City Centre

The semi-famous intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street at the head of the Exchange District was the original site of commercial development in the city. It is still a main trade area, with the major banks holding offices in the city's many skyscrapers. Urban renewal is rampant in this city, with many of the historical buildings preserved; most are within walking distance of the downtown attractions and hotels.

The Exchange District

This is where commerce first developed in Winnipeg; it is the area housing the original grain exchange and Old Market Square. While the market has since moved to The Forks Market , the Exchange is still a gathering and learning place. Artspace, the Manitoba Arts Council and Manitoba Writer's Guild are all located in the centre of the Exchange at Albert St. There are also several clubs in the area, such as the old British-style pub, King's Head Knight's Pub Club , and the Coyote Cafe .

The Forks Market

This is THE gathering place for both locals and tourists looking for a good time. This place has everything. Sports fans will appreciate the close proximity of CanWest Global Baseball Park, where Winnipeg's Goldeyes play pro-ball but leave the pro-ticket prices to the Majors. Pasta lovers will find the Old Spaghetti Factory enjoyable, and Branigan's has a raised deck, where visitors can have an exotic drink and enjoy the panoramic view of the Historic Port. More artistic travelers will find that the Manitoba Theatre for Young People provides excellent entertainment, and the Manitoba Children's Museum and Explore Manitoba Centre are great stops for the family. Also found at The Forks is the Assiniboine River Walk, a paved walk along the luscious banks of this historic river. The Paddlewheel River Rouge Tours depart from here, as well as at the Paddlewheel docks, just a jaunt away at the base of the Provencher Bridge.

Old Saint Boniface

Spanning the Red River going east on Provencher takes the traveler into Old St. B, as it is known locally. This is the largest French-speaking community in western Canada. Just beyond the bridge is St. Boniface Basilica and adjoining stone archway. These make a very pretty sight, especially from across the river. A short distance further up Provencher visitors will find the Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobaine, a hall dedicated to the promotion of French entertainment arts.

Transcona

Moving further from the downtown area, one can visit Transcona, an older area at the eastern limits of town. This area became part of the city in the early 1970's, and planners there promptly set up the Transcona Historical Museum. Here you will find the Club Regent Casino , numerous bars and clubs, and the highly rated, yet affordable, Transcona Inn. About twenty minutes out of town, visitors can enjoy such exciting outdoor amusements as Fun Mountain Waterslide Park, Grand Prix Amusements and Tinkertown Family Fun Park. TC, as Transcona is locally known, also has the longest auto sales strip in the city, where car shoppers can find anything from a Porche to an RV.

North West

Just north of the Airport are several attractions including the Western Canada Aviation Museum . McPhillips Street Station Casino is a great destination for the gambler who is a railway buff. Nearby is the Prairie Dog Central Living Museum ; this historic locomotive takes tours west of the city with stops at Grosse Isle, where tourists are regaled with local hospitality. McPhillips is the highway one would take north to the wilderness adventure, Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre , and farther north to the beaches of Manitoba's vast inland lakes.

St. James/Assiniboia and Unicity

These areas cut a swath along Portage Avenue from just beyond downtown all the way out of the city. Along the way, travelers will find the Winnipeg Arena at Polo Park. This vast shopping complex is even bigger than downtown's Portage Place and is located right by the Arena and Bomber Stadium, home of the ‘Peg's pro football team, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The Winnipeg International Airport is nearby, as is Air Force Heritage Park & Museum . Across from Polo Park is the historic footbridge across the river into Assiniboine Park Zoo . At the western limit of town are the areas known as Unicity and Charleswood. Attractions include Assiniboia Downs Horse Racing Track and the Odeon Drive-in Theatre.

South

Moving south from Confusion Corner, the confluence of Osborne and Donald Streets, Pembina Highway and Corydon Ave—where is found the area known as Little Italy. Little Italy, like Osborne Village, is filled with al fresco cafes, ice cream parlors, galleries and specialty shops. Pembina Highway moves south through Fort Rouge, Fort Garry, Fort Richmond, and finally St. Norbert, at the southern limit of town. Just south of here visitors can view the Provincial Heritage Park and the Red River Floodway, where gates can divert floodwater into a sluiceway flowing around Winnipeg. Going farther south will get you to Victory Lanes Speedway, and the Morris Stampede.

South West

St. Vital and St. Boniface do not have a lot in the way of attractions, but one can find some spacious recreational parks along the Red River and some well-appointed shopping malls, such as St. Vital Centre . These areas are on fast-moving highways with easy access out of town on the east side. A couple of these routes take you past the Royal Canadian Mint (at Fermor and Lagimodiere), where all of Canada's coins are made.

North

Heading out Main Street, visitors can see the Holy Trinity Ukranian-Orthodox Cathedral, a beautiful historic church that is of interest to those of theological, historical or architectural bent. Kildonan Park is a great picnic area and rest stop, with outdoor pools and plenty of park area along the Red. This park houses Rainbow Stage, which hosts all manner of theatrical troupes. Main Street can be taken north to the lakes, and a quick jaunt east on the Perimeter Highway will connect you with the highway to Bird's Hill Provincial Park and Campground, where the internationally acclaimed Winnipeg Folk Festival is held every year.

Victor Goertzen

British Columbia (BC) ( (, C.-B.) is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ("Splendour without Sunset (Diminishment)").
It was the sixth province to join the Canadian Confederation.
Its residents are referred to as British Columbians.
The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada. The largest city is Vancouver, Canada's third-largest metropolitan area.

Geography

British Columbia is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west, by the American state of Alaska on the northwest, and to the north by the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, on the east by the province of Alberta, and on the south by the U.S. states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The current southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty, although its history is tied with lands as far south as the California border. British Columbia's land area is 944,735 square kilometres (364,764 square miles) which is about the size of France, Germany and the Netherlands combined. It is larger than the total area of Washington, Oregon and California. British Columbia's rugged coastline stretches for more than , and includes deep, mountainous fjords and about 6,000 islands, most of which are uninhabited.
British Columbia's capital is Victoria, located at the southeastern tip of Vancouver Island. BC's most populous city is Vancouver, located in southwest corner of the BC mainland called the Lower Mainland. Other major cities include Surrey, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Richmond, Delta, and New Westminster in the Lower Mainland; Abbotsford and Langley in the Fraser Valley; Nanaimo on Vancouver Island; and Kelowna and Kamloops in the Interior. Prince George is the largest city in the northern part of the province, while a town northwest of it, Vanderhoof, is near the geographic centre of the province.
The Coast Mountains, Canadian Rockies and the Inside Passage's many inlets provide some of British Columbia's renowned and spectacular scenery, which forms the backdrop and context for a growing outdoor adventure and ecotourism industry. Seventy-five percent of the province is mountainous (more than above sea level); 60% is forested; and only about 5% is arable. The Okanagan area is one of only three wine-growing regions in Canada and also produces excellent ciders, but exports little of either beverage. The small rural towns of Penticton, Oliver, and Osoyoos have some of the warmest and longest summer climates in Canada, although their temperature ranges are exceeded by the even-warmer Fraser Canyon towns of Lillooet and Lytton, where shade temperatures on summer afternoons often surpass but with very low humidity.
Much of the western part of Vancouver Island and the rest of the coast as far north as the Alaska Panhandle and south from the Olympic Peninsula to northern California, is covered by temperate rain forest. This region is one of a mere handful of such temperate rain forest ecosystems in the world (notable others being in Chile, New Zealand, Tasmania, and the Russian Far East). The province's mainland away from the coastal regions is not as moderated by the Pacific Ocean and ranges from desert and semi-arid plateau to the range and canyon districts of the interior plateau. A few southern interior valleys have short cold winters with infrequent heavy snow, while those in the Cariboo, the northern part of the Central Interior, are colder due to their altitude and latitude, but without the intensity or duration experienced at similar latitudes elsewhere in Canada. The northern two-thirds of the province is largely unpopulated and undeveloped, and is mostly mountainous except east of the Rockies, where the Peace Peace River District in the northeast of the province contains BC's portion of the Canadian Prairies.

History

Pre-Confederation

The discovery of stone tools on the Beatton River near Fort St. John date human habitation in British Columbia to at least 11,500 years ago. The First Nations population spread throughout the region, mostly on the coast, where aboriginals achieved the highest density of any place in Canada. At the time of European contact, nearly half the aboriginal people in present-day Canada lived in B.C.
The explorations of James Cook in the 1770s and George Vancouver in the 1790s, and the concessions of Spain in the 1790s established British jurisdiction over the coastal area north and west of the Columbia River. In 1793, Sir Alexander Mackenzie was the first European to journey across North America overland to the Pacific Ocean, inscribing a stone marking his accomplishment on the shoreline of South Bentinck Arm near Bella Coola. His expedition theoretically established British sovereignty inland, and a succession of other fur company explorers charted the maze of rivers and mountain ranges between the Prairies and the Pacific. Mackenzie and these other explorers - notably John Finlay, Simon Fraser, Samuel Black, and David Thompson - were primarily concerned with extending the fur trade, rather than political considerations.
Their establishment of trading posts under the auspices of the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), however, effectively established a permanent British presence in the region, which (south of 54°40' north latitude, the southern limit of Russian America) was, as of the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, under the "joint occupancy and use" of citizens of the United States and subjects of Britain (which is to say, the fur companies). This co-occupancy was ended with the Oregon Treaty of 1846.
Some of these early posts would grow into settlements, communities, and cities. Among the places in British Columbia that began as fur trading posts are Fort St John (established 1794); Hudson's Hope (1805); Fort Nelson (1805); Fort St. James (1806); Prince George (1807); Kamloops (1812); Fort Langley (1827); Victoria (1843); Yale (1848); and Nanaimo (1853). Fur company posts that became cities in what is now the United States include Vancouver, Washington (Fort Vancouver), formerly the "capital" of Hudson's Bay operations in the Columbia District (aka the Oregon Territory), Colville, Washington and Walla Walla, Washington.
With the amalgamation of the two fur trading companies in 1821, the region now comprising British Columbia existed in three fur trading departments. The bulk of the Central and Northern Interior was organized into the New Caledonia district, administered from Fort St James. The Interior south of the Thompson River watershed and north of the Columbia was organized into the Columbia District, administered from Fort Vancouver (present-day Vancouver, Washington). The northeast corner of the province east of the Rockies, known as the Peace River Block, was attached to the much larger Athabasca District, headquartered in Fort Chipewyan (in present day Alberta).
Until 1849, these districts were a wholly unorganized area of British North America under the defacto jurisdiction of HBC administrators. Unlike Rupert's Land to the north and east, however, the territory was not a concession to the Company. Rather, it was simply granted a monopoly to trade with the First Nations inhabitants. All that was changed with the westward extension of American exploration, and the concomitant overlapping claims of territorial sovereignty, especially in the southern Columbia basin (within present day Washington state and Oregon). In 1846, the Oregon Treaty divided the territory along the 49th parallel to Georgia Strait, with the area south of this boundary, excluding Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands) transferred to sole American sovereignty. The Colony of Vancouver Island was created in 1849, with Victoria designated as the capital. New Caledonia, as the whole of the Mainland rather than just its north-central Interior came to be called, continued to be an unorganized territory of British North America, "administered" by individual HBC trading post managers.
With the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858, an influx of Americans into New Caledonia prompted the colonial office to formally designate the mainland as the Colony of British Columbia, with New Westminster as its capital. A second gold rush - the Cariboo Gold Rush - followed in 1862, forcing the colonial administration into deeper debt as it struggled to meet the extensive infrastructure needs of far-flung boom communities like Barkerville and Lillooet, which sprang up overnight. The Vancouver Island colony was facing financial crises of its own, and pressure to merge the two eventually succeeded in 1866. Queen Victoria chose the name British Columbia as the name of the new pacific dominion.

