| Canada |
| Resources |
Edmonton, Canada
Edmonton, a Canadian city, is the capital of the province of Alberta situated in the north central region of the province, an area blessed with farm land among the richest in the prairies. It is the second largest city in Alberta (after Calgary) and is the hub of the country's sixth largest Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) with a metro population of 1,000,500 (2005 est.)[1]. It also serves as the northern anchor of the "Calgary-Edmonton Corridor" (one of four such regions that, in total, comprise 50% of the Canadian population) and is a staging point for large-scale oilsands projects occuring in the north of the province. Edmonton is Canada's second most populous provincial capital (after Toronto) and is known as a well-rounded cultural, government, and educational centre. It plays host to a year round slate of world-class festivals, earning it the title of Festival City[2]. Among these is included The Fringe, North America's largest fringe event, Edmonton International Street Performer's Festival, Edmonton Folk Music Festival, and many more. It has also hosted many international events, including the 2001 IAAF Track and Field Games and the 2005 World Masters Games. It is home to the world's largest mall, West Edmonton Mall and Canada's largest historical park, Fort Edmonton Park. In 2004, Edmonton celebrated the centennial of its incorporation as a city (1904). While traditionally focused on the oil industry, earning the name "Oil Capital of Canada" in the 1940s, Edmonton's economy has worked towards becoming the second most diverse in Canada[3]and now boasts a strong technology sector with major employers such as Telus, Dell, Intuit, Bioware, and General Electric all contributing to a 6.2% GDP growth, the largest in Canada.[4] Edmonton is home of Canadian Western Bank, the only charted bank HQ west of Toronto.
Geography and location  Edmonton is located at (53°34′ N 113°30′ W, near the geographical centre of the province at an elevation of 668 m, or 2192 feet. At 670 km², Edmonton is one of the largest cities in North America, by area — larger in area than Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit. However, Edmonton also has the one of the lowest population densities in North America — about 67 times less than New York. The city straddles one of the great rivers of Canada, the North Saskatchewan, which originates at the Columbia Icefield in Banff National Park and empties into Hudson's Bay. It runs SW to NE through the city and is fed by numerous creeks throughout the city, such as Mill Creek and Whitemud Creek. Edmonton is situated at the boundary between prairie to the south and boreal forest to the north, in a transitional area known as aspen parkland. Edmonton's river valley constitutes the longest stretch of connected urban parkland in North America, and Edmonton has the highest per capita amount of parkland of any Canadian city. The public river valley parks provides a unique urban escape area with park styles ranging from full fledged urban parks to campsite-like roasting pits. This main 'Ribbon of Green' is supplemented by numerous parks located throughout the city, to give a grand total of 111 km 2 of parkland. Most of the city has excellent bike and walking trail connections.[5] Several golf courses, both public and private, are also located in the river valley. The long summer daylight hours of this northern city provide for extended play well into the evening. Golf courses and the park system become a winter recreation area during this season. Cross country skiing and skating is popular during the long winter. Four downhill ski slopes are located in the river valley as well, two within the city and two immediately outside. The slopes of the river valley provide promenade space with the development and further parkway. NeighbourhoodsEdmonton has numerous distinct neighbourhoods. The downtown core, which has seen massive redevelopment since the 1997 Capital City Downtown Plan was introduced[6], is home to the Central Business District (CBD) as well as over 12,000 residents [7]. Downtown proper consists of the Commercial Core, Arts District, Rice Howard Way Pedestrian Mall, MacKay Avenue, Jasper West, Warehouse District, and Government Preceint. To the west of Downtown are the areas of Grandin and Oliver which comprise the overall highest density area in all of Alberta. Radiating from the core are numerous inner city neighbourhoods such as Glenora, Westmount, Queen Mary Park, Central McDougall, McCauley, and Boyle Stree on the north side of the river while Windsor Park, Garneau, Strathcona, Bonnie Doon, and Strathern line the south side of the river. Several communities survived attempts by the municipal governments of the 70s to rid the valley proper of all residents: these are Riverdale, Rossdale, Walterdale and Cloverdale. As with any city of its size, the inner communities give way to a collection of suburbs, generally classified as being outside the inner ring road and in extreme cases, outside of Anthony Henday Drive. The most well known of these is Mill Woods, which is home to approximately 85,000 residents. (If Mill Woods were a separate municipality, it would be Alberta's third largest city after Calgary and Edmonton.) Several new neighbourhoods are currently in formative stages in the South and Southwest, such as MacEwan, Terwillegar, and Rutherford. Several Transit Oriented Developments (TOD) have begun to appear along the LRT line