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Calgary redirects here. This page refers to the city of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. For other places with the name Calgary, see Calgary (disambiguation)

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Calgary is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. It is situated in the south of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, approximately 80 km east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. As of 2005, the estimated metropolitan population (CMA) was 1,060,300 (see Calgary Region). Calgary is the largest city in Alberta and the third largest city (proper), by population, in Canada. It serves as the hub of the fifth largest Census Metropolitan Area in the country. It is located within the relatively densely populated "Calgary-Edmonton Corridor"[1]. It is the largest Canadian metropolitan area west of Toronto and east of Vancouver. A resident of Calgary is known as a Calgarian.

Calgary is well-known as a destination for winter sports and ecotourism with a number of major mountain resorts near the city and metropolitan area. Calgary's economy is largely centred on the petroleum industry (see oilpatch), with agriculture, tourism, and the high-tech industries contributing to the city's rapid economic growth. Calgary now has the second highest concentration of head offices in Canada. Calgary also holds many major annual festivals, including the Calgary Stampede, the Folk Music Festival, the Summerstock Festival, the Lilac Festival, and the second largest Caribbean festival in the country (Carifest). Calgary was the first Canadian city to host The Olympic Winter Games (1988).

History

First settlement

Calgary as it appeared circa 1885

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

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 Brisebois, after NWMP officer Éphrem-A Brisebois, it was renamed Fort Calgary in 1876 because of questionable conduct on the part of that officer. The NWMP 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 reached the area and a rail station was constructed, 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 became the first city in what was then, the Northwest Territories.

The oil boom

File:69 Calgary.jpg
Calgary in 1969

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 increased by 244,000 in the sixteen years between 1971 (403,000) and 1987 (647,000). During this time, 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.

Calgary's economy was so closely tied to the oil industry that the city's boom peaked with the average annual price of oil in 1981. [2] The subsequent drop in oil prices and the introduction of National Energy Program, were cited by industry as reasons for a collapse in the oil industry, and consequently the overall Calgary economy. The NEP was cancelled in the mid-1980s by the Brian Mulroney federal government. Continued low oil prices, however, prevented a full recovery until the 1990s.

Recent history

Downtown Calgary, 2003

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 its concentration of corporate head offices and boasts a higher GDP per capita than any other major Canadian city. 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. The city has also ranked high in quality of life surveys.

In 2004, the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League won the Western Conference championship, only to lose to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Geography and climate

Calgary is located within the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and is relatively hilly as a result. Calgary's elevation is approximately 1048 metres (3440 feet) above sea level downtown, and 1139 metres (3736 feet) at the airport. The city proper covers a land area of 721 km2 (as of 2001). There are two major rivers that run through the city. The Bow River is the largest and flows from the west to the south. The Elbow River flows northwards from the south until it converges with the Bow River near downtown. Since the climate of the region is generally dry, dense vegetation occurs naturally only in the river valleys and within Fish Creek Provincial Park, the largest urban park in Canada.

The city is quite large in physical area, consisting of an inner city surrounded by various communities of decreasing density. Unlike most cities with a sizable metropolitan area, most of Calgary's suburbs are incorporated into the city proper, with the notable exceptions of the city of Airdrie to the north, Cochrane to the northwest, Strathmore to the east, and the sprawling Springbank district to the west. Though it is not technically within Calgary's metropolitan area, the town of Okotoks is only a short distance to the south and is considered a suburb as well. The Calgary Economic Region includes slightly more area than the CMA and has a population of 1,146,900.

Because of the growth of the city, its southwest borders are now immediately adjacent to the Tsuu T’ina (Sarcee) Nation Native Indian reserve. Recent residential developments in the deep southwest of the city have created a need for a major roadway heading into the interior of the city, but because of complications in negotiations with the Sarcee about the construction, the much-needed construction has not yet begun.

