Mushrooms Of Alberta Pdf? The 68 Latest Answer

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Motto fortis et liber

(Engl.: Strong and Free) July 30, 1980 awarded with other elements of the coat of arms.[1] A reference to the fifth line of O Canada.

Provincial Shield Alberta Provincial Shield September 2013 The heraldic shield was introduced in September 2013 as a separate official emblem known as the Provincial Shield.[1]

Flag Alberta Flag June 1, 1968 Adopted June 1, 1968, the flag features the provincial coat of arms of Alberta on a blue background. The flag is twice as long as it is high.[2]

Provincial Colors Alberta Blue and Alberta Gold 1984 The colors are found on the flag and other provincial insignia.[2]

flowers wild rose

(Rosa acicularis) 1930[2][3] It grows in almost all regions of the province.

lodgepole pine tree

(Pinus contorta latifolia) May 30, 1984, through the efforts of the Junior Forest Warden Association of Alberta. It was used in the manufacture of railroad ties in the early 1900’s and serves as a resource for the production of pole, post, pulp and plywood in Alberta’s forest industries.

Grass Fescue

(Festuca scabrella) April 30, 2003, through the efforts of the Prairie Conservation Forum.

Stone Petrified Wood 1977, through the efforts of the Alberta Federation of Rock Clubs. Dating to the Cretaceous and Paleocene, it is often found in gravel pits in Alberta.

Gem Ammolite From 2022, bill still awaiting royal approval. Made from fossilized shells, and southern Alberta is the only known place where it reaches gemstone quality levels. Official Gemstone Recognition Bill introduced in 2004[4] City of Lethbridge Official Gemstone since 2007. Officially adopted by the Alberta Legislature in 2022.[5][6]

Mammal Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

(Ovis canadensis) August 18, 1989 The bighorn is a mammal native to Alberta. Prehistoric remains have been found in most river valleys throughout Alberta, showing that some of the largest herds of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep once roamed the province. Today, the bighorn occurs primarily in the Rocky Mountain region.[2]

Fish bull trout

(Salvelinus confluentus) May 2, 1995 The Catch and Release Policy governs all bull trout fishing in Alberta.

Bird great horned owl

(Bubo Virginianus) May 3, 1977, by provincial children’s poll.[3] It is found throughout Alberta in forests and grasslands.[7]

Tartan Alberta Tartan 1961, due to the efforts of the Edmonton Rehabilitation Society for the Handicapped, now Goodwill Industries of Alberta. Green, gold, blue, pink and black for forests, wheat fields, sky and lakes, wild rose and coal or petroleum.

Alberta Tartan Dress 2000[2] Large areas of white, a symbol of Alberta’s clean and bright snowy days. It can be worn for dancing, special occasions, and formal wear.[2]

Hymn “Alberta” September 2004[2] Written by Mary Kieftenbeld and[8] adopted as the official provincial hymn in preparation for the province’s centenary celebrations in 2005.[9]

Order Alberta Order of Excellence 1979[10] The Alberta Order of Excellence is the highest honor bestowed by the province.

Medal Alberta Centennial Medal March 24, 2005 Intended to honor Albertans who have made significant contributions to their fellow citizens, their community and the province.[13]

Mace The Alberta Mace It replaced the old version on February 9, 1956. It is the symbol of authority in the Alberta Legislative Assembly. It is a ceremonial staff carried into the chamber by the Sergeant-at-Arms.[14] It was made by L.B. Blain in Edmonton and by English silversmith Joseph Fray in Birmingham.[15]

question

Is there an agency or service that will help me identify a mushroom if I send them a photo?

Response from the ConnorFisher community

Most likely there isn’t. It would be important for anyone identifying the fungus to be able to see it in person, so an online (or photo-based) identification service would not be very reliable. You could try contacting a local or university mycologist and see if they can help you identify some fungi. However, there are a number of free online fungus identification courses that might be worthwhile.

Are lawn mushrooms poisonous to dogs?

Some gardeners complain about mushrooms growing in their garden, citing them as unattractive blemishes. However, there are more serious reasons to worry about fungus appearing in your garden if you have pets or small children. While the vast majority of lawn mushrooms aren’t poisonous, there are a handful that are poisonous to dogs, cats, and children — and in the worst cases, can even be fatal.

Although almost 99% of mushrooms are non-toxic, it is very difficult for anyone other than experts to differentiate between the harmless species and the poisonous strains. Therefore, if you have dogs, cats, or small children, you should remove any mushrooms in your garden as soon as you see them. Complete removal is simply the best way to prevent your dog from ingesting a poisonous mushroom, even if you’re unsure if the strain is poisonous.

Most lawn fungi are non-toxic and actually beneficial to your lawn

Unless you have pets or small children, there is no urgency to remove fungi growing in your garden. In fact, most fungi are actually beneficial to your lawn’s health.

Fungi, a species of fungus, are essential decomposing organisms that feed on dead organic matter. As they eat, they break down matter and allow the soil in your lawn to absorb beneficial nutrients. Fungi feed on dead matter such as mulch, grass clippings, dead leaves, fallen branches and straw. They thrive in moist environments; After a heavy rainfall, mushrooms can appear in your garden within a few days. Alternatively, if you water your lawn too frequently, fungi will be drawn to the overwatered areas. They also grow in humid conditions and in areas with heavy shade, e.g. B. under the covering of branches.

Poisonous lawn mushrooms that can harm your dog

The most dangerous mushrooms are all mushrooms of the amanita family, such as the aptly named death cap, which are deadly if ingested. The Inocybe, Clitocybe and green-spored Lepiota species are also poisonous. Each type of toadstool can cause different symptoms in dogs, and some aren’t as harmful as others.

Sometimes the worst that can happen when your dog ingests a poisonous mushroom is vomiting and diarrhea, and as long as you catch the symptoms early enough, your dog will recover within seventy-two hours. However, in rare cases, the toxins target the dog’s liver and eventually spread to its other organs, eventually leading to death.

Symptoms of lawn mushroom poisoning in dogs

Some signs your dog has eaten a poisonous mushroom include vomiting, diarrhea, drooling, jaundice, stumbling or feeling light-headed, dizziness, yellow gums and eyes, seizures, and a coma.

If your dog is exhibiting any of the above symptoms, you should take them to a veterinarian, poison control specialist, or animal emergency center immediately. Depending on how early you notice the symptoms, your dog may be able to make a full recovery. When you take your dog to a treatment center, either take a picture or collect a sample of the fungus he has eaten. This allows experts to identify the type of poison they are trying to eradicate.

How to get rid of lawn fungus

Some stores sell fungicides that claim to remove the fungi when sprayed over the mushrooms, but these fungicides will not actually remove the fungi that grow underground. You can try to remove any mushrooms you spot in your garden by hand, which will temporarily prevent a child or dog from eating the mushrooms. However, this solution is only temporary as the fungi will eventually grow back. To completely get rid of the fungi in your garden, you need to target the environmental factors that allow them to grow.

Fungi thrive on dead organic matter; Pick up dead leaves, branches, mulch, grass clippings, or any other material that the fungi in your garden might feed on.

Stop watering your lawn

If you’ve overwatered your garden, try watering the lawn less frequently. Lawn fungi love to grow in areas of the lawn or landscaping that hold too much moisture. This can also sometimes be due to a lack of drainage.

Allow in more sunlight by pruning branches

Trim your branches and other plants to create a source of shade to allow sunlight to reach the area. Wherever it is damp and cool, there is a perfect habitat for lawn mushrooms.

Scarify, aerate and fertilize

Thatch is an accumulation of dead grass in your lawn that has not been composted back into the soil. It’s usually because you don’t mow your lawn often enough. Use a rake to scarify your lawn.

Aerate your lawn to improve grass drainage and eliminate wet areas where fungus could thrive. Finally, you can purchase a fast-release, nitrogen-rich fertilizer to combat the growth of the fungus. The nitrogen will quickly break down any dead matter before the fungi can feed on the material.

Remove lawn fungi before they harm your dog

Not all lawn mushrooms are poisonous to dogs, but for a layperson, it’s incredibly difficult to distinguish between the poisonous and harmless types of mushrooms. While some cases are treatable, in very unfortunate cases your dog could die of liver failure if he ingests lawn fungus. If you own a dog, cat, or small child, it’s best to tackle any environmental factors that allow fungus to grow in your yard.

However, unless you own pets or have children, the only reason to remove mushrooms from your lawn is because you just don’t like the way they look or are worried about other dogs in the neighborhood eating them. Keep in mind that most fungi are actually an indicator that your soil is healthy, and the fungi can provide helpful nutrients to your weed.

Q: After every rain shower, mushrooms sprout all over the lawn. What can I do to get rid of them and stop them from growing back?

A: You’re not alone in your concerns about fungi: lawn fungi are fairly common, especially in places with high humidity and low light. Fortunately, the mushrooms that grow in the garden from time to time are rather harmless and sometimes even useful.

Fungi are signs of lawn fungi that can break down organic matter in the lawn, bring nutrients into the soil, and help the soil retain water with their penetrating root systems.

But if you don’t like the look — or if you have kids or pets you think might nibble — you can manage garden mushrooms. Most are fairly easy to eradicate; You can also ignore them. Read on to learn why.

Mushrooms in the lawn: good or bad?

The sudden appearance of fungi on a lawn may seem strange and even problematic, but this isn’t always the case. “Fortunately, fungus cannot harm your lawn. They may just spoil the lawn’s perfect appearance,” says Bryan McKenzie, landscape designer and co-founder of Bumper Crop Times.

In short, don’t panic if you see mushrooms growing on their own. Think about why they grew and then decide if you need to get rid of them or can you leave them alone.

Why are mushrooms growing in my grass?

Mushrooms are the fruits of the mushroom world. Just like flower seeds, mushrooms serve to propagate a fungus and ensure its survival. Instead of dispersing seeds, fungi have microscopic spores on their gills and under the cap that either blow with the wind or travel with creatures that eat them. Researchers have found that fungi can even create their own “wind” or airflow to ensure the spores spread and then germinate in new soil.

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Soil already contains a lot of fungi, and the fungi help break down organic matter. So, in the lawn ecosystem, leaves or grass clippings fall on the garden and provide carbon and other nutrients to fungi. The fungi return the favor by helping convert clippings and leaves into soil nutrients.

“Fungus is actually a good sign that your lawn’s soil is healthy,” says David Cusick, Editor-in-Chief of House Method. Since fungi arise from fungi, the good news is that fungi work beneath the surface. The appearance of fungus can indicate excessive moisture (such as from overwatering), Cusick adds.

Brown grass in dark circles or bands can appear from fungus and is a natural part of the soil process. The patterns may be followed by semicircles of white mushrooms or swollen balls; the circles are often called “fairy rings”.

Possible disadvantages of lawn mushrooms

Although mostly harmless, there are a few downsides to having fungi in your lawn. Their presence could also indicate a problem:

The puffs and mushrooms can look unsightly on an otherwise pristine lawn

Some types of lawn mushrooms are poisonous, and children or dogs could eat them, causing an upset stomach (sometimes severe).

Continued fungal growth above the ground can damage localized grass areas

Fungi can signal overwatering of the lawn, which also means wasting water.

How to get rid of mushrooms in the garden

If fungi continue to appear in your lawn or you want to get rid of them, approach the problem as you would a pest problem, beginning with integrated management. Good lawn care practices like scarifying and changing timing or amount of water can prevent large outbreaks. Or you decide to remove the garden mushrooms.

Reduce excess moisture and shade in your lawn.

Mushrooms grow naturally under the grass more often than mushrooms; These toadstools only become visible among the blades of grass when conditions are favourable—i.e. H. damp and dark. To make your garden less attractive to them, first improve drainage with the help of a lawn aerator.

