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Calgary Region

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Country
  
Canada

Area code(s)
  
403, 587, 825

Time zone
  
MST (UTC-7)

Province
  
Alberta

Calgary Region httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

The Calgary Region is an area centred on Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It consists of the City of Calgary, Rocky View County and the municipalities it encloses, and the Municipal (MD) District of Foothills No. 31 and the municipalities it encloses. The Calgary census metropolitan area (CMA) and Calgary Region are different entities. Some municipalities within the region have little or no metropolitan relationship to Calgary in terms of commuting for employment or commerce purposes.

Contents

Map of Calgary Metropolitan Area, AB, Canada

The Calgary Region is a major transportation hub for southern Alberta, Saskatchewan, eastern British Columbia, and parts of the northern United States. It is home to the Calgary International Airport, the third busiest airport in the country in terms of total aircraft movements.

Calgary CMA

The Calgary CMA, as defined by Statistics Canada, includes the following nine municipalities:

  • three cities (Airdrie, Calgary and Chestermere);
  • one municipal district (Rocky View County, which includes Langdon – the CMA's largest hamlet);
  • three towns (Cochrane, Crossfield, and Irricana);
  • one village (Beiseker); and
  • one First Nations reserve (Tsuu T'ina Nation, which includes the Townsite of Redwood Meadows).
  • In the 2011 Census, the Calgary CMA had a population of 1,214,839 living in 464,001 of its 488,451 total dwellings, a 12.6% change from its 2006 population of 1,079,310, making it the largest CMA in Alberta and the fifth largest in Canada. With a land area of 5,107.55 km2 (1,972.04 sq mi), it had a population density of 237.9 people per square kilometre in 2011.

    Also in terms of area, the Calgary CMA makes up approximately 40% of Statistics Canada's Division No. 6 in Alberta. The balance of Division No. 6 includes the census consolidated subdivisions of the MD of Foothills No. 31 to the south and Mountain View County to the north.

    The MD of Foothills No. 31 and the municipalities within are often considered as part of Calgary's metropolitan area due to, among other things, the MDs shared boundary with the City of Calgary and the bedroom community nature of towns like Okotoks, High River, Black Diamond and Turner Valley.

    Calgary Regional Partnership

    Founded in 1999, the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP) is a cooperative between 15 urban municipalities in the greater Calgary area that deals with regional growth and planning issues. The CRP's motto is Thinking regionally... acting locally...

    Membership

    The CRP's current membership includes three cities (Airdrie, Calgary and Chestermere), nine towns (Banff, Black Diamond, Canmore, Cochrane, Irricana, Nanton, Okotoks, Strathmore, and Turner Valley), and one townsite (Redwood Meadows). Of these thirteen municipalities, four of the ten towns (Banff, Canmore, Nanton, and Strathmore) are outside, but in proximity to, the Calgary Region's boundaries as defined in this article. Of the remaining six towns, three of them (Black Diamond, Okotoks, and Turner Valley) are outside of the Calgary CMA boundaries as defined by Statistics Canada.

    Past members

    Membership in the CRP once consisted of the four municipal districts and two additional towns. These included the MD of Bighorn No. 8, the MD of Foothills No. 31, Rocky View County, Wheatland County and the towns of Crossfield and High River. The MD of Bighorn No. 8 pulled out of the CRP in March 2009 due to the lack of opportunity for infrastructure connectivity to the balance of the Calgary Region. In June 2009, the latter three opposed the Calgary Metropolitan Plan that was being considered for approval by the CRP's member municipalities. All three subsequently withdrew from the CRP in September 2009. Crossfield and High River withdrew from the CRP in December 2011 and April 2013 respectively citing concerns that the CRP was becoming another layer of government.

    In an attempt to bring the MD of Foothills No. 31 and Rocky View County back to the CRP, Alberta's Minister of Municipal Affairs, Doug Griffiths, requested that the two municipal districts and the CRP engage in mediation. All parties agreed to participate and the mediation process has since concluded with a report delivered to Minister Griffiths for review and decision.

    List of municipalities

    The following is a list of municipalities in the Calgary Region. Those municipalities that are within the region and are either part of the Calgary CMA, members of the CRP or both are indicated accordingly. CRP members that are proximate to, yet located outside of, the Calgary Region, such as Banff, Canmore and Strathmore, are not listed as they are located within the neighbouring regions of Alberta's Rockies and southern Alberta.

    References

    Calgary Region Wikipedia