Western Canada Flashcards
Describe the economy of western Canada
Experiencing record economic and population growth due to its oil and potash resources (specifically in Alberta and Saskatchewan)
Describe how the population has changed in the past 150 years in Western Canada.
The completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1885) spurred population growth by connecting Eastern Canada to the West, facilitating migration and trade Economic Drivers: The discovery of oil in Alberta in 1947 (Leduc No. 1) and subsequent energy developments attracted workers and businesses, particularly to Alberta.
What is driving the most current change in population?
What physiographic regions are found in Western Canada?
Western Canada has two major physiographic regions - the interior plains and the Canadian shield - as well as a small portion of Hudson Bay Lowlands and the Cordillera.
Describe the climate and why Palliser’s Triangle exists?
What is Palliser’s triangle?
Palliser’s Triangle spans parts of southern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. It is characterized by low rainfall and drought-prone conditions, making it less suitable for traditional agriculture compared to other parts of Canada. In contrast to its early description, modern agricultural practices, including irrigation and more drought-resistant crops, have enabled farming in parts of the region. Today, Palliser’s Triangle is a key area for cereal crop production, including wheat, as well as ranching
Who was Palliser and why did he come to Canada?
John Palliser, who headed an 1857 expedition sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society, recommended that the building of a railway across British territory should avoid what he called “the impregnable Canadian Shield” and take a more southerly route south of the Great Lakes and through American territory.
Name the two belts Palliser described.
The Prairie Belt: characterized by relativey fertile soil and moderate rainfall.
The Arid Belt:his belt corresponds to the area that Palliser identified as being too dry for successful farming, now known as Palliser’s Triangle. It extends across parts of southern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and is characterized by low rainfall, frequent droughts, and limited agricultural potential. Despite Palliser’s early assessment, modern farming techniques, including irrigation, have made parts of this area more suitable for agriculture
Describe the three envirmomental challenges faced in Western Canada?
- The release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere through the upgrading process is among the largest in Canada.
- open-pit mining has cerated a scarred industrial landscape
- seperating the oil from the bitumen requires large amounts of water drawn from the Atabasca river. resulting toxic waste is drained into hige tailing ponds adjacent
What is one of the factors leading to the increase in pig farming?
Cheap global need
Why are the pig farms being located in the prairies?
vast agricultural lands, which produce large quantities of grains used for animal feed, global need.
What effect to pig farms and increased fertilizer use have on Lake Winnipeg?
The major issue stems from nutrient runoff, particularly phosphorus, which is a key component of fertilizers and also found in pig manure. When excess nutrients enter the lake, they fuel the growth of algae, leading to eutrophication. This process depletes oxygen levels in the water, disrupts aquatic ecosystems, and harms fish populations.
Increased fertilizer use, especially in agricultural areas around Lake Winnipeg, is a primary contributor to this nutrient overload. Additionally, pig farms that discharge waste into nearby waterways exacerbate the situation by adding more phosphorus to the lake. The algae blooms not only degrade water quality but also reduce the recreational value of the lake and affect local communities that rely on it for fishing and tourism.
Why were bison removed from the Prairies and what was the effect on the Prairie ecosystem?
Removed due to European settler expansion and the development of the fur trade. Mass hunting. They helped maintain grassland health by grazing on o certain plant species - promoting biodiversity.Without bison, the Prairie ecosystem changed dramatically. Woody plants overran grasslands, and the decline in biodiversity affected other species, including plants, insects, and animals that depended on the open grasslands. The absence of bison also altered the nutrient cycling in the soil, which further impacted plant growth and the overall health of the ecosystem
Describe the development of the Oil Sands?
The first significant discovery of oil sands was made in 1788 by a fur trader, Peter Pond, but it wasn’t until the 1920s that efforts were made to extract the oil in a practical way. The first extraction attempts began in the 1920s with basic mining and distillation processes, but they were not economically viable.In the 1960s, significant technological advancements paved the way for large-scale oil sands development. The introduction of hydro-transportation (piping the oil sands to processing plants), and later, the development of methods like in-situ extraction (such as steam-assisted gravity drainage, or SAGD), allowed oil sands to be extracted in a more cost-effective and environmentally manageable way.
In 1967, the first commercial operation, the Great Canadian Oil Sands Project, was established in Alberta, followed by the construction of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project in the 1970s. The industry’s growth accelerated due to rising oil prices in the 2000s, as global demand for energy increased.
What are they mining?
Bitumen
Describe the controversial methods used to transport this resource to market.
Pipelines; oil spills, indigenous rights, climate change- the extraction and transportation of oil sand have a high carbon foorprint, which contributes to global warming.
When will the current degree of development double?
What was the Red River settlement and who were the Metis people?
The Red River Settlement was a key agricultural community founded in 1812 along the Red River, primarily in what is now southern Manitoba. It was initially a fur trading outpost controlled by the Hudson’s Bay Company and later became a vital settlement for both French-Canadian and Indigenous peoples. The area was known for its fertile land, which attracted settlers from various regions, including French Canadians, Scots, and Métis.
The Métis people are an Indigenous group with mixed European (mainly French) and Indigenous (primarily First Nations) ancestry
Who was their leader and explain his function in the English/French faultline?
Louis Riel Riel’s role in the Red River Rebellion was a defining moment in the English/French faultline of Canadian history. It exposed the deep divisions between French Catholics (especially in Quebec and areas like Red River) and English-speaking Protestant Canadians. His leadership bridged these gaps in some ways, especially in terms of promoting Métis and French Canadian rights within the broader Canadian context. However, his execution after leading the second Métis uprising (the North-West Rebellion) in 1885 solidified him as a martyr for French-speaking Canadians and a controversial figure in English Canada.
Riel’s legacy today is still marked by this duality: he is seen as a founder of Manitoba and a symbol of French-Canadian resistance to English dominance, but also as a tragic and polarizing figure caught in the national struggle for identity and political control.
Why did the Metis move to Selkirk or the Red River valley?
In summary, the Métis moved to the Red River Valley for economic opportunities, to secure their cultural identity, and to find a more stable and controlled environment amidst external pressures, including changing fur trade dynamics and increased settler expansion
Describe why it was difficult to build a railway across Canada?
Geography and terrain (Rocky mountains, the canadian shield), economic, indigenous influence.
Why was it deemed necessary to have a transcontinental railway?
Unification of Canada, Economic Developmeny, National security, settlement and immigration
What terms did the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) accept to ensure it was built?
Government land grants, cash subsidies, completion deadlines, exclusive rights, use of chinese immigrant labor, political incentives
Explain the settlement pattern of Western Canada after the completion of the CPR.
the settlement pattern in Western Canada was largely linear, following the CPR’s route. Towns and communities were established along the railway line, and agricultural activity expanded outward from these hubs.
