Southern Alberta

Geography

The region has a total area of approximately 75,500 km2 (29,151 sq mi).

Southern Alberta is in the northern Great Plains region, lined to the east from the Canadian Rocky Mountains and their foothills. The rest of the region is dominated by the semi-arid prairies of the Palliser's Triangle, where farms and ranches have been built, often with the help of irrigation. Rivers generally flow from west to east and include the Oldman River, Bow River, Red Deer River, South Saskatchewan River, and Milk River. Milk River is the only river in Canada that eventually flows into the Gulf of Mexico.

The environment is protected in such areas as Waterton Lakes National Park and Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, while sites such as Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Dinosaur Provincial Park and Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Alberta Badlands are developed in the northeast of the region, prominently along the Red Deer River. Cypress Hills, located in the east, at the border with Saskatchewan, are the highest point between the Rocky Mountains and Labrador.

Infrastructure

Major highways

• Highway 1 (Transcanada Highway)
• Highway 2 (QE2)
• Highway 3 (Crowsnest Highway)
• Highway 4
• Highway 5
• Highway 36 (Veteran Memorial Highway)
• Highway 41 (Buffalo Trail)

Health care

Health care in the region is overseen by Alberta Health Services. It was formerly served by Calgary Health Region, Chinook Health and Palliser Health Region before they were amalgamated with the other six regional health boards in 2008 to form Alberta Health Services.

Economy

In 2007, Alberta Human Resources and Employment reported the fields of finance, insurance, real estate, professions, technicians and senior managers will lead the Lethbridge–Medicine Hat region's growth with an average 2.8% real GDP growth each year until 2011. The industries of manufacturing, energy, mining, and forestry would account for 2.6% each. All ten of these fields would account for more than half of the region's domestic product.

Politics

On a provincial level, southern Alberta is represented in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta by MLAs elected in the ridings of Airdrie-Cochrane, Airdrie-East, Banff-Kananaskis, Brooks-Medicine Hat, Cardston-Siksika, Chestermere-Strathmore, Cypress-Medicine Hat, Highwood, Lethbridge East, Lethbridge West, Livingstone-Macleod, and Taber-Warner.

Municipalities

Cities

• Brooks
• Lethbridge
• Medicine Hat

Towns

• Bassano
• Bow Island
• Cardston
• Claresholm
• Coaldale
• Coalhurst
• Drumheller
• Fort Macleod
• Granum
• Hanna
• Magrath
• Milk River
• Nanton
• Nobleford
• Oyen
• Picture Butte
• Pincher Creek
• Raymond
• Redcliff
• Stavely
• Strathmore
• Taber
• Three Hills
• Trochu
• Vauxhall
• Vulcan Villages
• Acme
• Arrowwood
• Barnwell
• Barons
• Carbon
• Carmangay
• Cereal
• Champion
• Coutts
• Cowley
• Delia
• Duchess
• Empress
• Foremost
• Glenwood
• Hill Spring
• Hussar
• Linden
• Lomond
• Milo
• Morrin
• Munson
• Rockyford
• Rosemary
• Standard
• Stirling
• Tilley
• Warner
• Youngstown Specialized municipalities
• Crowsnest Pass

Improvement districts

• Improvement District No. 4 (Waterton)

Municipal districts

• Acadia No. 34, Municipal District (M.D.) of
• Cardston County
• Cypress County
• Forty Mile No. 8, County of
• Kneehill County
• Lethbridge County
• Newell, County of
• Pincher Creek No. 9, M.D. of
• Ranchland No. 66, M.D. of
• Starland County
• Taber, M.D. of
• Vulcan County
• Warner No. 5, County of
• Wheatland County
• Willow Creek No. 26, M.D. of

Special areas

• Special Area No. 2
• Special Area No. 3

Notes

References

1. "Census Profile, 2016 Census South Zone [Health region, December 2017]". The Government of Canada.
2. "Milk River Watershed Council Canada :: The Watershed".
3. (May 16, 2008). "Tories create health superboard: Stelmach plan will see single body rule nine regions". canada.com.
4. Mabell, Dave. (2006-01-06). "People skills key to building success". Lethbridge Herald.