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Available for purchase or rental, this lawn and garden tool (see example on Amazon) pulls narrow, cylindrical plugs of soil from the grass every few inches, allowing for better air circulation and drainage.

Adjusting your usual lawn care routine can also keep your grass drier. Water less (just an inch of water per week) and mow more regularly, as short grass dries out faster than long grass. If you have fairy rings or mushrooms in your lawn and water at night, change the schedule to water the grass early in the morning so it has time to dry before cool, dark evenings set in.

Still seeing mushrooms in a shady corner of your property? Trim and/or thin nearby branches to allow more light onto the lawn, making the environment less conducive to fungal growth.

Need help? Some jobs are better left to the professionals. Get a free, no-obligation estimate from licensed lawn care professionals in your area. Find professionals now +

Remove some organic material.

Fungi feed on decomposing organic matter, from dead tree roots to grass clippings. Keep him from hanging around after removing the spore-bearing fungi by reducing their food source. When mowing, first collect grass clippings or leave only a thin layer. Regularly scarify your lawn in areas where you see fungus.

If the fungi are feeding on organic material that’s submerged in the soil — like dead tree roots, old mulch, or wood that was discarded when the house was built — you’ll need to dig that up as well to stop the constant appearance of fungus. Your best chance of complete removal is to dig up the soil beyond the affected area, 12 to 18 inches deep and about 2 feet outside of the mushroom cluster.

If you think it’s more work than it’s worth, don’t worry: once the shrooms have gobbled up all the submerged organic matter, the shrooms — and the shrooms — should be gone for good.

Remove each mushroom at its base.

You can pick mushrooms individually by hand, cut them individually with a knife or simply mow the entire area with the lawn mower. If they are ubiquitous, be sure to remove garden mushrooms as soon as you see them sprout. Otherwise, they have just enough time to release spores to plant and grow new mushrooms.

Don’t dispose of them in your compost for the same reason. Instead, toss them in a plastic bag and tie it up before throwing it in the trash. If you want to mow mushrooms, pick up the pieces and immediately toss them in a bag.

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Chemical fungicides aren’t necessary and could kill beneficial soil compounds, Cusick says. If you want to get rid of garden fungi because of the look of the lawn and the kids, McKenzie suggests a simple homemade fungicide of 5 tablespoons of vinegar per gallon of water mixed and poured into a sprayer. “Before using the remedy, cut off any mushrooms and spray where they grow,” he says.

Reasons to grow mushrooms in your garden

Appearance aside, most lawn fungi are harmless. You can let the fungus stay, especially as it may require steps to completely rid the lawn of them, which will do more harm than good to your lawn’s soil.

Lawn fungi are a sign of healthy soil

About 50 species of mushrooms can form fairy rings or sprout mushrooms in the lawn. They can appear in the weather pattern due to cool, wet evenings, which causes the soil to remain wet and creates perfect growing conditions for mushrooms. But these fungi — and the fungi that spread spores — signal plenty of healthy activity underground.

According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, fungi help roots access water, circulate nutrients, and improve soil structure. They’re an integral part of the soil ecosystem – and you can’t have a lush lawn without good soil underneath.

Fungi provide your lawn with nutrients

Instead of fearing fungi, celebrate these fungi as an integral part of the soil ecosystem and plant nutrition. Mushrooms grow in the garden when the conditions are right, but the mushrooms live underground all year round. A coiling group of filaments that look like roots (called hyphae) do the underground work.

In natural environments, plants take up nutrients from the soil and through their roots. The plants store the nutrients in leaves, flowers and other areas. When an animal eats part of the plant, the nutrients are transferred to the animal. Dead animals and insects release the nutrients back into the soil, where they are broken down by earthworms, fungi, bacteria and other helpers.

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Hyphae help break down organic matter into the elements plants need, including carbon dioxide, and nutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium, and other macronutrients and micronutrients. Mushrooms spread fungal spores and help keep this process going!

FAQ on removing fungi

Are fungi a sign of a healthy lawn?

Absolutely! However, if you see signs of fairy rings and poor lawn health, fungi may indicate a problem, such as: B. Overwatering or watering too much on cool evenings. Considering that the mushrooms represent the reproduction of fungi, their presence is really a good sign of a healthy soil.

How do I stop fungi from growing on my lawn?

The best way to prevent fungus from growing is to not overwater the grass. Another step you can take is to water early in the day so the lawn doesn’t stay soggy in the evenings. If fungi are ubiquitous, consider removing them by hand. Avoid using fungicides if possible.

Should I remove fungi from my lawn?

Although few mushrooms are poisonous, it’s best not to take chances with pets and children. White mushrooms, in particular, might appeal to children because they look familiar. If you’re concerned, remember that toadstools only appear under the right conditions. Don’t panic and pour fungicide on the lawn. They can kill beneficial fungi.

How do I get rid of fungus in my lawn without killing the grass?

The best way to ensure that the lawn is not damaged is to hand pick the mushrooms, which really only serve to spread fungal spores. These fungi are essential to grass health, and you’re more likely to have a healthy lawn when you have healthy fungi, which are underground soil health workhorses.

Grass in fairy rings and heavy patches of fungus can die, but treating the area with a nitrogen fertilizer can mask the symptoms, and deeply aerating the soil improves the health of the overlying grass.

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Are lawn mushrooms edible?

Some lawn mushrooms are edible, but be sure to consult a foraging field guide or contact a local cooperative office before assuming a garden mushroom is safe to eat. If poisonous, the mushrooms can cause symptoms days later. These range from mild stomach upset to organ damage.

Final Thoughts

Instead of fearing mushrooms in the lawn, give them a little understanding. There’s no harm in picking them up or picking them if you don’t like how they damage your pristine green lawn. But don’t start throwing chemicals at the problem.

Adjust the watering, or rest assured that if overnight rains were heavier than normal in a given summer, the fungi will disappear as the weather changes. Embrace these fungal “seeds” in disguise as a major contributor to the health of your lawn.

Mushroom poisoning is real — and it can lead to liver failure

They’re wonderful on pizza and decadent in soups and sauces, but if you’re planning on cooking with mushrooms you’ve picked yourself, use caution.

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Hobby foragers and backyard gardeners alike should be on the lookout for poisonous wild mushrooms, which can grow alongside edible varieties and are not dangerous to touch. But consuming even a bite of it can be harmful.

And with the summer being warm and humid in some parts of the country, a mushroom boom could be on the horizon, including a major bloom of toxic strains, says critical care physician Aanchal Kapoor, MD.

When wild mushrooms are dangerous

Only about 3% of known mushroom varieties are poisonous, and symptoms of poisoning can range from gastrointestinal distress to liver failure and death, depending on the type of toxin ingested.

Acute liver failure from mushroom poisoning is relatively uncommon but does occur. And in most cases, it’s because an amateur mushroom hunter or garden collector misidentified a mushroom.

The most common dangerous fungi are those of the genus Amanita, particularly Amanita phalloides, aptly known as “death cap” fungi. They contain toxic compounds called amatoxins that damage liver cells.

These mushrooms are white with umbrella-shaped tips and a cup at the base of their stem. They look no more dangerous than supermarket varieties to the untrained eye and may even taste good.

For less toxic strains, the digestive symptoms of mushroom poisoning develop as early as 20 minutes to four hours after ingestion and usually pass after the irritant has been expelled. But in the case of Amanita poisoning, the first symptoms could be delayed, says Dr. Kapoor, usually they start 6 to 24 hours after ingestion.

Signs of mushroom poisoning

Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea are the most common initial mushroom poisoning symptoms, but Dr. Kapoor says some patients show up at the hospital with low blood pressure, a manifestation of septic shock.

In the case of Amanita mushroom poisoning, the symptoms are usually delayed by 6-24 hours, by which time the toxins are completely absorbed. After an initial period of indigestion, the patient appears to recover for two to three days, followed by a relapse of liver and kidney failure that can result in massive bleeding and death.

Doctors use laboratory tests to confirm the presence of mushroom poisoning, but at the moment there is no specific drug to treat it. Therefore, doctors treat the symptoms, beginning with aggressive hydration with IV fluids.

dr Kapoor says there is an experimental drug that shows promise in preventing liver cells from absorbing the toxin. It’s called silibinin, an extract of the milk thistle plant, and while it’s not yet FDA approved in the US, doctors may be able to use it with special approval.

While some patients fully recover from mushroom poisoning, others require a liver transplant. A small proportion of those poisoned by amatoxin die.

Be a smart mushroom consumer

Given the risk, it’s important to exercise caution when consuming mushrooms collected by you, a friend, or anyone without extensive knowledge of wild mushrooms.

dr Kapoor recommends that people do not consume wild mushrooms that have not been identified by an expert. Even washing or cooking poisonous mushrooms doesn’t make them any less dangerous, so if there’s even a question, throw them away. Better yet, stick to mushrooms sold in grocery and specialty stores.

If you suspect that you or someone you know has been poisoned by mushrooms, seek medical attention immediately.

It seems logical: we eat mushrooms in a ton of different dishes — and to many of us they all look the same, including the wild mushrooms that grow on our lawns after a heavy rain. But are wild mushrooms edible?

Are wild mushrooms edible?

The answer to the “Are wild mushrooms edible?” question is yes and no. Unfortunately, not enough people know this – and the number of poisonings from wild mushrooms is rising in the United States.

“We’ve been on our feet for the last two years,” Bruce Ruck, executive director of the New Jersey Poison Control Center, told NJ.com about wild mushroom poisonings they get — 38 between July 1 and August 13. “We saw a lot of people grabbing stuff and wanting to cook it, don’t ask me why.”

Heat, humidity, and heavy rain are common in many parts of the United States this summer, and they make perfect conditions for growing wild mushrooms.

“I know my lawn, I’ve never seen it grow so much,” Ruck said.

And eating these wild mushrooms can make you sick — or even kill you.

A Virginia family found this out the hard way when they ate wild mushrooms growing in the yard of the Annandale apartment building. They all fell ill hours later because these wild mushrooms — known as “Chlorophyllum molybdites,” or green-spore lepiota — are known to cause gastrointestinal pain and vomiting.

The fungi are known as – also called “vomit”.

Although there are dozens of species of fungus in the world, only a few can cause death. The white Destroying Angels mushroom is considered one of the deadliest in North America. Symptoms appear quickly—usually within five to 24 hours—and include convulsions, liver and kidney failure, and death.

Death cap looks like a regular mushroom, but it’s not — and it can cause everything from cramps to liver failure.

Are wild mushrooms edible? Those are the ones to look for

Fortunately, some types of wild mushrooms are edible. Morels (Morchella) and shaggy mane or inkcaps (Coprinus comatus) are good to eat, as are some species of chicken mushroom or sulfur shelf mushroom (Laetiporus sulphureus) and puffballs (Calvatia, Lycoperdon).

Morel hunting is a popular pastime each spring, but many experts advise against hunting wild mushrooms unless you are trained.

“A lot of mushrooms might look like the edible ones… but they might not be the same,” Ruck said.

“Only those trained in mushroom identification should attempt to identify and eat a mushroom,” he added. “We believe that misidentification is a major reason why people are harmed by eating wild mushrooms.”

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Alberta is one of the 10 provinces in Canada. It is located in western Canada and is bordered by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north and the US state of Montana to the south. We have called Alberta home for the past 7 years and in this post we have compiled some of the fun facts about Alberta.

65 Interesting Facts About Alberta You Must Know

1. Alberta is Canada’s sixth largest province by land area

Alberta occupies 6.6% of Canada’s total area, making it the sixth largest province in the country. It occupies an area of ​​661,848 square kilometers.

Legislation of Alberta

It is also the fourth most populous province in the country.

2. Alberta is named after the Queen’s daughter

Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848-1939), Queen Victoria’s fourth daughter.

