About Alberta

This is from the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation About Alberta page. Great info!

Alberta, number one in Canada

• Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Princess Louise was the wife of the Marquess of Lorne, the Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883.
• The total population of Alberta is approximately 3.62 million as of January 2009.
• Alberta is in the west of Canada, next to westernmost British Columbia, the coastal province on the Pacific. Alberta’s border to the west, with B.C., is mostly formed by the Rocky Mountains. To the north, Alberta borders the Northwest Territories, to the east the province of Saskatchewan, and to the south the American state of Montana.
• Alberta is the fourth largest province in Canada. It is similar in size to Texas, three times the size of Great Britain or equal to the combined areas of France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.
• The province has a diversity of natural terrain—parklands, grasslands, primordial badlands, vast tracts of wildlands, boreal forests and plains, ancient glaciers, thousands of lakes and rivers, and mountain ranges that run the length of North and South America.
• More than 12 per cent of Alberta’s total land area is protected in 500 provincial parks, five national parks, and four national wildlife areas. Five of Canada’s 14 UNESCO World Heritage Sites are in Alberta, including Jasper National Park, 370 km from Edmonton.
• Alberta is home to a pair of the world’s most magnificent skiing areas, in Banff and Jasper National Parks in the Rocky Mountains. Much of northern Alberta is boreal forests, which offer great cross-country skiing and wildlife viewing.
• Alberta offers the lowest income tax rates in Canada and some of the lowest in North America.
• Canada’s economic driver, Alberta has consistently led in annual rates of growth and job creation. While natural resources, particularly petroleum products, were long the base of Alberta’s economic success, the province’s economy today is diverse and sophisticated.
• Alberta is the world’s second-largest exporter of natural gas.