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 just east of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. As of 2004, the metropolitan population was at an estimated 1,037,100[1]. By 2005 the 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 about 1000 metres (3,200 feet) above sea level. 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.

The city's downtown can easily be characterized by its numerous skyscrapers (among the tallest in Canada outside of Toronto and Montreal). Calgary also boasts the world's most extensive network of elevated indoor pedestrian bridges to connect many downtown office buildings (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), 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 (the largest museum in western Canada), the Calgary Tower, 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.

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. It is the third busiest airport in Canada after Toronto's Pearson International Airport and the Vancouver 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

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.

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Calgary in 1969

The oil boom

With the discovery of oil in Alberta in the mid–20th century, Calgary became the centre of an accompanying oil boom. Calgary's economy grew when oil prices increased with the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. The city's 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. 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 Mulroney government, and Calgary has since largely recovered.

Calgary remains the oil capital of Canada and is second only to Toronto for corporate head offices. The beef industry is also very important to Calgary, as it is a distribution centre for the outlying rural areas. Lakeside Packers and Cargill Limited near Calgary are some of the most modern, state-of-the-art beef processing facilities in North America.

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 20°C and may last several days. Nevertheless, Calgary is a city of extremes and temperatures can range anywhere from as low as -30°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

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 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 seperated from one another by freeways, are outer suburbs, often characterised as "commuter communities". These include Citadel and Mackenzie.

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

The Stampede

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Calgary is world famous for its Calgary Stampede, a large festival and rodeo in July of each year and has quite a 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. For the year 2000, the attendance to the 10-day rodeo and exhibition totalled 1,218,851 people. 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 commitee.

Cultural scene

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Calgary in 2004, from Scotchman'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.

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 almost 5,000 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 tertiary educational institutions: the University of Calgary, The Alberta College of Art & Design, the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, and Mount Royal College. It 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 from grade 5 though 9.

Sports

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Calgary held the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. The remaining venues have become a training site for athletes around the world.

Calgary's multipurpose arena, the Pengrowth Saddledome is shown at the right.

Calgary is also home to the Olympic Oval, which is a common host of speed-skating, hockey, and other winter sports. It is renown for its exceptional speed-skating rink and brings some of the best skaters in the world to this facility. It was at this place, that the likes of Catriona LeMay Doan, and Cindy Klassen trained for their Olympic and world stardom.

Professional sports teams in Calgary include:

Amateur teams include:

Calgary Dawgs (Baseball/Western Major Baseball League)
Calgary Hitmen (Hockey/Western Hockey League)
Calgary Oval X-treme (Hockey/Western Womens Hockey League)

Outdoor recreation

Calgary is next to some of the most pristine natural environment in the world. Banff National Park is about 125 kilometres due west 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 annually receives five million visitors.

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.

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 that 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).

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:

Headquarters, 41 Canadian Brigade Group
The King's Own Calgary Regiment (RCAC)
Regimental Band of The King's Own Calgary Regiment (RCAC)
33 Field Engineer Squadron (Canadian Military Engineers)
The Calgary Highlanders
Regimental Pipes and Drums of The Calgary Highlanders
14 Service Battalion
Calgary Detachment, 15 Field Ambulance (Canadian Forces Medical Service)
Militia Training Detachment Calgary

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

580 - CKUA - Info/Educational/World Music
660 - CFR - Classic Gold/Oldies
770 - QR77 - Talk Radio
910 - QR91 - Country/Drumheller
960 - CFAC - "The Fan" all-sports
1010 - CBR - CBC Radio One
1060 - CKMX - Golden Oldies (pre-70's)
1140 - CFXL - Adult

FM

88.1 - new community station
88.9 - CJSI - Shine-FM - Contemporary Christian
89.7 - CBCX - Espace Musique
90.9 - CJSW - University of Calgary
91.1 - CKDQ - Q91 country, broadcasting from Drumheller
92.1 - CJAY - Classic Rock
93.7 - CKUA - Info/Educational/World Music
94.7 - CHKF - Asian Canadian community
95.9 - CHFM - Lite 96 adult contemporary
96.9 - CKIS - Jack FM Variety
98.5 - CIBK - Vibe 98.5 urban music
100.9 - CFXL - The Eagle classic rock/variety, broadcasting out of Okotoks
102.1 - CBR-FM - CBC Radio Two
103.1 - CIQX - The Breeze easy listening/jazz
103.9 - CBRF-FM - La Première Chaîne
105.1 - CKRY - Country 105
107.1 - CKIK - Q-107 classic rock

Television stations

2 - CICT - Calgary Independent Television
4 - CFCN CTV - (Canadian Television Network)
8 - CKAL A-Channel - (CHUM Network)
9 - CBRT CBC - (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
13 - CJAL Access - Alberta Educational Television Network

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