Cold Lake

The city of Cold Lake, named after the nearby lake, is located within the northeastern part of Alberta. The city of Cold Lake is situated roughly 300 kilometres northeast of Edmonton within Alberta's "Lakeland" district, that is near the Alberta-Saskatchewan provincial border. The region neighboring the city is sparsely populated, and consists mostly of farmland. The Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, located towards the north of the city, is the Canadian equivalent to the Air Force's Nellis Air Force Range of the United States.

Cold Lake was initially recorded on a 1790 map, by the name of Coldwater Lake. Initially three communities, the city of Cold Lake was formed by merging the Town of Cold Lake, the Town of Grand Centre, and Medley (Canadian Forces Base 4 Wing) on the 1st of October, the year 1996. The original Cold Lake is referred to as Cold Lake North and Grand Centre was renamed Cold Lake South. Due to its origins, the area is also referred to as the Tri-Town.

The economy of the city is inextricably associated to military spending at CFB Cold Lake. The region likewise supports gas and oil exploration and production. The Athabasca Oil Sands project in Fort McMurray is having a growing influence in the area as well. The Cold Lake oil sands could become an essential contributor to the local economy.

Every year the city of Cold Lake hosts military forces from all over the world for Exercise Maple Flag, a training exercise where support staff and pilots of NATO allies could take advantage of the Air Weapons Range and relatively open rural air space. Running from 4 to 6 weeks and beginning during the month of May of each and every year, commercial accommodations in the entire area are left with little to no vacancy. This annual exercise contributes a substantial amount of capital into these industries and several hospitality-related businesses.

CFB Cold Lake or Canadian forces Base Cold Lake is an air force base situated within the city of Cold Lake. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force and is amongst two bases in Canada making use of the CF-18 Hornet fighter/interceptor. Its primary lodger unit is 4 Wing.

Civilian passenger service was accessible through the Medley passenger terminal on the periphery of the air base. The regularly scheduled air service between the civilian terminal and Calgary was canceled in the month of June the year 2011. Civilian air traffic that is unscheduled is normally directed to the Cold Lake Regional Airport. The facility is named Cold Lake/Group Captain R.W. McNair Airport. It is amongst only three military aerodromes in Canada to be named after a person, Valcartier Heliport and Moose Jaw/Air Vice Marshal C.M. McEwen Airport being the others.