3. Alberta was part of the Territories

Alberta was incorporated in 1882 as a district of the North West Territories. It was later expanded to its current boundaries and became a province in 1905.

4. The Alberta flag was adopted in 1968

The Alberta flag was adopted on June 1, 1968. She bears the provincial coat of arms of Alberta on a blue background. The flag is twice as long as it is high.

Alberta Flag: Things to Know About Alberta

5. The youngest person to ever lead government in Canada was from Alberta

Born in High River, Alberta, Joe Clark became Canada’s youngest-ever prime minister when he was sworn in as Prime Minister. At 39, he became leader of the now-defunct Progressive Conservative Party.

6. Alberta is known for its large oil industry

Alberta is a Canadian province known for its large oil industry. It has the third largest crude oil reserves in Canada, with most of it coming from the Athabasca Oil Sands.

7. Alberta’s Agriculture

Alberta’s greatest advantage after its oil industry is its agriculture. Wheat, barley, canola, oats and other grains are some of the main crops grown here. Alberta farms exported $10.1 billion worth of these commodities in 2012, and there were nearly 59,000 farms in Alberta that primarily produced wheat and other grains.

Alberta has about 34 million cattle and calves; that’s more than any other province or territory!

8. Albert has one of the highest GDP per capita in Canada

Aside from oil and agriculture, Alberta is considered a major transportation and distribution hub in the western part of the country. It also has a significant tourism industry. The province’s GDP per capita is CAD$78,154.

9. Alberta is one of Canada’s only two landlocked provinces

Alberta is one of the two landlocked provinces, along with Saskatchewan (and we’ve lived in both). But we have lakes and rivers running through our stunning province!

Alberta Beach: Interesting Facts About Alberta Canada

10. The first Albertans were indigenous peoples

The first Albertans were nomadic indigenous peoples who arrived here thousands of years ago when an ice sheet blocked their way north. They made a living from buffalo hunting until driven west by white settlers.

The first time non-Native people visited what is now Alberta was in 1754, when Anthony Henday, an explorer for the Hudson’s Bay Company, came west to seek opportunities in the fur trade.

11. Learn about the First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures of Alberta

Alberta has many unique learning complexes to understand the past and present of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit people who have lived here for thousands of years. The native people of Alberta are descendants of the first settlers on the North American plains.

Metis Crossing cultural complex

12. Northern Alberta and Southern Alberta are very different

The main difference between northern and southern Alberta is that the north has very cold winters while the south experiences warmer temperatures on average during the winter.

The northern half of the province is boreal forest, while the Rocky Mountains along the southwestern border are mostly forested. The southern quarter of the province is mostly prairie.

13. Edmonton is the capital of Alberta, Canada

Edmonton is the capital of Alberta and has 981,280 inhabitants (2017).

Views of the city of Edmonton

14. Alberta’s Legislature is called the Leg

The Alberta Legislature Building was constructed between 1909 and 1913 and remains one of Edmonton’s most impressive structures to this day. It is located in downtown Edmonton and is affectionately known as “the Leg”.

15. Canada’s largest urban park is in Edmonton

The North Saskatchewan River Valley Park system in Edmonton is a 7,284-acre “green belt” that runs through the city. It is the largest urban parkland in Canada.

16. The largest mall in North America is in Edmonton

Edmonton is home to the largest shopping center in North America – the West Edmonton Mall. It was founded by the Ghermezian brothers who immigrated from Iran. WEM houses 800 stores and is larger than 600 soccer fields!

WEM Alberta Fun facts about Alberta

It also has an amusement park, a themed hotel, a water park, an aquarium, miniature golf courses, a movie theater, and a large NHL ice rink inside.

17. The very first indoor water bath was built in Edmonton Alberta

The very first indoor water park, World Waterpark, was built in West Edmonton Mall in 1985. It is still the largest indoor water park in the world today.

18. Ride the largest indoor roller coaster at WEM

The Mindbender is the world’s largest indoor three-loop roller coaster located at the West Edmonton Mall!

19. Edmonton’s population grew faster than any other city in Canada

Edmonton grew faster than any other city between 1981 and 2001. They had a population growth of 83.5 percent! That’s more than three times the national average for that period.

20. Edmonton is nicknamed “Festival City”

Edmonton has a number of nicknames. It is called festival city because it hosts a large number of festivals throughout the year, including folk music, dance and food festivals.

Edmonton during the food festival

Edmonton is also called “Gateway to the North”, “River City” and “Oil Capital of Canada”.

21. Calgary is the largest city in Alberta

Calgary hosts more than 1,330,000 million people within its city limits (1.3 million – 2017). It is the fourth most populous city in Canada.

22. Fort Brisebois was renamed Calgary

Calgary was founded in 1875 as Fort Brisebois, but was renamed Calgary four years later after Calgary Bay on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. Its Gaelic meaning is “clear running water”.

23. Calgary was named the most livable city in North America

Calgary has been named the most livable city in North America by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for six years in a row. It dropped to second place after Vancouver took that title, but it still performed better than other major cities like New York and Los Angeles.

Calgary is the 4th most populous city in Canada

24. Calgary tops the sunniest places in Canada

Calgary averages 3,392.6 hours of sunshine each year – the most in Canada. Edmonton is also a strong sunspot with 2299 hours and 321 days of sunshine a year.

25. Fish Creek Provincial Park in Calgary is the second largest urban park in Canada

Fish Creek Provincial Park is south of downtown Calgary. It extends over 19 km. There are over 100 kilometers of hiking and biking trails, as well as picnic areas, swimming and wildlife opportunities.

26. Calgary Stampede is one of the largest rodeos in the world

The Calgary Stampede is considered the largest outdoor show in the world. This legendary western festival is a must when visiting the Canadian Rockies.

The 10-day July celebration has something for everyone, including a grand Midway, live concerts and an outdoor exhibition showcasing the best of Western life and culture.

27. The Calgary Tower was originally known as the Husky Tower

Calgary Tower was built in 1966 and remains a major communications hub for western Canada.

Calgary Tower

Originally called the Husky Tower, it was built as a joint venture between Marathon Realty and Husky Oil to honor Canada’s centennial celebrations. Today it is a major tourist destination in Canada.

28. There are 18 km (11.2 miles) of indoor walkways in Calgary

In downtown Calgary, you can enjoy an 11-mile indoor walkway that connects over 100 buildings with 60 suspension bridges.

29. Tyra – the largest dinosaur in the world is in Alberta

The “world’s largest dinosaur” is located in Drumheller, about 1.5 hours from Calgary. Tyra is the name of the 26 meter tall fiberglass and steel dinosaur statue.

Dinosaurs in Drumheller

Alberta is also home to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology and houses Canada’s largest collection of dinosaur fossils!

30. Vulcan is the self-proclaimed capital of Star Trek in Canada

Vulcan is a small town between Calgary and Lethbridge. It has an estimated population of 730 people and is the self-proclaimed Star Trek Capital of Canada!

In the Star Trek television and film series, Vulcan is the name of the homeworld of Spock and his fellow Vulcans.

31. Sylvan Lake is home to the Inland Lighthouse

In the resort of Sylvan Lake you will find a lighthouse inland.

Sylvan Lake Alberta Interesting Facts

It was built in 1988 to commemorate his 75th birthday. However, it was later rebuilt in 2015 and is now one of Alberta’s most unique attractions.

32. The city of Lloydminster is shared by Alberta and Saskatchewan

Located on the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan, the city of Lloydminster is owned and administered jointly by both provinces.

33. Canada has twice hosted the Winter Olympics (once in Alberta)

Canada has hosted two Winter Olympics to date – the first being held in Calgary in 1988 and in Vancouver in 2010.

34. Canada Olympic Park was used for the 1988 Winter Olympics

Canada Olympic Park was originally called Paskapoo Ski Hill. It began as a training facility for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. The park is now used by athletes worldwide for high-performance training and hosts world-class sporting events year-round.

35. Alberta is home to six major natural regions

Alberta has six major natural regions, namely the Boreal Forest Region, the Canadian Shield Region, the Parklands Region, the Foothills Region, the Grassland Region and the Rocky Mountains.

36. Alberta is home to 5 of the 38 national parks in Canada

Alberta is home to five national parks: Banff, Jasper, Waterton, Wood Buffalo and Elk Island National Park.

Moraine Lake Banff National Park

37. Canada’s oldest national park is in Alberta

Banff National Park is Canada’s oldest national park. It was established in 1885 as Canada’s first national park. Originally this park was called Banff Hot Springs Reserve and later Rocky Mountains of Canada.

38. Canada’s largest national park is also in Alberta

At 44,807 square kilometers, Wood Buffalo National Park is Canada’s largest national park (and the second largest in the world). It is also designated as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites and was established in 1922.

39. Jasper National Park is the largest in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

Jasper National Park is one of the most visited national parks in Alberta and the largest in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. It was founded in 1907 and has an area of ​​11,228 square kilometers.

Pyramid Lake Jasper National Park

40. Mount Columbia is the highest point in Alberta

Mount Columbia is the highest point in Alberta and is also part of the Rocky Mountains. It is located in the Columbia Icefield and has an elevation of 3,747 meters above sea level.

41. Lake Louise was originally called Emerald Lake

Stunning Lake Louise is located in Banff National Park.

In 1882 a Canadian railroad worker and guide named Tom Wilson named it Emerald Lake. Two years later it was renamed Lake Louise after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848-1939), daughter of Queen Victoria.

Lake Louise

42. Lake Louise hosts a special event every year

Each winter, Lake Louise hosts the Lake Louise World Ice Carving Competition, which judges international ice carvings and chooses a winner. The event features a variety of activities including a children’s area, live music events and more!

43. The province is home to 5 UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Alberta is home to five UNESCO World Heritage Sites namely Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, Waterton Glacier International Peace Park and Wood Buffalo National Park.

44. Waterton Glacier International Peace Park is located in Alberta and the United States

Waterton Glacier International Peace Park is located on the Alberta-US border. It is known for its outstanding scenery and peaceful beauty.

Waterton Peace Park

45. The Canadian Rocky Mountains in Alberta are home to the Columbia Icefield

Canada’s Rocky Mountain Parks consist of Banff and Jasper National Parks in Alberta.

The Columbia Icefield is part of the Rocky Mountains and is one of the largest ice accumulations in North America with an area of ​​about 12 square kilometers. It is also home to Mount Athabasca, which lies within Jasper National Park.

Mount Athabasca has an elevation of 3,256 meters above sea level and is located in the Columbia Icefield. It also sits on a large deposit of oil bitumen.

46. ​​Alberta for Dinosaurs

Dinosaur Provincial Park is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site dedicated exclusively to dinosaurs. Established in 1955, its vast landscape consists of badlands representing 150 million years of the Cretaceous Period, considered one of the best sites for dinosaur fossils in North America.

47. One of Alberta’s unique UNESCO sites is the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Located near Fort Macleod, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump was formed in 1981. It is one of the oldest buffalo jumps where indigenous peoples herded buffalo over a cliff to use for food and other resources such as clothing, teepees and more.

Buffalo Head Smash Alberta

48. Canada’s darkest city is in Alberta

Bon Accord, a small town in Alberta, is the first Canadian municipality to receive IDA status. It is the eleventh dark sky community in the world and the first ever place in the province of Alberta to be included in the International Dark Sky Places Program.

49. Alberta is home to the most tornadoes in Canada

Alberta is also known for its heavy tornado activity. Alberta experiences more tornadoes than any other Canadian province, averaging 15 tornadoes per year. Most of these will be EF0 and EF1 or weaker storms, but sometimes we get some strong ones too!

50. The deadliest Canadian landslide occurred in Alberta

In July 1903, the Frank Slide killed more than 70 people when a landslide destroyed part of the town in Frank, Alberta. It was one of the deadliest landslides in Canadian history, moving an estimated 90 million cubic meters. The trigger was an avalanche from Turtle Mountain.