Rapid growth and development

The Confederation League led by such figures as Amor De Cosmos, John Robson, and Robert Beaven had long led the chorus pressing for the colony to join Canada, which had been created out of three British North American colonies in 1867. Several factors motivated this agitation, including the fear of annexation to the United States, the overwhelming debt created by rapid population growth, the need for government-funded services to support this population, and the economic depression caused by the end of the gold rush. With the agreement by the Canadian government to extend the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to British Columbia and to assume the colony's debt, BC became the sixth province to join Confederation on July 20 1871. The borders of the province were not completely settled until 1903, however, when the province's territory shrank somewhat after the Alaska Boundary Dispute settled the vague boundary of the Alaska Panhandle.
Population in British Columbia continued to expand as the province's mining, forestry, agriculture, and fishing sectors were developed. Mining activity was particularly notable in the Boundary Country, in the Slocan, in the West Kootenay around Trail, the East Kootenay (the southeast corner of the province), the Fraser Canyon, the Cariboo and elsewhere. Agriculture attracted settlers to the fertile Fraser Valley, and cattle ranchers and later fruit growers to the drier grasslands of the Thompson River area, the Cariboo, the Chilcotin, and the Okanagan. Forestry drew workers to the lush temperate rain forests of the coast, which was also the locus of a growing fishery.
The completion of the CPR in 1885 was a huge boost to the province's economy, facilitating the transportation of the region's considerable resources to the east. The booming logging town of Granville, near the mouth of the Burrard Inlet was selected as the terminus of the railway, prompting the incorporation of the community as Vancouver in 1886. The completion of the Port of Vancouver spurred rapid growth, and in less than fifty years the city would surpass Winnipeg as the largest in western Canada. The early decades of the province were ones in which issues of land use - specifically, its settlement and development - were paramount. This included expropriation from First Nations people of their land, control over its resources, as well as the ability to trade in some resources (such as the fishery). Establishing a labour force to develop the province was problematic from the start, and British Columbia was the locus of immigration not only from Europe, but also from China and Japan. The influx of a non-Caucasian population stimulated resentment from the dominant ethnic groups, resulting in agitation (much of it successful) to restrict the ability of Asian people to immigrate to British Columbia through the imposition of a head tax. This resentment culminated in mob attacks against Chinese and Japanese immigrants in Vancouver in 1887 and 1907. By 1923, almost all Chinese immigration had been blocked except for merchants and investors (see Chinese Immigration Act, 1923).
Meanwhile, the province continued to grow. In 1914, the last spike of a second transcontinental rail line, the Grand Trunk Pacific, linking north-central British Columbia from the Yellowhead Pass through Prince George to Prince Rupert was driven at Fort Fraser. This opened up the north coast and the Bulkley Valley region to new economic opportunities. What had previously been an almost exclusively fur trade and subsistence economy soon became a locus for forestry, farming, and mining.

The 1920s through the 1940s

When the men returned from World War I, they discovered the recently-enfranchised women of the province had helped vote in the prohibition of liquor in an effort to end the social problems associated with the hard-core drinking that Vancouver and the rest of the province was famous for until the war. Because of pressure from veterans, prohibition was quickly relaxed so that the "soldier and the working man" could enjoy a drink, but widespread unemployment among veterans was hardened by many of the available jobs being taken by European immigrants - Italians and others - and disgruntled veterans organized a range of "soldier parties" to represent their interests, variously named Soldier-Farmer, Soldier-Labour, and Farmer-Labour Parties. These formed the basis of the fractured labour-political spectrum that would generate a host of fringe leftist and rightist parties, including those who would eventually form the Co-operative Commonwealth and the early Social Credit splinter groups.
The advent of prohibition in the United States created new opportunities, and many found employment or at least profit in cross-border liquor smuggling. Much of Vancouver's prosperity and opulence in the 1920s is due to this "pirate economy", although growth in forestry, fishing and mining continued. The end of US-side Prohibition, combined with the onset of the Great Depression, plunged the province into economic destitution. Compounding the already dire local economic situation, tens of thousands of men from colder parts of Canada swarmed into Vancouver, creating huge hobo jungles around False Creek and the Burrard Inlet rail yards, including the old CPR mainline right-of-way through the heart of the city's downtown (at Hastings and Carrall). Increasingly desperate times led to intense political organizing efforts, an occupation of the main Post Office at Granville & Hastings which was violently put down by the police, and an effective imposition of martial law on the docks for almost three years. A Vancouver contingent for the On-to-Ottawa Trek was organized and seized a train, which was loaded with thousands of men bound for the capital but was met by a Gatling gun straddling the tracks at Mission; the men were arrested and sent to work camps for the duration of the Depression.
There were some signs of economic life beginning to assert normalcy towards the end of the '30s, but it was the onset of World War II which transformed the national economy and ended the hard times of the Depression. Because of the war effort, women entered the workforce as never before.
BC has long taken advantage of its location on the Pacific Ocean to have close relations with East Asia. However, this has often caused friction between cultures which have caused occasional displays of animosity toward Asian immigrants. This was most manifest during the Second World War when many people of Japanese descent were relocated or interned in the Interior of the province. Conversely, there have also been historically high rates of intermarriage and other examples of inter-racial harmony, cooperation and integration.

The Coalition and the post-War boom

During World War II the mainstream Liberal and Conservative Parties of British Columbia united in a formal coalition government under new Liberal leader John Hart, who replaced Duff Pattullo when the latter failed to win a majority in the 1941 election and was unwilling to form a coalition with the rival Conservatives. Although the CCF's 14 seats (out of 48), plus one radical labour independent, were nowhere near enough to form a government, and their share of the popular vote remained below one-third, the pretext of the Coalition was to prevent them ever coming to power. Hart won re-election in 1945 and in the post-war environment initiated a series of infrastructure projects, notably the completion of Highway 97 north of Prince George to the Peace River Block, a section called the John Hart Highway.
In 1947 the reins of the Coalition were taken over by Byron Ingemar Johnson. He led it to the highest percentage of the popular vote in BC history to date (61%) in the 1949 election. This victory was due largely to the popularity of his government's spending programmes, despite rising criticism of corruption and abuse of power. During his tenure major infrastructure continued to expand and the agreement with Alcan to build the Kemano-Kitimat hydro and aluminum complex was put in place. Johnson achieved popularity for flood relief efforts during the 1948 flooding of the Fraser Valley, which was a major blow to that region and to the province's economy.
Increasing evidence of corruption led Conservative leader Royal Maitland to withdraw his party from the Coalition in 1951, precipitating the general election of 1952. A referendum on electoral reform prior to this election had instigated an elimination ballot (similar to a preferential ballot), where voters could select second and third choices. The intent of the ballot, as campaigned for by Liberals and Conservatives, was that their supporters would list the rival party in lieu of the CCF, but this plan backfired when a large group of voters from all major parties, including the CCF, voted for the fringe British Columbia Social Credit Party, who wound up with the largest number of seats in the House (19), only one seat ahead of the CCF, despite the CCF having 34.3% of the vote to Social Credit's 30.18%. The Social Credit, known as the Socreds and led by rebel former Conservative MLA W.A.C. Bennett, formed a minority government backed by the Liberals and Conservatives (with 6 and 4 seats respectively). Bennett began a series of fiscal reforms, preaching a new variety of populism as well as waxing eloquent on progress and development, laying the ground for a second election in 1953 in which the new Bennett regime secured a majority of seats, with 38% of the vote.

Growth of government in the economy

With the election of the Social Credit Party, BC embarked a phase of rapid economic development. Bennett and his party would go on to govern the province for the next twenty years, during which time the government initiated an ambitious programme of infrastructure development, fuelled by a sustained economic boom in the forestry, mining, and energy sectors.
During these two decades, the BC government nationalized British Columbia Electric and the British Columbia Power Company, as well as smaller electric companies, renaming the entity BC Hydro. By the end of the 1960s, several major dams had been begun or completed in — among others — the Peace, Columbia, and Nechako River watersheds. Major transmission deals were concluded, most notably the Columbia River Treaty between Canada and the United States. The province's economy was also boosted by unprecedented growth in the forest sector, as well as oil and gas development in the province's northeast.
The 1950s and 60s were also marked by development in BC's transportation infrastructure. In 1960, the government established BC Ferries as a crown corporation, in order to provide a marine extension of the provincial highway system. That system was improved and expanded through the construction of new highways and bridges, and paving of existing highways and provincial roads.
The post–World War II years saw Vancouver and Victoria also become cultural centres as poets, authors, artists, musicians, as well as dancers, actors, and haute cuisine chefs flocked to the beautiful scenery and warmer temperatures. Similarly, these cities have either attracted or given rise to their own noteworthy academics, commentators, and creative thinkers. Tourism also began to play an important role in the economy. The rise of Japan and other Pacific economies was a great boost to the BC economy.
Politically and socially, the 1960s brought a period of significant social ferment. The divide between the political left and right, which had prevailed in the province since the Depression and the rise of the labour movement, sharpened as so-called free enterprise parties coalesced into the defacto coalition represented by Social Credit — in opposition to the social democratic New Democratic Party, the successor to the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. As the province's economy blossomed, so did labour-management tensions. Tensions emerged, also, from the counterculture movement of the late 1960s, of which Vancouver and Nanaimo were centres. The conflict between hippies and Vancouver mayor Tom Campbell was particularly legendary, culminating in the so-called Gastown Riots of 1971. By the end of the decade, with social tensions and dissatisfaction with the status quo rising, the Bennett government's achievements could not stave off its growing unpopularity.

BC in the 1970s and 80s

On August 27 1969 the Social Credit Party was re-elected in a general election for what would be W.A.C Bennett's final term in power. At the start of the 1970s, BC's economy was quite strong due to rising coal prices and an increase in annual allowable cuts in the forestry sector. However, BC Hydro reported its first loss - which was the beginning of the end for Bennett and the Social Credit Party.
The Socreds were forced from power in the August 1972 election, paving the way for a NDP government under Dave Barrett. Under Barrett, the large provincial surplus soon became a deficit, although changes to the accounting system makes it likely that some of the deficit was carried over from the previous Social Credit regime. The brief three year ("Thousand Days") period of NDP governance brought several lasting changes to the province, most notably the creation of the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), intended to protect farmland from redevelopment, and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), a crown corporation charged with a monopoly on providing single-payer basic automobile insurance.
Perceptions that the government had instituted reforms either too swiftly or that were too far-reaching, coupled with growing labour disruptions led to the ouster of the NDP in the 1975 general election. Social Credit, under W.A.C. Bennett's son, Bill Bennett, was returned to office. Under the younger Bennett's government, the province completed several projects, most notably the Coquihalla Highway and Expo 86 in Vancouver. The Coquihalla Highway project became the subject of a scandal after revelations that the Premier's brother bought large tracts of land needed for the project before it was announced to the public. Nonetheless, the Socreds were re-elected in 1979 under Bennett, who led the party until 1986.
As the province entered a sustained recession, the Socreds instituted a programme of fiscal restraint. This sparked a backlash, the so-called 1983 Solidarity Crisis, when a huge grassroots opposition movement mobilized, comprised of organized labour and community groups. Tens of thousands participated in protests and many felt that a general strike would be the inevitable result unless the government backed down from its policies of restraint. The movement collapsed after an apparent deal was struck by union leader and IWA president, Jack Munro and Premier Bennett.
Bill Vander Zalm became the new Socred leader and Premier in 1986 and led the party to victory in the election of that year. Vander Zalm was later involved in a conflict of interest scandal following the sale of Fantasy Gardens, a Christian and Dutch culture theme park built by the Premier, to Tan Yu, a Taiwanese gambling kingpin. There were also concerns over Yu's application to the government for a bank license. These scandals forced Vander Zalm's resignation, and Rita Johnston became premier of the province.

