The Palliser Region is an area in the southeast corner of the province of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada that has been delineated and is serviced by the Palliser Economic Partnership. It borders the Canadian province of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

to the east, and the US state of Montana to the south. It covers an area of The total population of the area stood at 112,314 in 2009. The city of

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, ...

, with a population of 61,097,http://www.municipalaffairs.alberta.ca/documents/LGS/2009pop.pdf is the area’s largest urban centre. The Palliser Region is the traditional territory of the

Blackfoot Confederacy The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...

, who hunted bison throughout the area. From 1857 to 1860, the area was explored as part of the Palliser Expedition, led by

John Palliser John Palliser (29 January 1817 – 18 August 1887) was an Irish-born geographer and explorer. Following his service in the Waterford Militia and hunting excursions to the North American prairies, he led the British North American Explorin ...

. He described the area of southeast Alberta and southwest Saskatchewan – now known as the Palliser Triangle – as semi-arid, and warned that it was unsuitable for agricultural development. European settlement began with the arrival of the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...

in the mid 19th century.

Fort Walsh Fort Walsh is a National Historic Sites of Canada, National Historic Site of Canada that was a North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) fort and the site of the Cypress Hills Massacre. Administered by Parks Canada, it forms a constituent part of Cypress ...

was established by Police Inspector

James Morrow Walsh James Morrow Walsh (22 May 1840 – 25 July 1905) was a North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) officer and the first commissioner of Yukon. Born in Prescott, Ontario, James Walsh was one of the original officers of the NWMP. Superintendent Walsh ...

, who became a good friend of

Sitting Bull Sitting Bull ( lkt, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake ; December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. He was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock I ...

when he led the Sioux to the area after the Battle of Little Big Horn. Despite the area’s semi-arid climate, the British government encouraged farmers to settle in the region. They struggled with drought up until the end of the 1930s, and many settlers abandoned their farms due to crop failure, but dryland farming techniques introduced by the

Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) was a branch under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), a department of the Federal Government of Canada. The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration was established by an Act of Parliam ...

eventually transformed the region into a successful agricultural centre. The region’s geography is characterized by grasslands – including the Cypress Hills – and classic

badlands Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, m ...

country. The region receives more than 2,512 hours of sunshine per year on average, making it the sunniest area in Canada. The three fastest growing economic sectors in the Palliser Region are Mining and Oil and Gas Extraction, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services, and Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Leasing. Employment in the region is currently increasing at more than double the Canadian average. The Palliser Region is intersected by two major highways, #1 and #3 on the east–west axis, connecting it to the rest of Canada, and two secondary highways, #36 and #41, on the north–south axis, which connect it to the US border. It is served by the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

, which connects it to the rest of North America via connections with its affiliates. This transportation infrastructure is key to the region’s economy, which is based on agriculture, oil and gas, manufacturing, defence and aerospace, and tourism.

History

The Palliser Region is the traditional territory of the

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

of the

– particularly the

Siksika The Siksika Nation ( bla, Siksiká) is a First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada. The name ''Siksiká'' comes from the Blackfoot words ''sik'' (black) and ''iká'' (foot), with a connector ''s'' between the two words. The plural form of ''Siks ...

(also called Blackfoot), the Blood (or

Kainai The Kainai Nation (or , or Blood Tribe) ( bla, Káínaa) is a First Nations band government in southern Alberta, Canada, with a population of 12,800 members in 2015, up from 11,791 in December 2013. translates directly to 'many chief' (fro ...

) and the

Northern Peigan The Piikani Nation (, formerly the Peigan Nation) ( bla, Piikáni) is a First Nation (or an Indian band as defined by the ''Indian Act''), representing the Indigenous people in Canada known as the Northern Piikani ( bla, script=Latn, Aapátohsipi ...

(or Aapátohsipikáni). The

Gros Ventres The Gros Ventre ( , ; meaning "big belly"), also known as the Aaniiih, A'aninin, Haaninin, Atsina, and White Clay, are a historically Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe located in north central Montana. Today the Gros Ventre people are ...

also used the area until they relocated to a reservation in eastern

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

in 1861. These were nomadic peoples, who followed game, particularly the

bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...