at Clareview with future developments planned at Belvedere (part of the Old Town Fort Road redevelopment project[8]) and the future South LRT line. An overview of neighbourhoods can be found at the City of Edmonton's map website [9] or at the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues' website [10] ClimateEdmonton plays host to a typically diverse Albertan climate. The enjoyable warm, summer days, the vivid colours of fall and the crisp, bright beauty of an Alberta winter morning all help define what it is to be an Edmontonian. Edmonton is the most northerly of Canada's major cities and is at the same latitude as Hamburg, Germany, and Liverpool, England. At the summer solstice, Edmonton receives 17 hours and six minutes of daylight. Over the course of a year, the city can see temperatures as high as +30ºC and as low as -40ºC, although the average variance ranges from -16ºC in January to 23ºC in July. With a relative humidity of 75%, Edmonton has somewhat dry winters, and receives much less snow than many other North American cities: on average 123.5cm per annum. Even in the wettest month, July, the region receives only 101 millimeters (4.0 inches) of rain. However, extremes can occur such as the 114mm of rainfall that fell on July 31, 1953. Edmonton receives an average of 477mm of precipitation annually. DemographicsEdmonton is a young city. Around 20% of the population is under 14, while those who are over 65 make up 11%. High fertility has contributed to much of the city's growth, especially among the Aboriginal population. Caucasians comprise 75.7% of the population while aboriginals constitute 4.6%. Visible Minorities
Religion
HistoryEdmonton was founded in 1795 when a Hudson's Bay Company Trading Post was established with the construction of Fort Edmonton. The fort was named for the town of Edmonton in the UK (a suburb in north London), the hometown of Sir James Winter Lake, then director of the Company. John Rowand, a fur trader for the North West Company, arrived in Edmonton in 1804 and became respected and accepted as a leader by the Plains Indians, managing Edmonton's fur trade with the Cree and Blackfoot in Edmonton for about 30 years. Fort Edmonton became a local economic centre, the major stopping point before pioneers headed up north or farther west. More people began settling in the vicinity of Fort Edmonton in the 1870s after the government offered the land to settlers at a good price. Edmonton officially became a town in 1892 with a population of 700. The city boomed during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 as thousands of eager prospectors heading north via the "All Canadian Route," stopping in Edmonton for supplies. By 1904 Edmonton had 9,000 residents, and a year later, when Alberta became a province, it became incorporated as a city and declared the provincial capital. Initially the Alberta Legislature met in a local school, while the Legislature Building was being erected on the north shore of the North Saskatchewan River.   In 1912 Edmonton, which was located on the north shore of the North Saskatchewan River, amalgamated with its sister city of Strathcona on the southern shore to attain a combined population of 53,000. The High Level Rail Bridge across the river was completed in 1913, cementing the link between the north and south sides of Edmonton. In the 1930s Edmonton continued to thrive as a northern business centre, and an aviation shipping point for food and medical supplies using the new bush planes. In 1942 the construction of the Alaska Highway made the city into a major ground transportation and supply centre to the far north. It was at about this time that Edmonton officially became known as "Gateway to the North."   Shortly after World War II oil was discovered near the nearby towns of Leduc, Redwater, and Pembina. The area around Edmonton became home to most of Alberta's oil production, and the subsequent oil boom gave Edmonton new status as the Oil Capital of Canada. The city began growing even more dramatically after the Arab Oil Boycott of 1973, and combined with satellite municipalities such as St. Albert and Sherwood Park, Edmonton's metropolitan population now sits just over 1,000,500 (2005 census est.). Oil production and refining remains the basis of many Edmonton jobs, but other industries have also risen in prominence as the population grew and diversified. In 1981, the largest shopping mall in the world, West Edmonton Mall, opened. The mall is Alberta's most popular tourist attraction, and contains an amusement park, waterpark, and luxury hotel in addition to the usual shops and services. Edmonton was hit by a deadly tornado in 1987, which ranked as an F4 on the Fujita scale and killed 27 people. TransportationEdmonton is served by Edmonton International Airport, which is the fifth busiest airport in Canada. In 2004, just over 4 million passangers used the facilities [11]. Air passenger service from the Municipal Airport downtown was consolidated to the International Airport in 1996 and now is mostly used for charter planes and flight training, although small non-chartered planes with less than 19 passangers are still allowed to land at the facility. Edmonton is connected to British Columbia and Saskatchewan via the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16, or Yellowhead Trail within city limits), and to Calgary and Red Deer via the Queen Elizabeth II Highway (Calgary Trail, or Gateway Boulevard). Edmonton is also served by VIA Rail passenger trains. The station is located on the northern rail route near the City Centre Airport. Formerly the VIA trains arrived at the CN office tower downtown, but the downtown trackage has been abandoned to the LRT and new urban development. The High Level Rail Bridge, formerly CPs route into the downtown, remains only for summer historical streetcar usage.   