Calgary's neighbourhoods

Main article: List of Neighbourhoods in Calgary
File:Stephen Avenue.jpg
Stephen Avenue

The downtown region of the city consists of five neighbourhoods: Eau Claire (including the Festival District), the Downtown West End, the Downtown Commercial Core, Chinatown, and the Downtown East Village (also part of the Rivers District). The commercial core is itself divided into a number of districts including the Stephen Avenue Retail Core, the Penny Lane Entertainment District, the Arts District and the Government District. Distinct from downtown and south of 9th Avenue is Calgary's densest neighbourhood, the Beltline. The area includes a number of communities such as Midtown, Victoria Crossing and a portion of the Rivers District. The Beltline is the focus of major planning and rejuvenation initiatives on the part of the municipal government to increase the density and liveliness of Calgary's centre.

Adjacent to, or directly radiating from the downtown are the first of the inner-city communities. These include Crescent Heights, Sunnyside, Hounsfield Heights/Briar Hill, Hillhurst (including Kensington BRZ), Bridgeland, Renfrew, Mount Royal, Mission and Inglewood. The inner city is, in turn, surrounded by relatively dense and established neighbourhoods such as Rosedale and Mount Pleasant to the north; Bowness, Parkdale and Westgate to the west; Park Hill, South Calgary (including Marda Loop), Altadore and Killarney to the south; and Forest Lawn/International Avenue to the east. Lying beyond these, and usually separated from one another by highways, are the suburban communities, often characterized as "commuter communities". The city's deep south is probably expanding the fastest and includes communities such as Cranston and McKenzie Lake. In all, there are over 180 distinct neighbourhoods within the city limits.

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 (of major cities) 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 in just a few hours, and may last several days or even weeks. The chinooks are such a common feature of Calgary's winters that only one month (January 1950) has failed to witness a thaw over more than 100 years of weather observations.

Nevertheless, Calgary is a city of extremes, and temperatures have ranged anywhere from a record low of −45°C in 1893 to a record high of +36°C in 1919. Although summer daytime temperatures in the +30s are not all that uncommon, Calgary does not experience the extremely high temperatures common to some other prairie cities, such as Regina and Winnipeg, largely owing to Calgary's high elevation. Conversely, the temperature rarely gets colder than −35°C, even in the dead of winter. On average, the temperature ranges from a daily minimum −15°C in January to a daily maximum of 23°C in both July and August.

With an average relative humidity of 65% in the winter, Calgary has a semi-arid climate typical of other cities on the Canadian prairies. Calgary receives an average of 413mm (16.2in) of precipitation annually, with 301mm (11.8in) of that occurring in the form of rain, and the remainder as snow. Most of the precipitation occurs from May to August, with the month of June jokingly referred to by locals as the 'monsoon month', as it averages the most monthly rainfall. In June of 2005, Calgary received 248 mm of precipitation, making it the wettest month in the city's recorded history. Droughts, however, are not uncommon and may occur at any time of the year. Calgary averages more than 20 days a year with thunderstorms, with almost all of them occurring in the summer months. Calgary lies on the edge of Alberta's hailstorm alley and is prone to occasional damaging hailstorms. A hailstorm that struck Calgary in September 1991 was one of the most destructive natural disasters in Canadian history.

Seasons

  • Winter: November to mid-March.
  • Spring: mid-March to May
  • Summer: June to August
  • Autumn: September to November

Culture

City life

File:Olympic Plaza.jpg
Olympic Plaza in the Arts District

Calgary's urban scene has changed considerably since the city has grown. It is also starting to become recognized as one of Canada's most diverse cities. Today, Calgary is a modern cosmopolitan city that still retains much of its traditional culture of hotel saloons, western bars and night clubs, and hockey. Following its revivial in the 1990s, Calgary has also become a centre for western music in Canada. As such, it is referred to by some as the "Nashville of the North". Calgary is also home to a thriving all-ages music scene.

As a relatively ethnically diverse city, Calgary also has a number of major multi-cultural areas. It has one of the largest Chinatowns in Canada as well as a burgeoning “Little Italy” in the Bridgeland neighbourhood. Forest Lawn is among the most diverse areas in the city and as such, the area around 17th Avenue SE. within the neighbourhood is also known as International Avenue. The district is home to a wide variety of ethnic restaurants and stores.