BC since the 1990s

Johnston lost the 1991 general election to the NDP, under the leadership of Mike Harcourt, a former mayor of Vancouver. Although the unprecedented creation of new parkland and protected areas was popular, and helped boost the province's growing tourism sector, the economy continued to struggle against the backdrop of a weak resource economy. Harcourt ended up resigning over "Bingogate", yet another British Columbia political scandal - this time involving the funnelling of charity bingo receipts into the Premier's party's coffers. Harcourt was not directly implicated, but resigned nonetheless. Glen Clark, a former president of the BC Federation of Labour, was chosen the new leader of the party, which won a second term in 1996, even though it secured fewer total votes than the opposition BC Liberals. Clark's tenure marked a change in British Columbia. Unemployment and taxes rose, and key industries struggled, which amounted to low economic growth levels. More scandals dogged the party, most notably the Fast Ferry Scandal, involving the province trying to rebuild a shipbuilding industry in British Columbia. An allegation (never explicitly substantiated) that the Premier had received a favour in return for granting a gaming licence led to Clark's resignation as Premier. He was succeeded on an interim basis by Dan Miller who was in turn followed by Ujjal Dosanjh. For Dosanjh and the NDP, however, it was too late to save the party from near-oblivion in the next election.
In the 2001 general election Gordon Campbell's BC Liberal Party soundly defeated the NDP party, gaining 77 out of 79 seats. Campbell instituted various reforms including scrapping the "fast ferries" project, lowering income taxes and selling BC Rail to CN Rail (sparking yet another scandal). Campbell was also the subject of scandal after he was caught driving while drunk during a vacation in Hawaii and arrested. However, Campbell still managed to lead his party to victory in the 2005 general election against a substantially strengthened NDP opposition, making him the first elected premier in over a decade to finish a term as premier without resigning, and the first premier to win back to back elections since Bill Bennett. Campbell's government successfully led the coalition to bring the 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver. Under the Campbell regime the economy of British Columbia has revived substantially, aided significantly by improvements in global resource markets.
British Columbia has also been significantly affected by demographic changes within Canada and around the world. Vancouver (and to a lesser extent some other parts of British Columbia) was a major destination for many of the emigrants from Hong Kong who left the former UK colony (either temporarily or permanently) in the years immediately prior to its handover to the People's Republic of China. British Columbia has also been a significant destination for internal Canadian migrants. This has been the case throughout recent decades, due to its image of natural beauty, mild climate and relaxed lifestyle, but is particularly true during periods of economic growth. As a result, BC has moved from approximately 10% of Canada's population (1971) to approximately 13% (2006). The final fundamental demographic shift is that away from rural British Columbia to urban centres, particularly the Lower Mainland. This trend has reversed itself to a limited degree in recent years with improved resource-economy prospects, but the Vancouver metro area now includes 52% of the Province's population.

Politics

The Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, Steven Point, is the Queen of Canada's representative in the Province of British Columbia. During the absence of the Lieutenant-Governor, the Governor General in Council may appoint an Administrator to execute the duties of the office. In practice, this is usually the Chief Justice of British Columbia.
BC has a 79-member elected Legislative Assembly, elected by the plurality voting system, though in recent years there has been significant debate about switching to a single transferable vote system.
Currently, the province is governed by the British Columbia Liberal Party under Premier Gordon Campbell. Campbell won the largest landslide election in BC history in 2001 (77 of 79 seats), but the legislature is more evenly divided between Liberals and members of the social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP) following the 2005 provincial election. Recent years have seen the Green Party of British Columbia becoming a serious contender with double digit support, though they have not yet won a seat in the legislature.
The British Columbia Liberal Party is unrelated to the federal Liberal Party and does not share its ideology. Instead, the BC Liberal party is a rather diverse coalition, made up of the remnants of the Social Credit Party, many federal Liberals, federal Conservatives, and those who would otherwise support right-of-centre or free enterprise parties. Historically, there have commonly been third parties members present in the legislature, but there are presently none.
Prior to the rise of the Liberal Party, British Columbia's main right-of-centre political party was the British Columbia Social Credit Party which ruled BC for almost 40 continuous years. Aside from intervals of NDP rule from 1972-1975 (downswing) (1976-1990 British Columbia Social Credit Party (Upswing)) and 1991-2001 (downswing), the "Socreds" or their de-facto successor, 2002-2007 the BC Liberals (Upswing), have controlled the legislature for the past 55 years. In an April poll by polling firm Ipsos-Reid, the BC Liberals were shown as having the support of 49% of voters, compared to 32% for the NDP. The next election is scheduled for May, 2009.
BC is known for having politically active labour unions, who have traditionally supported the NDP.

Parks and protected areas

There are 14 designations of parks and protected areas in the province that reflects the different administration and creation of these areas in a modern context. There are 141 ecological Reserves, 35 provincial marine parks, 7 Provincial Heritage Sites, 6 National Historic Sites, 4 National Parks and 3 National Park Reserves. 12.5% (114,000 km²) of BC is currently considered 'protected' under one of the 14 different designations that includes over 800 distinct areas.
British Columbia contains seven of Canada's national parks:

Glacier National Park

Gulf Islands National Park Reserve

Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site

Kootenay National Park

Mount Revelstoke National Park

Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

Yoho National Park

BC also contains a large network of provincial parks, run by BC Parks of the Ministry of Environment. BC's provincial parks system is the second largest parks system in Canada (the largest is Canadian National Parks system).
In addition to these areas, over 4.7 million hectares of arable land are protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve.

Recreation

Given its varied mountainous terrain and its coasts, lakes, rivers, and forests, British Columbia has long been enjoyed for pursuits like hiking and camping, rock climbing and mountaineering, hunting and fishing.
Water sports, both motorized and non-motorized, are enjoyed in many places. Sea kayaking opportunities abound on the B.C. coast with its fjords. Whitewater rafting and kayaking are popular on many inland rivers. Sailing and sailboarding are widely enjoyed.
In winter, cross-country and telemark skiing are much enjoyed, and in recent decades high-quality downhill skiing has been developed in the Coast Mountain range and the Rockies, as well as in the southern areas of the Shuswap Highlands and the Columbia Mountains. Snowboarding has mushroomed in popularity since the early 1990s. The 2010 Winter Olympics downhill events will be held in Whistler-Blackcomb area of the province, while the indoor events will be in the Vancouver area.
In Vancouver and Victoria (as well as some other cities), opportunities for joggers and bicyclists have been developed. Cross-country bike touring has been popular since the ten-speed bike became available many years ago. Since the advent of more robust mountain bikes, trails in more rugged and wild places have been developed for them. Some of the province's retired rail beds have been converted and maintained for hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing.
Horseback riding is enjoyed by many British Columbians. Opportunities for trail riding, often into especially scenic areas, have been established for tourists in numerous areas of the province.
British Columbia also has strong participation levels in many other sports, including golf, tennis, soccer, hockey, Canadian football, rugby union, softball, basketball, curling and figure skating. B.C. has produced many outstanding athletes, especially in aquatic and winter sports. Also, today programmes of training and toning systems like aerobics and hatha yoga are widespread. Most communities of several thousand people or more have developed facilities for these.
Consistent with both increased tourism and increased participation in diverse recreations by British Columbians themselves has been the proliferation of lodges, chalets, bed and breakfasts, motels, hotels, fishing camps, and park-camping facilities in recent decades.
In certain areas, there are businesses, non-profit societies, or municipal governments dedicated to promoting ecotourism in their region. A number of BC farmers offer visitors to combine tourism with farm work, e.g. through the WWOOF Canada program.

Recreational cannabis

A 2004 study (published 2006) by the University of Victoria Centre for Addictions Research of BC and Simon Fraser University Applied Research on Mental Health and Addictions indicated cannabis use is more widespread among British Columbians than with the rest of Canadians. However, a UN report published in July 2007 actually placed Quebec as the highest consumption province, citing 15.8% of Quebecers having used marijuana in a single year, versus 14.1% of Canadians nationally, and resulted in Canada being placed first in the industrialized world in marijuana use. With the actual growing of marijuana, BC is responsible for 40% of all cannabis produced in Canada.

Regional districts

The primary local administrative units of British Columbia are its 28 Regional Districts.

Cities

Half of all British Columbians live in the Greater Vancouver Regional District, which includes Vancouver, Surrey, New Westminster, West Vancouver, North Vancouver (city), North Vancouver (district municipality), Burnaby, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, Langley (city), Langley (district municipality), Delta, Pitt Meadows, White Rock, Richmond, Port Moody, Anmore, Belcarra, Lions Bay and Bowen Island, as well as 17 Native reserves and the unincorporated regional district electoral area known as Greater Vancouver Electoral Area A.
The second largest concentration of British Columbia population is located at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, which is made up of the 13 municipalities of Greater Victoria, (Victoria, Saanich, Esquimalt, Oak Bay, View Royal, Highlands, Colwood, Langford, Central Saanich/Saanichton, North Saanich, Sidney, Metchosin, Sooke and several Native reserves), or the Capital Regional District. Almost half of the Vancouver Island population is located in Victoria.
Other municipalities:

Abbotsford

Campbell River

Chilliwack

Colwood

Courtenay

Cranbrook

Dawson Creek

Fernie

Fort St. John

Kamloops

Kelowna

Langford

Mission

Nanaimo

North Cowichan

Penticton

Prince George

Prince Rupert

Quesnel

Saanich

Vernon

Victoria (provincial capital)

Williams Lake

Wildlife

Much of the province is wild or semi-wild, so that populations of very many mammalian species that have become rare in much of the United States still flourish in B.C. Watching animals of various sorts, including a very wide range of birds, has also long been popular. Bears (grizzly, black, and the Kermode bear or spirit bear—only found in British Columbia) live here, as do deer, elk, moose, caribou, big-horn sheep, mountain goats, marmots, beavers, muskrat, coyotes, wolves, mustelids (such as wolverines, badgers and fishers), mountain lions, eagles, ospreys, herons, Canada geese, swans, loons, hawks, owls, ravens, harlequin ducks, and many other sorts of ducks. Smaller birds (robins, jays, grosbeaks, chickadees, etc.) also abound.
Healthy populations of many sorts of fish are found in the waters (including salmonids such as several species of salmon, trout, char, etc.). Besides salmon and trout, sport-fishers in B.C. also catch halibut, steelhead, bass, and sturgeon. On the coastlines, harbour seals and river otters are common. Cetacean species native to the coast include the Orca, Gray Whale, Harbour Porpoise, Dall's Porpoise, Pacific White-Sided Dolphin and Minke Whale.

Endangered species

Some endangered species in British Columbia are: Vancouver Island Marmot, spotted owl, white pelican, and badgers.
As of 2001
(Source: BC Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management, Conservation Data Centre)

Introduced species

British Columbian introduced species include: common dandelion, ring-necked pheasant, Pacific oyster, brown trout, black slug, European starling, cowbird, knapweed, bullfrog, purple loosestrife, Scotch broom, European earwig, tent caterpillar, sowbug, gray squirrel, Asian long-horn beetle, English ivy, fallow deer, thistle, gorse, Norway rat, crested mynah, and Asian or European gypsy moth. The Mountain Pine Beetle has recently wreaked havoc in the forests of the northern areas of the province. The Spruce Bug is also an ongoing concern in these same areas.

External links

Tourism British Columbia Official Website

Provincial Archives (includes online photo database)

BC Govt online map archive (free)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, making it the seat of the provincial Crown. Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria is a global tourism destination seeing more than 3.65 million visitors a year who inject more than one billion dollars into the local economy. Victoria is a cruise ship port where cruise liners stop at Ogden Point terminal. The city also receives economic benefits from its close proximity to Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, the Canadian military’s main Pacific naval base. Downtown Victoria also serves as Greater Victoria's regional downtown, where many night clubs, theatres, restaurants and pubs are clustered, and where much larger regional public events occur. In particular, Canada Day fireworks displays and Symphony Splash concerts draw tens of thousands of Greater Victorians and visitors to the downtown core.
The city has hosted sports events including the 2005 Ford World Men's Curling Championship tournament, the 1994 Commonwealth Games, and 2006 Skate Canada. Victoria co-hosted the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup at Royal Athletic Park, and is the annual venue for the Bastion Square Grand Prix Criterium road cycling race. The city is also a destination for conventions, meetings, and conferences, including a 2007 North Atlantic Treaty Organization military chief of staff meeting.

