Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and more commonly known as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. British Columbia is culturally, economically, geographically, and politically distinct from the other parts of Western Canada and is often referred to as the "west coast" or "Pacific Canada", while Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are grouped together as the Prairie Provinces and most commonly known as "The Prairies".
Western Canada, defined politically
|• Total||2,703,159 km2 (1,043,696 sq mi)|
|• Density||4.1/km2 (11/sq mi)|
The capital cities of the four western provinces, from west to east, are; Victoria (British Columbia), Edmonton (Alberta), Regina (Saskatchewan) and Winnipeg (Manitoba). With the exception of Winnipeg, which is the largest city in Manitoba, all other provincial capitals of the Western Provinces are located in the second-largest metropolitan areas of their respective province.
Western Canada is the traditional territory of numerous First Nations predating the arrival of Europeans. As Britain colonized the west, it established treaties with various First Nations, took control of other areas without opposition and fought with other First Nations to take control of Western Canada. Not all lands were ceded by the First Nations to British control and land claims are still ongoing.
In 1858, the British government established the Colony of British Columbia, governing that part of Canada still known as British Columbia. The British government also established the Hudson's Bay Company which controlled most of the current area of Western Canada, northern Ontario and northern Quebec, the area known as Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory. In 1870, the British government transferred the lands of the company to Canada. The area of Western Canada not within British Columbia was established as the Northwest Territories under Canadian control. The Western Canadian provinces other than British Columbia were established from areas of the Northwest Territories:
As of the 2016 Census, the total population of Western Canada was nearly 11.1 million, including approximately 4.65 million in British Columbia, 4.07 million in Alberta, 1.1 million in Saskatchewan, and 1.28 million in Manitoba. This represents 31.5% of Canada's population. While Vancouver serves as the largest metropolitan area in Western Canada at nearly 2.5 million people, Calgary serves as the largest municipality at over 1.2 million people.
As of the 2016 Census, Statistics Canada recognized ten census metropolitan areas within Western Canada, including four in British Columbia, three in Alberta, two in Saskatchewan, and one in Manitoba. The following is a list of these areas and their populations as of 2016.
From 2011 to 2016, the fastest growing CMAs in the country were the five located in Alberta and Saskatchewan: Calgary (+14.6%), Edmonton (+13.9%), Saskatoon (+12.5%), Regina (+11.8%) and Lethbridge (+10.8%). These were the only CMAs in the country to register growth over 10%. The three fastest growing CMAs - Calgary, Edmonton, and Saskatoon - were unchanged from the previous intercensal period.
Western Canada consists of the country's four westernmost provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It covers 2.9 million square kilometres – almost 29% of Canada's land area. British Columbia adjoins the Pacific Ocean to the west, while Manitoba has a coastline on Hudson Bay in its northeast of the province. Both Alberta and Saskatchewan are landlocked between British Columbia and Manitoba.
The Canadian Prairies are part of a vast sedimentary plain covering much of Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, and southwestern Manitoba. The prairies form a significant portion of the land area of Western Canada. The plains generally describes the expanses of largely flat, arable agricultural land which sustain extensive grain farming operations in the southern part of the provinces. Despite this, some areas such as the Cypress Hills and Alberta Badlands are quite hilly and the prairie provinces contain large areas of forest such as the Mid-Continental Canadian forests.
The Canadian Rockies are part of a major continental divide that extends north and south through western North America and western South America. The continental divide also defines much of the border between Alberta and British Columbia. The Columbia and the Fraser Rivers have their headwaters in the Canadian Rockies and are the second- and third-largest rivers, respectively, to drain to the west coast of North America. To the west of their headwaters, across the Rocky Mountain Trench, is a second belt of mountains, the Columbia Mountains, comprising the Selkirk, Purcell, Monashee and Cariboo Mountains sub-ranges.
