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Entry from November 09, 2007
Texas of Canada (Alberta province nickname)

The Canadian province of Alberta is often compared with Texas. The “Texas of Canada” is rich in oil reserves, has many ranches, has a love of rodeo (the Calgary Stampede), has plenty of cattle, grows wheat, is politically conservative, and has large cities (Edmonton, Calgary) but also plenty of wide, open spaces. The nickname dates to at least the 1930s and 1940s, but became more frequent in the 1980s when the province’s oil wealth was realized.
 
“Texas of the North” and “Texas North” and “North Texas” were other nicknames used by the 1950s.
   
     
Wikipedia: Alberta
Alberta (IPA: /ælˈbɝtə/) is one of Canada’s prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1, 1905.
 
Alberta is located in Western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, Northwest Territories to the north, and by the U.S. state of Montana to the south. Alberta is one of two provinces (the other being New Brunswick) to border only a single U.S. state. It is also one of two provinces that are land-locked (the other being Saskatchewan).
 
The capital city of Alberta is Edmonton, located just south of the centre of the province. Calgary is a major distribution and transportation hub as well as being one of Canada’s major commerce centres. Edmonton is the primary supply and service hub for Canada’s oil sands and other northern resource industries. According to recent population estimates, these two metropolitan areas have now both exceeded 1 million people, Calgary being slightly more populous than Edmonton. 
 
Wikipedia: Politics of Alberta
Albertan politics have typically been characterized as substantially more right-wing than those of any other Canadian province, granting it the nickname “Texas of Canada” or “Texas North”.
     
1 November 1932, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “The Lee Side o’ L.A.” by Lee Shippey, pg. A4:
WE’D often idly wondered why one of the loveliest citrus areas in Southern California bore the name of a province which is the Texas of Canada, a province so great that its northern-boundaries are lost in snow and ice.
 
11 December 1947, Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada) Herald, “Next Best Place to Texas” by Thomas Ube Primrose, pg. 47, col. 3:
The true and loyal native son of Alberta is proud of his birthright. Sometimes Albertans are mistaken for Texans and when asked if they are from Texas they reply, “no not from Texas but from the next best place to Texas which of course is Alberta”. That puts it about as close to right as words or comparison can put a description of “Sunny Alberta”.
 
Alberta is the Texas of Canada and its people to a very great extent are more like Texans than any other people. The ranches of Alberta compare very well to the ranches of Texas, perhaps not so large nor so numerous but still very much like Texas ranches. In a smaller way we have known the oilfields and all they constitute as has Texas. Our irrigated areas correspond to their fruit growing areas. The great land area which we have is much like the huge sprawling area of Texas. Our almost limitless north is still a frontier with a Texan ring to it. All that we rally lack of being real Texans is pride in our own great Alberta. Like the Texans we should fling high and wide for all to see our banner of pride in our province.
 
4 September 1951, Christian Science Monitor:
Booms Turn Alberta Into a Land of Plenty
“Texas of Canada”
During the past few years Alberta has grown into a wealthy Canadian province and, because of the magnitude of its oil, agricultural,...
 
21 August 1952, The Landmark (Statesville, NC), “Mr. Ross Talks To Rotarians About Canada,” pg. 5, col. 5: 
The province of Alberta, because of its size, has sometimes been called the “Texas of Canada” and the people of Alberta have been known to refer to Texas as the “Alberta of the United States.”
 
24 September 1952, Christian Science Monitor:
Alberta—the Texas Of Canada— is busily trying to both measure the extent of its vast mineral resources and put them to work.
   
21 January 1953, Abilene (TX) Reporter-News, pg. 3B, col. 2:
Alberta—with its oil, cattle, large farms and the new-born petro-chemical industry—is the Texas of Canada, though Albertans don’t make like they’d light cigars with five dollar bills.
 
27 May 1963, Beckley (WV) Post-Herald, pg. 5, col. 4:
Alberta is the Texas of Canada with its oil and minerals, and British Columbia is the California as there is good fishing, a warm climate and heavy timber.
 
25 February 1965, Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada) Free Press, pg. 6, col. 4:
Otherwise, Alberta, with its oil, cattle and wheat, proudly claimed to be “the Texas of Canada.”
 
Google Books
The History of Canada
by Kenneth William
Heinemann Educational
1970
Pg. 16:
While it is perhaps an unflattering exaggeration to call Alberta the Texas of Canada, distance from the centre, together with a plenitude of natural wealth ...
   
Google Books
The Unfinished Revolt:
Some Views of Western Independence
edited by John J. Barr and Owen Anderson
Toronto: McClelland & Stewart
1971
Pg. 136:
It is unfortunate that this model exists for us because Easterners tend to make the facile observation that “Alberta is the Texas of Canada,”...
   
1 August 1971, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Edmonton Plays Klondike” by Jean Simmons, section C, pg. 7:
Edmonton began life in 1795 as a Hudson’s Bay fur trading post and is now the fastest growing city in Canada. It is located in the middle of an arable land mass rich in oil and natural gas reserves, which have earned Alberta the nickname, Texas of Canada.
 
25 July 1973, Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada) Herald, pg. 9, col. 4:
In the Texas of Canada, otherwise known as Southern Alberta, no such qualms exist regarding filling the air with footballs when confronted with stiff opposition from other Western rivals.
 
Google Books
Let’s Go -  Pacific Northwest/Canada
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press
1998
Pg. 883:
Alberta is the Texas of Canada. Calgary is the annual stomping grounds for the Stampede—the world’s largest rodeo.
       
9 May 2000, New York (NY) Times, pg. F8:
Referring to this conservative province of ranchers, oil workers and high tech engineers, sometimes called the Texas of Canada, she added “Albertans don’t tend to protest. It is not our nature.”
   
ZNet Commentary
August 16, 2002
Getting Our Tactics Right
By Starhawk  
(...)
Calgary is called “the Texas of Canada” for both its oil wealth and right wing politics.
 
11 November 2005, Roanoke (VA) Times, pg. C1:
“In Alberta, we’re often referred to as the Texas of Canada,” Shillington says. “Which I don’t mind.” He’d fit in either way. He drives a big Ford pickup.
   
The Economist
Canada: Sweating the sands
Nov 1st 2007 OTTAWA
Alberta raises oil royalties—but by less than meets the eye
(...)
Even so, Mr Stelmach’s move was a departure for Alberta, a province which doesn’t blush at being called the Texas of Canada.

Posted by Barry Popik
Texas (Lone Star State Dictionary) • Friday, November 09, 2007 • Permalink


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