(or American buffalo) throughout the seasons. Their hunting grounds extended through Montana to the Missouri River, eastward along the Cypress Hills and northwards as far as the

Wetaskiwin Wetaskiwin ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is located south of the provincial capital of Edmonton. The city name comes from the Cree word ''wītaskiwinihk'', meaning "the hills where peace was made". Wetaskiwin is ...

area. Everything to the north and east of this was considered the territory of the

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

– indeed, after the Riel Rebellion, when Mekastino (also called Red Crow), chief of the Blood First Nation, and

Crowfoot Crowfoot (1830 – 25 April 1890) or Isapo-Muxika ( bla, Issapóómahksika, italics=yes; syllabics: ) was a chief of the Siksika First Nation. His parents, (Packs a Knife) and (Attacked Towards Home), were Kainai. He was five years old when ...

, chief of the Siksika, were taken on a trip to

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, they were familiar with the country as far east as

Swift Current Swift Current is the fifth largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is situated along the Trans Canada Highway west of Moose Jaw, and east of Medicine Hat, Alberta. Swift Current grew 6.8% between 2011 and 2016, ending up at ...

, but after that were out of their element. The nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy had always hunted the bison, but the reintroduction of the horse to the American continent by the Spanish

conquistadors Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

, the " buffalo culture," with the bison at the basis of life, became extremely strong. By the time of European contact the members of these First Nations were highly skilled riders, breeders and all-round horsemen. The Cypress Hills area was also used by the neighbouring Cree and

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

First Nations, the enemies of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Some sources report that the Cypress Hills area was considered neutral territory, and did not belong to any particular First Nation. The hills were a source of medicine plants that could not be found on the prairie, and, when bison were scarce, deer, elk and squirrel could be hunted there. From 1857 to 1860, a large area of

Rupert’s Land Rupert's Land (french: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert's Land (french: Terre du Prince Rupert, link=no), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land t ...

– now southwest Saskatchewan and southeast Alberta – was explored as part of the Palliser Expedition, led by

. Born into the Irish aristocracy, Palliser eschewed the comforts of his wealth to travel the world. His particular interest lay in

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...

, and in 1856 he accepted an offer from the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

to lead a full scientific expedition to Rupert’s Land. The three reports and map that were submitted to the Royal Geographical Society and to the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of col ...

by the expedition were instrumental in opening the region to settlement, and proved to be invaluable tools for the

, boundary surveyors and railway planners. Palliser found that the entire region was suitable for agriculture, except for one semi-arid region that became known as the Palliser Triangle. Up until 1870, the region was nominally under the control of the

Hudson’s Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

, although there was essentially no law enforcement. In 1873 a skirmish between white and

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

traders and members of the Assiniboine First Nation, which came to be known as the Cypress Hills Massacre, prompted Prime Minister

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...

to create the North-West Mounted Police. In 1875 they established

, named after its builder, Inspector

. The following year, when

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

leader

led his people into Canada after the

Battle of Little Big Horn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...

, they arrived at Fort Walsh. Sitting Bull and James Walsh became such good friends that Walsh was criticized for not pursuing Canadian government policy and forcing the Sioux back into the United States. By the late 1880s, the huge herds of bison had virtually disappeared. This led to a time of great hardship for the First Nation peoples, who at times had to rely on handouts from the North-West Mounted Police at Fort Walsh to survive. Starvation compelled many First Nations to settle on reserves allotted by the federal government. This, coupled with the building of the