Location and population

Located on the southeastern tip of Vancouver Island, overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the City of Victoria has a population of approximately 78,659. The Capital Regional District, comprising thirteen municipalities informally referred to as Greater Victoria, has a population of more than 330,000 and is the largest urban area on Vancouver Island.
By population, Greater Victoria is the 15th largest metropolitan area in Canada.
Victoria is well-known for its disproportionately large retiree population. Some 6.4 per cent of the population of Victoria and its surrounding area are over 80 years of age - the highest proportion for any of Canada's metropolitan areas. The city also boasts the country's third-highest concentration of people 65 and older (17.8 per cent), behind only Peterborough, Ontario, and Kelowna, British Columbia. Retirees throughout Canada are drawn to Victoria's mild climate, beautiful scenery, year-round golf season, and generally easy-going pace of life. An historically popular cliché about Victoria is that it is for "the newly wed and nearly dead!"

History

Prior to the arrival of the Europeans in the late 1700s, the Victoria area was home to several communities of Coast Salish peoples, including the Songhees. The Spanish and British took up the exploration of the northwest coast of North America beginning with the voyage of Captain James Cook in 1776, although the Victoria area of the Strait of Juan de Fuca was not penetrated until 1791. Spanish sailors visited Esquimalt Harbour (within the modern Capital Regional District) in 1790 and again in 1792. Erected in 1843 as a Hudson's Bay Company trading post on a site originally called Camosun (the native word was "camosack", meaning "rush of water") and known briefly as "Fort Albert", the settlement was later christened Fort Victoria, in honour of Queen Victoria. The Songhees established a village across the harbour from the fort. The Songhees' village was later moved north of Esquimalt. When the crown Colony of Vancouver Island was established in 1849, a town was laid out on the site and made the capital of the colony. The Chief Factor of the fort, James Douglas was made the second governor of the Vancouver Island colony (Richard Blanshard was first governor, Arthur Edward Kennedy was third and last governor), and would be the leading figure in the early development of the city until his retirement in 1864.
With the discovery of gold on the British Columbia mainland in 1858, Victoria became the port, supply base, and outfitting centre for miners on their way to the Fraser Canyon gold fields, mushrooming from a population of 300 to over 5000 literally within a few days. In 1866 when the island was politically united with the mainland, Victoria remained the capital of the new united colony and became the provincial capital when British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation in 1871. Victoria was incorporated as a city in 1862. In 1865, Esquimalt was made the North Pacific home of the Royal Navy, and remains Canada's west coast naval base.
In 1886, with the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway terminus on Burrard Inlet, Victoria's position as the commercial centre of British Columbia was irrevocably lost to the City of Vancouver. The city subsequently began cultivating an image of genteel civility within its natural setting, an image aided by the impressions of visitors such as Rudyard Kipling, the opening of the popular Butchart Gardens in 1904 and the construction of the Empress Hotel by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1908. Robert Dunsmuir, a leading industrialist whose interests included coal mines and a railway on Vancouver Island, constructed Craigdarroch Castle in the Rockland area, near the official residence of the province's lieutenant-governor. His son James Dunsmuir became premier and subsequently lieutenant-governor of the province and built his own grand residence at Hatley Park (used for several decades as Royal Roads Military College, now civilian Royal Roads University) in the present City of Colwood.
A real estate and development boom ended just before World War I, leaving Victoria with a large stock of Edwardian public, commercial and residential structures that have greatly contributed to the City's character. A number of municipalities surrounding Victoria were incorporated during this period, including the Township of Esquimalt, the District of Oak Bay, and several municipalities on the Saanich Peninsula. Since World War II the Victoria area has seen relatively steady growth, becoming home to two major universities. Since the 1980s the western suburbs have been incorporated as new municipalities, such as Colwood and Langford.
Greater Victoria periodically experiences calls for the amalgamation of the thirteen municipal governments within the Capital Regional District. The opponents of amalgamation state that separate governance affords residents a greater deal of local autonomy. The proponents of amalgamation argue that it would reduce duplication of services, while allowing for more efficient use of resources and the ability to better handle broad, regional issues and long-term planning.

Climate

Victoria has a temperate climate that is usually classified as Marine west coast(Cfb), with mild, damp winters and relatively dry and mild summers. It is sometimes classified as a Mediterranean climate (Csb).
Daily temperatures rise above 30°C (86°F) on an average of one or two days per year and fall below -5°C (23°F) on an average of only 2 nights per year. During the winter, the average daily high and low temperatures are 8.2°C (47°F) and 3.6°C (38°F), respectively. The summer months are equally mild, with an average high temperature of 19.6°C (67°F) and low of 11.3°C (52°F). Victoria does occasionally experience more extreme temperatures. The highest temperature ever recorded in Victoria was 36.3°C (97.3°F) on July 11, 2007, while the coldest temperature on record was -15.6°C (4°F) on December 29, 1968 and January 28, 1950. Victoria has not recorded a temperature below -10°C (14°F) since 1990.
Total annual precipitation is just 608 mm (24in) at the Gonzales weather station in Victoria, contrasted to nearby Seattle, (137 km/85 miles away to the southeast), with 970mm (38in) of rainfall, or Vancouver, 100 km away, with 1,219 mm (48 in) of rainfall. Perhaps even more dramatic is the difference in rainfalls on Vancouver Island. Port Renfrew, just 80 km from Victoria on the wet southwest coast of Vancouver Island receives 3,671 mm (145 in). Even the Victoria Airport, 25 km north of the city, receives about 45 per cent more precipitation than the city proper. One of the most striking features of Victoria's climate is the distinct dry and rainy seasons. Nearly two thirds of the annual precipitation falls during the four wettest months, November to February. Precipitation in December, the wettest month (109 mm/4 in) is nearly eight times as high as in July, the driest month (14 mm/0.5 in). During the summer months, Victoria is the driest major city in Canada.
Victoria averages just 26 cm (10 in) of snow annually. Every few decades, Victoria receives very large snowfalls, including the more than 100 cm (39 in) of snow that fell in December 1996. On the other hand, roughly one third of winters will see virtually no snow, with less than 5 cm (2 in) falling during the entire season. When snow does fall, it rarely lasts long on the ground. Victoria averages just 2-3 days per year with at least 5 cm (2 in) of snow on the ground.
The rain shadow effect also means that Victoria gets more sunshine than surrounding areas. With 2,223 hours of sun annually, Victoria is one of the sunniest places in British Columbia, and gets more sunshine than most other cities in Canada except those in the southern Prairies. The benefits of Victoria's climate are evident through the city's gardens, which are more likely to display drought-tolerant oak trees, eucalyptus, arbutus, and even bananas, than they are likely to feature evergreen conifers, which are typically associated with the coastal Pacific Northwest environment.




Victoria's equable climate has also added to its reputation as the "City of Gardens". With its mild temperatures and plentiful sunshine, Victoria boasts gardens that are home to many plant species rarely found elsewhere in Canada. Several species of palms, eucalyptus, and even certain varieties of bananas can be seen growing throughout the area's gardens. The city takes pride in the many flowers that bloom during the winter and early spring, including crocuses, daffodils, early-blooming rhododendrons, cherry and plum trees. Every February there is an annual "flower count" in what for the rest of the country and most of the province is still the dead of winter.
Due to its Mediterranean-type climate, Victoria and its surrounding area (southeastern Vancouver Island, Gulf Islands, and parts of the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast) is also home to many rare, native plants found nowhere else in Canada, including Quercus garryana (Garry oak), Arctostaphylos columbiana (Hairy manzanita), and Canada's only broad leaf evergreen tree, Arbutus menziesii (Pacific madrone). Many of these endangered species exist here at the northern end of their range, and are found as far south as Central and Southern California, and even parts of Mexico.

Physiography and soils

The landscape of Victoria was molded by water in various forms. Pleistocene glaciation put the area under a thick ice cover, the weight of which depressed the land below present sea level. These glaciers also deposited stony sandy loam till. As they retreated, their melt water left thick deposits of sand and gravel. Marine clay settled on what would later become dry land. Post-glacial rebound exposed the present-day terrain to air, raising beach and mud deposits well above sea level. The resulting soils are highly variable in texture, and abrupt textural changes are common. In general, clays are most likely to be encountered in the northern part of town and in depressions. The southern part has coarse-textured subsoils and loamy topsoils. Sandy loams and loamy sands are common in the eastern part adjoining Oak Bay. Victoria's soils are relatively unleached and less acidic than soils elsewhere on the British Columbia coast. Their thick dark topsoils denoted a high level of fertility which made them valuable for farming until urbanization took over.

Neighbourhoods of Victoria

The following is a list of neighbourhoods in the City of Victoria, as defined by the city planning department. For a list of neighbourhoods in other area municipalities, see Greater Victoria, or the individual entries for those municipalities.

Burnside

Downtown

Fairfield

James Bay

Fernwood

Harris Green

North Jubilee

North Park

Oaklands

Rockland

South Jubilee

Victoria West

Other city districts often regarded as neighbourhoods include:

Chinatown

Rock Bay

Oak Bay Border

Uplands

Songhees

Selkirk

Parks

Beacon Hill Park is the central city's main urban green space. Its area of 75 hectares adjacent to Victoria's southern shore includes numerous playing fields, manicured gardens, exotic species of plants and animals such as wild peacocks, a petting zoo, and views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic mountain range. The sport of cricket has been played in Beacon Hill Park since the mid-nineteenth century. Each summer, Beacon Hill Park plays host to several outdoor concerts, and the Luminara Community Lantern Festival.
The extensive system of parks in Victoria also includes a few areas of natural Garry oak meadow habitat, an increasingly scarce ecosystem that once dominated the region.

Tourism and landmarks

In the heart of downtown are the British Columbia Parliament Buildings, The Empress Hotel, the gothic Christ Church Cathedral, and the Royal British Columbia Museum, with large exhibits on local Aboriginal peoples, natural history, and modern history, along with travelling international exhibits. In addition, the heart of downtown also has the Emily Carr House, Royal London Wax Museum, Victoria Bug Zoo, Market Square and the Pacific Undersea Gardens, which showcases marine life of British Columbia. The oldest (and most intact) Chinatown in Canada is located within downtown. The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is located close to downtown in the Rockland neighbourhood several city blocks from Craigdarroch Castle built by industrialist James Dunsmuir and Government House, the official residence of the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia.
Numerous other buildings of historic importance or interest are also located in central Victoria, including: the 1845 St. Ann's Schoolhouse; the 1852 Helmcken House built for Victoria's first doctor; the 1863 Temple Emanuel, the oldest synagogue in continuous use in Canada; the 1865 Angela College built as Victoria's first Anglican Collegiate School for Girls, now housing retired nuns of the Sisters of St. Ann; the 1871 St. Ann's Academy built as a Catholic school; the 1874 Church of Our Lord, built to house a breakaway congregation from the Anglican Christ Church cathedral; the 1890 St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church; the 1890 Metropolitan Methodist Church (now the Victoria Conservatory of Music; the 1892 St. Andrew's Cathedral; and the 1925 Crystal Gardens, originally a saltwater swimming pool, restored as a conservatory and most recently a tourist attraction called the B.C. Experience, which closed down in 2006.
CFB Esquimalt navy base, in the adjacent municipality of Esquimalt, has a base museum dedicated to naval and military history, located in the Naden part of the base.
North of the city on the Saanich Peninsula is Butchart Gardens, one of the biggest tourist attractions on Vancouver Island, as well as the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, part of the National Research Council of Canada, Victoria Butterfly Gardens and Centre of the Universe planetarium.
Notable museums in Victoria include the Royal British Columbia Museum and the Maritime Museum of British Columbia. There are also numerous National Historic Sites in close proximity to Victoria, such as the Fisgard Lighthouse, Craigflower Manor and Schoolhouse, Hatley Castle and Hatley Park and Fort Rodd Hill, which is a coastal artillery fort built in the late 1890s, located west of the city in Colwood. Also located west of the city is Western Speedway, a 4/10th-mile oval vehicular race track and the largest in Western Canada.