51. The worst mining disaster occurred in Alberta

On June 20, 1914, the worst mining disaster in Canadian history happened over in Frank. Dubbed the Frank Mine Explosion, it killed 65 miners and two mine supervisors within what was then the International Coal Company.

52. Earthquake in Red Deer associated with the formation of the Rocky Mountains

In 2019, a 4.6 magnitude earthquake struck the town of Red Deer, Alberta. It was reportedly felt even from Banff and Calgary. The quake is attributed to the formation of the Rocky Mountains.

53. Experience all four seasons in one day

The weather in Alberta is unpredictable, especially in the southern part.

Chinook winds are a type of warm, dry wind that sometimes bring amazing temperature swings of up to 20 degrees C – fairly common in the south. And once the warm wind kicks in, it can melt ice at rates of up to an inch per hour, quickly turning inches of snow into puddles of water.

Pincher Creek: Interesting Facts About Alberta

In 1962, Pincher Creek experienced a record-breaking temperature rise of 41 degrees C from -19 to 22 degrees C in one hour.

54. Alberta is a prairie province known for its beautiful sunrises and sunsets

Alberta is one of the three prairie provinces in Canada. The prairie gets plenty of sunlight, so it’s no wonder many people rave about its stunning sunrises and sunsets! This is one reason to visit Alberta in the summer.

55. The highest point of the longest Trans-Canada Highway is in Alberta (BC border)

The Trans-Canada Highway is the longest highway in Canada, traversing the provinces including much of Alberta. The highest point on the Trans-Canada is Kicking Horse Pass (on the Alberta-BC border).

56. Alberta is home to one of the scenic roads also known as the Icefield Parkway

The Icefield Parkway is a scenic road that connects Jasper, Alberta to Banff National Park. This highway has been named one of the most beautiful roads in the world and is also a World Heritage Site!

Aerial view of vehicles on scenic Icefields Parkway Highway between Banff and Jasper National Parks in summer in Alberta, Canada.

57. The Edmonton Oilers have won multiple NHLs

The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, founded in 1972. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League. They have won 5 Stanley Cups, most recently from 1984 to 1990.

58. Alberta has produced 16 Olympic medalists

15 of them won their medals during the Winter Games while only 1 medal was won during the Summer Games.

59. The first plane to fly over the North Pole came from Alberta

In May 1926, Captain George Hubert Wilkins and his mechanic Albert F. Hegenberger became the first to fly over the North Pole on a voyage that began in Alaska. This historic event ended in Alberta with a safe landing at Edmonton’s Blatchford Field Airport (now Edmonton City Center Airport).

60. Alberta’s first immigrant community were Chinese

In 1892, over 3,000 people of Chinese descent came to Canada and planted a small church in Calgary. They worked on the railways and in the mines, many of them leaving the country in 1906 after an uprising against China.

61. Calgary White Hat (cowboy hat) was created by an immigrant

Often associated with the Stampede, the Calgary White Hat was created by Morris Shumiatcher, a Russian-Jewish immigrant who came to Alberta with his father in 1909.

62. Trick or treat! this phrase can be traced back to Alberta

The phrase trick-or-treating is said to have originated in the 1930s when it was used by children who would go door-to-door on Halloween to collect food and money, with threats of mischief if they got nothing.

Trick-or-treating has become an important part of Halloween celebrations across Canada, but this tradition can also be traced back to the time when the first immigrants from Europe settled in Alberta’s cities.

63. Calgary invented Caesar!

The Caesar is a popular mixed drink that contains vodka, clamato juice, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. It was invented by Walter Chell in 1969 to celebrate the opening of a new Italian restaurant in Calgary. Today it is Canada’s national cocktail!

64. Alberta beef is known around the world

Beef is one of Alberta’s most important agricultural products and our beef enjoys an excellent reputation worldwide! Most of the beef produced in the province is rated AA or higher and is ethically raised and free of antibiotics.

65. Alberta is a rat-free province in Canada

Alberta is currently rat-free and is one of Canada’s rat-free provinces.

There are so many interesting facts about Alberta and we have tried to fit as much as possible into this one article. We hope this post has helped you learn a little more about Alberta.

Thousands visit this beautiful province every year to explore the unique landscape and experience our vibrant cities. If you’re planning on visiting or moving to Alberta soon, let us know in the comments below!

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Alberta Facts

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Use of the emblems

Coat of arms of Alberta

The coat of arms of Alberta represents the sovereignty of the province and the authority of the lieutenant governor, the chief minister, the ministers, the legislature, the members of the legislature and their offices. The Coat of Arms is used by the Court of Appeal, the Court of Queen’s Bench, the Provincial Court and the Provincial Judges.

Use of the Coat of Arms of Alberta by any other person or entity must be approved by the Minister for Culture and Women’s Status under the Emblems of Alberta Act.

All requests for the reproduction of the Coat of Arms should be sent in writing to:

Alberta culture and status of women

Legal and Legislative Services

7th floor, Standard Life Center

10405 Jasper Ave

Edmonton, Alberta T5J 4R7

Phone: 780-427-8504

Other emblems

The Emblems of Alberta Act permits reproduction of the other emblems so long as you:

Do not edit or modify the emblems or any part thereof

follow the Alberta Government’s Visual Identity Guide

Do not use the emblems to imply endorsement, accreditation, or approval by the Alberta government

Alberta emblems

Geography

Alberta is divided into three of Canada’s seven physiographic regions. These three regions are Cordillera, Interior Plains and Canadian Shield. However, the vast majority of the province falls within the Interior Plains region. The Interior Plains can be further subdivided into prairie grassland, parkland, and boreal forest. The prairie portion includes most of southern Alberta. This rolling grassland is relatively dry and mostly treeless. The parkland region predominates in central Alberta. This area varies from flat land of old lake bottoms to hilly landscapes with numerous lakes and depressions. The boreal forest region covers the northern half of the province. Here, large rivers and lakes dominate the landscape, flowing north into the Arctic Ocean. In the southwest corner of Alberta, mountain ridges rise to the Rocky Mountains, part of Canada’s Cordillera region.

The prairie region of southern Alberta includes both short grass and mixed grass. These grasses include Blue Grama and Western Wheat Grass. Parklands in central Alberta and Peace River country are characterized by tall grasses and aspens.

The boreal region of northern Alberta includes aspen and silver birch forests to the south, and white spruce, larch, and black spruce forests further north. Balsam fir and jack pine are also found in eastern areas. Alpine fir and lodgepole pine grow in the west. Alpine fir, white spruce and lodgepole pine dominate the lower elevations of the Rocky Mountains. At higher altitudes, isolated stocks of black spruce and alpine larch alternate with lichens and alpine flowers on the alpine meadows.

The small basin of the Milk River in southeastern Alberta flows south through the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers into the Gulf of Mexico. The remainder of southern Alberta is drained by the South and North Saskatchewan River basins east of Hudson Bay via the Nelson River system. Northern Alberta is dominated by the Athabasca, Hay and Peace river basins. These basins drain north through the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean. Lake Claire and Lesser Slave Lake are the two largest lakes in all of Alberta. (See also Geography of Alberta.)

persons

urban centers

In 2016, 83.5 percent of Alberta’s population was urban—nearly the reverse of the trend since the first census in 1901, when 75 percent of the population lived in rural areas. The trend towards urbanization accelerated during World War II and intensified again in the post-war boom years.

The most notable feature of urban growth is the concentration on the two metropolitan areas of Calgary in southern Alberta and Edmonton in central Alberta. In 1901, 9 percent of Alberta’s population lived in either Edmonton or Calgary. In 1951, 31 percent of Alberta’s population lived in Edmonton or Calgary. As of 2016, about 2.2 million people lived in Edmonton or Calgary, or 53 percent of the province. The Edmonton area includes most of central and northern Alberta and parts of the Peace River region of northeastern British Columbia. The Calgary area includes all of the province south of Red Deer and part of southeastern British Columbia.

Alberta’s secondary urban centers are affected by the growth of metropolitan Edmonton and Calgary. St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Leduc, Fort Saskatchewan and Spruce Grove have become satellite communities of Edmonton. While Strathmore, Olds, Cochrane, Chestermere, High River, Airdrie and Canmore have become satellite communities of Calgary. Lethbridge, Red Deer, and Medicine Hat to the south have only maintained their regional prominence at the expense of smaller communities like Rocky Mountain House and Taber. Fort McMurray to the northeast and Grande Prairie to the northwest have escaped the direct metropolitan influences of Edmonton and Calgary, largely because of their relative distance and isolation.

Reserves and Métis settlements

There are 138 reserves in Alberta. Members of Alberta’s 47 First Nations live in these communities. Additionally, two First Nations – Salt River and Onion Lake Cree – are based in other provinces or territories but have reserve land in Alberta. In 2019, Alberta had 131,697 registered Native Americans, 58 percent of whom lived on reservations. The rest live in other communities. (See also Alberta reserves.)

While historically the Canadian government allocated reserves to Aboriginal peoples and not Métis or Inuit, Alberta is the only province where the Métis were given a collective land base known as the Métis Settlements. The largest of the eight settlements by area is Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement.

Worker

Historically, Alberta has had an unemployment rate that was below the national rate and often the lowest in the country. For example, the province’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in 2014, second only to Saskatchewan. However, because Alberta’s economy is inextricably linked to oil and gas production, rising and falling oil prices have a profound impact on employment. In 2015, oil prices fell dramatically, contributing to a rise in the annual unemployment rate to 9 percent in 2016. Historically, such dips in oil prices have been quickly followed by an uptrend. This was the case, for example, after the low oil prices after 9/11 and again after the 2008 financial crisis (see also economy). How the province will recover from this recent decline remains to be seen.

language and ethnicity

According to the 2016 census, the most commonly cited ethnicity in Alberta is Canadian, followed by English and German. The first major wave of immigration dates from 1896–1914, attracting tens of thousands of European settlers who spoke a variety of languages ​​and represented many religious groups. Since the 1970s, immigrants have increasingly come from Asia.

This shift in immigration is reflected in Alberta’s visible minority population. The province has one of the largest populations in the country at 23.5 percent (the two provinces with higher percentages, British Columbia and Ontario have about 30 and 29 percent, respectively). Of the visible minority population in Alberta, the largest communities are South Asian, Chinese, Black and Filipino.

Indigenous peoples make up 6.5 percent of Albertans — the fourth-largest indigenous community among provinces.

religion

The majority of Albertans are Christian, with approximately 60 percent identifying with a Christian denomination as of the 2011 census. In the same year, the largest non-Christian groups were Muslims (three percent of the population), Sikhs (one percent), Buddhists (one percent), and Hindus (one percent). Smaller religious groups of greater importance in Alberta than elsewhere in Canada include The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (see Mormon Church), Mennonites, and Hutterites. In 2011, approximately 32 percent of the Albertan population reported no religious affiliation.

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indigenous peoples

In the late 18th century, indigenous peoples including the Blackfoot, Blood, Peigan, and Gros Ventre occupied southern Alberta. The Kootenay and other more westerly groups made regular bison-hunting expeditions to the area, while more southerly groups like the Crow came to the region to wage war and trade. Along the North Saskatchewan River lived the Tsuu T’ina (Sarcee), an offshoot of the Beaver who occupied central and northern Alberta. The northern fringes of modern-day Alberta were inhabited by the Slavey (Slave Dene).

These indigenous peoples felt the impact of European culture long before there was direct contact. Metal tools and weapons brought by the major European trading groups, including the British Hudson’s Bay Company and Montréal-based North West Company, were traded and bartered west across the continent to the prairies for furs, reaching the isolated region southern Alberta in the mid-18th century; Similarly, the horse migrated north from Spanish Mexico in the mid-17th century and became fully assimilated into Blackfoot hunting culture.

