Battle of Alberta
The Battle of Alberta is a term applied to the intense rivalry between the Canadian cities of Calgary, the province's most populous city, and Edmonton, the capital of the province of Alberta. Most often it is used to describe sporting events between the two cities, although this is not exclusive as the rivalry predates organized sports in Alberta.
Origins
identifies a longstanding cultural divide in Alberta between the centre and north on one hand and the south on the other as a recurring theme in the province's history going back to pre-contact Aboriginal cultures. The peoples of the boreal forest, and to a lesser extent, the aspen parkland, led a subarctic lifestyle which involved trapping fur-bearing animals and travelling by canoe, which made the region a natural fit for the fur trade. By contrast the plains cultures on the prairie to the south relied on the buffalo. The predominant political force on the prairie during the fur trade, the Blackfoot Confederacy, would not allow the Hudson's Bay Company to establish itself within Blackfoot territory, preferring to ride to Edmonton House to trade. Around this time some Cree and allied peoples pushed south onto the plains, and became rivals of the Blackfoot. By the 1810s, explorer Peter Fidler identified the Battle River as a disputed frontier between the two groups. Locke asserts that the lack of an HBC presence in the south set the stage for very different patterns of settlement in the different regions. Calgary was founded as a North-West Mounted Police fort and was not much of a settlement at all until the mid-1880s when the Canadian Pacific Railway suddenly shifted its planned route across Western Canada from a northern one to a more southerly path. Therefore, the economic and cultural origins of Calgary and its region, were created up by the NWMP and the CPR, not the HBC. Because of the CPR line, Calgary's agricultural hinterland was settled much sooner, mostly by people of British, and particularly Scottish, origins but it also has an American influence because of the ranching culture brought into the region by American cowboys. By contrast, Edmonton's hinterland is marked by a French Canadian and Métis presence, and was predominantly occupied by people of non-British European origins. In particular, the region just to the east of Edmonton, Kalyna Country, is Canada's oldest and largest area of Ukrainian settlement.Following the debate over the CPR, the next important contest between the two cities was to determine which would become Alberta's capital city when the province was created in 1905. By this time, two new transcontinental railways had been built, both via Edmonton, under the guidance of a federal Liberal government that had replaced the Conservative government which had overseen construction of the CPR. Equally important, the Liberals overhauled Canada's immigration system. Whereas the Conservatives had endeavoured to restrict Western settlement to British immigrants, the Liberals had encouraged immigration from other parts of Europe, such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The result was that Edmonton and northern Alberta became much more ethnically diverse than Calgary and southern Alberta, occurring at a time when prejudice against non-British ethnic groups was commonplace among those of British extraction, adding yet another layer of ill will between north and south.
Thus by the turn of the century, the differing political leanings of Calgary and Edmonton that persist to this day were already well established. Not surprisingly then, when the federal Liberal government admitted Alberta to Confederation in 1905, they named Edmonton the capital. However, the Calgary elite were even more infuriated when Edmonton's neighbour, the then-separate city of Strathcona, won the right to host the University of Alberta.
The final important rivalry between the cities during Alberta's early years was over economic leadership, especially in the Oil patch. Calgary's nearby Turner Valley deposits were discovered in 1914, decades before Edmonton's Leduc #1 field in 1947. In part this accounts for the much larger concentration of head offices of large corporations in Calgary. Edmonton's business community contains more private corporations working in oil and gas, consulting and smaller operations. Edmonton is also the research and manufacturing centre of the Canadian petroleum industry, and roughly 80% of Canada's oil production is refined and sent to market through Refinery Row, located just east of the city in Strathcona County.
Today, although the rivalry is generally expressed only during sporting events, there remains an 'unspoken' friendly rivalry between residents that remains on a subtle level.