As the population has grown, and particularly, as the urban density in central Calgary has increased, so too has the vitality of this area. While the city continues to embrace suburbanism, people are beginning to find a wide variety alternatives in the inner city. This has led to significant increases in the popularity of central districts such as 17th Avenue, Kensington, Inglewood, Marda Loop and the Mission District. The nightlife and the availability of cultural venues in these areas has gradually begun to evolve as a result.

Performing arts

Calgary is the site of the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, a 4 million cubic foot (113,000 m3) 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, and the annual Canadian Legion Remembrance Day Ceremonies. The two auditoria are run by community-based non-profit societies and operate 365 days a year. The two auditoria have recently completed a $91 million renovation. They reopened on the Province's Centennial, September 1, 2005.

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 of the improvisational theatre games known as Theatresports. The Calgary International Film Festival is also held in the city annually.

Museums and galleries

The city is home to several museums. The most well known of these, the Glenbow Museum is the largest in western Canada and includes an art gallery. Other major museums include the largest Chinese Cultural Centre in North America, the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (at Canada Olympic Park), the Museum of the Regiments, the Cantos Music Museum and the Aero Space Museum. There are also a number of art galleries in the city and many of them are concentrated along the Stephen Avenue and 17th Avenue corridors. The largest of these is the Art Gallery of Calgary (AGC).

Cultural events and festivals

Festival plaza in Eau Claire.
  • Winter Festival (February)
  • Rodeo Royal (March)
  • Calgary Independent Film Festival (March)
  • Visaki Mela (Punjabi Spring Harvest Festival) (May)
  • International Children's Festival (May)
  • 4th Street Lilac Festival (May)
  • Carifest (June)
  • Banff World Television Festival (June)
  • International Jazz Festival (June)
  • Calgary International Spoken word Festival (June)
  • Greek Festival (June)
  • Calgary Stampede (July)
  • Chariot Festival of India (July)
  • Folk Music Festival (July)
  • Heritage Day (August)
  • Summerstock Theatre Festival (August)
  • Dragonboat Festival (August)
  • Afrikadey! (August)
  • International Reggae Festival (August)
  • GlobalFest - One World Festival and International Fireworks Competition (August)
  • Expo Latino (August)
  • Barbecue on the Bow (September)
  • Artcity - Festival of Art, Design and Architecture (September)
  • Calgary International Film Festival (September / October)
  • Banff Festival of Mountain Films (October)
  • Twelve Days of Christmas (December)
  • Zoolights (December/January)

The city is famous for the Calgary Stampede, a very large agricultural fair and rodeo every July. The Stampede officially bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth". 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. It is among the largest and most well known festivals in Canada. The event has a 93 year 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 totaling $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 million to put the Stampede on par with other major rodeos such as the National Finals Rodeo.

In 2005, attendance at the 10-day rodeo and exhibition totalled 1,242,928, which set a new record. Attendance at the "Stampede Parade" (North America's second longest parade), which takes place downtown on opening day is usually somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000. During Stampede Week, many of the city's residents dress in country attire, and many businesses decorate their stores and offices in this "western" style.

Attractions

File:CalNight.jpg
Calgary's skyline at dusk (from the north)

Calgary's downtown features an eclectic mix of restaurants and bars, cultural venues, shopping (most notably, TD Square, Calgary Eaton Centre, Stephen Avenue, and 17th Avenue), and public squares such as Olympic Plaza. Downtown tourist attractions include the Calgary Zoo, the TELUS World of Science, the TELUS Convention Centre, the Chinatown district, the Glenbow Museum, the Calgary Tower, the Art Gallery of Calgary (AGC), the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts, and Eau Claire Market. At 2.5 acres (10,000 m²), the Devonian Gardens is one of the largest urban indoor gardens in the world, and it is located on the 4th floor of TD Square (above the shopping). The downtown region is also home to Prince's Island Park, an urban park located just north of the Eau Claire district. Directly to the south of downtown is Midtown and the Beltline. This area is quickly becoming one of the city's densest and most active mixed use areas. At the district's core is the popular "17th Avenue", which is known for its many bars and nightclubs, restaurants, and shopping venues. During the Calgary Flames' playoff run in 2004, 17th Avenue was frequented by over 50,000 fans and supporters per game night. The concentration of notorious red jersey-wearing fans led to the street's playoff moniker, the "Red Mile". Downtown Calgary is easily accessed using the city's C-Train rapid transit system.