Gradually, groups near Hudson Bay incorporated European trade goods into their everyday material culture. Consequently, these groups sought new sources of fur as overhunting reduced the availability of pelts for trade with large fur companies. More than other nations, the Cree and Assiniboine (including the Stoney) acted as intermediaries for the Hudson Bay Company and the isolated indigenous groups of Alberta in the 17th century. They moved up the North Saskatchewan River to trade, forcing the Sarcee and Blackfoot tribes south and the Beaver north. The Chipewyan entered the northeast corner of Alberta, pushing the Beaver back towards the mountains. By the early 18th century, the Gros Ventre had moved south of the 49th parallel. These shifts were the result of new trade patterns facilitated by European exploration and westward expansion of fur companies in central Canada.

exploration

The first European known to have reached modern-day Alberta was Anthony Henday, an employee of the Hudson Bay Company, who was traveling through the Red Deer area in the company of a group of Cree and probably spent the last months of winter in Edmonton spent the years 1754–55 near where it is today. In 1778 Peter Pond, an employee of the North West Company, traveled down the Athabasca River and established the first fur trading post in the province. Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca was established in 1788 and served as the starting point for Alexander Mackenzie’s historic voyage down the Mackenzie River in 1789 and four years later for his voyage up the Peace River and through the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

The Hudson’s Bay Company met the North West Company’s emerging dominance of northern Alberta by sending Peter Fidler and David Thompson to explore and map the Athabasca and North Saskatchewan Rivers in the 1790s and early 1800s. The Hudson Bay Company and North West Company built competing posts throughout northern and central Alberta until 1821, when the competing companies merged. Neither company was successful in entering the southern half of the province, which lacked forests and thus valuable beaver pelts.

In the mid-19th century, Christian missionaries began challenging the fur traders for possession of the territory. Methodist Robert Rundle became the first resident minister in what is now Alberta in 1840. Two years later he was followed by the Roman Catholic Father Jean-Baptiste Thibault. Missionary activity peaked in the third quarter of the century and included the work of the Catholic Albert Lacombe and the Methodist father-and-son team of George and John McDougall.

Around the same time, an expanding Northwestern fur trade in American territory, led by the American Fur Trade Company, took an increasing interest in southern Alberta. In the mid-19th century, American “free traders” began moving north from the trading post of Fort Benton in the Montana Territory to trade bison skins with several Native American nations, particularly the Blackfoot peoples. In the late 1860s, the American market for bison-skin robes was expanding rapidly, culminating in a mass influx of free traders across the frontier. These traders used ‘whiskey’, a deadly combination of alcohol, dyes, drugs and poisons, as their main trade. Death from consumption, poisoning, violence, starvation and disease, the effects of increasing alcoholism and social decay from the expanding liquor trade plagued the Blackfoot and plunged the region into violence.

settlement

In the 1850s and 1860s, with the burgeoning of the liquor trade, the British and Canadian governments, realizing that the Hudson Bay Company’s license would be terminated in 1870, began investigating the agricultural potential of the Northwest. In 1857 an expedition led by British Captain John Palliser and one led by Henry Youle Hind explored the North West. Their reports were partly responsible for the British government’s refusal to renew the Hudson Bay Company’s license as the fur trade became less lucrative and settlement more likely. While Palliser was pessimistic about the region’s potential, the Canadian government and land-hungry Canadian expansionists envisioned an agricultural hinterland in the region. However, the Canadian government first had to acquire the land from the Hudson Bay Company, halt the liquor trade, open the region to peaceful settlement, and build transportation infrastructure to connect the region to central Canada.

On June 23, 1870, the Canadian government took possession of all Hudson Bay Company territory, including the entire future province of Alberta. The following year the region between the new province of Manitoba and the Rocky Mountains was organized as the Northwest Territories of Canada, with its administrative center first in Winnipeg, then in Battleford, and finally in Regina. The Dominion Lands Policy of 1872 created the legal framework to begin settling and cultivating the land.

In 1874, after dozens of reports from missionaries, administrators, and explorers highlighting the violence and dangers existing in southern Alberta as a result of the American-dominated bison robe and liquor trade, the Canadian government took the step of liquor exchanges stop, legislate and order and ensure a peaceful settlement. In July 1874, the North-West Mounted Police, led by George French and James Macleod, marched west across the prairie to what is now the Lethbridge area. They established their first post in Alberta at Fort Macleod in 1874. In 1875 the North-West Mounted Police established forts in Calgary and Edmonton. By 1875 the liquor trade had been suppressed and the Canadian government, with the help of the North-West Mounted Police, began preparing to negotiate land treaties. Treaty #6, covering the Cree lands in central Alberta, was signed in 1876. In 1877, Treaty No. 7 was negotiated, covering the Blackfoot, Sarcee, and Stoney in southern Alberta; and in 1899, Treaty #8 covered most of northern Alberta (see land claims).

Only small settlements emerged in the 1870s, linked to the limited but lucrative market of the isolated North-West Mounted Police. By 1883 the Canadian Pacific Railway had reached Calgary and was completed in 1885. Settlement was expected to begin in earnest, but from 1885 to 1896 it remained slow. In 1881, just before the arrival of the railroad, only about 1,000 non-native settlers lived within the boundaries of what is now Alberta; a decade later, in 1891, that number had grown, but only to 17,500. The expected arrival of hundreds of thousands of settlers in 1885 did not begin until 1896 as a result of the development of fast-ripening varieties of hard spring wheat, the exhaustion of readily available land in the American West, the easing of the 22-year economic crisis that had gripped North America, and the aggressive immigration policies of the Federal government headed by Home Secretary Clifford Sifton.

From 1896 until the start of World War I in 1914, Alberta and other parts of the Canadian prairies benefited from one of the most important and dramatic population movements in modern North American history. Settlers flocked to the open prairie farmlands and bustling cities. Many came from Ontario and other parts of eastern Canada, others from the United States and Britain, and still others from continental Europe; The great diversity of linguistic and religious backgrounds made life in Alberta indelibly multicultural. Alberta’s population increased from 73,022 in 1901 to 373,943 in 1911 and 584,454 in 1921.

development

The founding of the province of Alberta on September 1, 1905 was the logical consequence of the great immigration boom and a response to the political campaign for autonomy that had developed in the Northwest Territories. (See also Alberta and Confederation.) Political controversies at the time of provincial formation centered on the rights of the Roman Catholic minority to publicly funded separate schools, the border with the new sister province of Saskatchewan (Albertans long sought. 107°W, but had to settle for 110 °) and Edmonton’s victory over Calgary for the location of the new provincial capital. While these issues left a legacy of bitterness against perceived federal interference in local affairs, none was as controversial as Ottawa’s decision to retain control of crown lands and natural resources. The retention of crown lands and resources that had been granted to provincial rulers in the cases of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Québec, Ontario, and British Columbia were further advanced according to the federal settlement through the Dominion Lands Policy. At the provincial level, however, the retention of crown lands and resources was viewed as an attempt by the federal government to limit the autonomy of the new Prairie provinces, promote central Canada’s economic strength and dominance, and ensure that the west remained an economic hinterland. In 1930, after a 25-year struggle, the province was given control of the remaining crown lands and natural resources by Albertan prime ministers. The result was the incipient western alienation from the federal government and a strong sense of provincial rights that continues to this day.

Alberta’s first decade as a province was successful; Immigration accelerated, grain harvests were plentiful, new communities sprung up, and a network of railroad lines expanded rapidly. But resentment grew among farmers, who saw their status as independent entrepreneurs threatened by the railroads, banks and grain elevator companies. The rise of the United Farmers of Alberta as a political party and their victory over the Liberals in the 1921 provincial election was in part a result of these riots. At the federal level, Alberta supported the Progressive Party of Canada in the 1920s in its fight for more populist policies and lowering of national tariff and freight rates that served the interests of central Canadians but not those in the West. Alberta’s divergent role in federal government policy continued.

From 1896 to 1914, Canada’s West experienced unprecedented growth. During World War I, Alberta played an important role in supplying men, materials, and grain for the war effort. After the war, however, grain prices fluctuated and coal mining, which was once so important, declined. The global depression of the 1930s, accompanied by prairie droughts, land drifts, and locust plagues, accelerated an economic decline that had begun in the postwar years. The Social Credit League won the 1935 provincial elections by promising to combat the Great Depression (and perceived Eastern control of Alberta’s economy) with a mixture of religious fundamentalism and radical monetary theory. However, Social Credit failed to combat the global nature of the Great Depression. In 1939 the world plunged into war again and increased employment, whether in the military or in war industries, helped alleviate the harsh economic conditions that dominated Alberta in the 1930s.

The discovery of oil at Leduc in February 1947 began the process of converting Alberta’s economic base from agriculture to petroleum. The resulting exploitation of oil and natural gas led to a huge increase in provincial royalties, brought prosperity to most sections of the population, and transformed the cities of Edmonton and Calgary into prosperous metropolises. The global oil price crisis of 1973 brought even greater prosperity, which lasted until the general economic recession of the early 1980s. Many Albertans felt their economic situation had deteriorated as a result of the National Energy Program introduced at the time. However, the combination of increased oil revenues and radical public spending cuts by the provincial government in the 1990s resulted in a huge budget surplus in 1996. Since then, Alberta’s economy has grown steadily due to high world market prices for oil and natural gas.

Business

Alberta’s economy has traditionally been based on the exploitation of primary resources and dependence on external markets, with prices and revenues largely determined by external economic and political forces. For example, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several factors maintained Alberta’s reliance on resource-based economic activities, including sparse population density, federal government policies (particularly the provisions of the Dominion Lands Act), and geographic conditions.

In the 18th century, Alberta’s economy was based on the trade in bison robes and furs, and in the 19th century it developed into cattle ranching and eventually grain farming. The completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 provided market routes for grain from Alberta and aided the penetration of eastern Canadian manufactured goods. Agriculture remained the dominant economic activity until the discovery of oil in the Leduc field in 1947. Since then, Alberta’s agribusiness has been surpassed in net product value by the oil and gas industry.

A rapid rise in world oil prices in the early 1970s propelled Alberta’s economy into unprecedented and rapid growth. After a decade of financial boom fueled almost entirely by oil industry profits, the nationwide economic recession of 1982-83 hit Alberta hard. Construction slowed, retail sales fell and unemployment rose from 4% to over 10%.

Investment and spending declined during this period, and years of little or no economic growth became worse in 1986, when world oil and grain prices fell significantly. Despite repeated promises by the provincial government in the 1970s and 1980s to use the huge royalties from oil and gas sales to diversify the economy, Alberta did not diversify into the forest sector until the late 1980s. In the mid-1990s, Alberta’s fortunes increased with world market prices for oil and natural gas increasing again. High oil and natural gas prices in the early 2000s further boosted Alberta’s economy. However, Alberta’s economy remains dependent on the extraction of primary resources and remains subject to the destabilizing effects of external economic and political fluctuations.

Agriculture

Alberta’s agribusiness continues to be of great importance to the province, the nation and, in terms of grain exports, the world. In 2014, Alberta’s farm cash receipts were nearly $12.9 billion, ranking second in the country behind Saskatchewan (Farm cash receipts is Statistics Canada’s method of measuring the contribution of the agricultural sector to the country’s gross domestic product to be measured on a provincial basis). The major crops produced in Alberta, including wheat, canola, barley, flax, oats, rye and durum, accounted for about $5.9 billion in cash receipts, while livestock and related products accounted for about $6.4 billion.