, opened the way for white settlement throughout the area. Despite the fact that John Palliser, and later surveyor William Pearce, had warned that the Palliser Region was a semi-desert useless for farming, their assessments were ignored in the rush to settle the area. As early as the late 1910s and early 1920s, however, farmers were abandoning the area. By 1926, about 6,400 farms had been abandoned, and 17,000 people had left. This was primarily due to the weather: from 1915 to 1930 the mean daily maximum temperature in the Medicine Hat area was 30 °C (86 °F), and the entire year’s precipitation was at times as low as 20 cm (8 in.). The region’s farmers continued to suffer throughout the drought of the 1930s, and by the end of that decade almost 100,000 settlers had left the area. However, by that time, the solution was already in sight: in 1935, the federal government under Prime Minister R. B. Bennett established the

(PFRA). The PFRA, under the local leadership of Asael E. Palmer, superintendent of the experimental station at Lethbridge, promoted dryland farming techniques and created widespread irrigation projects. In the end, as a result of these measures, almost 200,000 km². (77,000 sq. mi.) of drought-ravaged land were reclaimed within the province. The techniques established by the PFRA laid the foundation for the successful agriculture industry which flourishes in the Palliser Region to this day.

Geography and climate

The Palliser Region is part of the of Alberta’s

grasslands A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natural ...

, which are in turn part of the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

that stretch from the Gulf of Mexico north into Canada. The region is a flat to gently rolling plain, with a few major hill systems, including the Cypress Hills. The rivers in the region are part of either the

Saskatchewan River The Saskatchewan River (Cree: ''kisiskāciwani-sīpiy'', "swift flowing river") is a major river in Canada. It stretches about from where it is formed by the joining together of the North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan Rivers to Lake Winn ...

or Missouri River systems.

Badlands Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, m ...

have developed where valleys are carved deeply into the bedrock. The formations typical of badlands – canyons, ravines, gullies and

hoodoos A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, or earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock formed by erosion. Hoodoos typically consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the ...

– are common in the area.

Dinosaur Provincial Park Dinosaur Provincial Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated a two hour drive east of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; or , about a half-hour drive northeast of Brooks. The park is situated in the Red Deer River valley, which is noted for its strik ...

, one of the richest sources of dinosaur fossils in the world and a

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

, is located within the badlands. The region benefits from a comfortable, semi-arid climate, with generally dry, hot summers and cold, sunny winters interspersed with warm

Chinook winds Chinook winds, or simply Chinooks, are two types of prevailing warm, generally westerly winds in western North America: Coastal Chinooks and interior Chinooks. The coastal Chinooks are persistent seasonal, wet, southwesterly winds blowing in from ...

. It receives more than 2,512 hours of sunshine per year on average, making it the sunniest area in Canada. The Palliser Region is home to a number of individual communities. They include: the cities of

Brooks Brooks may refer to: Places ;Antarctica *Cape Brooks ;Canada *Brooks, Alberta ;United States * Brooks, Alabama * Brooks, Arkansas *Brooks, California *Brooks, Georgia * Brooks, Iowa * Brooks, Kentucky * Brooks, Maine * Brooks Township, Michigan ...

and

; the

County of Forty Mile No. 8 The County of Forty Mile No. 8 is a municipal district in south eastern Alberta, Canada. It is located in Census Division 1, southwest of Medicine Hat. Its municipal office is located in the Village of Foremost. Geography Communities and ...

, the

County of Newell The County of Newell is a municipal district in southern Alberta, Canada. Located in Census Division No. 2, its municipal office is located south of the City of Brooks. History It was incorporated as the ''County of Newell No. 4'' on Jan ...

, and

Cypress County Cypress County is a municipal district in southeastern Alberta, Canada that surrounds the City of Medicine Hat and the Town of Redcliff. The municipality is part of Census Division 1, Alberta.http://www.albertafirst.com/profiles/statspack/20 ...

; the

Municipal District of Acadia No. 34 The Municipal District of Acadia No. 34 is a municipal district (MD) in southern Alberta, Canada, east of Calgary, close to the Saskatchewan border, in Census Division No. 4. It is located on Highway 41 on the north side of the Red Deer Ri ...

