Alberta's vitality and diversity will be celebrated in the heart of America June 30-July 11 as part of the world-famous Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C.
Over 120 of Alberta's finest musicians, storytellers, cooks, craftspeople, occupational specialists and cultural experts will celebrate the living traditions that make and sustain Alberta's unique culture.
Alberta is the first Canadian province to be featured at this prestigious event. More than 100 nations and regions of the world have already been represented. Named as the "top event in the U.S.," the festival has won scholarly and popular acclaim through Academy, Emmy and Grammy awards.
The 10-day festival is an opportunity for people from around the world to learn about Alberta's history, heritage and culture first-hand from the people who have dedicated their lives to celebrating, promoting and preserving it.
The free outdoor event attracts 1.5 million people, providing a unique opportunity for Alberta to showcase its dynamic people and culture on the National Mall.
Alberta's participation is being led by the Ministries of International and Intergovernmental Relations, and Community Development.
Contact
Steve Pritchard
Executive Director, Smithsonian Project
Alberta International and Intergovernmental Relations
12th Floor, Commerce Place
10155 - 102 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T5J 4G8
Phone: (780) 427-4897
Fax: (780) 427-0699
E-mail: steve.pritchard@gov.ab.ca
The Canadian province of Alberta covers 661,190 square kilometers (255,285 square miles), an area larger than France or Thailand.
The province has the Rocky Mountains in the west, prairies in the south, and forests in the north. Forests cover more than 50% of the province.
The population of Alberta is 3.2 million, which is comparable to Uruguay or New Zealand.
The largest cities, Edmonton and Calgary, are home to one million people each.
Alberta has Canada’s fastest growing population and the youngest and best-educated workforce.
Alberta’s multicultural population contributes valuable foreign language and business skills. Since 1980, most immigrants to Alberta have come from Asia.
Alberta schools teach over 20 international and Aboriginal languages, including French immersion & 6 international languages in bilingual programs.
Half of Aboriginal people in Alberta live in cities. The rest live on 46 Indian reserves, 8 Metis Settlements, or in small communities.
The Calgary Stampede, the world’s largest rodeo, attracts one million visitors each July.
Edmonton hosts an internationally renowned series of music, arts and multi-cultural festivals every summer, and is home to West Edmonton Mall, the world’s largest shopping and entertainment centre.
Alberta is home to five World Heritage sites, including Banff and Jasper national parks, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (near Fort Macleod), Dinosaur Provincial Park (near Drumheller’s Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology), Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, and Wood Buffalo National Park.
The size of Alberta’s economy - estimated at $192 billion in 2004 (US$148 billion) - is comparable to that of Ireland.
A free-enterprise government, a low tax-base and a strong diversified economy contribute to Alberta’s high standard of living.
In 2004, Alberta exported $73.2 billion in goods and services ($56 billion U.S.), accounting for 38% of the province’s GDP.
Close to 90% of Alberta's goods exports went to the United States. Of the remainder, over half went to Asia.
Top Alberta Exports 2000-2004 average annual exports of goods Billion % of Rank Product $CDN Total 1 Natural Gas 20.1 35% 2 Oil 15.3 27% 3 Petrochemicals 3.9 7% 4 Computer & Electronic 2.4 4% 5 Pulp & Paper 1.5 3% 6 Beef 1.5 3% 7 Lumber/ Wood Prods. 1.5 3% 8 Propane/Butane, etc 1.3 2% 9 Machinery 1.2 2% 10 Wheat 1.0 1% Other 7.4 13%
More than half of Alberta's oil and gas is exported to the U.S., providing 6% of U.S. oil consumption and 11% of natural gas consumption.
In 2004, 57% of Alberta’s oil production came from oil sands.
Alberta’s natural gas distribution hub will be critical to transporting natural gas across North America from Alaska and Canada’s north.
Coal bed methane reserves are beginning to be developed, ensuring Alberta will remain a secure supplier of natural gas.
Total crude oil and equivalent production in Alberta in 2004 was 1.7 million barrels per day (bbl/d).
Alberta cities rank among the most livable and cost competitive in the world when it comes to the cost of establishing and operating a business. Of 63 world cities surveyed by KPMG in 2004, Edmonton ranked second and Calgary was seventh.
Over the past 10 years, Alberta’s economy has grown at an average rate of 3.5% annually (Canada’s fastest growth rate).
Alberta’s oil exports are comparable in volume to those of OPEC countries such as Algeria, Iraq, & Libya.
Alberta is the world’s second largest exporter and third largest producer of natural gas, an environmentally friendly fuels.
The vitality and diversity of the western Canadian province of Alberta will be celebrated in the heart of America's capital in summer 2006 as part of the internationally renowned Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
With the fastest-growing economy in Canada, Alberta's wealth extends beyond its oil sands and gas fields, beyond its majestic Rocky Mountains and rich agricultural plains, and beyond its legendary ranches and its thriving cosmopolitan, multicultural cities.
