Calgary

I

Introduction

Calgary, city on the Bow River in southern Alberta, Canada, at the entrance to a major route across the Rocky Mountains. Calgary is known as the Energy Capital of Canada because a number of oil companies have headquarters in the city. It is one of the country’s most important business centers. The surrounding region produces wheat, beef cattle, and natural gas, while the nearby mountains draw many tourists. The mountains also cause Calgary’s climate to be rather dry. It has only 399 mm (15.7 in) of precipitation per year. Summers are pleasantly mild, with an average daily July temperature range from 10° to 23° C (49° to 74° F). Winters are long and cold, with an average daily January temperature range from -16° to -4° C (4° to 26° F), but are relieved by frequent warm winds called chinooks.

II

City Landscape

Calgary has the most striking setting of all of Canada’s prairie cities. It lies at the very edge of the high plains, where they rise into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, on a site deeply carved by the Bow and Elbow rivers.

The river valleys are natural corridors for roads and railways and have had a strong influence on Calgary’s layout. In the eastern sector of the city the valleys are largely used for industry, but elsewhere they provide attractive sites for homes, parks, and recreation facilities. These include Heritage Park, a reconstructed pioneer village; Canada Olympic Park, which was built for the Winter Olympics in 1988; and the Calgary Zoo, with its botanical garden and its Prehistoric Park, which displays life-size models of the dinosaurs that once lived in Alberta.

The downtown district sits on the widest part of the valley floor. It stands out as a dense clump of tall, modern office buildings, connected to one another through an elevated network of pedestrian bridges called the Plus 15 System. Many of Calgary’s public and cultural facilities are also located downtown. Among them are Stephen Avenue Mall, a pedestrian street lined with historic buildings; Devonian Gardens, a rooftop conservatory; the Glenbow-Alberta Institute, an internationally famous museum and archive; the Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts, where the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the city’s leading theater companies are based; and Olympic Plaza, the main downtown square. Petro Canada Tower, the city’s tallest structure at 55 stories, is one of several tall buildings that dominate downtown. Also nearby are the Alberta Science Centre/Centennial Planetarium; the Fort Calgary interpretive center, which provides information on the city’s origins; and Stampede Park, where Calgary’s world-famous livestock exhibition and rodeo, the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede (commonly called the Calgary Stampede), is held every July. Stampede Park also has one of the city’s most remarkable structures, the saddle-shaped Saddledome, which was used as an Olympic stadium and is now the home of the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League.

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Other Calgary landmarks are the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, where the Calgary Opera and Alberta Ballet perform; McMahon Stadium, home to the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League; and Spruce Meadows, a world-class equestrian center. The University of Calgary (1966), Mount Royal College (1910), the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (1916), and Alberta College of Art (1983) are the principal educational institutions. There are large natural parks at Fish Creek, Glenmore, and Nose Hill.

The city proper covers a land area of 717 sq km (277 sq mi), and its census metropolitan area (CMA) covers a land area of 5,083 sq km (1,963 sq mi). A CMA is a geographic area that contains the main labor market of an urban zone—that is, the area from which people commute to work in the core built-up area.

III

People

Since the 1940s Calgary has been one of the fastest growing cities in Canada. The total population of its CMA grew from 93,000 in 1941 to 625,966 in 1981, 754,033 in 1991, and 976,800 in 2001. Calgary’s CMA is the sixth largest in Canada and the second largest in Alberta. The population of the city proper (the area within the city limits) rose from 710,795 in 1991 to 878,866 in 2001.

Throughout its history, Calgary has attracted immigrants from Europe (especially Germany), Southeast Asia, the United States, and, above all, the United Kingdom. Twenty-two percent of Calgary’s population is of purely British descent, while another 35 percent has some British ancestry. The next largest groups are Germans and other western Europeans (8 percent), eastern Europeans (5 percent), and Chinese (4 percent).

IV

Economy

In recent years Calgary has developed into an important business center, and more than 50 of Canada’s top 500 companies now have their head offices there. Most are engaged in transportation or in energy production. The oil and gas industry alone employs about 75,000 people in more than 400 companies. Calgary also has a large concentration of research facilities and advanced technology companies working in such fields as computer software and seismic data processing. In a related development, telecommunications equipment has become the single largest manufacturing industry, although more traditional industries, like food processing, continue to be important.

As a transportation center, Calgary holds a commanding position in the rail, road, and air networks of western Canada. It has long been the main western base of the Canadian Pacific Railway; for many years, the railway repair shops were the city’s largest industry. In 1995 the company moved its head office to Calgary from Montréal. In addition, Calgary is located on the Trans-Canada Highway, at its junction with Alberta’s main north-south highway, and is a regional airline hub with regular flights to cities in the United States and Europe. A light rail transit (LRT) system called the C-Train connects downtown Calgary with the southern, northwestern, and northeastern suburbs.

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