Entertainment

The Victoria Symphony, led by Tania Miller, performs at the Royal Theatre and the Farquhar Auditorium of the University of Victoria from September to May. Every BC Day weekend, the Symphony mounts Symphony Splash, an outdoor event that includes a performance by the orchestra sitting on a barge in Victoria's Inner Harbour. Streets in the local area are closed, as each year approximately 40,000 people attend a variety of concerts and events throughout the day. The event culminates with the Symphony's evening concert, with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture as the grand finale, complete with cannon-fire, a pealing carillon and a fireworks display to honour BC Day. Pacific Opera Victoria, Victoria Philharmonic Choir and Ballet Victoria stage two or three productions each year at the Macpherson or Royal Theatres.
The Theatrical Arts have had somewhat more difficulty making their mark. The Bastion Theatre, a professional dramatic company, functioned in Victoria through the 1970s and '80s and performed high quality dramatic productions but ultimately was obliged to declare bankruptcy in 1988. Reborn as The New Bastion Theatre in 1990 the company struggled on for two more years before closing operations in 1992.
The Belfry Theatre started in 1974 as the Springridge Cultural Centre in 1974. The venue was renamed the Belfry Theatre in 1976 as the company began producing its own shows. The Belfry’s mandate is to produce contemporary plays with an emphasis on new Canadian plays.
Other regional Theatre venues include: Phoenix Theatre student theatre at the University of Victoria, Kaleidoscope Theatre and Intrepid Theatre, producers of the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival and The Uno Festival of Solo Performance.
The only Canadian Forces Primary Reserve brass/reed band on Vancouver Island is located in Victoria. The 5th (British Columbia) Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery Band traces its roots back to 1864, making it the oldest, continually-operational military band west of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Its mandate is to support the island's military community by performing at military dinners, parades and ceremonies, and other events. The band performs weekly in August at Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site where the Regiment started manning the guns of the fort in 1896, and also performs every year at the Cameron Bandshell at Beacon Hill Park.
The current major sporting and entertainment complex, for Victoria and Vancouver Island Region, is the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre arena. It replaced the former Victoria Memorial Arena, which was constructed by efforts of World War II veterans as a monument to fallen comrades. World War I, World War II, Korean War, and other conflict veterans are also commemorated. Fallen Canadian soldiers in past, present, and future wars and/or United Nations, NATO missions are noted, or will be noted by the main lobby monument at the Save On Foods Memorial Centre. The arena is the home of the ECHL (formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League) team, Victoria Salmon Kings, owned by RG Properties Limited, a real estate development firm that built the Victoria Save On Foods Memorial Centre, and Prospera Place Arena in Kelowna.
A number of well-known musicians and bands are from Victoria, including Nelly Furtado, David Foster, Bryce Soderberg, Swollen Members, Armchair Cynics, and Hot Hot Heat. From the film industry, Hollywood director Atom Egoyan was raised in Victoria. Actor Cameron Bright (Ultraviolet (film), , Thank You For Smoking) was born in Victoria.

Education

The city of Victoria lies entirely within the Greater Victoria School District. There is one high school located within the city boundaries, Victoria High School, founded in 1876, making it the oldest High School in North America north of San Francisco and west of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Most of the elementary schools in Victoria now offer the popular French immersion programmes in addition to programs in English. The educational needs of the local Francophone community are served by the recently-completed Ecole Victor Brodeur. In addition, within the city proper there are several smaller schools serving segments of the community such as the Chinese School in Chinatown, St. Andrew's Elementary School or the Anglican School adjacent to Christ Church Cathedral. Numerous other private schools are located in the municipalities adjacent to Victoria, including St. Michael's University School, Glenlyon Norfolk School, St. Patrick's Elementary School, St. Margaret's and Pacific Christian School.
The Victoria area has three public post secondary educational institutions: University of Victoria (UVic), Camosun College, Royal Roads University. UVic was once rated the 2nd and 3rd best comprehensive university in all Canada by MacLean's magazine's college/university ratings issue. Notable Canadian politicians like former British Columbia cabinet minister Andrew Petter and Stockwell Day were once students of UVic. Day was the former Canadian Alliance Party leader and currently Public Safety Minister in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative Party of Canada government. There is one international school, in Metchosin Municipality, devoted to the ideals of a united world of peaceful cooperation and coexistence, Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific. Pearson College is named after former Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and architect of the United Nations Peace Keeping program.
There are also several private vocational and English (ESL) training schools available for people who want to learn the English language or upgrade new job market skills. University Canada West is a private degree granting school headed by former UVic President David Strong.

Sister cities

Victoria has four Sister Cities:

Suzhou, People's Republic of China

Morioka, Japan

Napier, New Zealand

Khabarovsk, Russia

Sports teams

The Victoria Cougars are perhaps the most famous sports franchise the city has known, winning the Stanley Cup as members of the PCHA in 1925. They exist today in the form of a Junior 'B' team playing in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League and there was also a team called the Victoria Cougars in the WHL, but are now the Prince George Cougars. Other Victoria sport teams include:

Victoria Salmon Kings (ECHL)

Victoria Grizzlies (British Columbia Hockey League)

Victoria Shamrocks (Western Lacrosse Association)

Victoria Rebels (CJFL)

Victoria United (Pacific Coast Soccer League)

Victoria Vikes teams at the University of Victoria

Chargers sports teams of Camosun College

Defunct teams

Victoria Capitals (Canadian Baseball League)

Victoria Vistas (Canadian Soccer League)

Sport personalities from Victoria

Former NASCAR driver Rick O'Dell is from the city.

Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash, although born in South Africa, grew up in Victoria.

MLB pitcher Rich Harden grew up in Victoria.

Former NHL stars Russ Courtnall and Geoff Courtnall are from the Victoria area.

Lacrosse players Gary Gait and Paul Gait were born and raised in Victoria.

Former field hockey international Deb Whitten was born in Victoria.

NHLer Matt Pettinger was raised in Victoria.

Former NHLer Don Barber

Hockey Hall of Fame member Lynn Patrick

Former NHLer Muzz Patrick (brother of Lynn Patrick)

Former professional soccer player Bruce Twamley.

Media outlets

Print

Victoria Times-Colonist

Monday Magazine

The Martlet - UVic student newspaper

Black Press

The Nexus - Camosun College student newspaper

LookOut - CFB Esquimalt navy base newspaper

Absolute Underground - Underground Music and Culture Magazine

AM radio

AM 900 - CKMO, Camosun College campus radio

AM 1070 - CFAX, news/talk

FM radio

FM 88.9 - CBUX, Espace musique

FM 90.5 - CBCV, CBC Radio One

FM 91.3 - CJZN (The Zone @ 91-3), modern rock

FM 92.1 - CBU-2, CBC Radio Two

FM 98.5 - CIOC (Ocean 98.5), soft adult contemporary

FM 100.3 - CKKQ (100.3 The Q!), active rock

FM 101.9 - CFUV, University of Victoria campus radio

FM 103.1 - CHTT (Jack FM), adult hits

FM 107.3 - CHBE (Kool FM), hot adult contemporary

FM 107.9 - CILS, French community radio

Television

There are two local stations and a community access channel in Victoria:

Channel 6: CHEK (E!)

Channel 53: CIVI (A-Channel)

Cable 11: "Shaw TV", Shaw Communications community channel

Victoria is the only Canadian provincial capital without a local CBC TV affiliate. The region is considered to be a part of the Vancouver television market, receiving most stations that broadcast from across the Strait of Georgia, including the CBC, CTV, and Global networks.

External links

Victoria (official website)

Tourism Victoria website

A History of Victoria 19th century Victoria\

A unique system of networked weather stations covering Victoria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kenora (2006 population 15,177), originally named Rat Portage, is a small city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about 200 km (124 mi) east of Winnipeg. It is the seat of Kenora District.

Headingley is a rural municipality in Manitoba, Canada. It is located directly west of Winnipeg and had a population of 1,907 people in the 2001 census. The Trans-Canada Highway and the Assiniboine River run through the municipality.
The town got its name from a place name in Scotland.
In the early part of the 20th century, an interurban train, Route 29, operated by the Suburban Rapid Transit Company served the Headingley area, but this line was discontinued in the 1930s.
From 1972 until 1993, Headingley was part of the City of Winnipeg. It seceded from the larger city in 1993 after extensive complaints that the local needs of the mostly rural community were not being met as part of a large urban city. As a result of the breakup, it is the only municipality besides Winnipeg in Statistics Canada's Manitoba Census Division No. 11.

External links

www.rmofheadingley.ca - Official RM of Headingley website

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Manitoba (English ; French ) is one of Canada's 10 provinces, with a population of 1,190,400 (2007). It was officially recognized by the Federal Government in 1870 as separate from the Northwest Territories, and became the first Province created from the Territories. It is the easternmost of the three Prairie Provinces. The word "Manitoba" is etymologically related to the native word "manitou" which means spirit. Manitoba, in the Red River area, contained the first western colony and settlement area of Canada. Manitoba is the only Canadian Province with an Arctic deep water sea port at Churchill, along Hudson Bay. Manitoba's northern sea port is the only link along the shortest shipping route between Canada and Asia.
Its capital and largest city (containing over half the provincial population) is Winnipeg, with a population of approx. 710,000 (metro). Other cities with more than 10,000 people are Brandon, Thompson, Portage la Prairie, and Steinbach.
A person from Manitoba is called a Manitoban.

Geography

Manitoba is located at the longitudinal centre of Canada, although it is considered to be part of Western Canada. It borders Saskatchewan to the west, Ontario to the east, Nunavut and Hudson Bay to the north, and the American states of North Dakota and Minnesota to the south.
The province has a lengthy coastline along Hudson Bay, and contains the tenth-largest fresh-water lake in the world, Lake Winnipeg, along with two other large lakes: Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis. Manitoba's lakes cover approximately 14.5% or 94,241 km² of its surface area. Lake Winnipeg is the largest lake within the borders of southern Canada, and the east side has some of the last remote and intact watersheds left in the world. The large rivers that flow into the east side of Lake Winnipeg's basin are pristine, with no major developments along them. The most southern herd of woodland caribou in Canada are along the east side of Lake Winnipeg. Many uninhabited islands can be found along the eastern shore of this lake. There are thousands of lakes across the province.
Important watercourses include the Red, Assiniboine, Nelson, Winnipeg, Hayes, Whiteshell and Churchill Rivers.
Most of Manitoba's inhabited south lies within the prehistoric bed of Glacial Lake Agassiz. This south-central part of the province is flat with few hills. However, there are many hilly and rocky areas in the province, along with many large sand ridges left behind by glaciers. Baldy Mountain is the highest point at 832 m above sea level (2,727 ft) and the Hudson Bay coast is the lowest at sea level. Other upland areas include Riding Mountain, the Pembina Hills, Sandilands Provincial Forest, and the Canadian Shield regions. Much of the province's sparsely-inhabited north and east lie within the irregular granite landscape of the Canadian Shield, including Whiteshell Provincial Park, Atikaki Provincial Park, and Nopiming Provincial Park. Birds Hill Provincial Park was originally an island in Lake Agassiz after the melting of glaciers.
Only the southern parts of the province support extensive agriculture. The most common type of farm found in rural areas is cattle farming (34.6%) followed by other grains (19.0%) The eastern, southeastern, and northern reaches of the province range through boreal coniferous forests, muskeg, Canadian Shield and tundra in the far north. Forests make up about 26.3 million hectares (or 48%) of the province's 54.8 million hectare land area. The forests generally consist of pines (mostly jack pine, some red pine), spruces (white, black), larch, poplars (trembling aspen, balsam poplar), birch trees (white, swamp) and small pockets of Eastern White Cedar. The great expanses of intact forested areas are considered by many naturalists and sportsmen as pristine wilderness areas. Some of the last largest and intact boreal forest of the world can be found along the east side of Lake Winnipeg, with only winter roads, no Hydro development, no mines, and few largely populated communities. There are many clean and untouched rivers, many that originate from the Canadian Shield in neighbouring Ontario. These pristine and intact areas have only been used as native fishing, hunting, and gathering grounds for thousands of years. Some traditional land use areas of the east side of Lake Winnipeg are now a proposed United Nations Heritage Site that is approved by the First Nation communities of those particular traditional lands.

