembrance Day Ceremonies. The two auditoriums are run by community-based non-profit societies and operate 365 days a year. Currently, the two auditoriums are undergoing a $91 million renovation.

Calgary is also home to the internationally-renowned contemporary theatre company One Yellow Rabbit. The company shares the massive EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and two more established theatre companies, Theatre Calgary and Alberta Theatre Projects. Calgary was also the birthplace, in the 1970s, of the improvisational theatre games known as Theatresports.

Calgary is affectionately called the Nashville of the North, and took a large part in the country revival of the 1990s. Currently, some of the city's most popular bars trade on the image of cool country, playing contemporary country music to young twenty-somethings. Racism is a problem, as these bars, along with others, routinely deny entry to non-whites.

The Stampede

File:CalStampd.jpg
The Stampede Rodeo

Calgary is world-famous for its Calgary Stampede, a large festival and rodeo every July. It is Canada's largest annual event and it features an internationally recognized rodeo competition, a midway, stage shows, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon races, First Nations exhibitions, and pancake breakfasts around the city, among other attractions. The event has an extensive history.

The Calgary Stampede was inaugurated in 1912 by Guy Weadick, an American trick roper. Weadick wanted to put on a world-class rodeo event and Wild West show that would bring the best cowboys from across the continent. The first Stampede was the richest rodeo competition in North America with prize money totalling $20,000. It drew more than 100,000 spectators. In 1923, the Stampede was combined with the Calgary Exhibition and the chuckwagon races were added. In 2004, the rodeo prize money was doubled to $1,000,000 to put the Stampede on par with other major rodeos such as the National Finals Rodeo. In 2004, attendance at the 10-day rodeo and exhibition totalled 1,221,182. Attendance at the Stampede Parade, which takes place downtown on opening day is usually somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000. During Stampede Week, the city's residents dress in western attire, and nearly all businesses decorate their stores and offices western style. The Calgary Stampede is often called "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth."

Presently, Bryce Nimmo is the chairman of the Stampede Rodeo committee.

Other Annual Festivals

Eau Claire and Festival District
  • Winter Festival (February)
  • Rodeo Royal (March)
  • International Children's Festival (May)
  • Carifest (June)
  • International Jazz Festival (June)
  • Greek Festival (June)
  • Folk Music Festival (July)
  • Dragonboat Festival (August)
  • Global Fest - One World Festival & International Fireworks Competition (August)
  • Afrikadey! Festival (August)
  • Festival on the Bow / Barbecue on the Bow (September)
  • Calgary International Film Festival (September)
  • Banff Festival of Mountain Films (October)
  • Twelve Days of Christmas (December)

Political scene

Calgary is traditionally a conservative city, dominated by traditional small-c social conservatives and more modern fiscal conservatives. As the city is a corporate power-centre, a high percentage of the workforce is employed in white-collar jobs. During the 1990s the city's mainstream political culture was dominated by the right-wing Reform Party of Canada federally, and the Alberta Progressive Conservatives provincially. The Reform Party was largely spawned at the University of Calgary, and party leaders of both the PCs and Reform have Calgary ridings.

However, as Calgary has grown, its politics have become diverse. One growing alternative movement was recently active during the 2000 World Petroleum Congress and the J26 G8 Protests. The largest protests in the city's recent history occurred in early 2003 in response to the War on Iraq, when 5-10,000 people from southern Alberta converged outside the U.S. Consulate General's office. The city has chapters of various activist organizations, as well as an Anti-Capitalist Convergence. Left-wing provincial and federal Liberals tend to distance themselves from the activist movement which also claims support from the left. The Green Party of Canada has also made inroads in Calgary, although they have never achieved more than five per cent of the popular vote in any city riding. Another alternative, represented by the right-wing Alberta Alliance, became active during the 26th Alberta general election and campaigned for fiscally and socially conservative reforms.

Prior to the November 22, 2004 general election, all 21 provincial MLAs representing Calgary were Progressive Conservatives. The Alberta Liberals won three seats in the provincial legislature during that election, two of which were new as a result of redistricting.

All eight of Calgary's federal MPs are members of the Conservative Party of Canada. The CPC's predecessors have traditionally held the majority of the city's federal seats.

Education

Calgary is the site of four major public post-secondary institutions. The University of Calgary is Calgary's primary large degree granting facility. Currently, nearly 30,000 students are enrolled there. Mount Royal College is the city's second largest institution (13,000 students) and it grants degrees in a number of fields. The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology provides polytechnic education. The Alberta College of Art & Design is also located in Calgary. Bow Valley College is the city's largest private institution. There are a number of other smaller private colleges in the city as well. Calgary is also the home of the Milton Wiliams School for Education Through the Arts, a national centre of excellence in arts immersion education for children between the fifth and ninth grades.

Sports & Recreation

File:Calgnite.jpg
The Pengrowth Saddledome

Calgary held the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. Many of the remaining venues currently function as major training facilities for athletes around the world. The most notabe of these are Canada Olympic Park and the Olympic Oval.