Attractions on the west side of the city include the Heritage Park Historical Village theme park, depicting life in pre-1914 Alberta and featuring working historic vehicles such as a steam train, paddlewheel boat and electric streetcar. The village itself is comprised of a mixture of replica buildings and historic structures relocated from southern Alberta. Other major city attractions include Canada Olympic Park (and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame), Calaway Park amusement park, and Race City Motorsport Park. In addition to the many shopping areas in the city centre, there are a number of large suburban shopping complexes in Calgary. Among the largest are Chinook Centre and Southcentre in the south, WestHills and Signal Hill in the southwest, Market Mall in the northwest, and Sunridge Mall in the northeast.

Cultural venues and landmarks

Northwest
North
Northeast


West
Downtown
East



Southwest
South
Southeast






Skyline

Main article: List of Calgary's 10 tallest skyscrapers

Calgary's downtown can easily be recognized by its numerous skyscrapers. Some of these structures, such as the Calgary Tower are unique enough to be symbols of Calgary. As a major business centre with a population of just over a million people, this is not suprising. Office buildings tend to concentrate within the commercial core while residential towers occur most frequently within the Downtown West End and the Beltline, south of downtown. These buildings are iconographic of the city's booms and busts, and it is easy to recognize the various phases of development that have shaped the image of downtown. The first skyscraper building boom occured during the late 1950s and continued through to the 1970s. After 1980, during a major recession, many highrise construction projects were immediately halted. It was not until the late 1980s and through to the early 1990s that major construction began again.

In total, there are 8 office towers that are 40 floors or higher. The tallest of these (the Petro-Canada Centre), is the tallest office tower in Canada outside of Toronto. To connect many of the downtown office buildings, the city also boasts the world's most extensive skyway network (elevated indoor pedestrian bridges), officially called the +15. The name derives from the fact that the bridges are usually 15 feet above grade.

Demographics

According the 2001 Statistics Canada federal census, there were 878,866 people living within the City of Calgary proper. Of this population, 49.9 per cent were male and 50.1 per cent were female. Children under five accounted for approximately 6.0 per cent of the resident population of Calgary. This compares with 6.2 per cent in Alberta, and almost 5.6 per cent for Canada overall.

In 2001, 9.0 per cent of the resident population in Calgary were of retirement age (65 and over for males and females) compared with 13.2 per cent in Canada, therefore, the average age is 34.9 years of age comparing to 37.6 years of age for all of Canada.

In the five years between 1996 and 2001, Calgary's population grew by 15.8 percent. This is contrasted with an increase of 10.3 percent for the province of Alberta. The population density of Calgary averaged 1,252.3 persons per square kilometre, compared with an average of 4.6, for the province.

A city-administered census, conducted annually to assist in negotiating financial agreements with the provincial and federal governemnts, showed a population of just over 956,000 in 2005. The population of the Calgary Census Metropolitan Area is just over 1.05 million. The Calgary Economic Region posted a population of just under 1.15 million in 2005.

Calgary is the main city of Census Division No. 6 and the Calgary Regional Partnership.

Visible minority status

  • Not visible minorities: 708,230 or 81.3%
(Includes 19,765 people (2.3%) with Aboriginal status)

Based on single responses. Statistics are from the 2001 Statistics Canada census [3].

Government and politics

File:CalgaryCityHall.jpg
The clock tower of Calgary's Old City Hall (built in 1911), with Olympic Plaza in the foreground.

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 founded in Calgary.

However, as Calgary's population has increased, so has the diversity of its politics. One growing alternative movement was recently active during the 2000 World Petroleum Congress demonstrations and the J26 G8 2002 protests. Protesters were a mix of locals and outsiders. In early 2003 in response to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, according to organizers, 5,000 to 10,000 people from southern Alberta, and elsewhere, 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, exemplified by results of the 2004 federal election where they achieved 7.5% of the vote across the city and 11.3% in the Calgary North Centre riding. A provincial alternative, represented by the right-wing Alberta Alliance, became active during the 26th Alberta general election and campaigned for fiscally and socially conservative reforms, and managed a growing percentage of support thereafter.