An Alberta farm off Highway 56 (photo by Ken A. Meisner, courtesy of Take Stock Photography Inc.). A Summary in Alberta’s Ranching Country (Photo by Angus McNee, courtesy of Take Stock Photography Inc.). previous next

Around the metropolitan areas of Edmonton and Calgary and in the corridor between the two cities are dairy farms, poultry farms, and cattle, pig, and sheep farms. Wheat and small grain farmers are primarily located in the Peace River region, in the Edmonton, Camrose and Lloydminster areas, and in a belt from Red Deer southeast to the United States border. Mixed companies are in the crescent, extending northwest from Lethbridge to Calgary and Red Deer, then northeast to Camrose and Lloydminster, and in the counties north of Edmonton. The black and brown soils of the mixed grass prairie and parkland regions offer the greatest potential for mixed farming in the area. Away from this fertile crescent, particularly in the southeast, lie the more specialized cattle and wheat farms that compensate for their marginal soils with larger sizes. Irrigated farming, centered in Lethbridge, produces sugar beets, potatoes and vegetables.

Mining

Alberta’s non-fuel mining industry is primarily focused on salt, sandstone, limestone, other building blocks, sand and gravel. The non-fuel mining industry also mines magnetite, peat moss and clay. The province is among the world’s largest producers of elemental sulfur from hydrocarbon sources. Small amounts of gold are mined and the province has deposits of low-grade iron ore and uranium in the Lake Athabasca region that have yet to be fully developed.

Alberta’s mining industry includes the extraction of coal, crude oil and natural gas and forms the core of Alberta’s economy (see the section below for information on oil and natural gas). Coal formed the basis of Alberta’s first mining ventures in the Lethbridge area in 1872. Coal mining in the Lethbridge, Crowsnest Pass and Drumheller areas was an important economic activity up until the First World War. After an initial decline in the 1920s and a drastic loss of domestic consumers in the 1950s, Alberta’s coal industry bottomed out in the early 1960s. Since then, growth in the domestic market, negotiations on long-term leases to supply Japan’s steel industry and new coal liquefaction technologies have injected new life into the industry. Alberta’s coal is low in sulfur and burns relatively clean, making it a popular source for power generation.

oil and natural gas

Canada is home to the third largest oil reserves in the world, with over half of the country’s total oil production coming from Alberta’s tar sands. These sands cover approximately 140,000 km 2 in three areas of the province – the Athabasca, Peace River and Cold Lake regions. These Albertan reserves represent the third largest oil deposit in the world after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

The Alberta oil industry began with the discovery of the Turner Valley field in 1914. However, apart from brief activity in the late 1930s, the industry remained small until the discovery of the Leduc field in 1947, followed by the opening of the Woodbend fields , Redwater and Pembina. After opening the first commercial oil sands operation in 1967, industry growth was exponential. Alberta produced about 36.7 million cubic meters of crude oil that year. Ten years later, production had grown by almost 65 percent to 60.5 million cubic meters. Since those peak years in the 1970s, oil production has slowly declined. In 2014, Alberta produced almost 34.2 million cubic meters of crude oil.

The natural gas industry predates Alberta’s oil industry, dating back to discoveries in 1883 near Medicine Hat. Production rose steadily in the second half of the 20th century, rising from an annual average of 71.7 million cubic meters in the 1970s to 139.4 million in the 1990s. In 2014, Alberta produced 121.3 million cubic meters of natural gas, accounting for 68 percent of Canada’s total natural gas production. (See also fracking.)

The petroleum industry has long brought prosperity to Alberta, giving it one of the highest per capita GDPs in the country and some of the lowest taxes and unemployment rates. However, disputes over oil prices and export volumes have fueled heated debates between Alberta and the federal government, fueling strong provincial right-wing and even quasi-separatist political movements. The most serious dispute over provincial rights and the resource industry occurred in the 1980s with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s National Energy Program (NEP), which prevented Alberta from charging other provinces world prices for its oil. The NEP crisis increased Alberta’s sense of alienation from the federal government. Mitte der 1990er Jahre, nach der Abschaffung der NEP (und einer Erholung der Ölpreise), wurden die meisten Streitigkeiten beigelegt, und der Energiesektor von Alberta erfreute sich höherer Weltmarktpreise für seine Produkte. Die Albertaner bleiben jedoch feindlich gegenüber jeglichen föderalen Eingriffen in ressourcenbasierte Industrien.

forestry

Wälder bedecken 38 Millionen Hektar in Alberta oder etwa 60 Prozent der Provinz. Die Regierung von Alberta hat diesen Wirtschaftssektor seit den späten 1980er Jahren aggressiv gefördert. Während der Nachbar der Provinz, British Columbia, den größten Teil des Holzes in Kanada erntet, leistet auch Alberta einen wesentlichen Beitrag. Im Jahr 2013 beispielsweise wurden in Alberta 22,8 Millionen Kubikmeter Wald oder etwa 15 Prozent der Gesamtfläche des Landes abgeholzt. Zellstoff- und Papierfabriken befinden sich in den Regionen Edmonton und Calgary. (Siehe auch Nicht für Saps: Baumpflanzung in Alberta.)

Fischerei

Nur etwa 2,5 Prozent von Alberta sind mit Süßwasser bedeckt, was bedeutet, dass die kommerzielle Fischereiindustrie im Vergleich zu anderen Provinzen relativ klein ist. Was Kanadas kommerzielle Wildfischerei (im Gegensatz zu Zuchtfischerei) betrifft, so macht Alberta beispielsweise weniger als ein Prozent der gesamten Fischanlandungen des Landes aus, sowohl was das Volumen als auch den Wert betrifft. Gefangen werden vor allem Felchen, Hecht, Forelle und Zander.

finance

Die Expansion der Erdölindustrie nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, insbesondere in den 1970er Jahren, führte zu einer Verlagerung der Finanzkraft innerhalb Kanadas nach Westen, wobei Alberta als Herzstück der expandierenden Erdölindustrie davon am stärksten profitierte und wuchs. In den 1970er Jahren festigte Calgary seine Position als wichtiges Finanzzentrum der Provinz und entwickelte sich zu einem konkurrierenden nationalen Zentrum. 1978 waren an der in Calgary ansässigen Alberta Stock Exchange (ASE) fast 400 Unternehmen notiert. Bis 1998 war diese Zahl auf über 1.000 Unternehmen angewachsen. Die meisten Unternehmen waren kleine Öl- und Gasunternehmen, aber die ASE diversifizierte sich auch in die Biotechnologie. Das an der Börse gehandelte Dollarvolumen stieg im gleichen Zeitraum von 95 Millionen auf 1,8 Milliarden Dollar. Die Alberta Stock Exchange und die Vancouver Stock Exchange schlossen sich 1999 zur Canadian Venture Exchange zusammen, die schließlich 2001 von der Toronto Stock Exchange als Junior-Aktienbörse übernommen wurde.

transport

Während der Flussverkehr im 18. und frühen 19. Jahrhundert das Kommunikationsnetz für den Pelzhandel darstellte, war es der Schienenverkehr, der Alberta im späten 18. Jahrhundert für umfangreiche Besiedlung öffnete und die Wirtschaft der Region an Zentralkanada verband. Süd-Alberta wird von der Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) und Zentral- und Nord-Alberta von der Canadian National Railway (CNR) und ihren zahlreichen Tochtergesellschaften bedient. Diese Routen gelten als wichtig für das wirtschaftliche Wohlergehen der Provinz. The loss of branch lines has resulted in the abandonment of numerous rural communities across Alberta and the gradual elimination of old grain elevators that used to distinguish the prairie landscape.

Southern Alberta (photo by Richard Harrington).

The importance of Alberta’s highways to the movement of both people and goods has increased since the end of the Second World War . The most heavily travelled route is the multi-lane Highway 2 between Edmonton and Calgary. Important interprovincial routes include Highway 1, the Trans-Canada Highway (through Medicine Hat, Calgary and Banff), Highway 16, the Yellowhead Highway (through Lloydminster , Edmonton and Jasper), the Mackenzie Highway running north from the Peace River country to the Northwest Territories and Highway 3, which connects Medicine Hat to Lethbridge and the Crowsnest Pass.

Calgary is the headquarters of Greyhound Canada Transportation Co, the largest intercity bus system in Canada, and Red Arrow, an Alberta company, which has service between Fort McMurray, Edmonton, Red Deer and Calgary. Bus routes in Alberta run along the major highway systems.

Alberta is home to two international airports, located in Calgary and Edmonton. Regular passenger service to other parts of the country and abroad is provided from these airports, while local provincial air service is provided from smaller municipal airports in the province.

Industry

Manufacturing in Alberta is closely tied to the dominant resource industries of the province, with petroleum refining, metal fabrication, wood products and construction materials being important components of secondary industry. During the 1970s the most rapidly expanding manufacturing area was the petrochemical industry, which quickly became the main secondary industry in the province.

Construction has traditionally followed the prosperity of the petroleum industry. For example, construction boomed in the 1970s, as oil production expanded rapidly, particularly in Edmonton and Calgary; however, the recessions of the mid-1980s and early 1990s stalled new building projects. However, tied to growth in petroleum production, construction increased rapidly again in the early 2000s.

Bull riding at the Calgary Stampede (photo by Pat Price/Take Stock Inc).

Tourism is also a major contributor to the Alberta economy. The spectacular scenery and year-round recreational facilities of the Rocky Mountain parks — particularly Banff , Jasper and Waterton national parks — draw hundreds of thousands of tourists annually from all over the world. In addition to the parks, many local attractions are also big draws, particularly the Calgary Stampede, a spectacular outdoor rodeo, carnival and musical festival held annually in July. Additionally, Alberta occasionally hosts special events such as the Commonwealth Games and the World University Games , which were hosted in Edmonton in 1978 and 1983 respectively, and the Winter Olympics, which were held in Calgary in 1988. These special events draw thousands of visitors, millions of dollars in revenue, and have resulted in infrastructure such as the Calgary Olympic Park, which continues to draw tourists.

Government and Politics

Legislative power is vested in an 87-member, single-chamber, elected legislative assembly as well as a lieutenant-governor, appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister and who acts as the Crown’s representative. However, as in other provinces, the traditional powers of the lieutenant-governor have in practice lapsed and he or she now serves primarily a ceremonial function. Executive power is exercised by a Cabinet of ministers selected by the premier, the leader of the political party commanding a majority in the legislative assembly. Each minister presides over one or more departments of government, known as ministries. (See also Alberta Lieutenant-Governors; Alberta Premiers.)

Edmonton, 1908-13 (courtesy PAA/Alfred Blyth Coll/BL 1196).

Early 20th Century: Liberals and the United Farmers of Alberta

Historically, Alberta provincial politics has been characterized by governing parties commanding huge majorities in the legislature, remaining in power for lengthy periods and then being decisively beaten by a new political force. This pattern was established by the Liberals under Alberta’s first premier, Alexander C. Rutherford (1905–10), who, in the first provincial election in 1905, took 22 of 25 seats and 58 per cent of the popular vote. Similar Liberal victories were recorded in 1909, 1913 and 1917 under Rutherford and his successors, Arthur L. Sifton (1910–17) and Charles Stewart (1917–21). The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA), led by Herbert Greenfield (1921–25), swept to power in the 1921 provincial election with 38 (all rural) of 61 seats, despite gaining only 29 per cent of the popular vote; the UFA was propelled into power by the by agrarian unrest and the post- First World War rise of progressivism and populism. Under Greenfield’s successors, John Brownlee (1925–34) and Richard Reid (1934–35), the UFA continued their hold on power through large majorities in the legislature in the 1926 and 1930 elections. However, as a result of the charismatic campaign led by William Aberhart, the leader of the new Social Credit League, and the economic problems plaguing the province as a result of the Great Depression, in the 1935 election the Social Credit League took 56 of 63 seats with 54 per cent of the popular vote.