; Alberta’s three special areas ( No. 2,

No. 3 ''No. 3'' () is a 1997 Koreans, South Korean Kkangpae, gangster comedy film starring Han Suk-kyu as the titular no. 3 man of a gang who's aspiring to rise up the ranks and become the leader of his own gang. It was writer-director Song Nung-han's ...

and No. 4); the towns of Bassano,

Bow Island Bow Island () is a town in Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 3 in southern Alberta, approximately north of the United States border, southeast of Calgary and southwest of Medicine Hat. History The community of Bow Island recei ...

, Hanna,

Oyen Oyen is a town in east-central Alberta, Canada near the Saskatchewan boundary and north of Medicine Hat. It is on Highway 41, south of its junction with Highway 9. Early name, Bishopburg, was changed in 1912 to honour Andrew Oyen, an early s ...

, and Redcliff; and the villages of

Cereal A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...

Duchess Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...

Empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

, Foremost,

Rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native plant, native to the Mediterranean Region, Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was kn ...

, Tilley and

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, which ...

Demographics

The Palliser Region’s population has been growing steadily for the last twenty years. The population has grown by 1.5% over the last decade, almost 1.5 times faster than the rest of Canada. Palliser Canada population graph

The population and dwelling counts of the cities, towns, municipal districts and special areas within the Palliser Region from the Canada 2011 Census are as follows: Within these major municipalities, 28.3% of the population over 15 years old has obtained a high school certificate and equivalent. 12% have a trades certification, 20.7% have a college diploma or some university, and 8.3% have a university degree. English is by far the predominant language, with 93.7% of respondents saying that this is the language spoken at home. 8.7% of the population describes themselves as immigrants, and only 2.9% identify themselves as First Nations, with 74% of those living in Medicine Hat.

Infrastructure

The Palliser Region is crossed by an effective network of highways, linking the area to Saskatchewan in the east, western Alberta and British Columbia in the west, Montana and the rest of the United States in the south, and northern Alberta in the north. The

TransCanada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...

#1 crosses the region from the Saskatchewan border to Medicine Hat, and then proceeds northwest to

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. Highway #3 goes southeast from Medicine Hat to

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

. Highway #36 begins at Warner, and then proceeds north through Taber. Highway #41 crosses the Canada/US border at Wild Horse, MT/Wild Horse, AB, and joins the Trans Canada just east of Medicine Hat. The border crossing is open 7 days a week, with seasonally varying hours. Over 100 trucking companies serve the Palliser Region, travelling the highways and meeting the needs of the agriculture, petroleum and other industries in southeast Alberta.

Greyhound Bus Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and pa ...

maintains a depot in downtown Medicine Hat and offers service to centres across the region. The Medicine Hat Municipal Airport (

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...

: YXH,

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

: CYXH), located southwest of the town centre, is the region’s only commercial airport. It is served by Central Mountain Air and offers daily flights to Calgary. The Bar XH Air Inc. charter company also uses the airport. General aviation airports in the region are located in Bow Island, Bassano, Brooks, Foremost, Hanna and Oyen. The

operates the predominant railway system in the Palliser Region. Its main line crosses the border with Saskatchewan and proceeds east to Medicine Hat, splitting at that point to run south through the

Crowsnest Pass Crowsnest Pass (sometimes referred to as Crow's Nest Pass, french: link=no, col du Nid-de-Corbeau) is a low mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta–British Columbia border. Geography The pass i ...

to British Columbia, and north through Calgary. This rail line links the region to principal centres in Canada from

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, and to the northeast and Midwest United States. The

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

crosses into Alberta from Saskatchewan and stops at Oyen. Through a series of marketing alliances and interline agreements, both railways can extend their markets throughout the United States and Mexico. Quality water treatment, sewage and waste facilities are available throughout the region, and a variety of electricity and natural gas providers offer local service. The City of Medicine Hat actually owns the gas production, gas distribution, electric generation and electric distribution utilities that serve its customers. The city is also working on a solar-thermal project which would use solar energy to produce steam to run a portion of its power plant – and which would make Medicine Hat the first Canadian city to use this system. Telecommunications in the Palliser Region are handled in part through the Alberta SuperNet, which connects public institutions across the province and currently serves 429 communities. Internet service providers are able to "piggyback" onto the SuperNet network, making it possible to access high-speed Internet service throughout the region. Residents of the Special Areas can access high-speed through Netago Wireless, which has worked with the local government to make service available.