Prior to the November 22, 2004 General Election, all 21 provincial MLAs representing Calgary were Progressive Conservatives. The province's premier and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, Ralph Klein, has held his Calgary Elbow seat since 1989. The Alberta Liberals won three seats in the provincial legislature during that election, two of which were new as a result of redistricting.

Currently, 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. The federal electoral district of Calgary-Southwest is currently held by Prime Minister and CPC leader Stephen Harper. Coincidentally, the same seat was also held by Preston Manning, the leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a predecessor of CPC. Joe Clark, former Prime Minister and former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (also a predecessor of the CPC), held the seat in the now-abolished riding of Calgary Centre. Of Canada's 22 serving Prime Ministers, two have come from a Calgary riding; the first was the Right Honourable R.B. Bennett who held that position from 1930 to 1935.

Contemporary issues

As a city that has experienced rapid growth in recent years, Calgary is having its share of growing pains. Among the most significant is that of urban sprawl. With no geographical barriers to its growth besides the Tsuu T'ina First Nation to the southwest and an affluent population that can afford large homes and properties, the city now has only a slightly smaller urban footprint than that of New York City and its boroughs, despite having less than one-eighth the population of New York City proper. This has led to difficulties in providing necessary transportation to Calgary’s population, both in the form of roadways and public transit. The result has also been a downtown which has traditionally lacked life on the evenings and weekends. It has also led to a somewhat misguided interpretation of the city as being a “driver’s city”. With the redevelopment of the Beltline and the Downtown East Village at the forefront, efforts are underway to vastly increase the density of the inner city, but the sprawl continues nevertheless. In 2003, the combined population of the downtown neighbourhoods (the Downtown Commercial Core, the Downtown East Village, the Downtown West End, Eau Claire, and Chinatown) was just over 12,600. In addition, the Beltline to the south of downtown had a population of 17,200.

Calgary has also struggled to find its own unique identity. On the one hand, it has relentlessly tried to maintain its western heritage. This has led to the popular nickname, "Cowtown". At the same time, the city has branded itself as being a modern economic and business centre. In recent years, Calgary has also become one of Canada's most cosmopolitan cities and has been quickly evolving into a major cultural centre. These very different images have often resulted in ambiguity and confusion with regard to the direction of Calgary's continued development.

Even though Calgary has a relatively low crime rate when compared to other cities in North America, gangs and drug-related crime are becoming much larger issues than they have been in the past. Gang “warfare” is becoming more common all the time and contributes to a number of homicides in the city annually. Drug busts (particularly of Marijuana grow operations) are also becoming very common, especially in suburban communities where anonymity is possible.

More socioeconomic issues have also found their way into the city’s urban fabric in recent history. As the population grows, so does the rate of poverty and homelessness in the city. Certain neighbourhoods along with portions of downtown have commonly been singled out as being home to much higher proportions of disadvantaged residents. Many neighbourhoods in the city’s east have been particularly (and perhaps unfairly) stereotyped this way.

Although Calgary and Alberta have traditionally been affordable places to live, substantial growth (much of it due to the prosperous energy sector) has led to increasing demand on real-estate. As a result, house prices in Calgary have increased significantly in recent years and are now quite high relative to other Canadian cities.

Education

School system

In the year 2005 roughly 97,000 students attended K-12 in about 215 schools in the English language public school system run by the Calgary Board of Education.[4] Another 43,000 attend about 93 schools in the separate English language Calgary Catholic School District board.[5] The much smaller francophone community has their own French language school boards (public and Catholic), which are both based in Calgary, but serve a larger regional district. Also, there are now several public charter schools in the city. Calgary has a number of unique schools, including the country's first high school exclusively designed for Olympic calibre athletes, the National Sport School.

Calgary is also home to Western Canada's largest high school, "Lord Beaverbrook High School", with 2241 students enrolled in the 2005-2006 school year.