The coast of British Columbia enjoys a moderate oceanic climate because of the influence of the Pacific Ocean, with temperatures similar to those of the British Isles (though Vancouver receives more precipitation than London and most of the Coast is much wetter). Winters are typically wet and summers relatively dry. These areas enjoy the mildest winter weather in all of Canada, as temperatures rarely fall much below the freezing mark. The mountainous Interior of the province is drier and has colder winters, but experiences hotter summers than the more moderate coastal areas. Lytton, British Columbia, a small town that sits at the confluence of the Thompson River and Fraser River recorded the second-hottest temperature in Canada at 44.4 °C (111.9 °F) observed on July 16 and 17 1941, and is regularly referred as Canada's hot spot in summer with temperatures easily reaching the mid to high 30 °C 's (upper 90s to low 100s °F) in July and August and sometimes top 40 °C (104 °F).
Alberta has a dry continental climate with warm summers and cold winters. The province is open to cold Arctic weather systems from the north, which often produce extremely cold conditions in winter. Winters are generally quite cold, though some areas can experience a phenomenon known as the "Chinook wind," wherein warm winds raise the winter temperatures temporarily. In contrast, summers can fluctuate from cool to hot and are generally wetter.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba have a continental climate and experience extremes in weather. Winters in both provinces can be classified as harsh with Arctic winds and −40 °C (−40 °F) temperatures possible. Winter temperatures in both provinces average between −10 and −15 °C (14 and 5 °F). In contrast, summers can be hot with temperatures exceeding 35 °C (95 °F) at least once per year in most locations. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada was 45 °C (113 °F), observed in 1937 at the weather stations of Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan and neighbouring Midale.
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In Canadian politics, the term "the West" is used misleadingly in Canadian media style guides as shorthand for the Conservative leanings of Western Canadians, as contrasted with the greater likelihood for candidates from either the Liberal Party of Canada or the New Democratic Party (NDP) to be elected in Central Canada. Exceptions exist, particularly in British Columbia, as well as in the prairie city of Winnipeg, and where the Liberal Party hold seats, as well as in other major urban centres such as Edmonton where Liberal and NDP candidates have been elected in recent history. The social democratic NDP had its origins on the Canadian Prairies and in the mining and pulp mill towns and railway camps of British Columbia, and has a history of support in Manitoba, and British Columbia.
The western provinces are represented in the Parliament of Canada by 104 Members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons (British Columbia 42, Alberta 34, Saskatchewan and Manitoba 14 each) and 24 senators (6 from each province). Currently, of the 104 western MPs in the Commons, 54 are Conservatives, 20 are New Democrats, and 29 are Liberals.
|New Democratic Party||Seats:||14||1||3||2||20|
|Independent and no affiliation||Vote:||0.1||0.8||0.2||0.6||–|
Regarding provincial politics, from June 2015 to June 2017, the British Columbia Liberal Party formed the provincial government in British Columbia, though despite the name is not formally allied with the federal Liberal Party and is widely seen as conservative in nature and is composed of elements from the federal Conservative Party's right wing, including many ex-Reform Party supporters. Following the 2017 provincial election in British Columbia, the British Columbia New Democratic Party formed a minority government with the support of the British Columbia Green Party, following the defeat of Christy Clark's BC Liberal Party government by a confidence vote in the legislature. The Saskatchewan Party, also a conservative party, holds power in Saskatchewan and the NDP forms the government in Alberta.
Since at least the 1930s, economic conditions have contributed to a net emigration from Manitoba and Saskatchewan to Alberta and British Columbia, which have generally provided greater employment opportunities and higher living standards. The population of Saskatchewan is only slightly larger than it was in 1931. This trend of net emigration in both provinces is reversing because of a lower cost of living than Alberta and BC.
Western alienation refers to the notion that western Canada has been excluded economically and politically from the rest of Canada.
The West has been the most vocal in calls for reform of the Senate, in which Ontario, Quebec, and particularly Atlantic Canada are seen by some westerners as being over-represented. The population of Ontario alone (13.1 million) exceeds that of all the Western provinces combined. The total population of Atlantic Canada, however, is 2.3 million, and this region is represented by 30 senators. Thus, Ontario is under-represented, Quebec has representation proportional to its population and the Atlantic provinces are over-represented. Westerners have advocated the so-called Triple-E Senate, which stands for "equal, elected, effective." They feel if all 10 provinces were allotted an equal number of senators, if those senators were elected instead of appointed, and if the Senate were a body that had more direct political power (for example via an arrangement more similar to the structure of the Australian Senate or the United States Senate rather than the UK model), then their region would have more of its concerns addressed at the federal level. Other westerners find this approach simplistic and either advocate keeping the status quo or may support other models for senate reform. The combination of all of these issues has led to the concept known as Western alienation, as well as calls for Western Canada independence by various fringe groups.