Calgary's multipurpose arena, the Pengrowth Saddledome is shown at the right. The Olympic Saddledome (as it was formerly known) was the first arena in North America capable of accomodating an Olympic regulation-sized ice rink.

The Olympic Oval is primarily a speed-skating arena that can also accomodate hockey and high-performance training. The rink's ice is world-renowned and it brings some of the best speed skaters in the world to the facility for training and competition. It was at this place where the likes of Catriona LeMay Doan, and Cindy Klassen trained for their Olympic and world stardom.

Professional sports teams

Amateur teams

Outdoor recreation

Calgary is next to some of the most pristine natural scenery in the world. Banff National Park is about 125 kilometres northwest of Calgary on the TransCanada Highway. About 75 kilometres west is Kananaskis Country.

Many Calgarians and millions of tourists enjoy activities such as biking, hiking, skiing/snowboarding, camping, and fishing in these great parks every year. The town of Banff hosts nearly five million visitors annually.

Within Calgary itself, people make extensive use of the city's network of bike paths and large urban parks. For more extreme adventure, Canada Olympic Park offers bobsledding, luge, cross country skiing, ski jumping, downhill skiing and snowboarding in the winter.

Major Calgary and Vicinity Parks

Transportation

Calgary's mass transit system is operated by Calgary Transit. Known as the C-Train, the light rail transit (LRT) system in the city consists of 42.1 km of track and was one of the first such systems in North America. Unique to the C-Train system is the fact that its power is completely wind generated and is thus 100% emissions free. As well as the LRT, Calgary Transit has an effective system of buses, and has routes stretching all over the city. It has won several prestigious awards for its efficency and its environmental responsibility. It serves approximately 922,300 people in Calgary and consists of over 160 bus routes and 3 C-Train lines spanning over 4,300 km.

The City of Calgary also has an impressive network of paved, bicycle paths. Thousands of people make year-round use these paths for walking, running, and cycling to various destinations.

Finally, Calgary has an extensive, efficient, and well maintained street network. Smaller roads are supplemented with a number of major arteries and freeways, the largest of which is the north-south running Deerfoot Trail (Highway 2).

Road and Address Numbering System

In Calgary, roads and addresses are numbered based on their location relative to the logical center of the city, along with a quadrant designator. For this purpose, the logical city center is considered to be the intersection of "Centre Avenue and Centre Street". Avenues run east-west (parallel to Centre Avenue), and streets run north-south (parallel to Centre Street), with exceptions being the result of Calgary's interesting topography. The quadrant designators are: Northwest (NW), Northeast (NE), Southwest (SW), and Southeast (SE).

Street numbers increase with distance west or east of Centre Street (for example, 14th Street West is 14 blocks to the west of Centre Street, and about 4 blocks farther west than 10th Street West)

Avenue numbers increase with distance north or south of Centre Avenue (for example, 16th Avenue North is 16 blocks to the north of Centre Avenue, and 4 blocks south of 20th Avenue North).

Note that due to topography and obstructions, numbered Streets and Avenues are sometimes separated into disjoint pieces. For example, Centre Avenue only logically intersects with Centre Street -- physically, Centre Avenue is broken into sections east and west of Center Street, on other sides of the obstruction created by the Bow River.

Addresses with odd numbers are located on the west side of a (north-south) street, or on the south side of an (east-west) avenue; conversely, even-numbered addresses are located on the east side of any street, or the north side of any avenue.

For example, a (fictitious) address of 1104-29th Avenue SW would be located on 29th Avenue South (which itself is 29 blocks south of Center Avenue), and slightly more that 10 blocks west of Center Street (between 10th and 11th Streets West).

The basic numbered streets and avenues are complemented with major thoroughfares known as "Trails", which are given names that honour Calgary's rich western and native North American culture -- examples include Sarcee Trail, Stony Trail, Shaganappi Trail, Deerfoot Trail, Crowchild Trail, Blackfoot Trail, etc.

Military presence

Calgary is still home to a sizable military presence, including HMCS Tecumseh(Naval Reserve), the HMCS Tecumseh Band, and the 746th Communications Squadron (Communications Reserve). Several units of the Army Reserve are located in Calgary, including:

Additionally, there are several squadrons of the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets, Navy League Cadets, Royal Canadian Army Cadets, and Royal Canadian Air Cadets.

Local media

Daily newspapers

  • Calgary Herald - The largest newspaper in Calgary. Generally conservative, covers more worldly news than the Calgary Sun. Owned by the CanWest media company.
  • Calgary Sun - Tabloid-sized paper, big on sports (and famous for Sunshine Girl) with significantly less content than advertisements. Covers the little tidbits that make Calgary unique.
  • FFWD - Weekly alternative arts paper.
  • Globe and Mail - Canada's "National Newspaper", more liberal than the other papers with more world news, business and arts coverage.
  • National Post - Daily national news owned by CanWest Global Communications.

Radio stations

AM

FM

Television stations

Network programming from the USA is available on Cable television from Spokane, Washington.

Images

See also

 

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