Great Depression to Late 1980s: Social Credit League and PC Reign

Under Aberhart (1935–43) and his successors — Ernest Manning (1943–68) and Harry Strom (1968–71) — Social Credit governed for 36 years. However, they were swept aside by the victory of Peter Lougheed (1971–85) and the Progressive Conservatives (PCs) in 1971, who won 49 of 75 seats and 46 per cent of the popular vote. Lougheed and the PCs crushed all opposition in the 1975, 1979 and 1982 elections. In 1986, the first large challenge to PC power emerged from a resurgence in leftist opposition headed by the New Democratic Party and, to a lesser degree, the Liberal Party. In the 1986 election, under PC leader Don Getty (1985–92), support for the PC’s dropped to 51 per cent and the PCs only held onto 61 of 83 seats. In 1989, Getty’s PCs won another majority despite the continued drop in their popular vote.

Late 1990s to Early 2000s: Ralph Klein

The 1993 provincial election produced a showdown between two of Alberta’s popular big city mayors, former Calgary mayor Ralph Klein, who succeeded Getty as PC leader, and Laurence Decore, former Edmonton mayor and new leader of a resurgent Liberal Party, who waged a campaign on fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction. Klein (1992–2006) and the PCs emerged with a 51-seat-to-32-seat majority on the strength of a split in the vote between the Conservative rural south and the Liberal urban north. The 1997 and 2001 elections returned the PCs to stronger majorities and an increase in their popular vote.

The revival of the Conservatives was facilitated by Klein’s popularity and his fiscal policies. Klein made dramatic moves to reduce the role of government by privatizing the sale of liquor distribution and motor vehicle, birth, death and marriage registration. His policy of deficit reduction, and eventual elimination of the provincial debt, through drastic cuts to public services and increased revenue from natural resources, preserved his popularity among a majority of the voters. Klein’s disagreements with the federal Liberals on health care issues — and the more traditional points of conflict, i.e., taxation, natural resources and confederation — continued the Albertan traditional attitude of western alienation that dated back to the United Farmers of the 1920s.

2006 to 2014: Stelmach, Redford and the Wildrose Alliance

In 2006, Klein resigned from politics, and was replaced by Ed Stelmach (2006–11). In the 2008 election, Stelmach, whose popularity as the head of the PCs had been weak, led the party to a stunning majority, winning 72 of 83 seats. During his term, Stelmach continued some of the cuts in spending that had made Klein popular. However, Stelmach’s leadership was challenged internally by his cabinet, and externally by the rise of the more conservative Wildrose Alliance Party, led by Danielle Smith. In 2011, Stelmach resigned as premier and head of the Progressive Conservatives.

Stelmach was replaced by his justice minister, Alison Redford. Redford became Alberta’s first female premier, and as a result of the 2012 election, Alberta’s first elected female premier. However, the 2012 election saw a further rise in the popularity of the Wildrose Alliance Party: the Progressive Conservatives lost five seats and their popular vote was reduced to 44 per cent; while the Wildrose Alliance Party gained 17 seats and increased their popular vote to 34 per cent. The Wildrose Alliance Party presents the most significant threat to the PC’s hold on power since the NDP/Liberal challenge to Getty in the 1980s.

In the years following the 2012 election, Redford and the Progressive Conservative Party suffered a further drop in the polls. Several expense scandals, including a $45,000 trip to South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s funeral and the use of government planes for family trips, caused many to call the premier’s ethics into question. With little support from caucus and the threat of a non-confidence vote, Redford resigned on 19 March 2014. She left with a personal approval rating of just 18 per cent, and party support at 19 per cent. By comparison, support for the Wildrose Party was 46 per cent.

2014 to 2015: The Rise of the NDP

Deputy Premier Dave Hancock served as interim premier until Jim Prentice — a former federal cabinet minister — was elected leader by PC party members. He was sworn in as premier on 15 September 2014. Prentice, along with his appointees for the ministries of health and education, did not hold a legislative seat when he was sworn into office. However, on 27 October 2014, Prentice and his Cabinet ministers became elected officials in a by-election.

In the spring of 2015, Prentice called an election — one year earlier than the provincially legislated fixed date. In doing so, he sought the electorate’s support for a budget released around the same time. Drafted in the face of plummeting oil prices, the PC budget projected a multi-billion-dollar deficit and proposed increases to certain provincial taxes.

Despite having elected a PC majority government since 1971, on 5 May 2015, Albertans voted in NDP leader Rachel Notley, ending the province’s 44-year Progressive Conservative dynasty. In what many viewed as a remarkable shift in a traditionally conservative province, the NDP won a majority government with 53 seats and about 41 per cent of the popular vote. The PCs were reduced to third-party status with just 10 seats, while the Wildrose Party formed the official opposition with 21 seats. By comparison, prior to the election, the PCs held 70 seats and the NDP held 4.

2017 to Present: Kenney and the United Conservative Party

In 2017, the PCs merged with the Wildrose Party to form the United Conservative Party (UCP), which assumed official opposition status. Jason Kenney, a former federal Cabinet minister under Stephen Harper, was elected leader of the United Conservatives.

During the province’s next general election, held 16 April 2019, Albertans elected a majority UCP government. The NDP, having become Alberta’s ruling party for the first time four years earlier, again made history as the province’s only one-term government. Reduced from 52 seats to 24, the NDP received about 33 per cent of the popular vote compared to the UCP’s 55 per cent and 63 seats. Voter turnout was 71 per cent, the highest Alberta has seen since 1971. The campaign period focused primarily on the province’s ailing economy, characterized by low oil prices and rising unemployment. The UCP campaigned on a platform that pledged, among other initiatives, to eliminate the provincial carbon tax and climate change action plan, freeze the minimum wage and introduce components of private health care.

Judiciary

The Alberta judiciary system is divided into three courts: the Provincial Court, the Court of Queen’s Bench and the Court of Appeal. The Provincial Court, whose judges are appointed by the provincial government, hears the majority of both civil and criminal cases in the province, and represents the lowest trial court in the province. The Court of Queen’s Bench, whose justices are appointed by the federal government, is the highest trial court in the province. The Court of Queen’s Bench hears appeals from the Provincial Court, and both civil and the more serious or complicated criminal cases. The Surrogate Office, a branch of the Court of Queen’s Bench, is further responsible for hearing all matters regarding wills, estates and probate.The Alberta Court of Appeal is the highest provincial court. The justices of the Court of Appeal are also appointed by the federal government, and the court handles appeals from the Provincial Court and the Court of Queen’s Bench.

Federal Representation

Alberta has 34 elected seats in the House of Commons.The seats in the House of Commons are based roughly on population, and are subject to redistribution after each decennial census. Furthermore, Alberta has six seats in the Senate; this number is set constitutionally and is not based on population, but rather, regional representation. The perceived inequalities of the seat distribution and the fact that senators are appointed, not elected, has long been a point of dissent for Albertans. In 1989, the Alberta government passed the Senatorial Selection Act in order to have more control over their senators and to democratize the Senatorial appointment system. The Senatorial Selection Act allows Albertans to vote for Senate nominees in an election. These nominees are then presented to the prime minister as candidates to replace any vacancies. The prime minister is not legally bound to choose from Alberta’s elected nominees, but since 1989 Alberta senators have been chosen from this group of elected nominees. Alberta is the only province to have this type of process as part of their Senate selection.

Public Finance

Residents of Alberta pay among the lowest income taxes in Canada and pay no provincial sales tax. The province depends instead on various fees, rentals and royalties from oil, natural gas, coal and other mineral companies as major sources of income; this income once accounted for 45 per cent (1981–82) of total government revenue, but by 1992 it had declined to about 20 per cent. As of 2013 the income from non-renewable resources has remained fairly steady with its 1992 level, still accounting for about 20 per cent of the provincial income.

Before 1976 all revenue became part of the general budgetary fund used to finance all government expenditures. However, following the energy-pricing crisis of the mid-1970s, revenues increased dramatically and the government was faced with large surpluses. The result was the creation of the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund (known popularly as the Heritage Fund), into which non-renewable resource revenue is set aside and invested. The Heritage Fund is intended primarily as an investment into Alberta’s future. The fund aims to provide financial resources for periods of provincial deficit, to strengthen and diversify the provincial economy by investing in education and research, and to undertake special capital projects such as health care facilities, irrigation and recreation projects, and the development of oil sands technology. In 2002, Albertans, in a provincial survey, indicated the Heritage Fund should remain a top investment priority of the government. The Heritage Fund has become an important symbol for Albertans of the province’s prosperity and secure financial future.

Local Government

Local municipal authority originates from the provincial government and is based on various municipal acts. Municipalities provide local services such as police and fire protection, garbage and sewage disposal, water and other utilities, road maintenance and public transportation, and parks and recreational services. Urban municipalities include cities, towns, villages and summer villages (i.e., a village primarily inhabited by people during the summer). However, new summer villages can no longer be designated in Alberta. As of 2013 there were 17 cities, 108 towns, 93 villages and 51 already existing summer villages in Alberta.

Rural authority is vested in municipal districts, composed of various townships. Municipal districts are alternatively known as counties. Municipal districts have a population of 1,000 or more, and the majority of properties in a municipal district must be on pieces of land of at least 1,850 m2. Within municipal districts, a small group of residential dwellings with a name may be designated as a hamlet.

A second type of rural municipality is the improvement district — an outlying area which does not elect its own council but is directly administered by the provincial government through Alberta Municipal Affairs or, in the cases of the national parks in the province, by the federal government. The provincial and federal governments are directly responsible for the functions of local government in improvement districts with the exception of school affairs.

Health

In July 1969 Alberta entered the federal medicare scheme and continues to provide publically-funded universal healthcare. As in other provinces, the funding for Alberta’s healthcare is provided by both the Canadian federal and Alberta provincial governments. The Alberta Ministry of Health is responsible for health policy, and Alberta Health Services, a department of the Ministry of Health, is responsible for providing health services throughout the province.

Like other provinces, some privatization of healthcare exists in Alberta; nonessential services, such as optometry, dentistry and cosmetic surgery, are not part of the publically-funded health care. Prescription medication is only partially covered by government funding. However, despite a trend towards increased privatization that has appeared since the cutbacks initiated by the Klein government in the 1990s, in compliance with the Canada Health Act of 1984, physicians are no longer able to engage in “extra billing” (i.e., charging for a service paid for by the provincial insurance plan) and Albertans continue to support publically-funded healthcare.

education

The first schools in Alberta were founded by Catholic and Protestant missionaries in the mid-1800s. The North-West Territories School Ordinance of 1884 established a dual system of Catholic and Protestant schooling based on the Québec model. Religious groups such as Hutterites, Mennonites and the Christian Reformed Church gained their own educational privileges, either within the framework of public education or through self-supported private schools. However, subsequent Protestant settlement and the determination of territorial political leader F.W.A.G. Haultain saw the gradual weakening of religious duality in education.

Alberta became a province, and therefore became responsible for providing public education, in 1905. The new province established a system based on the Ontario model — one provincial educational system, allowing local provision for the dissenting religious minority, known as separate schools, but excluding mandatory province-wide separate schools. Ontario also provided the initial model for programs of study, course content and grade structures, a model that lasted until the 1930s. In the 1930s, however, Alberta made a number of innovations in their public education system and introduced the separate junior high school and a new course, social studies, which combined history, geography and political science. Alberta further altered the administration of rural education, expanded adult education and initiated programs for the economic and professional betterment of teachers in the 1930s.

Public education in Alberta is a shared responsibility of the provincial government, through the Ministry of Education, and the local public and separate school boards. As part of the financial cutbacks initiated by the Klein government, Alberta led the nation in reducing public expenditures on education in 1994.