Energy and agriculture are Western Canada's dominant industries – and this region, with only 11 million inhabitants, is one of the world's largest net exporters of both energy and agricultural commodities. Approximate breakdown:
The ANAVET Cup is an ice hockey trophy, won through a best-of-seven series conducted annually by the Canadian Junior Hockey League. It is played between the Turnbull Cup champions of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League and the Canalta Cup champions of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. The winner of the ANAVET Cup earns the western region's berth in the National Junior A Championship. The series has been contested since 1971, except from 2013 to 2017 when it was replaced by the Western Canada Cup.The term "ANAVET" comes from the Canadian non-for-profit organization ANAVETS, or Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans in Canada.The Western region's ANAVET Cup Champion traditionally played against the Pacific region's Doyle Cup champion for the Abbott Cup, the Western Canadian Championship. However, the Abbott Cup diminished in importance following the reorganization of the national championship in 1990. The Abbott Cup was then presented to the winner of the round-robin game, between the Pacific champion and Western champion, during the larger national competition; this practice ended, and the Abbott Cup was retired, after the 1999 season.Abbott Cup
The Abbott Memorial Cup, commonly referred to as the Abbott Cup, was awarded annually from 1919 through 1999 to the Junior "A" ice hockey Champion for Western Canada.The Cup was named after Captain E.L. (Hick) Abbott who was a noted hockey player in Western Canada. He captained the Regina Victorias when it won the (pre-Memorial Cup) Junior Championship of Canada in 1913 and 1914. Captain Abbott died in active service in the First World War and the trophy was presented in his memory in 1919 by the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association.
The concept of a Western Canada Junior A Championship was briefly continued from 2013-2017 with the creation of the Western Canada Cup.Buzzard Coulee meteorite
Buzzard Coulee is the collective name of the meteorites fallen on November 20, 2008 over Saskatchewan, Canada.CHU (radio station)
CHU is the call sign of a shortwave time signal radio station operated by the Institute for National Measurement Standards of the National Research Council of Canada.Canada West Universities Athletic Association
Canada West is a regional membership association for universities in Western Canada which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providing contact information, schedules, results, and releases about those programs and events to the public and the media. This is similar to what would be called a college athletic conference in the United States. Canada West is one of four such bodies that are members of the country's governing body for university athletics, U Sports. The other three regional associations coordinating university-level sports in Canada are Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Atlantic University Sport (AUS), and the Quebec Student Sport Federation (known by its French initialism of RSEQ).First Oil Well in Western Canada
The First Oil Well in Western Canada National Historic Site of Canada commemorates the 1902 oil strike in what is now Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta. Drilled in 1902, the well was the first productive oil well in the western Canadian provinces.
The well was drilled by John Lineham, whose Rocky Mountain Development Company had a mineral claim on the land along Oil Creek (now Cameron Creek), a region of natural oil seeps. The area had been drilled unsuccessfully for oil in the early 1890s, without results. Lineham's well was drilled by a wood "Canadian Pole" rig powered by a 35 hp steam engine. The Lineham Discovery Well #1 struck oil at 311 metres (1,020 ft), producing saleable quantities of oil at the rate of 300 barrels per day (48 m3/d). However, the well casing quickly failed, and the bore became jammed with debris and drilling tools. It was cleared in 1904, and a pump was installed. Drill tools again jammed the well and the well was abandoned. The tools remain visible in the bore. Total production was about 8,000 barrels (1,300 m3) of oil.Production had dwindled before the well was blocked. Further explorations in the area yielded nothing useful, but general exploration in more northerly portions of Alberta yielded the Turner Valley field in 1914. The Oil Creek strike is believed to be the result of oil seepage along fault planes in the Lewis Overthrust, in which oil originating in younger Cretaceous rock has moved upwards through older Pre-Cambrian rock that has been forced over the oil-bearing layers. More oil in the Waterton area was eventually discovered at the Pincher Creek oil field in 1948.A small monument, depicting a stylized drill rig, was placed over the well in 1968. The site was designated a site of national significance in 1965.Intermountain West
The Intermountain West, or Intermountain Region, is a geographic and geological region of the Western United States. It is located between the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada on the west.Larry Robinson (Canadian football)
Larry Robinson (April 18, 1942 – July 18, 2018) was a Canadian professional football player who played as a defensive back and placekicker for fifteen seasons in the Canadian Football League for the Calgary Stampeders from 1961 to 1975.List of ice hockey teams in Saskatchewan
The province of Saskatchewan is home to five Western Hockey League teams, twelve Junior A teams – eleven in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and one in the Alberta Junior Hockey League – and one Junior B league comprising thirteen teams. The province is also home to two universities teams playing in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association and one college team that plays in the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference.