Alberta's true wealth is its people--a diverse, hard-working, innovative population whose "can do" spirit has transformed a frontier territory into a prosperous province with a vibrant cultural landscape. Celebrating its centennial in 2005, Alberta is the first Canadian province to be featured at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Through dynamic performances, demonstrations, and educational programs, more than 120 of Alberta's finest musicians, storytellers, cooks, craftspeople, occupational specialists, and cultural experts will celebrate the living traditions that make and sustain Alberta's unique culture. The event will highlight Alberta's indigenous traditions, rich pioneer and immigrant heritage, and thriving contemporary culture.
Edmonton’s river valley park is 22 times larger than Central Park in New York.
There are more golf courses per capita in Edmonton than in any other city in Canada.
Edmonton has one of the lowest population densities of any North American City about 67 times less than the population density of New York City!
Edmonton has the best education systems in North America and is the home of: The University of Alberta (which houses Canada’s second largest research library), the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (one of the largest technical institutes in Canada) and MacEwan (Alberta’s largest college).
There is more than $85 billion dollars of investment planned for the Edmonton region.
Edmonton has the largest collection of Dutch Elm trees in the world on its streets.
Edmonton is one of Canada’s sunniest cities averaging more than 12 hours of sunshine each day and up to 17 hours of daylight in the height of summer.
Edmonton is Canada’s Festival City, with over 30 successful festivals held every summer, including North America’s largest alternative theatre event, the Edmonton International Fringe Festival.
Alberta offers the lowest income tax rates in Canada and some of the lowest in North America.
The oldest municipal golf course in Canada (1907) is in Edmonton - the Victoria Golf Course.
Alberta has a landmass nearly the same size as the state of Texas, almost two times larger than Germany and five times larger than England.
West Edmonton Mall is the largest shopping mall in North America. It boasts more than 800 stores, 110 eating establishments, state-of-the art movie theatres, the world’s largest indoor amusement park and wave pool, plus a full-size hockey rink.
Located on 25 hectares, the Edmonton Composting Facility is the largest of its kind in North America by volume and size.
The University of Alberta in Edmonton invented the Edmonton Protocol for diabetes treatment
the ADMINISTRATOR
Posts: 1242
(10/3/06 17:57) Reply
Re: Alberta’s Capital
Tuesday, Oct 03, 2006
Edmonton children's hospital to train doctors on artificial hearts for kids
EDMONTON (CP) -
The Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton announced it has teamed up with a German firm in a deal to expand the use of what is known as a Berlin Heart.
It's a portable mechanical device that keeps blood pumping in an ailing heart while a child waits for a new organ.
The Stollery, located at the University of Alberta, will become the first North American and only Canadian support centre for the device.
Some of the hospital's doctors will train with experts at Berlin Heart Inc. in Germany. They will then be available to go across Canada and the western United States to teach and troubleshoot for other doctors.
"It's going to make this device available to a lot wider range of patients," Stollery pediatric heart surgeon Dr. Ivan Rebeyka told a news conference.
"There's not going to be a large number of (patients), but for that select few who otherwise have no other option, it means they're going to survive."
Children's hearts have always posed difficulties for surgeons because the organs are smaller and beat comparatively rapidly.
Rebeyka said the Berlin Heart is groundbreaking because it comes in sizes so small it can be used on newborns. It reproduces the normal pumping action of the heart so closely that children can wait for weeks or months for a donor.
"It's quite the miracle."
The Berlin Heart costs US$50,000 and is available through Health Canada on compassionate grounds.
Across the world, 188 pediatric patients have received the device, including 55 in North America.
the ADMINISTRATOR
Posts: 1252
(10/25/06 15:38) Reply
Stem[ming] the Flow of Dr.'s North[ or snooze you lose]
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
TORONTO -- One of the world's foremost stem cell researchers is returning to Canada to head up a new centre for regenerative medicine in Toronto, which officially opens its doors Wednesday.
Gordon Keller left his native Saskatchewan 16 years ago to work in the United States, and has spent the last seven at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where his lab has performed groundbreaking research generating various types of cells from embryonic stem cells.
Despite being touted by New York Magazine earlier this year as one of six doctors the city couldn't afford to lose, Keller jumped at the chance to become founding director of the University Health Network's McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine.
Among his reasons for heading north: "The opportunity to work with what I think is the best stem cell community in the world," Keller said in an interview.
"One of the unique features, I think, is the existing strength of both stem cell biology and regenerative medicine in Toronto in a very defined area. A lot of the institutes are close to each other . . . with each of them housing really superb scientists."
The centre, given $10 million in start-up funding by Rob and Cheryl McEwen, initially will include 15 researchers from the University Health Network, the Hospital for Sick Children, Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto.
Included in the team are internationally recognized experts in stem cell research, regenerative medicine and molecular biology.
"The long-term hope is to bring to society better, more effective treatments."
[the Republicans must be against bettering their society]
Global National 2006
2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc..
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