Alberta

The province of Alberta is the second westernmost province in Canada. During 2010, the projected population was 3.7 million which made it the most densely inhabited of the 3 Prairie Provinces. On the first of September, the year 1905, the province of Alberta and the nearby Saskatchewan became officially established as provinces.

Alberta is bounded by Saskatchewan towards the east and lovely British Columbia forms the western border. Towards the north lie the Northwest Territories and the U.S. State of Montana lies to the south. Alberta is 1 among only 2 landlocked provinces and it is 1 of 3 Canadian territories and provinces to border one U.S. state.

Edmonton is the capital city of the province. The city of Edmonton is the province's primary supply and service hub for the Canadian oil sands and other northern resource industries. This is largely because of the city being located near the geographical centre of the province of Alberta. The city of Calgary is one more big city which is around 300 kilometres and 190 miles towards the south. Both of these two metropolitan areas have exceeded 1 million individuals according to the latest census estimates.

Thanks in part to the huge petroleum industry, the economy in the province of Alberta is amongst the strongest in the nation, with agriculture and technology following suit. In the year 2007, the GDP per capita was the highest of any province by far within Canada coming in at $74,825. This number was higher than the national average of $46,441 by 61 percent and compared to some of the Atlantic Provinces it was twice as much. The census of 2006 recorded the median annual family income after taxes to be $70,986 in the province of Alberta as opposed to the Canadian average of $60,270.

The province's most urbanized region is the corridor between Calgary and Edmonton, that makes up among the densest areas within the country. The region covers over 400 kilometers from its northern boundary to the south. The Calgary-Edmonton Corridor had a population during 2001 of 2.15 million that was 72% of Alberta's populationthe population of Albertathe province of Alberta. This is one of the fastest growing places in Canada. According to the Fraser Institute, Alberta is rated as the freest economy in Canada and along with its economic freedom; it is the second freest economy amongst Canadian provinces and U.S. states.

Within Canada, the Province of Alberta is the biggest producer of synthetic crude, conventional crude oil, natural gas and gas products, while ranking fourth in natural gas production and the 2nd largest exporter of this resource. Two of the top producing petrochemical plants in North America are situated in north-central and central Alberta. There are also world class vinyl and polyethylene manufacturers who make products in Red Deer and Edmonton and ship to all over the globe. The raw materials for a huge petrochemical industry situated to the east of Edmonton are provided by Edmonton's oil refineries.

The Athabasca oil sands have projected unconventional oil reserves which roughly equal the conventional oil reserves located within the rest of the globe. This amount is projected to be roughly 254km3 or 1.6 trillion barrels. There are extraction methods which are new and are being developed in Albertathe province of Alberta like for instance the steam assisted gravity drainage method. This advancement has made bitumen and synthetic crude oil able to be produced at costs similar to those of conventional crude.