The Edmonton Transit System operates numerous bus routes as well as a Light rail transit (LRT) line running from Clareview in the northeast to the University of Alberta on the south side. It was the first such system built by a city with a population less than one million people in North America. The line is surface level on previous railroad space in the northeast and goes underground through the downtown core. A dedicated bridge crossing the river valley leads it toward the university station. Further south expansion is being developed at surface level which will lead eventually to the former Hertiage Mall site in the south end of the city. Future north and west High Speed Transit routes (either for LRT or BRT) are currently being considered by council. Edmonton Transit also operates a system of trolley buses on core Routes 3, 5, 7, 120, 133, and 135 in the central and western parts of the city. Anthony Henday Drive (Highway 216) is a ring road transportation project which will eventually encircle the Edmonton Metropolitan area. The south west section is under construction with a tentative opening date of 2006. The south east section has recently been announced and is anticipated to open in 2007[12]. In 1914 Edmonton adopted a new numbered street and avenue system, which with a few small modifications is still in use. The centre of the city, Jasper Avenue and 101 Street, was set as the starting point. Jasper Avenue was one of the few streets that was not given a number, but the other avenues were numbered as if Jasper Avenue had been 101 Avenue. Avenues run east and west; Streets run north and south. Avenue numbers increase to the north; street numbers increase to the west. When a street lies between two numbered streets, letters are used, for example, 107A Avenue lies between 107 Avenue and 108 Avenue. Houses with odd numbers are on the east side of a street or the south side of an avenue. Dropping the last two digits of a house number tells you what two streets or avenues the house lies between, for example 8023 135A Avenue is between 80 Street and 81 Street, and 10004 104 Avenue is between 100 Street and 101 Street. In the 1980s as the city grew, it began to run out of street numbers in the east and avenue numbers in the south. Therefore, in 1982 a quadrant system was adopted. Quadrant Avenue (1 Avenue; not yet built) and Meridian Street (1 Street) divide the city into four quadrants: northeast, northwest, southwest and, most recently, southeast. The vast majority of the city falls within the northwest quadrant. All Edmonton streets now officially have their quadrant included at the end of their names, but it is usual to omit "northwest," especially when there is no possibility of confusion with a street in another quadrant. However, the city's emergency services have begun to encourage residents to get into the habit of using quadrants in all addresses. Education Post-secondaryEdmonton has become one of Canada's major educational centres with more than 60,000 full time post-secondary students spread over several institutions and campuses (total enrollment between the schools is as high as 170,000, which includes students enrolled in multiple institutions).[13] The University of Alberta, whose main campus is situated on the south side of Edmonton's river valley, is a board-governed, public institution with annual revenue of one billion dollars. 33,000 students are served in more than 200 undergraduate programs and 170 graduate programs. Main campus consists of more than 90 buildings on 89 hectares of land with buildings dating back to the Unviersity's establishment in 1908. It is also home to Canada's second largest research library which ranks first in volumes per student with over 6 million and subscriptions to 13,000 full-text electronic journals and 500 electronic databases. The UofA has been internationally recognized on several fronts. For more information see [14] Other universities within the borders of Edmonton include Athabasca University[15], Concordia University College[16], King's University College[17], Taylor University College and Seminary[18], and the Edmonton campus of the University of Lethbridge[19]. Other Edmonton post-secondary institutions include Grant MacEwan College, which enrolls 57,200 students in programs leading to careers or university transfer[20], NAIT, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, with 48,500 students enrolled in 190 technical, vocational and apprenticeship programs[21] and NorQuest College, with 11,300 students, specializing in short courses in skills and academic upgrading[22]. Other levelsEdmonton has two publicly funded school systems: the Edmonton Public School Board and the separate Edmonton Catholic School District. Both are funded through provincial grants and property taxes. Numerous separate school systems exist as well. Included are the Edmonton Society for Christian Education[23] and Edmonton Academy[24]. City lifeNightlifeThere are several key concentrations of nightlife in the city of Edmonton. The most popular is the Whyte Avenue (82nd Avenue) strip which today has the highest concentration of