The first professional ice hockey teams in Saskatchewan were the Regina Capitals and the Saskatoon Sheiks who first played in the Western Canada Hockey League's (WCHL) inaugural season in 1921–22. After the collapse of the WCHL following the 1925–26 season, these teams and the Moose Jaw Maroons joined the Prairie Hockey League (PHL). The PHL folded after two season, which resulted in the end of professional hockey in Saskatchewan. In 1952 professional hockey returned to Saskatchewan when the Saskatoon Quakers joined the minor-pro Western Hockey League (WHL). The Quakers folded in 1956 and were replaced by the Saskatoon/St. Paul Regals who split their home games between Saskatoon and St. Paul, Minnesota for the 1957–58 season. The following season, the Regals became the second incarnation of the Saskatoon Quakers, abandoning St. Paul, but folded after just one season, leaving the province without professional hockey once again. Since then, there have been a number of attempts to return professional hockey to Saskatchewan. In 1983, a bid to buy and relocate the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues to Saskatoon was vetoed by the NHL, who preferred to find an owner to keep the team in St. Louis. In 2009, Ice Edge attempted to purchase the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes with a plan to keep the team in Phoenix, but to also play five home games a year in Saskatoon. However, The Conference Board of Canada has reported that Saskatoon's population of approximately 250,000 is well below the minimum 750,000 required for an NHL team to survive economically. Additionally, Saskatoon was rumoured as a possible destination for the American Hockey League Manitoba Moose after the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg in 2011. However, the Moose eventually relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland, due in part to the presence of the Saskatoon Blades occupancy of the Credit Union Centre.The first recorded Provincial Junior Hockey League was organized in the 1916–17, when E.C. Corbeau donated the Corbeau Cup. The first champions were the Regina Arenas. The 1916–17 season was also the first season of the Regina Pats, who are the oldest continuously operating junior team in Canada. In 1919 the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association created the Abbott Cup in memory of E.L. (Hick) Abbott who died in the First World War. The Abbot Cup was originally awarded to the best Junior "A" team in Western Canada. After Western Hockey League was sanctioned as the top junior league in Western Canada and the creation of the Ed Chynoweth Cup, the Abbot Cup was awarded to the best junior "B" team in Western Canada until 1999 when the trophy was retired.Organized women's hockey has been played in Saskatchewan since at least 1912 when a women's team was set up at the University of Saskatchewan. However, as women's hockey only became a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) sport in 1997–98, they played unsanctioned competitions against other university and local women's teams, winning the Western Canadian women’s inter-university hockey league champion in 1921 and 1922. They also won the Saskatoon women's city championship in 1929, 1932, 1939 and 1942. Women's hockey was an intramural sport between 1955 and 1976, before the creation of the Labatt Cup: Women’s Hockey Tournament, later renamed the Western Canada Cup, in 1979. The University of Saskatchewan played in the first CIS sanctioned women's championship in the 1997–98 season, while the University of Regina women's team joined one year later. The University of Regina won their first, and only, conference title in 2000–01. In 2004, the Saskatchewan Prairie Ice began play in the minor-pro Western Women's Hockey League based out of Lumsden located near Regina. After three losing seasons the team folded in 2007 due to financial reasons. Saskatchewan has won one Abby Hoffman Cup, awarded to the Canadian senior women's "A" champion, won by the Notre Dame Hounds in 2010–11.This list does not include teams below the junior age group, or senior teams below the AAA level.Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton
The Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton is a Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy that governs parishes in the Canadian province of Alberta.
