EDMONTON CAPITAL REGION

The 'Edmonton Capital Region (ECR)', also known as Greater Edmonton or the Alberta Capital Region, comprises Alberta's provincial capital of Edmonton and surrounding communities in Sturgeon County(north), Parkland County (west), Specialized Municipality of Strathcona County (east) and Leduc County (south). A small portion of Lamont County also lies within the ECR just to the northeast. Up to 35 independent municipalities make up Edmonton's CMA outside the City of Edmonton itself. The largest of these are St. Albert, Sherwood Park (part of the Municipality of Strathcona County), Spruce Grove, Leduc, and Fort Saskatchewan. Towns include Stony Plain, Beaumont, Morinville, Devon, Redwater, Legal, Gibbons, Calmar, Bruderheim, Lamont and Bon Accord. Major industrial areas include Nisku in Leduc County and the recently established Alberta Industrial Heartland, northeast of Fort Saskatchewan.
Elk Island National Park lies within the eastern part of the Edmonton Capital Region. It is a remaining patch of natural parkland, which is now largely destroyed in this region by extensive agricultural and other human activities. Herds of wood bison and elk can be seen roaming in the national park. Also beaver, moose and other animals make their home in Elk Island National Park.
The ECR's boundaries are the same as that of Edmonton CMA (Census Metropolitan Area) as outlined by Statistics Canada. The total area of the CMA is 9,418 km² - the largest CMA by area in Canada. The population of the ECR and Edmonton CMA is 1,034,945 as per the 2006 census by Statistics Canada. The population of the ECR is expected to reach 1.25 million by 2020 and 1.5 million by 2033.
The ECR is also a part of the Statistics Canada Division No. 11 in Alberta. but unlike the census division, it is important to note that the ECR itself does ''not'' include Wetaskiwin County and the MD of Brazeau as does Division No. 11.
In the past until the late 1960s, Edmonton has annexed a few surrounding communities which are now neighbourhoods, including Beverly, Jasper Place, and most famously, Strathcona (annexed by Edmonton in 1912), whose downtown is now the Old Strathcona historical district centered on Whyte (82) Avenue. Edmonton has attempted in the past to annex Sherwood Park and St. Albert, but without success to date.
The ECR is fragmented in terms of regional cooperation and partnership, and that has played a role in the history of Edmonton and the surrounding region. The City of Edmonton is pushing for greater cooperation among the surrounding municipalities within the Capital Region.
The Edmonton Capital Region is considered a major gateway to northern Alberta and the Canadian North, particularly for many companies, including airlines and oil/natural gas exploration. Located at , it is the northernmost metropolitan area in Canada and is also located near the geographical centre of Alberta. The ECR is at the northern end of the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor, one of four major economic regions which comprise 50% of Canada's total population.

Contents

Communities

Footnotes

See also

External links

Communities

Municipalities	Population	Year
''Cities''
Edmonton	730,372	2006
Fort Saskatchewan	14,957	2006
Leduc	16,967	2006
Spruce Grove	19,496	2006
St. Albert	57,719	2006
''Towns''
Beaumont	8,961	2006
Bon Accord	1,534	2006
Bruderheim	1,215	2006
Calmar	1,959	2006
Devon	6,256	2006
Gibbons	2,642	2006
Lamont	1,664	2006
Legal	1,192	2006
Morinville	6,775	2006
Redwater	2,192	2006
Stony Plain	12,363	2006
''Villages''
New Sarepta	410	2006
Thorsby	945	2006
Wabamun	601	2006
Warburg	621	2006
''Rural Districts''
Leduc County	12,730	2006
Parkland County	29,265	2006
Sturgeon County	18,621	2006
''Specialized Municipalities''
Strathcona County[1]	82,511	2006
''First Nations Reserves''
Enoch Cree Nation #1440	1,418	2006

Footnotes

1. Divided into Sherwood Park (2005 population: 55,063) as an Urban Service Area and the rest of Strathcona County outside Sherwood Park as a Rural Service Area (2005 population: 25,169).

See also

★ Calgary-Edmonton Corridor

External links

★ Edmonton.com - Portal to Greater Edmonton

★ EEDC - Edmonton Economic Development Corporation