Economy

Forestry, fishing, mining, and oil and gas account for 15% of employment in the Palliser Region. There are also healthy manufacturing and service sectors, and a growing tourism industry. The three fastest growing economic sectors are Mining and Oil and Gas Extraction, which grew by 55.4% from 2000 and 2005, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services, which grew by 41%, and Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Leasing, which grew by 22.9%. Employment in the region is currently increasing at a rate of 2.9% per year, more than double the Canadian average. In 2004, the Palliser Region employed 10,000 people in the agriculture industry, an increase of almost 50% since 2001. The region is home to 3,600 farms, totaling 3.73 million hectares, with an average farm size of 1,023 hectares. These farms account for $1.23 billion in gross farm receipts and $6.85 billion in total farm capital. The nearly 5,200 farm operators in the region farm 1,080,494 hectares of land in crops. There are about 840,000 cattle and calves in the region (about 13% of the provincial total) and just under 207,000 pigs (approximately 10% of the provincial total). The region is also home to a greenhouse industry led by Red Hat Co-op, a producer-run cooperative that markets greenhouse crops. Over 80% of Alberta’s dry beans, chick peas and lentils are grown in the region, making it a major

pulse In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the nec ...

centre. The construction and professional, scientific and technical services industry (of which engineering is a part) employed 8,200 workers in the region in 2006, an increase of 37% over 2001. This industry accounts for 10% of total employment in the Palliser Region. The region is home to diverse establishments in the engineering and construction industry, employing an estimated 4,255 people in the City of Medicine Hat alone. There are also 4,800 people employed in the construction sector in the region. To supply skills to the industry,

Medicine Hat College Medicine Hat College is a public, board governed, comprehensive college serving southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada. The college is located in the city of Medicine Hat, Alberta, and was founded in 1965. Almost 2,500 studen ...

offers apprenticeship training in carpentry, plumbing, welding and other trades. Thanks to the presence of a

Defence Research and Development Canada Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC; french: Recherche et développement pour la défense Canada, ''RDDC'') is a special operating agency of the Department of National Defence (DND), whose purpose is to provide the Canadian Armed Forces ...

(DRDC) research centre at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Suffield, the defence and aerospace industry is a dynamic sector in the Palliser Region, with further growth projected through the addition of new training programs. DRDC Suffield conducts research in tactical weapon systems, military engineering, munitions and firepower, and defence against chemical, biological, radiological and explosive hazards. Several local companies have benefited from working closely with DRDC and the licensing of DRDC technologies. The Palliser Region is also home to the Canadian Centre for Unmanned Vehicle Systems, a research, development, testing, evaluation and commercialization centre aimed at accelerating the growth in the sector. Due to its natural gas reserves, the Palliser Region is able to supply a large portion of Alberta’s raw resources to produce petrochemicals and

specialty chemicals Speciality chemicals (also called specialties or effect chemicals) are particular chemical products which provide a wide variety of effects on which many other industry sectors rely. Some of the categories of speciality chemicals are adhesives, agr ...

used in the production of plastics, antifreeze, film, fibers and other products. The chemicals and rubber industry employs about 660 workers, or 2% of the workforce, in the Palliser Region. Large natural gas reserves in the region are in shallow reservoirs, resulting in a high exploration success rate and low development and production costs. There are also numerous coals deposits in the

Belly River Belly River is a river in northwest Montana, United States and southern Alberta, Canada. It is a tributary of the Oldman River, itself a tributary of the South Saskatchewan River. The name of the river may come from the Blackfoot word of , meanin ...

formation throughout the Palliser Region providing opportunities for thermal coals/mine and electric generation. The region is also home to abundant deposits of low temperature clays, including

kaolinite Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...

and

bentonite Bentonite () is an absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite (a type of smectite) which can either be Na-montmorillonite or Ca-montmorillonite. Na-montmorillonite has a considerably greater swelling capacity than Ca-mon ...