Hosting of events
The rivalry also extends outside of team sports to international events. Both cities have hosted numerous national and international championships and other tournaments, often in a spirit of one-upmanship: there is constant need for local politicians to prove that their city is "world class" or at least better than the other.The constant one-upmanship of the two cities in this field has receded in recent years, and they cooperated in a successful joint bid to host the 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
Events hosted in Calgary
Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics, the 1996 International Rotarian Convention, and the 1997 World Police and Fire Games as well as the World Skills competition in 2009. Calgary is also an annual stop for many winter sport organizations, including International Skating Union, International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, International Luge Federation, and some International Ski Federation events. Calgary is also home to the world-famous Calgary Stampede.Calgary was designated as "Canada's Cultural Capital" in 2012 for the inaugural year of the program. The federal government granted $1.6 million to develop and renovate the city's cultural institutions and promote the arts.
Social entrepreneurs and scholars convened in Calgary during October 2013 for the 6th Social Enterprise World Forum to discuss solutions for global problems.
In the summer of 2015, Calgary hosted the 2015 World Handball Championships. The ten-day tournament hosted athletes from 30 nations.
Calgary was named the host the 2024 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games.
Events hosted in Edmonton
Edmonton hosted the 1978 Commonwealth Games, the 1983 World University Games, the 2001 World Championships in Athletics, and the 2005 World Masters Games. The city also had a circuit on the IndyCar Series, the Edmonton Indy, from 2005 to 2012. Edmonton was designated as one of the host cities of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.As of 2022, the Archdiocese of Edmonton hosted two papal visits: Peace tours of John Paul II in 1984, and the reconciliation visit of Pope Francis in 2022.
Edmonton annually hosts North America's largest fringe festival, the Edmonton International Fringe Festival, every August; the same month also sees the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Edmonton also hosted the Canadian Finals Rodeo during the second week of November from 1974 to 2017. The Edmonton International Street Performers Festival takes place every June. The city also plays host to K-Days every July. Edmonton is widely known as Canada's Festival City due to the large number of festivals it hosts year-round.
Direct competition: Expo 2017
In 2007, Edmonton started assessing the viability of hosting Expo 2017. The Edmonton City Council approved the building of a bid on April 15, 2009. Later in April, Calgary announced its coming bid to host Expo 2017, though it had not expressed any interest beforehand. In July of the same year, a disagreement occurred when Edmonton received provincial funding for its bid, while Calgary did not. Calgary withdrew its bid to host the event.Sports
Baseball
Cannons vs. Trappers
Alberta's most prominent baseball rivalry existed between the Calgary Cannons and Edmonton Trappers of the Pacific Coast League. The Cannons existed from 1985 to 2002 while the Trappers existed from 1980 to 2004. The rivalry never reached the same level as it did in other sports, however, and ultimately both teams relocated to the United States. The Trappers captured four PCL championships during their existence, while the Cannons won none.Vipers vs. Capitals
In 2011, the two cities competed in the North American League as the Calgary Vipers and Edmonton Capitals. The two teams met in the Northern Division playoffs in 2011; the Capitals won the series in six games. The Vipers folded after the season, and the Capitals suspended operations in February 2012, leaving the province with no professional baseball.Football
The rivalry between the cities' professional Canadian football teams is equally intense, and even predates the hockey rivalries, as the first football games in Alberta history took place in the 1890s. A team from Edmonton made history as they played in the first football game in Alberta, playing to a scoreless tie against Clover Bar. The first game played between teams from Edmonton and Calgary took place in 1891 when Edmonton beat Calgary 6–5 in a total point challenge series.The rivalry had been diminished for a number of years until the Calgary City Rugby Football Club and the Edmonton Rugby Football Club were formed in 1906 and 1907 respectively where the two teams competed in the Alberta Rugby Football Union. In 1908, the teams were re-organized as the Calgary Tigers and Edmonton Esquimaux where the Esquimaux won the ARFU title that year. From then on, the two cities had multiple teams represent them in the Alberta Union, but instability led to a lack of consistent rivalry battle between the two. Teams named the Calgary Canucks, Calgary 50th Battalion, Calgary-Altomah Tigers, Edmonton Elks, Edmonton Eskimos, and Edmonton Boosters all took turns playing in the ARFU. It was not until the creation of the Western Interprovincial Football Union that a truly sustained rivalry could take place between two teams representing the two cities.
Today, the primary football team rivalry consists of the Edmonton Elks and the Calgary Stampeders.