Climate

Due to its location in the centre of the North American continent, Manitoba has a very extreme climate. In general, temperatures and precipitation decrease from south to north, and precipitation also decreases from east to west. As Manitoba is far removed from the moderating influences of both mountain ranges and large bodies of water (all of Manitoba's large lakes freeze during the winter months), and because of the generally flat landscape in many areas, it is exposed to numerous weather systems throughout the year, including prolonged cold spells in the winter months when Arctic high-pressure air masses settle over the province. Southern Manitoba is also prone to high humidity in the summer months with the extreme of 50.3°C in Carman, which over took Canada's old record set in Windsor, Ontario. There are three main climatic regions.
The extreme southwestern corner has a semi-arid mid-latitude steppe climate (Koppen climate classification BSk). This region is somewhat drier than other parts of southern Manitoba and very drought-prone. It is very cold and windy in the winter and also the region most prone to blizzards in the winter due to the openness of the landscape. Summers are generally warm to hot, with low to moderate humidity.
The remainder of southern Manitoba, including Winnipeg, falls in the humid continental climate zone (Koppen Dfb). Temperatures here are very similar to the semi-arid climate zone, but this region is the most humid area in the Prairie Provinces with moderate precipitation. The bitterly cold winters in this region have led to Winnipeg being nicknamed "Winterpeg".
The central and northern parts of the province - the majority of Manitoba's land area - fall in the subarctic climate zone (Koppen Dfc). This region features long and extremely cold winters and brief, mild summers with relatively little precipitation. It is common to have overnight lows as low as -40°C (-40°F) several days each winter across the province (quite frequently in the north), and to have a few weeks that remain below -18°C (0°F).
In the summer months the climate is influenced by low-pressure air masses originating in the Gulf of Mexico, often clashing with drier airmasses in the north and west, which results in hot and humid conditions and frequent thunderstorms. Southern parts of the province, located just north of Tornado Alley, experience a few tornadoes each year, with 15 confirmed touchdowns in 2006. In 2007, on June 22 and 23, numerous tornadoes touched down, including an F5 tornado that devastated parts of Elie (that being the strongest officially recorded tornado in Canada), and an F3 tornado that was captured on video. Temperatures exceed 35°C (95°F) numerous times each summer, and the combination of heat and humidity can bring the humidex value to the mid-40's, and the dewpoint to the upper 20's.

History

The geographical area now named Manitoba was inhabited shortly after the last ice age glaciers retreated in the southwest. The first exposed land was the Turtle Mountain area, where large numbers of petroforms and medicine wheels can be found. The first human habitants of southern Manitoba left behind pottery shards, spear and arrow heads, copper, petroforms, pictographs, fish and animal bones, and signs of agriculture along the Red River near Lockport. Eventually there were the aboriginal settlements of Ojibwa, Cree, Dene, Sioux, Mandan, and Assiniboine peoples, along with other tribes that entered the area to trade. There were many land trails made as a part of a larger native trading network on both land and water. The Whiteshell Provincial Park region along the Winnipeg River has many old petroforms and may have been a trading centre, or even a place of learning and sharing of knowledge for over 2000 years. The cowry shells and copper found in this area are proof of what was traded as a part of a large trading network to the oceans, and to the larger southern native civilizations along the Mississippi and in the south and southwest. In Northern Manitoba some areas were mined for quartz to make arrowheads. The first farming in Manitoba appeared to be along the Red River, near Lockport, where corn and other seed crops were planted before contact with Europeans. For thousands of years there have been humans living in this region, and there are many archaeological clues about their ways of life. Ongoing research will be needed to uncover more artifacts and rock art to lend to a more detailed understanding of past peoples and cultures in Manitoba.
Henry Hudson, in 1611, was one of the first Europeans to sail into what is now known as Hudson Bay. The Nonsuch ship that sailed into Hudson Bay in 1668-1669 was the first trading voyage to reach the area; it led to the formation of the Hudson's Bay Company. The Hudson's Bay Company was given the fur trading rights to the entire Hudson's Bay watershed, covering land in what is now Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Minnesota, North Dakota, and more. This watershed was named Rupert's Land, after Prince Rupert who helped to form the Hudson's Bay Company. York Factory was originally the main fort of the Hudson's Bay Company trading network. Other traders and explorers from the British Isles eventually came to the Hudson's Bay shores and went south along the northern Manitoba rivers. The first European to reach present-day central and southern Manitoba was Sir Thomas Button, who travelled upstream along the Nelson River and Lake Winnipeg in 1612 and may have reached somewhere along the edge of the prairies, where he reported seeing a bison. Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de la Vérendrye, visited the Red River Valley in the 1730s to help open the area for French exploration and the fur trade. Many other French and Métis explorers came from the east and south by going down the Winnipeg River and the Red River. An important French-Canadian population (Franco-Manitobains) still lives in Manitoba, especially in the Saint-Boniface district of eastern Winnipeg. Fur trading forts were built by both the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company along the many rivers and lakes, and there was often fierce competition between the two in more southern areas. The territory was won by Great Britain in 1763 as part of the French and Indian War.
There are a few possible sources for the name "Manitoba". The more likely is that it comes from Cree or Ojibwe and means "strait of the Manitou (spirit)". It may also be from the Assiniboine for "Lake of the Prairie".
Most rivers and water in Manitoba eventually flow north, not south or east as is commonly assumed, and empty into Hudson's Bay. The Hudson Bay Archives is located within Winnipeg, Manitoba, and preserves the rich history of the fur trading era that occurred along the major water routes of the Rupert's Land area.
The founding of the first agricultural community and settlements in 1812 by Lord Selkirk, north of the area which is now downtown Winnipeg, resulted in conflict between the British colonists and the Métis who lived and traded near there. Twenty colonists, including the governor, were killed by the Métis in the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816, in which the settlers fired the first shots. There was also one Métis man killed. Many fur trading forts were also attacked during this period.
When Rupert's Land was ceded to Canada in 1869 and incorporated into the Northwest Territories, a lack of attention to Métis concerns led their elected leader Louis Riel to establish a provisional government as part of The Red River Rebellion. Negotiations between the provisional government and the Canadian government resulted in the creation of the Province of Manitoba and its entry into Confederation in 1870. However, Louis Riel was pursued by Garnet Wolseley because of the rebellion, and he fled into exile. The Métis were blocked by the Canadian government in their attempts to obtain land promised to them as part of Manitoba's entry into confederation. Facing racism from the new flood of white settlers from Ontario, large numbers of Métis moved to what would become Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Originally, the province of Manitoba was only 1/18 of its current size and square in shape - it was known as the "postage stamp province." It grew progressively, absorbing land from the Northwest Territories until it attained its current size by reaching 60°N in 1912.
Numbered Treaties were signed in the late 1800s with the chiefs of various First Nations that lived in the area now known as Manitoba. These treaties made quite specific promises of land for every family, medicine chests, yearly payments, etc. This led to a reserve system under the jurisdicion of the Federal Government. There are still land claim issues because the proper amount of land promised to the native peoples was not always given.
The Manitoba Schools Question showed the deep divergence of cultural values in the territory. The French had been guaranteed a state-supported separate school system in the original constitution of Manitoba, but a grassroots political movement among Protestants in 1888-90 demanded the end of French schools. In 1890, the Manitoba legislature passed a law abolishing French as an official language of the province and removing funding for Catholic schools. The French Catholic minority asked the federal Government for support; however, the Orange Order and other anti-Catholic forces mobilized nationwide. The Conservatives proposed remedial legislation to over-ride Manitoba's legislation, but they in turn were blocked by Liberals, led by Wilfrid Laurier, who opposed the remedial legislation on the basis of provincial rights. Once elected Prime Minister in 1896, Laurier proposed a compromise stating that Catholics in Manitoba could have Catholic teaching for 30 minutes at the end of the day if there were enough students to warrant it, on a school-by-school basis. Tensions over language remained high in Manitoba (and nationwide) for decades to come.
Winnipeg was the 4th largest city in Canada by the early 1900s. A boomtown, it grew quickly from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. There were a lot of outside investors, immigrants and railways. Business was booming. Even today, one can see the many old mansions and estates that belonged to Winnipeg's growing wealthy class. When the Manitoba Legislature was built, it was expected that Manitoba would have a population of 3 million quite soon. Around the beginning of World War I, the quickly growing city began to cool down as large amounts of money were no longer invested to the same degree as before the war. Winnipeg eventually fell behind in growth when other major cities in Canada began to boom ahead, such as Calgary today.
In the 1917 election in the midst of the conscription crisis, the Liberals were split in half and the new Union party carried all but one seat. As the war ended severe discontent among farmers (over wheat prices) and union members (over wage rates) resulted in an upsurge of radicalism. With Bolshevism coming to power in Russia, conservatives were anxious and radicals were energized. The most dramatic episode was the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 which shut down most activity for six weeks. It began May 15 and continued until the strike collapsed on June 25 1919, as the workers were gradually returning to their jobs and the Central Strike Committee decided to end the strike. As historian William Morton explained:
More recently, many historians have disagreed with Morton's interpretation of the strike and have written considerably different histories of it.
In the aftermath of the strike eight leaders went on trial, and most were convicted on charges of seditious conspiracy, illegal combinations, and seditious libel; four were aliens who were deported under the Immigration Act. Labor was weakened and divided as a result.
Farmers, meanwhile, were patiently organizing the United Farmers of Manitoba, with plans to contest the 1920 provincial elections. The result was that no party held a majority. The Farmers, running against politics as usual, won in 1922, with 30 seats, against 7 returning Liberals, 6 Conservatives, 6 Labour, and 8 Independents.

Government

Structure of Manitoba Government

Manitoba is governed by a unicameral legislature, the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, which operates under the Westminster system of government. The executive branch is formed by the majority party and the party leader is the Premier of Manitoba, the head of government. The head of state is represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, who is appointed by the Governor General of Canada on advice of the Prime Minister of Canada. The head of state is mainly a ceremonial and a figurative role today.
The legislative arm of the Government of Manitoba consists of the 57 Members elected to represent the people of Manitoba. The horseshoe arrangement of the members seats within the Chamber is unique in Canada.
Manitoba's primary political parties are the New Democratic Party of Manitoba, the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba and the Liberal Party of Manitoba.