. The City of Medicine Hat has a long history of producing clay products, including pottery, bathroom fixtures and brick. The low cost and convenience of natural gas is of great advantage to the industry. A variety of locations within the Palliser Region have been used in movie productions, including

Unforgiven ''Unforgiven'' is a 1992 American Revisionist Western film starring, directed, and produced by Clint Eastwood, and written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job, ...

(1991), Texas Rangers (1999), Ararat (2002),

An Unfinished Life ''An Unfinished Life'' is a 2005 American drama film directed by Lasse Hallström, and based on the Mark Spragg novel of the same name. The film stars Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, and Morgan Freeman. It is the story of a gruff Wyoming rancher ...

(2005) and RV (2006). The region’s natural assets, including

Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park is a natural park in Canada straddling the Alberta / Saskatchewan boundary and jointly administered by the two provinces. Located south-east of Medicine Hat, it became Canada's first interprovincial park in ...

and the badlands, are the focus of most of its tourist activity.

Culture, recreation and media

Medicine Hat is home to the Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre, which combines an art gallery, museum and theatre under one roof and is also home to the area’s archives. The Esplanade was built in 2005 as one of Alberta’s Centennial Legacy Projects. Performing arts groups in the Palliser Region include a concert society in Brooks, a theatre group in Foremost and a blues group in Bow Island. In addition, the Medicine Hat College Theatre is host to numerous groups who provide regular theatre productions, including the Medicine Hat Musical Theatre Association. Festivals in the area include the Medicine Hat Jazz Festival, the Annual Polka Festival, the Ralston Arts Festival, the City of Medicine Hat Rotary Music Festival and the Annual Young Artist’s Concerto Competition. The Hidden Valley Ski Area in

offers both downhill and cross-country skiing, as well as winter hiking opportunities. There are also more than 15 golf courses in the region. Water recreation opportunities can be found at recreational reservoirs, rivers and lakes. The

Medicine Hat News The ''Medicine Hat News'' is a daily newspaper published in Medicine Hat, Alberta. It features a city news section, a national news section, a world news section, a sports section, a comics section, and a classifieds section. The paper is owned b ...

is the daily newspaper in Medicine Hat; other local weekly papers in the region include the Brooks Bulletin, Brooks and County Chronicle, Bassano Times, Hanna Herald, Bow Island Commentator, Oyen Echo, and Prairie Post. Local television network

CFCN-TV CFCN-DT (channel 4) is a television station in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside cable-exclusive CTV 2 Alberta (based in Edmonton with sister station CFR ...

, which broadcasts in Calgary and Lethbridge, is the local CTV affiliate. It provides local television coverage, along with

CBRT-DT CBRT-DT (channel 9) is a CBC Television station in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The station's studios are located in the Cambrian Wellness Centre, in the University Heights neighbourhood, and its transmitter is located near Old Banff Coach Road/ Hi ...

Calgary (Calgary CBC) and

CHAT-TV CHAT-TV ( analogue channel 6) is a television station in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, affiliated with Citytv. Owned by the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, the station has studios at 10 Boundary Road SE in the nearby town of Redcliff, and its tra ...

, a Citytv affiliate, in Medicine Hat. Medicine Hat radio stations include Power 93.7 ( CJLT-FM),

CHAT-FM CHAT-FM is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts a country format at 94.5 FM in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The station is owned by the Jim Pattison Group. History The station originally began broadcasting as an AM station on November 1, 1946 ...

, MY 96 (

CFMY-FM CFMY-FM is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format at 96.1 FM in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The station is branded as ''My96'' and is owned by the Jim Pattison Group The Jim Pattison Group is a Canadian conglomera ...

), Classic Hits 102.1 (

CJCY-FM CJCY-FM (102.1 FM, ''Jack 102.1'') is a radio station in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Owned by Rogers Sports & Media, it broadcasts an adult hits format under the "Jack" branding. History The station was licensed by the Canadian Radio-television an ...

