What is there about Edmonton, Alberta, Canada that represents the best of Canada, North America or world-class?
Here's the start of a list below.
If you'd like to add to it, please e-mail me at graham.hicks@hicksbiz.com or Facebook (Graham Hicks) or add a comment.If you have the source of your statistic, please include it.
I'd like to make this the "go-to" list for Edmonton's points of pride.
Last updated, April 27, 2013

PCL Construction, Canada’s largest construction company and sixth in North America, is headquartered here.

Stantec is a Canadian architecture, design and engineering giant, closing in on its goal of being in the top 10 North American construction service firms.

North American’s second largest energy park is Leduc-Nisku with 4,650 acres and another 3,000 acres in reserve by the airport. Its 600 companies are leaders in adaptive technology for oil extraction. Three-quarters of them sell internationally.

The deep bitumen extraction technology of choice, Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage or SAGD, is an all-Northern Alberta invention credited to scientist Dr. Roger Butler, Imperial Oil and the former Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority.

Alberta’s Industrial Heartland around Fort Saskatchewan is Canada’s largest hydrocarbon processing centre. The Heartland’s 40-plus big plants spend $1 billion a year on goods and services and have 20,000 employees.

Canada’s largest oil refining centre, supplying 75% of Western Canada’s gasoline.

Northern Alberta currently has $21 billion worth of construction projects booked. Tthird in the world for the actual number of capital- intensive energy production plants, following the Middle East and the Louisiana/Texas stretch along the Gulf of Mexico.

Greater Edmonton sits over North America’s second biggest pipeline system.

In Fort Saskatchewan area, the Shell Quest/Enhance Energy partnership is building the world’s biggest carbon capture and storage system, the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line.

The most northerly metropolis in North America.

The city’s tallest building: Manulife Place has more floors at 36, but the new EPCOR Tower has more stuff on top of its 28 stories and claims to be a few metres higher. The Pearl condo tower going up at Jasper and 120 Street will top out at 35 stories.

West Edmonton Mall is the world’s fifth biggest mall, and the largest in North America, for total square footage, at 5.3 million square feet. .

For leasable space, West Edmonton Mall is tied for 12th in the world. Some 23,000 employees work in its 800 shops and indoor attractions.

Peter Pond Mall in Fort McMurray, 14th in North America for sales per square foot at $850 per square foot. KPMG report, 2012

Weather: Among the world’s coldest major urban areas (over 1 million population), including Moscow, Russia (11.5 million); Harbin, China (5 million); Shenyang, China (4 million); Minneapolis-St. Paul, USA (3.3 million); Urumqi, China (2 million), Ulan Bator, Mongolia (1.2 million), Calgary (1.2 million) and Greater Edmonton (1.16 million).

Edmonton is not included in Canada's coldest cities, based on temperatures from December to February. They are, in order of freeze factor, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Saguenay (Quebec), Regina, Sudbury, Quebec City and Sherbrooke (Quebec).

The river valley: , the largest continuous urban green space in all North America. The commitment by seven municipalities bordering the river, with the provincial and federal governments, to create a continuous 88 kilometre park from upstream Devon to downstream Fort Saskatchewan. It’ll be the longest of its kind in the world.


The Lord Strathcona Mounted Troop:  the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) Regiment Mounted Troop’s musical ride, with 20 horses, 25 members, historic uniforms and brass helmets, it’s all financed by donations, not government money.


The Edmonton Waste Management Centre: Thanks to past circumstances (garbage dump Not-In-My-Back-Yard, a “green” city council, TransAlta’s building the monster composter that subsequently was sold to the city), Edmonton now has North America’s most advanced urban waste management centre. Our 60% land-fill diversion is tops in Canada, and after Enerkem’s waste-to-biofuel plant is operational by 2015, 90% of Edmonton’s garbage will be recycled.


Our festivals: The Street Performers’ Festival is the oldest festival of its type in Canada. The Edmonton Folk Festival is Canada’s biggest and best folk-music festival, with 105,000 attendees over four days. The Fringe is the largest and longest running theatre festival of its kind in North America, with an estimated 600,000 attendees in 2012. The Heritage Festival is Canada's oldest multicultural celebration of its kind.


Edmonton schools: the Edmonton Public and Catholic boards plus charter schools - continually rank in the Top 10 of public school systems world-wide.


The University of Alberta can lay claim to several medical global game-changers. Dr. Lorne Tyrrell’s hepatitis B vaccine has saved thousands of lives through prevention. Dr. Lorne Babiuk’s work in vaccine development has also been a mega-life saver world-wide. Dr. Michael Houghton’s pioneering work in setting the stage for a Hepatitis C cure makes his team a leading candidate for the Nobel Prize in Medicine. The diabetes team led by Dr. Ray Rajotte and Dr. James Shapiro established the Edmonton Protocol, saving severe diabetics from then certain death.


Most oil extraction economic and environmental advances have links back to the U of A school of engineering.


Coming up on the U of A’s radar is nano-technology, artificial intelligence and metabolomics (advances in disease diagnosis via blood/urine analysis).

International surveys rank Edmonton as one of the best medium-sized cities in the world in which to live. In 2012, the credible Numbeo city data base aggregator placed Edmonton first in Canada, and third in the world for quality of life. Last year, MoneySense Magazine ranked St. Albert, Strathcona County (i.e. Sherwood Park) and Lacombe as first, second and third best small Canadian cities for quality of life.


First community leagues formed in Canada, in 1907. First Federation of Community Leagues in 1921.


Elk Island National Park has the second-highest density of hoofed mammals (bison, moose, deer and elk) in the world, after Africa’s Serengeti.


The largest Ukrainian bloc settlement in the world outside of Ukraine is northeastern Alberta.


At the end of 2012, at 4.5%, Edmonton had Canada’s second-lowest rate of urban unemployment.


With average growth of 12,000 people a year, Edmonton has one of Canada’s most youthful urban populations.


North America’s largest city, area-wise at 63,637 square kilometres, is Wood-Buffalo (Fort McMurray and surrounding area).


The 2012 Competitive Alternative Study ranked Edmonton #3 among medium-sized cities (1-3 million) in the Americas for affordability.


Kalayna County, east of Edmonton, is ranked as Canada’s largest “eco-museum” municipality, with 40 designated natural areas.


With 48,000 square metres of contiguous space, Northlands’ Expo Centre is the largest convention centre of its kind west of Toronto.


Victoria Golf Course, founded in 1896, is Canada’s oldest municipal golf course.


At 56 acres (2.7 square kilometres) and 70 buildings, Fort Edmonton Park is Canada’s largest living-history park.