Origins
The rivalry between the two cities dates back to the 1880s when the Canadian Pacific Railway suddenly shifted its planned route across Western Canada from a northern one (via Edmonton) to a more southerly path (via Calgary).
The next major rivalry 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 - wheras the Conservatives had endeavoured to restrict Western settlement to British immigrants, the Liberals had encouraged immigration from other parts of Europe, such as the Russian Empire. The result was that Edmonton and Northern Alberta became much more ethnically diverse than Calgary and Southern Alberta, and this at a time when prejudice against non-British ethnic groups (in particular, Slavic peoples) was commonplace among those of British extraction, adding another layer to the 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 (that is, with Calgary being quite conservative by Canadian standards and Edmonton tending to be more liberal) 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 municipality of Strathcona won the right to host the University of Alberta (see below).
The final important rivalry between the cities during Alberta's early years was over economic leadership, especially in the Oilpatch. Calgary's nearby Turner Valley deposits were discovered in 1914, decades before Edmonton's Leduc #1 field in 1947. This in part 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 sent to market through Refinery Row, located just east of the city in Strathcona County.
Today, although the rivalry is generally shown only during sporting events there remains an 'unspoken' friendly rivalry between residents that remains on a subtle level.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Alberta
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient ideas and ways of his birthplace that the whole span of the Atlantic did not widen the gulf.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
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—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
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—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)