) and Rock 105.3 (

CKMH-FM CKMH-FM is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts an active rock format at 105.3 FM in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The station is branded as ''105.3 Rock'' and is currently owned by Rogers Sports & Media. The station was licensed by the Canadian R ...

CKUA The CKUA Radio Network is a Canadian donor-funded community radio network based in Edmonton, Alberta. Originally located on the campus of the University of Alberta in Edmonton (hence the UA of the call letters), it was the first public broadcaste ...

and

CBC Radio 1 CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of Ca ...

are rebroadcast from Calgary, and CHFA-8-FM (Radio Canada) is rebroadcast from Edmonton. Brooks’ country radio station is Q13 ( CIBQ).

Government and politics

The municipalities within the Palliser Region are governed via a variety of systems. The City of Medicine Hat is governed by a city council consisting of a mayor and eight

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

, each elected for a term of three years. The most recent elections were held in November 2010, when Normand Boucher was re-elected as mayor for a second term. The City of Brooks is government by a city council consisting of a mayor and six

councillors A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

, also elected for a term of three years. The election of November 2010 returned Martin Shields as mayor for a second term. The County of Forty Mile No. 8, the County of Newell, Cypress County and the Municipal District of Acadia are each represented by elected councils headed by a Reeve. The Special Areas are run by advisory councils consisting of eight members for Special Area 2, three members for Special Area 3 and three members for Special Area 4. The towns of Bassano, Bow Island, Hanna, Oyen and Redcliff are each governed by their own mayor and town council. The villages of Cereal, Duchess, Empress, Foremost, Rosemary, Tilley and Youngstown are each governed by a village council. The Palliser Region encompasses all or part of four provincial electoral districts, each of which elects a member to the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...

. The district of

Cypress-Medicine Hat Cypress-Medicine Hat is a provincial electoral district in the southeast corner of Alberta. Under the Alberta electoral boundary re-distribution of 2004, the constituency covers the portion of Medicine Hat south of the South Saskatchewan River ...

is represented by

Leonard Mitzel Leonard Wendelin Mitzel (February 18, 1946 – March 19, 2017) was a Canadian politician and former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Cypress-Medicine Hat as a Progressive Conservative. Early ...

, a member of the

Alberta Progressive Conservative party The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (often referred to colloquially as Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta) was a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta that existed from 1905 to 2020. The party ...

. The district of

is represented by Progressive Conservative

Rob Renner Robert William Renner (born October 6, 1954) is a Canadian politician and was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for the constituency of Medicine Hat as a Progressive Conservative. Early life Renner was born October 6, 1954 in ...

. The district of Strathmore-Brooks is represented by Progressive Conservative

Arno Doerksen Arno Doerksen (born January 25, 1958) is a Canadian politician. Early life Doerksen was born in the Town of Bassano, Alberta, Canada and raised in Gem. He spent more than 25 years in farming and ranching before entering politics. He is a pureb ...

and the district of

Drumheller-Stettler Drumheller-Stettler is a provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district (riding) in Alberta, Canada. The electoral district is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alb ...

is represented by Progressive Conservative Jack Hayden. At the federal level, the Palliser Region encompasses by two ridings, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. The riding of Medicine Hat is represented by LaVar Payne of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. He was elected in the 2008 federal election, and is a member of the House of Commons Standing Committees on National Defence and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development. The riding of

has been represented since 2000 by Conservative

Kevin Sorenson Kevin A. Sorenson (born November 3, 1958) is a Canadian politician who represented the riding of Battle River-Crowfoot (known as Crowfoot from 2000 to 2015) in the House of Commons of Canada from 2000 to 2019, first as a member of the Canad ...

. He is currently the chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development and Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.

References

External links

Brooks weather forecast from Environment Canada

Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park

Dinosaur Provincial Park

Grasslands School District

Medicine Hat News

Medicine Hat Public Library

Prairie Land School District

School District No. 76
{{coord , 50, N, 111, W, display=title Geographic regions of Alberta