It uses the Byzantine Rite liturgy in Ukrainian language.
Its cathedral episcopal see is St. Josaphat’s Cathedral in Edmonton, Alberta.Volcanology of Western Canada
Volcanology of Western Canada includes lava flows, lava plateaus, lava domes, cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, greenstone belts, submarine volcanoes, calderas, diatremes and maars, along with examples of more less common volcanic forms such as tuyas and subglacial mounds.West Division (CFL)
The West Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League (CFL), their counterpart being the East Division. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the West Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.Western Canada Cup
The Western Canada Cup (WCC); was the Junior A ice hockey championship for western Canada from 2013 to 2017. The annual five-team event consisted of the host team and the champions from the four western leagues (Alberta Junior Hockey League, British Columbia Hockey League, Manitoba Junior Hockey League, and Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League), and was used to determine the two Western seeds for the National Junior A Championship, then known as the RBC Cup.Western Canada Hockey League
The Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), founded in 1921, was a major professional ice hockey league originally based in the prairies of Canada. It was renamed the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1925 and disbanded in 1926.Western Canada Summer Games
The Western Canada Summer Games were established in 1975 as a multi-sport event to provide development opportunities for amateur athletes and to help them advance their skills in a competitive, but friendly environment. The games also serve to broaden the exposure of talented athletes and provide a training ground for national and international level competitions. Social and cultural elements round out the sporting events for athletes. The competitors for the WCSG consist of athletes from three Western Provinces Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and the three Territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut).Western Canadian Baseball League
The Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) is a collegiate summer baseball league based in Saskatchewan and Alberta that descends from leagues dating to 1931.Western Canadian Music Awards
The Western Canadian Music Awards (WCMAs) are an annual awards event for music in the western portion of Canada. The awards are provided by the Western Canada Music Alliance, which consists of six member music industry organizations from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, and The Northwest Territories. The Western Canadian Music Awards presentation gala takes place on the final evening of the Breakout West music conference & festival, which takes place in a different Western Canadian city each year.Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin
The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) is a vast sedimentary basin underlying 1,400,000 square kilometres (540,000 sq mi) of Western Canada including southwestern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan, Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories. It consists of a massive wedge of sedimentary rock extending from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Canadian Shield in the east. This wedge is about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) thick under the Rocky Mountains, but thins to zero at its eastern margins. The WCSB contains one of the world's largest reserves of petroleum and natural gas and supplies much of the North American market, producing more than 16,000,000,000 cubic feet (450,000,000 m3) per day of gas in 2000. It also has huge reserves of coal. Of the provinces and territories within the WCSB, Alberta has most of the oil and gas reserves and almost all of the oil sands.Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada. Teams play for the Ed Chynoweth Cup, with the winner moving on to play for the Memorial Cup, Canada's national junior championship. WHL teams have won the Memorial Cup 19 times since the league became eligible to compete for the trophy. Many players have been drafted from WHL teams, and have found success at various levels of professional hockey, including the National Hockey League (NHL).
The league was founded in 1966, as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League (CMJHL), with seven western Canadian teams in Saskatchewan and Alberta. From 1967, the league was renamed the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), before the admission of American-based teams in the league and then renaming as the Western Hockey League (WHL) commencing in 1978, up to present day.
The league was the brainchild of Bill Hunter, who intended to build a western league capable of competing with the top leagues in Ontario and Quebec. Originally considered an "outlaw league" by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, the WCHL (WHL) was sanctioned as the top junior league in Western Canada when junior hockey was reorganized in 1970.
Today, the WHL comprises 22 teams, divided into two conferences of two divisions. The Eastern Conference comprises 12 teams from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, while the Western Conference comprises ten teams from British Columbia, and the US states of Washington and Oregon.