Founding of the Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba was established on July 14 1870. Originally, it was named a Parliament, and then was later named a Legislature. Manitoba attained full fledged rights and responsibilities of self-government as the first Canadian province carved out of the Northwest Territories, control over which had been passed by Britain to the Government of Canada in 1869 due to the sale of Rupert's Land by the Hudson's Bay Company. For its first few decades, Manitoba was known as the "postage stamp province" because it was originally square, initially including only the southern 40% of the province's current territory. (The northern part lay in Rupert's Land, whose area was eventually divided by the Government of Canada between the provinces that bounded it and the NWT.)
The creation of Manitoba out of the Northwest Territories was quick due to the settlements in the Red River area by the Metis and the Lord Selkirk settlers. The Red River colony and Fort Garry area were the only colony in the west, and the Metis set up a provisional republic government prior to joining with Canada. Saskatchewan and Alberta went through a longer period as part of the Northwest Territories until their creation as provinces in 1905.
The decision to make Manitoba a full-fledged province in 1870 resulted from three influences:

A misunderstanding on the part of the Canadian authorities.

The formation of a provisional government of the Métis by Louis Riel.

Fears of manifest destiny sentiments in the United States, ignoring Americans denials of any such goals.

Initially, the subject of provincial status did not come up during the negotiations between Canada, the United Kingdom and the Hudson's Bay Company. It was assumed that territorial status was granted in the Act for the Temporary Government of Ruperts' Land in 1869.
Louis Riel first introduced the subject of provincial status to the Committee of Forty appointed by the citizens of Red River in 1870. Riel's proposal to Donald Smith, emissary for the government of Canada, was rejected by the government of John A. Macdonald.
The list of demands from Riel did goad the government of Canada into acting on a proposal of its own on regarding Red River's status. John A. Macdonald introduced the Manitoba Act in the Canadian House of Commons and pretended that the question of province or territory was of no significance. The bill was given royal assent and Manitoba joined Canada as a province.
It was a significant leap of faith imposing responsible government on Manitoba in 1870 without any adjustment period. It went against all conventional wisdom of the time. However, Macdonald's misunderstanding of territorial versus provincial status, the rise of the Métis people and the burgeoning growth of the United States all compelled him to act in a nation building initiative. In the years that followed, much like the years that preceded, Manitoba went through many upheavals. However, parliamentary government and the Province that was created in 1870 prevailed.
Winnipeg became the capital city and grew rapidly to become a major city in Canada. The present Manitoba Legislative Building was eventually built with neoclassical designs. It was built to accommodate Winnipeg's quickly growing population in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Legislature was built to democratically represent about 3 million citizens, which was the expected population of the province.
The current premier of Manitoba is Gary Doer of the NDP (New Democratic Party). He is currently serving his third mandate with a majority government of 36 seats. The Progressive Conservative Party holds 19 seats, and the Liberal Party (which does not have official party status) has 2. The last election was held Tuesday, May 22, 2007.

Official languages

English and French are the official languages of the legislature and courts of Manitoba, according to the Manitoba Act, 1870 (which forms part of the Canadian constitution):
However, with the rise to power of the English-only movement in Manitoba from 1890 onwards, this provision was disregarded in practice and by Manitoban legislation. In April 1890, the Manitoba legislature introduced a measure to abolish the official status of the French language in the legislature, the laws, records and journals, as well as the Courts of Manitoba. Among other things, the Manitoban Legislature ceased to publish legislation in French, but did so in English only. However, in 1985 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Reference re Manitoba Language Rights that §23 still applied, and that legislation published only in English was invalid (so that Manitoba did not descend into a state of lawlessness, unilingual legislation was declared valid for a temporary period, to give the government of Manitoba time to issue translations.)
Although French is an official language for the purposes of the legislature, legislation, and the courts, the Manitoba Act (as interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada) does not require it to be an official language for the purpose of the executive branch of government (except when the executive branch is performing legislative or judicial functions.) Hence, Manitoba's government is not completely bilingual, and as reflected in the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982, the only completely bilingual province is New Brunswick.
The Manitoba French Language Services Policy of 1999 is intended to provide a comparable level of provincial government services in both official languages Services to the public, including public utilities and health services, official documents such as parking tickets and court summonses, court and commission hearings, and government web sites are accessible in both English and French.

Military

Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg (CFB Winnipeg) is a Canadian Forces Base located in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Co-located at the Winnipeg International Airport, CFB Winnipeg is home to many flight operations support divisions, as well as several training schools. It is also the 1 Canadian Air Division/Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters. The base is supported by over 3,000 military personnel and civilian employees.
17 Wing of the Canadian Forces is based in Winnipeg near the international airport. The Wing is comprised of three squadrons and six schools. It also provides support to the Central Flying School. Excluding the three levels of government, 17 Wing is the largest employer in the city.
The Wing also supports 113 units stretching from Thunder Bay, to the Saskatchewan/Alberta border and from the 49th Parallel to the high Arctic. 17 Wing also acts as a deployed operating base for CF-18 Hornet fighter-bombers assigned to the Canadian NORAD Region.
Two squadrons based in the city are:

402 “City of Winnipeg” Squadron. This squadron flies the Canadian-designed and -produced de Havilland Canada CT-142 Dash 8 navigation trainer in support of the Canadian Forces Air Navigation School’s Air Navigators and Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator training programs.

435 “Chinthe” Transport and Rescue Squadron. This squadron flies the powerful Lockheed CC-130 Hercules tanker/transport in the airlift search and rescue roles. In addition, 435 Squadron is the only Air Force squadron equipped and trained to conduct air-to-air refueling of fighter aircraft in support of operational and training activities at home and abroad. The CC-130 Hercules tanker is a key asset for the Canadian NORAD Region in its mission to defend Canada and the United States against aerial threats that originate outside or within North American airspace.

For many years, Winnipeg was the home of The Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, or 2 PPCLI. Initially, the battalion was based at the Fort Osborne Barracks near present day Osborne Village. They eventually moved to the Kapyong Barracks located in the River Heights/Tuxedo part of Winnipeg. Since 2004, the 550 men and women of the battalion have operated out of Canadian Forces Base Shilo near Brandon.
The Royal Winnipeg Rifles and The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada are infantry reserve units based at Minto Armouries in Winnipeg.
Canadian Forces Base Shilo (or CFB Shilo) is an Operations and Training base of the Canadian Forces located 35 km east of Brandon, Manitoba. During the 1990s, Canadian Forces Base Shilo was also designated as an Area Support Unit, which acts as a local base of operations for south-west Manitoba in times of Military and Civil Emergency.
CFB Shilo is the home of the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery , the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) - both battalions of the 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group - as well as being the Home Station of the Royal Canadian Artillery.
In addition, CFB Shilo lodges training units such as the Western Area Training Centre Detachment Shilo and the Communications Reserve School.
It also serves as a base for some support units of Land Force Western Area, including 731 Signals Squadron.

Professional sports teams

Canadian Football League

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

American Hockey League

Manitoba Moose

Northern League (baseball)

Winnipeg Goldeyes

Western Hockey League

Brandon Wheat Kings

Former professional sports teams

National Hockey League/ World Hockey Association

Winnipeg Jets (moved to Phoenix, Arizona and are now the Phoenix Coyotes)

Northern League (baseball, 1902-71)

Winnipeg Maroons (defunct)

Unknown League (basketball)

Winnipeg Thunder (defunct)

External links

Government of Manitoba

Manitoba Spirited Energy/Vibrant d'énergie

Travel Manitoba

The Manitoba School Question

The Manitoba Historical Society

Architecture of Manitoba

The TimeLinks Image Archive

Review of book about Manitoba's French-Language crisis in the 1980s

Friendly Rivalries: Manitoba Elections, 1966 -1999

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lockport is a small town in Manitoba, Canada located just north of the city of Winnipeg. It is the site of ancient agricultural inhabitation, a migratory bird (the North American White Pelican) feeding area as well as a dam and lock of the Red River. The Red River Floodway joins the Red River just down river from the dam. It is part of the rural municipalities of St. Andrews west of, and St. Clements east of the Red River.
It contains the Lockport Junior High School. It contains grades 7, 8, and 9, because the local high school (Lord Selkirk Comprehensive High School) cannot fit grade 9 inside its walls.
Lockport is also known for having some of the best fishing in the world to both humans and birds.
Interesting sites in Lockport include the A&W, Gaffers, Half Moon, Skinners, Sonia's and Subway Restaurants, famous for summer evening drives from Winnipeg.
Winter brings recreational activities such as snowmobiling to the area. The Lockport Children's Festival continues the local carnival tradition.
The bridge and locks at Lockport (completed in 1910), submerged the St. Andrews Rapids in order to make the Red River navigable by boat to Winnipeg. A small Provincial Park exists in Lockport. On the grounds of Lockport Park is The Kenosewun Centre which is a museum containing local history. In addition Kennedy House Museum just south of Lockport on River Road tells the history of a 19th century Metis family.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kelowna (2007 population 123,456, metropolitan population of 165,596) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a native term for "female grizzly bear."
Kelowna is the seat of the Regional District of the Central Okanagan, the third-largest metropolitan area in British Columbia (after the Vancouver and Victoria), and the largest in the British Columbia Interior. With scenic lake vistas and a dry, mild Canadian climate, Kelowna has become one of the fastest growing cities in North America. The appropriate management of such rapid development (and its attendant consequences) is a source of significant debate within the community. Kelowna is the second most expensive housing market in Canada (behind Vancouver).
Because of the Okanagan's climate and vineyard-filled scenery, it has sometimes been compared to California.
Kelowna also ranks as the 22nd largest metropolitan area in Canada.

History

First settled by missionaries in 1859, Kelowna was officially incorporated in 1905. Nearby communities include Westside to the west across the lake, Lake Country and then Vernon to the north, Westbank and then Peachland to the southwest and further to the south, Summerland and Penticton.
The service industry employs the most people in Kelowna, the largest city in the tourist-oriented Okanagan Valley. In summer, boating is popular, and in winter, Alpine skiing at the nearby Big White Ski Resort.
Kelowna produces wines that have a worldwide reputation. Vineyards are common around and south of the city where the climate is ideal for the many wineries. Notable ones include the Mission Hill Estate Winery, specifically for its unique architectural design. However, at least two major wineries were damaged or destroyed in 2003 due to the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire. Kelowna is also the home of Sun-Rype, a popular manufacturer of fruit juice and snacks.
With roots dating back to 1965, Okanagan College is the predominant centre for vocational and undergraduate post-secondary education in Kelowna. With over 5000 full-time students it constitutes the largest college in British Columbia outside the Lower Mainland and Victoria. The University of British Columbia took over the North Kelowna campus of Okanagan University College (now Okanagan College) on July 1, 2005. While UBCO continues to offer many of OUC's undergraduate programs, UBC Okanagan also offers Engineering and Management undergraduate programs and has developed Graduate programs in most disciplines.
Kelowna was home to the late Premier of British Columbia, W.A.C. Bennett and is the birthplace of his son, William R. Bennett, who also served as Premier of the province.
Former Major League Baseball players, Jeff Zimmerman of the Texas Rangers, his brother Jordan Zimmerman, and Paul Spoljaric were born here. The city is also home to The Grapes of Wrath, one of Canada's most popular rock bands in the 1980s and early 1990s. Evangeline Lilly of the hit TV show Lost was discovered on the streets of Kelowna.

Travel

Roads and highways

For years, only one major highway passed through the city of Kelowna: Highway 97. The road itself is good, but its connections to all points east and west in the province were only managed by using the slow, curving Trans Canada Highway and the Crowsnest Highway.
As the Okanagan Valley is a popular getaway for residents in Vancouver, a new freeway was built into the BC interior in 1986, eliminating over two hours of travel time between the two major destinations. This freeway, starting in Hope, is known as the Coquihalla Highway (Hwy 5), and terminates in Kamloops. This new freeway system allows one to drive the 425 km from Vancouver to Kelowna in just under four hours.
A spur route, The Okanagan Connector, or Hwy 97C, was later added in 1989; it connects in Merritt, and heads eastward to Peachland, about twenty minutes south of Kelowna.
Kelowna is connected to Westside by the three-lane Okanagan Lake Bridge which links Highway 97 south. The floating bridge is being replaced as it has outlived its usefulness and is incapable of supporting the current traffic levels. Construction of the new five-lane William R. Bennett Bridge has begun and will include two interchanges on the Westside approaches. Opening is scheduled for July 2008.
Highway 33, which connects with Highway 97 in Rutland, provides an alternate way to enter and exit the city, towards the southeast.