Post-secondary education

University of Calgary Campus

Calgary is the site of five 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. Bow Valley College's main campus is located downtown and provides training in business, technology, and the liberal arts for about 10,000 students (the college has three campuses in Calgary and numerous in the region). The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) provides polytechnic education. The Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) is located in Calgary. In addition, the University of Lethbridge has a satellite campus in the city.

There are also several private liberal arts institutions including Alliance University College, Nazarene University College and St. Mary's University College. There are a number of other smaller private colleges in the city. Calgary is also home to DeVry Career College's only Canadian campus. Calgary was 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; however, in early 2005, the aging school was demolished. However, the school is still active on the grounds of the Willow Park Elementary School.

Sports and recreation

Sports facilities

File:Cop.jpg
Ski Jump and Chair Lift at Canada Olympic Park Summit

Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. Many of the Olympic facilities continue to function as major high performance training facilities. Among the most notable of these are Canada Olympic Park and the Olympic Oval. Calgary is currently home to the only luge/bobsleigh track and ski jump tower in Canada.

Athletes also take advantage of the high altitude to improve their physical limit. With facilities that are considered to be world-class and close proximity to the Canadian Rockies, Calgary attracts athletes from all over Canada and around the world for winter sport training.

Calgary's multipurpose arena, the Pengrowth Saddledome was formerly known as the Olympic Saddledome. The Saddledome was the first modern arena in North America capable of accommodating an Olympic regulation-sized ice rink. Calgary's primary open-air stadium, McMahon Stadium, was the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and is currently the venue for Calgary's Canadian Football League team, the Calgary Stampeders. The stadium has a capacity of nearly 40,000 and is the fifth largest in Canada.

The Olympic Oval is primarily a speed-skating arena that can also accommodate 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. The Oval has often been touted as having "the fastest ice on Earth" due to the fact that it is a climate-controlled facility and because of the effects of high altitude on the ice surface. As a result, many world records have been broken there. It was at this place where the likes of Catriona LeMay Doan and Cindy Klassen trained for their Olympic and world stardom.

Calgary is also the home of "The Dungeon", the pro wrestling training camp founded by the late Stu Hart. Two of Hart's sons trained there and went to be some of the greatest competitors the sport has ever seen: Bret Hart and the late Owen Hart. Many Canadian wrestlers trained at the Dungeon, including Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Bad News Allen, and fellow Calgary native, Lance Storm. Numerous American wrestlers such as Andrew "Test" Martin, Steve Blackman, Brian Pillman and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and British wrestlers "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid were also trained in "the Dungeon".

Notable sporting events

XV Olympic Winter Games
XV Olympic Winter Games

Outdoor recreation

Calgary is next to some of the most pristine natural scenery in the world. Banff National Park is about 125 km northwest of Calgary on the Trans-Canada Highway. 30 km west of the city is the town of Bragg Creek. Another 45 km west of Bragg Creek is the Kananaskis Country improvement district featuring hiking, horseback riding and mountain-biking trails, camping sites, rock and ice climbing, and cross country skiing. A Provincial shooting range for firearms is located on the highway to Kananaskis.

Many Calgarians and millions of tourists enjoy activities such as biking, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, mountainboarding, 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. The Bow River is very popular among fly-fishermen. Golfing is also an extremely popular activity for Calgarians and the region has a very large number of courses.

Major parks in Calgary and vicinity

Current professional franchises

Logo Club League Venue Established Championships Calgary Falmes logo Calgary Flames National Hockey League Pengrowth Saddledome 1972* 1 Calgary Stampeders logo Calgary Stampeders Canadian Football League McMahon Stadium 1935 5 Calgary Roughnecks Logo Calgary Roughnecks National Lacrosse League Pengrowth Saddledome 2001 1 Calgary Vipers Logo Calgary Vipers Northern League (Baseball) Foothills Stadium 2005 0

(*) Established as the Atlanta Flames. Became the Calgary Flames in 1980.

Semi-professional teams

Logo Club League Venue Established Championships Calgary Hitmen Logo Calgary Hitmen Western Hockey League Pengrowth Saddledome 1995 1

Amateur teams

Transportation

Regional

Calgary is a major Canadian transportation centre and a central cargo hub for freight into and out of north-western North America[6]. The city also sits at the junction between the "Canamex" highway system and the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1 in Alberta). The Calgary International Airport serves the city as well as the international traffic for Alberta and Saskatchewan. The airport saw 10.2 million passenger movements in 2005. In December of that same year, it was the fourth busiest airport in Canada after Toronto Pearson International Airport, Vancouver International Airport and Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. It is one of Canada's busiest cargo airports as well.

Calgary is also the largest Canadian city without any intercity passenger rail service, as all VIA Rail service to the city was terminated in the late 1980s and early 1990s by the Conservative government. Calgary's second airport, Calgary/Springbank Airport, is located in the western suburb of Springbank, handles the majority of private-plane flights, and acts as a reliever for the main airport.

Local

File:CT SD160 2.jpg
Calgary's C-Train system.

Calgary's mass transit system is operated by Calgary Transit. The light rail transit (LRT) system, known as the C-Train, consists of 42.1 km of track connecting 36 stations and was one of the first such systems in North America. Until very recently, Calgary and Edmonton were the only two North American cities with populations under 1 million to operate rapid mass transit systems. The Whitehorn-City Centre line serves downtown and the Northeast, while the Dalhousie-Somerset line runs between the Northwest and South Calgary via Downtown. Travel between stations along 7th Avenue in downtown is free-of-charge. Unique to the C-Train system, its power is completely wind generated and completely free of emissions. Calgary Transit also has an effective system of buses, with routes stretching over the whole city. It has won several prestigious awards for its efficiency and its environmental responsibility. It consists of over 160 bus routes and three C-Train lines (two routes), stretching over 4,500 km.

The City of Calgary maintains an impressive network of paved bicycle paths. The dedicated path network in Calgary is among the most expansive in North America and spans 583 km. There are also about 200 km of bike lanes (map). The pathways connect many of the city's parks, the river valley, residential neighbourhoods, and downtown. Even the airport is on the path network. Thousands of people make year-round use these paths for walking, running, and cycling to various destinations. Unfortunately, in June 2005, massive flooding destroyed much of the pathway system (including many pedestrian bridges) that was near the Elbow and Bow rivers. An estimate of when repairs will be made is not available yet, but could take years and millions of dollars.

Calgary's system of elevated walkways or skyways downtown (known as the +15 system) is the most extensive in the world. These walkways not only serve to connect buildings, but also contain restaurants, shops, and services. The system is 16 kilometres long.

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 (Queen Elizabeth II Highway/Highway 2). Other major expressways include Glenmore Trail, Macleod Trail, named for one of the city founders, Colonel James MacLeod, and Crowchild Trail, named for the 1800s Blackfoot leader Chief Crowchild. The majority of main expressways and freeways are named Trails, as well as some of the main arterial roads that do not fit in the numbering grid.

Traditionally Calgary's roads were built on a grid system with numbered Streets (running north-south) and Avenues (running east-west). The city is divided into four quadrants: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest, and all street names and addresses end with suffixes corresponding to the quadrant of the city in which they lie (NW, NE, SE or SW). The central point of the quadrant system is the Centre Street Bridge, with Centre Street and Centre Avenue forming the boundaries (although the points vary; most of the south end has Macleod Trail as a boundary, except near Chinook Centre where Macleod dives westward slightly; in the west end, the Bow River forms the boundary for the most part).

Economy

Despite much diversification in recent years, Calgary's economy is still dominated by the oil and gas industry. The larger companies include EnCana, Petro-Canada, Shell Canada, Imperial Oil, Suncor Energy, and TransCanada.

In 1996, Canadian Pacific Railway moved its head office to Calgary, and is now among the city's top employers. Furthermore, in 2005, Imperial Oil moved its headquarters from Toronto to Calgary, relocating roughly 400 families in the process.

Other large employers include the Forzani Group, ATCO, Fluor Canada, Shaw Cable, Nortel and Westjet

Office space totals about 50 million square feet in the city (32 million are within the downtown commercial core).

Military presence

File:Battalionpark.jpg
CEF Battalions who trained near Signal Hill left a visible mark on the city at Battalion Park

Calgary has had an active military garrison since the early years of the 20th Century. Strathcona's Horse had one squadron quartered in the city for many years. A local militia regiment was finally raised after several attempts by Lieutenant Colonel William C.G. Armstrong, when the 103rd Regiment (Calgary Rifles) was finally raised. Units of the artillery, engineers and supporting corps also had units in Calgary from time to time. In 1914, several battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force were raised in Calgary, notably the 10th and 50th. Training took place at nearby Sarcee Camp, which grew enormously during the First World War. The camp later became known as Sarcee Training Area. Nearby Battalion Park overlooks this area.

In 1920-21, the Canadian military was reorganized, and the 103rd Regiment was split into two separate regiments, and by 1939 these were known as The Calgary Highlanders and the Calgary Regiment (Tank). Other supporting units remained in the city as well, and in 1939, many Calgary raised units joined the Canadian Active Service Force overseas. The Highlanders and Calgary Tanks saw active service in the 2nd Division and 1st Armoured Brigade respectively.

File:Royalvisitcalgary.jpg
HM Queen Elizabeth II passes a Guard of Honour of the Calgary Highlanders, to whom she has been appointed Colonel-in-Chief, during the Royal Visit of May 2005. The Queen of Canada took the opportunity to inspect both her Calgary regiments on the occasion of Alberta's Centennial.

By the end of the Second World War, a greatly enlarged Regular Force saw a sizeable military garrison located in Calgary, and regular battalions of the PPCLI and Queen's Own Rifles, as well as Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) were quartered in the city. In 1995, the Regular Force garrison - including the Strathcona's, 1 PPCLI, 1 Service Battalion, 1 MP Platoon, and the headquarters of Land Force Western Area as well as 1st Canadian Brigade Group all moved to Edmonton, leaving a skeleton staff of regular personnel in Calgary to administer the local Militia units.

Permanent military facilities were completed in 1917 with the construction of Mewata Armouries, which then housed reserve units and a squadron of regular cavalry. Currie Barracks became an important training base during the Second World War, and many British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities were located in and around the city, including what is today the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. Currie Barracks, and nearby Harvie Barracks, were both developed after the war to form Canadian Forces Base Calgary (CFB Calgary). A second armoury was built in a Northeast Calgary industrial park in the 1980s. Harvie Barracks (and the adjacent Sarcee Training Area) were returned to the Tsuu T'ina Nation after the lease expired, and CFB Calgary was closed. Only the headquarters for a reserve brigade and a small Area Support Unit remain.

Despite the closing of CFB Calgary (including both Currie Barracks and Harvey Barracks), the city is still home to a significant 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 who train at various facilities.

Local media

Newspapers

  • Calgary Herald - The largest newspaper in Calgary. Generally conservative, covers more world news than the Calgary Sun. Owned by CanWest Global Communications.
  • Calgary Sun - A division of SUNMEDIA, a Quebecor company. Compact format, focus on local news, sports and entertainment.
  • FFWD - Weekly alternative arts paper.
  • Dose - Free daily paper published by CanWest Global Communications.

Radio stations

Shortwave

  • 6.030 Mhz - CFVP - A.M. shortwave service of CKMX. (CFVP = Voice of the Prairies)

AM

FM

Television stations

The cable television provider in Calgary is Shaw Cable. Network programming from the United States is received on cable via affiliates from Spokane, Washington.

Other names

Calgary is also known by other names [7]:

  • Cowtown
  • The Stampede City
  • The Heart of The New West (the New Convention and Visitors Bureau slogan)
  • Canada's Oil Capital

Sister cities

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Calgary.

Images

North: Rocky View No. 44
West: Tsuu T'ina Nation 145
Calgary East: Rocky View No. 44
South: Foothills No. 31


;;

North: Airdrie
West: Cochrane
Calgary East: Chestermere
South: Okotoks

51°02′42″N 114°03′26″W / 51.04500°N 114.05722°W / 51.04500; -114.05722

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