About Calgary Alberta
Calgary is the largest city in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is located in the south of the province, in a region of hills and plateaus at about 80 km east of the Rocky Mountains. Canada’s third largest city in terms of population, it had, according to the census of April 2006, 988,193 inhabitants (1,079,310 with its suburbs in 2006, which makes it the fifth largest Canadian city). The Calgary-Edmonton corridor is the region’s most populous city between Toronto and Vancouver. It takes its name from a beach on the island of Mull in Scotland. The people of Calgary are called Calgarians.
The city of Calgary is a well-known destination for winter sports and ecotourism, and a large number of important holidays. Calgary’s economy is mainly centered on the oil industry, but agriculture, tourism and high technology are also contributing to the rapid economic development of the city. Calgary is also host to several major annual festivals, including the Calgary Stampede, the Folk Music Festival, the Lilac Festival, GlobalFest and the second festival of Caribbean culture largest countries (CARIFESTA). In 1988, Calgary became the first Canadian city to host the Winter Olympics.
The first oil fields were discovered in Alberta in 1902, but it was not until 1947 that the oil industry became really important when enormous reserves were discovered. Calgary’s growth was very fast because of the oil boom. The economy of the city experienced a boom when oil prices soared. The population grew by 254,000 inhabitants in the seventeen years from 1971 (403,000) and 1988 (657,000) 335,000 more were added in the eighteen years (up to 992,000 in 2006). During these years of expansion, skyscrapers were built at a rate almost unprecedented in the world. The center, previously dominated by a few storey buildings, was quickly inundated with skyscrapers, a trend that continues to this day.
Calgary’s economy is so closely associated with the oil industry that the expansion of the city reached its peak at the same time as the average annual oil prices peaked in 1981. The subsequent fall in oil prices and the introduction of National Energy Program of the federal Liberal government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau were identified by the oil industry as reasons for the collapse of the industry, and consequently the economy of the city of Calgary. The national energy program was abolished in the mid-1980s by the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, however, low oil prices prevented a full recovery until the 1990s.
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