heritage buildings in Edmonton. Once the heart of the town of Strathcona (annexed by Edmonton on 1 February 1912), it fell into disrepair during the middle of the 20th century. A concentrated effort to revive the area beginning in the late 1970s through the establishment of a Business Revitalization Zone has produced an area rich with restored historical buildings and pleasant streetscapes. Its proximity to the University of Alberta has led to a high concentration of establishments ranging from restaurants and pubs to trendy clubs while hosting a wide variety of shops during the day. Although always busy during the day, overall levels of activity drop noticeably during the summer months between academic years. They Whyte district is also home to several independent movie theatres in the Whyte Avenue area: the Garneau and Princess theatres. Downtown Edmonton has undergone a continual process of renewal and unprecedented growth since the mid 1990s. Many buildings were demolished during the oil boom starting in the 1960s and continuing into the 80s to make way for office towers. As such, there have always been numerous pub-type establishments which cater primarily to the office crowd such as The Rose and Crown, Sherlock Holmes', and Elephant & Castle as well as many hotel lounges and restaurants. However, the past decade has seen a strong resurgance in more mainstream venues. Various clubs such as the New City Complex and Halo are also to be found along Edmonton's main street, Jasper Avenue. The Edmonton City Centre mall also houses a Cineplex Odeon movie theatre featuring 10 screens and the non-profit Metro Cinema shows a variety of underground or alternative films every week. West Edmonton Mall holds several after hour establishments in addition to its many stores and attractions. Bourbon Street has numerous eating establishments and clubs and casinos can also be found within the complex. Silver City, at the west end of the mall, features 13 screens and an IMAX theatre. CultureEdmonton has always been a city proud of its cultural accomplishments. As the city has grown, so has the cultural scene. While still retaining a strong element of 'blue-collar culture,' Edmonton is a proud home to many other features which add to its cosmopolitan flair. Many events are anchored in the downtown Arts District, centred around the newly renovated Churchill Square (named in honour of Sir Winston Churchill).
On the University of Alberta grounds is the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, currently undergoing renovation for the Province's centennial. Both it and its southern twin in Calgary were constructed in 1955 for the Province's Silver Jubilee and have played host to many concerts, musicals, and ballets. Upon the completion of the renovations, it will seat 2534 people. The Edmonton Opera uses the Jubilee as their base of operations. On the front of the building is a quote from Suetonius: "He found a city built of brick - left it built of marble." There are also over 70 museums in Edmonton of ranging sizes. The largest is the Royal Alberta Museum (formerly the Provincial Museum of Alberta, it was renamed by HRH Queen Elizabeth II during her 2005 visit) which houses over 10 million objects in its collection. The main galleries are the Syncrude Gallery of Aboriginal Culture, Wild Alberta, and the Natural History Gallery. The main building, located on the river valley west of downtown in Glenora, was opened in 1967 and is now in the early stages of large-scale redevelopment [27]. Located on the grounds is Government House, the former residence of the province's Lieutenant-Governor. FestivalsEdmonton plays host to several large festivals each year, hence its local nickname as 'the Festival City.'
Sports and recreationThe Edmonton Oilers, originally one of the founding franchises of the World Hockey Association, joined the National Hockey League in 1979. They quickly became one of the great hockey dynasties, winning five Stanley Cup Championships between 1984 and 1990. The Oilers have retired the jerseys of Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Grant Fuhr, and Al Hamilton. Rexall Place is home to both the Oilers and their farm team, the Edmonton Roadrunners of the American Hockey League. Commonwealth Stadium is home to the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. The Eskimos hold the North American pro sports record for most consecutive playoff appearances (33 consecutive seasons, as of 2004), and have won the Grey Cup (the CFL championship trophy) 12 times since 1921. In addition to the Eskimos, Edmonton is host to two Canadian Junior Football League teams: the Edmonton Huskies and the Edmonton Wildcats. The city had a minor-league baseball team in the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, the Edmonton Trappers, playing at Telus Field, until the end of the 2004 season. The team moved to the Austin, Texas suburb of Round Rock, becoming the Round Rock Express. Beginning in 2005, the Edmonton Cracker-Cats will begin play in the independent Northern League. Starting in the 2006 season, the Edmonton Rush franchise will be playing in the National Lacrosse League. Home games will be at Rexall Place. Edmonton hosted the 1978 Commonwealth Games, the 2001 IAAF World Championships in Athletics [32], and the 2005 World Master Games. Edmonton also has a circuit on the Champ Car World Series. MediaTelevisionEdmonton has 6 broadcast television stations: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