Post-secondary education is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Innovation and Advanced Education. Provincial grants, which have been cut drastically since the 1990s, partially fund the public post-secondary institutions in the province; the remaining funds needed to operate come from tuition fees and other sources. The province’s universities — Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge, Athabasca, MacEwan and Mount Royal — are all public, nondenominational institutions. The University of Alberta, the University of Calgary and the University of Lethbridge are classified as Comprehensive Academic and Research Institutions, offering undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as extensive research programs. Athabasca University is also classified as a Comprehensive Academic and Research Institution but differs as it is primarily a distance learning institution. Grant MacEwan University and Mount Royal University are classified as Baccalaureate and Applied Studies Institutions, offering some undergraduate degrees, and various applied diplomas and degrees. Other components of the public, post-secondary sector include the major technical institutes, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), located in Edmonton and Calgary respectively. The province also has 11 comprehensive community colleges and two specialized arts and culture institutions — The Banff Centre and the Alberta College of Art and Design. These colleges offer a variety of university transfer, vocational and high school upgrading courses. Amendments in 1995 to the Public Colleges and Technical Institutes Acts permit the public colleges and technical institutions to offer applied degree programs, subject to ministerial approval.

Alberta is also home to a number of independent academic institutions. Ambrose University College, Canadian University College, Concordia University College, The Kings University College, St Mary’s University College and the Taylor University College and Seminary offer various undergraduate degrees, a few specialized graduate degrees, mostly in the liberal arts and specialized religious training. Additionally, there are 140 licensed private vocational schools throughout the province.

Cultural Life

Cultural life in Alberta is coloured by a persistent “frontier ethos” that emphasizes economic materialism and rugged individualism. A rich physical landscape, diverse population and periodic governmental, corporate and private affluence have benefited the cultural sector. The Ministry of Culture, including the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Alberta Historical Resources Foundation and the Government House Foundation, is the major provincial governing body for Alberta’s culture and arts. The primary source of funding for Alberta arts and culture is derived from the Alberta Lottery Fund and federal funding.

Visual Arts

Until the 1960s, visual arts in Alberta were centred in Calgary around the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art (now the Alberta College of Art and Design), and dominated by a British-inspired school of landscape painters. WJ Phillips, H.G. Glyde, W.L. Stevenson and Illingworth Kerr were the most prominent artists to paint landscapes of the Alberta prairies, foothills and mountain countryside. Calgarians Maxwell Bates and Marion Nicoll were prominent Alberta painters and modernist exceptions to the traditional landscape artists.

From the 1960s into the 1980s, the abstract formalist theory of the New York school dominated northern Alberta painters such as Douglas Haynes at the University of Alberta. Abstract painters Robert Scott, Terrence Keller and Graham Peacock were among the many artists supported by the Edmonton Art Gallery, which also became the national leader in presenting and developing modern metal sculptors such as Peter Hyde and Alan Reynolds. The late 1980s saw a re-emergence of figurative painting and sculpture throughout the province and a strong community of printmakers in both Edmonton and Calgary.

The leading public galleries are the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton and the Glenbow in Calgary, with strong regional support from the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge and the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie.

Performing Arts

The professional performing arts are centred in Edmonton and Calgary. Edmonton hosts a major summer folk festival (Edmonton Folk Fest), and the critically-acclaimed Edmonton International Jazz Festival. The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra dominate orchestral music in the province and there are three opera companies in Alberta, the Edmonton Opera Association, the Calgary Opera Association and the Alberta Opera Touring Association, which specifically develops and performs opera for children. There is one ballet company in Alberta, the Alberta Ballet Company, with headquarters in Calgary.

Large professional theatre companies include the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton and Theatre Calgary. As well, Edmonton annually plays host to the International Fringe Theatre Festival, a week-long summertime festival of new and old plays at open-air venues and traditional playhouse settings. Many Alberta playwrights (including nationally-acclaimed John Murrell and Sharon Pollock) have worked with Alberta Theatre Projects, a Calgary company that has encouraged local writers and indigenous themes. Each summer Edmonton also hosts The Works Arts and Design Festival, which is the national pioneer of visual arts festivals.

Major facilities for the performing arts include the twin Jubilee auditoriums in Edmonton and Calgary (built for the 50th anniversary of provincehood in 1955), Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre, the Timms Centre for the Arts (1995), the Winspear Centre (1996) and the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts in Calgary (1985). The Banff Centre School for Continuing Education has emerged as a nationally- and internationally-renowned training centre for young professionals in the performing arts.

Literary Arts

A number of commercially-successful and critically-acclaimed writers of both fiction and nonfiction come from Alberta, including novelists Robert Kroetsch, W.O. Mitchell and Rudy Wiebe. Nonfiction writing is dominated by popular and academic regional historians, including Grant Macewan, James Gray, Hugh Dempsey, James MacGregor and A.W. Cashman.

communication

Alberta is home to eight major daily newspapers. The Calgary Herald is the largest, followed by the Edmonton Journal. The Edmonton Sun, Calgary Sun, Lethbridge Herald, Red Deer Advocate, Medicine Hat News and the Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune are the other major daily newspapers in the province. All of Alberta’s newspapers are part of major Canadian newspaper chains. The Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association has 118 weekly community newspapers serving metropolitan, suburban and rural areas of Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

Historic Sites

Alberta is home to a network of 19 provincially-operated historic sites, interpretive centres and museums, covering a broad range of human and natural history. Additionally, there are over 200 community-run museums and over 30 local archives. The lotteries-funded Alberta Historical Resources Foundation assists local groups in heritage building preservation, historical markers, research and publishing efforts.

The major museums are the Glenbow in Calgary, the Provincial Museum of Alberta in Edmonton, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology at Drumheller and the Galt Museum in Lethbridge. Other major heritage attractions include the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site near Fort Macleod, the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village east of Edmonton, Fort Edmonton Park, Heritage Park in Calgary, Historic Fort Calgary, Historic Fort Macleod, Frank Slide Interpretive Centre and Medalta Potteries in Medicine Hat. The major historical archives in the province are the Provincial Archives of Alberta in Edmonton and the Glenbow Archives in Calgary.

The Shaggy Mane Mushroom is one of the many edible mushrooms that grow in Alberta. Credit: Paul Swanson

Many wild mushrooms from the forest come fresh or fried—but know which ones are safe when you harvest this summery delicacy.

“There are 10 to 20 deadly species of mushrooms in Alberta, so don’t start picking them for food until you’re sure which ones are safe,” said ecologist Michael Schulz, who teaches spring mushroom workshops at the University of Alberta , Summer and Autumn heads Alberta Botanical Garden.

“The average person tends to use color or shape to figure out whether a mushroom is edible or not, but those are the two most variable factors,” Schulz cautioned. “Color varies and may fade over time, and size and shape are within a certain range, but not one of the first things you should use as identifiers.”

Fungi, large and small, appear “anywhere there is soil, wood, or plants growing,” he said, including on lawns and pastures, in forests and bogs, even in planters. Nearly 2,000 large species have been identified on the prairies, with countless more still unknown.

Schulz has sampled more than 80 edible species in Alberta alone.

Though there’s a certain whiff factor to the idea of ​​eating mushrooms — after all, fungi are the culprit behind infections like athlete’s foot and plant diseases like powdery mildew and canola blackleg — there are nutritional pluses too. Different types offer health benefits like protein and antioxidants.

“You could never take a piece of wood and get the beneficial plant compounds out of it, but you can take a mushroom from that piece of wood and get the chemicals out by making a tea or boiling them in a stew,” Schulz said.

Mushrooms fall into three categories – edible, poisonous and inedible. Mushrooms commonly known to be edible include puffball mushrooms, some (but not all) species found in lawn fairy rings, button mushrooms, portobellos, and creminis — a round-capped variety that has wild cousins ​​in Alberta has, Schulz noted.

Offering a range of flavors from mild to earthy, safe-to-eat mushrooms are best prepared in stews, casseroles or the skillet.

“Many do a great job soaking up all the flavors that are added to the dish.”

Inedible mushrooms don’t cause disease, but are still unappetizing with their leathery, chewy texture or unpleasant peppery or bland flavor. “That would be like eating wood or a leaf,” Schulz noted. Some, like the crunchy chaga mushroom that grows on birch trees, can be made into tea and herbal extracts.

Poisonous mushrooms contain toxins to protect them from hungry wildlife. A large, showy, often warty-covered group of mushrooms ranging in color from pure white to dark brown, the Amanita is commonly mistaken for edible. In Alberta in the fall you can find the toadstool, a yellow-orange member of the amanita family.

“People will eat amanitas because they don’t taste bad and look edible; but even if they taste good or insects eat them, that doesn’t mean the fungus is safe to eat,” Schulz said.

When picking mushrooms, follow these do’s and don’ts:

Should I eat it or not? Don’t guess

“Don’t go instinctively,” warns Schulz. “Don’t eat anything that you haven’t absolutely convinced yourself. There is no universal rule for distinguishing a poisonous mushroom from an edible one because there is so much variety out there.”

Narrow your mushroom focus

Only learn about and look for only one or two edible species at a time. “For example, I’m learning about morels and all the doubles so I can pick them safely. Then I start to expand my repertoire. Otherwise it becomes overwhelming.”

Learn from an expert

After choosing your mushrooms, seek a knowledgeable expert. “Try to spend time with people who know what they’re doing before you start picking for the table.” Schulz suggests reaching out to groups like the Alberta Mycological Society. An expert can help you learn about the physical characteristics such as smell, shape, color, and other characteristics that are important for correct identification.

03/16/2021 16:06:09

You are not alone in the fight against fungi

It’s just after a rain shower when you step onto your lawn and notice something unusual. Small, round growths that appear among the green grass – mushrooms. These tiny invaders have no place in your yard, and thoughts of poisonous mushrooms can make you fear for your family’s safety.

If you spot mushrooms in your garden, there is no need to panic. These growths are common, easy to manage, and most importantly, harmless. Mushrooms tend to pop up everywhere and are a common landscape problem. They thrive in dark, damp areas and are especially common after the spring rains have ended.

We asked our lawn experts to put together everything they know about lawn fungi in one place, so you can learn what the presence of fungi means for your lawn and how to safely get rid of them.

Don’t panic about poison

Despite any horror stories you may have heard, most lawn fungi are completely harmless. That doesn’t mean you or your kids should eat them, but if your pet accidentally eats one, they should be fine.

Poisonous mushrooms very rarely grow in courtyards, and when they do, there are a few notable traits you can spot to help protect your family.

How to recognize dangerous mushrooms

Mushrooms come in all shapes, sizes and colors, and expecting you to spot every poisonous variety at first glance is unrealistic. Luckily, there are some common characteristics of most poisonous mushrooms, including:

The area under the cap of the fungus is white, not brown

A ring around the stem of the mushroom

Red coloring on cap or stem

An unpleasant smell

Even if the fungus in your lawn doesn’t meet any of the above criteria, you should still call a doctor or veterinarian as soon as possible if you, your family, or your pets are showing any unusual symptoms after exposure to an unidentified fungus.

Some fungi can help your lawn

Most fungi won’t harm your family, but what about your lawn? You work hard to keep your garden beautiful and healthy, and we know you don’t want something as small as a mushroom to ruin your hard work.

But there’s nothing to worry about either – the presence of fungi can actually benefit the overall health of your lawn and encourage growth. Fungi feed on organic waste and can break down layers of dead leaves and stems that can build up in your garden. This will prevent dead leaves from stifling your lawn growth and give you a cleaner lawn.

Get rid of unwanted growth

There are a few easy DIY methods you can use to get rid of mushrooms. The easiest way is to just mow them down with a lawn mower, remove their protective caps and let them dry out and die in the sun. If you’re just sprouting a few mushrooms and don’t want the hassle of starting your lawn mower, carefully cutting off the caps by hand with a knife is also effective – wear gloves, just in case!

If you have additional questions about lawn mushrooms, contact our team online or give us a call at (636) 748-0734! Let us help you ward off unwanted intruders in your garden!