Air travel

Kelowna International Airport, north of the downtown core, has regular flights to and from Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Las Vegas, Honolulu and Seattle, as well as seasonal service to Mexico.

Climate

Relative to most Canadian cities, Kelowna enjoys a dry climate and mild temperatures (Mean Annual Temperature = , January Mean Temperature = ; Mean July Temperature = ) but this is recorded at the Kelowna Airport, inland and at a higher altitude than the city core. Okanagan Lake tends to moderate the winter climate, but Arctic air occasionally penetrates into the valley during winter (coldest recorded temperature = , 30 December 1968). Summers are hot and sunny, with daytime temperatures often exceeding (hottest recorded temperature = , 24 July 1994). Nighttime temperatures in summer are cool due to the dry environment. The city averages about of precipitation per year, with about 1/3 of the precipitation falling as snow, the bulk in December and January.
Although Kelowna averages 300.5 hours of bright sunshine in July (61% of daylight hours), the early winter months are mostly overcast; thus, Kelowna averages only 40.3 hours of bright sunshine in January (for comparison, consider 120 hours at Winnipeg, Manitoba and Miramichi, New Brunswick; 44 hours at Prince Rupert, British Columbia; 45 hours at Yellowknife, Northwest Territories).
Kelowna is the least windy place in Canada with 39% of days recorded as calm.
(All data are derived from Environment Canada statistics for the Kelowna airport)

Venues and attractions

Prospera Place, a 6,800-seat arena

Apple Bowl, a 5,700 seat outdoor stadium

Alternator Gallery for Contemporary Art

Rotary Centre for the Arts

Kelowna Art Gallery

Kelowna Community Theatre

Kelowna Museum

Kelowna Marina on Okanagan Lake

Capital News Centre

Kelowna Farmers Market - April to October Outdoors

Kasugai Gardens, an outdoor Garden beside City Hall built to celebrate friendship with its sister city; Kasugai, Japan.

Sport

Kelowna Rockets - Western Hockey League (Winners of the 2004 Memorial Cup)

Okanagan Sun - Canadian Junior Football League (Winners of the 1988 and 2000 Canadian Bowl)

Okanagan Challenge - Pacific Coast Soccer League

Kelowna Falcons - West Coast Collegiate Baseball League

Kelowna Wilderness - Outdoor Basketball Association

Media

Radio

AM 1150 - CKFR, oldies

FM 88.9 - CBTK, CBC Radio One

FM 89.7 - CBU-3, CBC Radio Two

FM 90.5 - CBUF, La Première Chaîne

FM 99.9 - CHSU, Sun, hot adult contemporary / CHR

FM 101.5 - CILK, Silk, adult contemporary

FM 103.1 - CKOV, B-103 country

FM 104.7 - CKLZ, Power, classic rock

Television

Channel 2, Cable 13: CHBC, CH

Channel 5, Cable 8: CHKL, Global

Channel 21: CBUFT-1, SRC

Channel 45: CBUT-2, CBC Television

Cable 11: Shaw TV community channel

Internet Television: okbc.tv, Online On-Demand Internet Television

Print

Kelowna Daily Courier: Daily newspaper

Kelowna Capital News: Free community newspaper published three times weekly

Local services

Kelowna Weather

The Okanagan Regional Library has 3 branches in Kelowna

Emergency services are provided by the Kelowna General Hospital, the BC Ambulance Service, the Kelowna Fire Department,
Central Okanagan Search and Rescueand the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Kelowna Regional Transit System provides transit to the Kelowna Area (A branch of BC Transit)

Education

Public schools
Public schools in the Kelowna area are part of School District 23 Central Okanagan or School District 93 Conseil scolaire francophone:

Secondary (Grades 10-12 or 8-12):

Kelowna Secondary School (offers French immersion)

Rutland Senior Secondary

Mount Boucherie Secondary

Okanagan Mission Secondary

Middle (Grades 7-9):

KLO Middle (offers French immersion)

Dr. Knox Middle

Constable Neil Bruce Middle

Rutland Middle

Springvalley Middle

Glenrosa Middle

Elementary Schools (Grades K-6 or K-7):

About 20 elementary schools spread throughout the city. (See the school directory list for district 23 and district 93.)

Private schools

Aberdeen Hall Preparatory School (Pre-school, K-7)

Kelowna Christian School (Pre-12)

Heritage Christian School(Kelowna)(K-12)

Vedanta Academy (K-12)

Okanagan Adventist Academy (K-12)

Immaculata Regional High School (8-12)

St. Joseph Elementary (K-7)

Kelowna Waldorf School (Pre-8)

Okanagan Montessori School (Preschool & Kindergarten)

Okanagan Montessori Preschool-grade 6, after school care

Post-secondary

The University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus)

Okanagan College

Sprott-Shaw Community College

Events of significance

On August 6, 1969, a sonic boom from a nearby air show produced an expensive broken glass bill while at least 6 people were injured.

Winter 1983 was the last time that the Lake completely froze over. (A Royal Canadian Mounted Police helicopter successfully 'rescued' an SUV that had tried to drive across the Lake and cracked through the ice).

In both 1986 and 1988, alcohol-fuelled riots erupted during summer Regatta festivities.

On May 7, 1992, a forest fire consumed 60 hectares of forest on Mount Boucherie in West Kelowna; no homes were damaged.

In August 2003, a nearby wildfire destroyed over 200 homes and forced the temporary evacuation of approximately 30,000 residents.

During the 2003 fire, many trestles of the historic Kettle Valley Railway were destroyed. One of the trestles, Trestle 18, has been rebuilt, and other trestles are planned to be reconstructed as well.

In May 2005, Kelowna celebrated its Centennial.

In 2005, a new bridge to replace the Okanagan Lake Bridge began construction, being part of a plan to try and alleviate the severe traffic problems experienced during the summer months when people from Kelowna drive to Westbank and vice versa. (the height of tourist season).

Sister cities

Kelowna has "sister city" agreements with the following cities:

Kasugai, Japan

Veendam, Netherlands

Trivia

In the Sci-Fi series Stargate SG-1, Jonas Quinn hails from the nation of Kelowna on the planet Langara. Stargate SG-1 and its sister show Stargate Atlantis are produced in Vancouver.

Some believe a lake monster named Ogopogo lives in Lake Okanagan. In the past, naysayers have pointed out the similarities between the so-called monster and a beaver, a log, and other less monstrous lake denizens.

The Online Virtual World Club Penguin has its headquarters located in Kelowna.

In the song "Driving One of Your Cars" by Swedish musician Lisa Miskovsky, she mentions Kelowna in the lyrics "Kelowna is beautiful in summertime they say".

Fido, the comedy/horror/thriller movie about zombies, was shot in Kelowna and debuted on September 7, 2006 at the Toronto Film Festival.

External links

y=49898836&x=-119409714&z=12&l=0&m=a>WikiMapia map of Kelowna

Kelowna City Hall

CHBC TV News Website

CKOV 63

Regional District of the Central Okanagan

School Board

University of BC - Okanagan

Kelowna Directory

Travel Guide

Kelowna Hiking Trails

Kelowna Art Gallery

Circle The Earth Kelowna Page

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cypress is a city located in southern California near the northern border of Orange County, California, United States. Though it is a suburb of Los Angeles, it has many resident industries. As of May 2005 estimates, the city population was 48,863. The Los Alamitos Race Course, which is actually located in Cypress, was once home to the only harness racing in Southern California.

History

The first people living in the area now known as Cypress were the Gabrieleno, a Native American tribe of the Tongva people. They were displaced soon after the arrival of the Europeans. The government of Spain then possessed the land until Mexico gained its independence in 1821. Mexico then lost Alta California to the United States during the period following the Bear Flag Rebellion and then the Mexican-American War.
The original Spanish dons held immense tracts of land throughout California, which were given in lieu of pay to Spanish soldiers. Manuel Nieto was one of the early Spanish dons or landowners in the area. After his death in 1804, his sons retained title to his holdings, but these lands were eventually broken up and distributed among them in 1833 by a grant from the Mexican governor José Figueroa. Manuel's son, Juan José Nieto, retained the title to a large portion of his father's original properties in southern California that included the present-day area of Cypress. That land and other Rancho properties were finally sold to the American Abel Stearns, then acquired by the Robinson Trust, a group of investors, which eventually parlayed their holdings into a vast land speculation business.
Cypress was originally nicknamed "Waterville" due to the preponderance of artesian wells in the area, but was incorporated under the name Dairy City in 1956 by local dairy farmers as a way to stave off developers and to preserve their dairies, much like the then-neighboring cities of Dairy Valley in Cerritos and Dairyland in La Palma. However, after World War II the land became too valuable for farming or ranching, and one-by-one, the dairies sold out to housing developers during the 1960s. By the 1970s, no dairies remained. (Many of the dairymen moved their operations to Chino, California, where development is once again pushing them out of the area.
In 1957, local residents voted to change the name of Dairy City to "Cypress". The name was taken from Cypress Elementary School, originally built in 1895, which took its name from the Cypress trees planted to protect the schoolhouse from the seasonal Santa Ana winds. Cypress Elementary School also provided the name for new Pacific Electric Railroad station on Walker Street at Lincoln Avenue when the Santa Ana Line was completed in 1906, as "Waterville" had already been used elsewhere in the system.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 17.1 square kilometers (6.6 square miles). 17.1 square kilometers (6.6 square miles) of it is land and 0.15% is water. Its Geographical coordinates are .
Cypress is approximately 13 miles north of Bolsa Chica. Cypress is less than a 20 minute drive from Long Beach Airport.

Politics

In the state legislature Cypress is located in the 35th Senate District, represented by Republican Tom Harman, and in the 67th Assembly District, represented by Republican Jim Silva. Federally, Cypress is located in California's 40th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of R +8 and is represented by Republican Ed Royce.

Notable Residents (Past & Present)

Nicole Wells- A.S. President
Tiger Woods - PGA Tour Pro
John Stamos - Actor
Amy Fruhwirth - LPGA Golf Pro
Scott Aukerman - Comedian / Writer
Marko Cavka - Offensive Lineman, New York Jets
Brian Tochi - Actor
Justin Lin - Director
John Trujillo - Filmmaker
Scott Matz - Drummer, Hello Menno / Old Hickory
Adrian Young - Drummer, No Doubt
Greg K - Bassist, the Offspring
Scott Moore - Infielder, Chicago Cubs
Clarence Moore - Wide Receiver, Baltimore Ravens
Phil Seibel - Pitcher, Anaheim Angels
Blaise Bryant - Running Back, Winnipeg Jets
Amanda Freed - Pitcher, US Softball Team - 2004 Olympics
Bryon Davis - Music Industry Compilation Producer / Executive
Phil Jimenez - Comic Book Writer / Artist (Wonder Woman)
Troy O'Leary - Outfielder, Boston Red Socks / Chicago Cubs / Montreal Expos
Christina Puccelli - Voice-over Actor
Kerri Fox-Metoyer - Music Industry Executive - Walt Disney Company
Josh Vitters - All American Prep 3B, 1st Round Draft Pick - Chicago Cubs

External links

City government

City of Cypress official website

Cypress Police Department

Cypress Parks & Recreation Department

Education

Cypress College (Official Web Site)

Cypress High School (Official Web Site)

Oxford Academy (Official Web Site)

Lexington Junior High (Official Web Site)

Cypress Elementary School District (Official Web Site)

St Irenaeus Parish School (Official Web Site)

References

2005 Population estimates

City history

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia