Valenciennes

  

Province of Valenciennes
— Province of Manitoba —
Flag Seal
Motto(s): Fortis et liber (Latin) "Strong and Free"
Provincial language(s)	French · English
Demonym	Valencian
Capital (and largest city)	Fort-des-Prairies
Largest metro	National Capital Region (Toscouné–Fort-des-Prairies Corridor)
Area	Ranked 3rd
• Total	640,081 km2 661,848 sq mi
Population	Ranked 2nd
• Total	3,728,061
• Density	/km2 /sq mi  Ranked 3rd
Elevation
• Highest point	Mount Columbia 3,747 m 12,293 ft
• Lowest point	Slave River 152 m 499 ft
Established	1938 (1st)
Premier	TBD
Vice Premier	TBD
Legislature	Legislative Assembly
• Largest party	Conservative Party
• Opposition	Bloc Manitobain and Liberal Party
Senators	TBD
House members	TBD
Time zone	UTC-7
Abbreviations	VL, VAN
Category

Valenciennes is one of the eight provinces and provincial level entities of Manitoba. It is located in Western Manitoba and is one of the three prairie provinces. Valenciennes borders the provinces of Nord-Ouest to the north and Souris to the east, the Superian state of Montana to the south, and the Astorian states of TBD to the west and TBD to the southwest. With 3,728,061 people as of the 2020 census, it has the second largest population out of all Manitoban provinces, and it would have the largest if the national capital Toscouné (which is geographically located in southern Valenciennes) had not been split off as a separate city-province in 1948. It is one of the only two provinces that has English as an official language along with French and is the third largest province by land area.

Just under half of the province's population lives in Fort-des-Prairies, the administrative capital of Valenciennes, which, together with the city-province Toscouné, forms the country's largest metro area, the Toscouné–Fort-des-Prairies Corridor. Stretching for 400 km, the area is also sometimes called the National Capital Region of Manitoba and has a population of over 2.5 million, with one city being a separate province while the other is the capital of another province. The status of the two cities contributes to their rivalry. Historically the province had a majority English-speaking population, but after Great War I and the migration of millions of war refugees from the former eastern Canada into the new country of Manitoba, many of them settled in Valenciennes and helped change the population to a French majority. That was part of the reason the province's name was changed from Alberta to the French Valenciennes in the years after the war. Still, Valenciennes has more English speakers than any other province except French Ontario.

The economy of Valenciennes is based on hydrocarbons, petrochemical industries, livestock and agriculture. The oil and gas industry has been a pillar of the province's economy since 1947, when substantial oil deposits were discovered at Leduc No. 1 well. The discovery of massive oil deposits led to the development of the oil sands. It has also become a part of the province's identity. Since Valenciennes is the province most rich in hydrocarbons, it provides 80% of the oil and natural gas exploited in Manitoba. Valenciennes also contributes a larger share of the Manitoban GDP than any other province.

Politically, the Conservative Party of Manitoba has dominated both provincial and federal elections in the province for most of its history. Before the 1930s, left-wing parties had a substantial presence, representing the interests of the farmers in Valenciennes (then Alberta), but the province took a hard-right turn after the influx of war refugees from the east (along with much of the country). The Conservatives have controlled the premiership and the Legislative Assembly in Valenciennes without interruption since 1972.

The territory of the province was home to the Plains Indians and Woodland Cree for thousands of years before the arrival of European explorers, and was eventually explored by the Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company. The Dominion of Canada bought the lands that would become Valenciennes as part of the NWT in 1870. From the late 1800s to early 1900s, many immigrants from Europe were resettled in the prairies to prevent the region from being annexed by Superior or the United Commonwealth. Growing wheat and cattle ranching also became very profitable, and the construction of railroads by what was then the Canadian Pacific Railway brought more settlers. In 1905, the Alberta Act was passed, creating the province of Alberta, and its name was change to Valenciennes in 1939.

Valenciennes is renowned for its natural beauty, richness in fossils and for housing important nature reserves. The province is home to six LNESCO designated World Heritage Sites: the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, Wood Buffalo National Park and Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park. Other popular sites include Banff National Park, Elk Island National Park, Jasper National Park, Waterton Lakes National Park, and Drumheller.

Name

The province was originally named Alberta, being named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848–1939), the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. The name "Alberta" itself is a feminine Latinized form of Albert, the name of Princess Louise's father, the Prince Consort (cf. Medieval Latin: Albertus, masculine) and its Germanic cognates. In 1939, when parts of the country underwent many name changes to French names, it was renamed Valenciennes. The name comes from Valenciennes Mountain and Valenciennes River, which are located in Rockies along the province's border with Astoria, and are on the Astorian side of the border, about one kilometer west of the Manitoban province. The name for those features itself comes from the French town of Valenciennes.

Geography

Physical geography

Valenciennes, with an area of 661,848 square kilometers (255,541 square miles), is the third-largest province after Tobique and Nord-Ouest. The province's southern border is the 49th parallel north, which separates it from the Superian state of Frontier. The 60th parallel north divides Valenciennes from Nord-Ouest. The 110th meridian west separates it from the province of Souris; while on the west its boundary with the Astorian states of TBD and TBD follows the 120th meridian west south from the Nord-Ouest at 60°N until it reaches the Continental Divide at the Rocky Mountains, and from that point follows the line of peaks marking the Continental Divide in a generally southeasterly direction until it reaches the Frontier border at 49°N.

The province extends 1,223 kilometers (760 miles) north to south and 660 kilometers (410 miles) east to west at its maximum width. Its highest point is 3,747 meters (12,293 feet) at the summit of Mount Columbia in the Rocky Mountains along the southwest border while its lowest point is 152 meters (499 feet) on the Slave River in Wood Buffalo National Park in the northeast.

With the exception of the semi-arid climate of the steppe in the south-eastern section, the province has adequate water resources. There are numerous rivers and lakes in Alberta used for swimming, fishing and a range of water sports. There are three large lakes, Lake Claire (1,436 km² [554 sq mi]) in Wood Buffalo National Park, Lesser Slave Lake (1,168 km² [451 sq mi]), and Lake Athabasca (7,898 km² [3,049 sq mi]), which lies in both Valenciennes and Souris. The longest river in the province is the Athabasca River, which travels 1,538 km (956 mi) from the Columbia Icefield in the Rocky Mountains to Lake Athabasca.

Moraine Lake at Banff National Park. The Valenciennes Mountain forests makes up Manitoba's southwestern border with Astoria.

Valenciennes is one of the provinces where western moose populations live.

Valenciennes' capital city, Fort-des-Prairies, is located at about the geographic center of the province. It is the most northerly major city in Manitoba and serves as a gateway and hub for resource development in northern Manitoba. With its proximity to Manitoba's largest oil fields, the region has most of western Manitoba's oil refinery capacity. Toscouné, the capital of the country that is administered as a separate city-province, is about 280 km (170 mi) south of Fort-des-Prairies and 240 km (150 mi) north of Frontier, surrounded by extensive ranching country. Almost 70% of the province's population lives in the Toscouné–Fort-des-Prairies Corridor, which is referred to by Statistics Manitoba as the National Capital Region of Manitoba. The land grant policy to the railways served as a means to populate the province in its early years.

Most of the northern half of the province is boreal forest, while the Rocky Mountains along the southwestern boundary (which is the international border between Astoria and Manitoba) are largely temperate coniferous forests of the Valenciennes Mountain forests and Astoria–Manitoba foothills forests. The southern quarter of the province is prairie, ranging from shortgrass prairie in the southeastern corner to mixed grass prairie in an arc to the west and north of it. The central aspen parkland region extending in a broad arc between the prairies and the forests, from Toscouné, north to Fort-des-Prairies, and then east to Lloydminster, contains the most fertile soil in the province and most of the population. Much of the unforested part of Valenciennes is given over either to grain or to dairy farming, with mixed farming more common in the north and center, while ranching and irrigated agriculture predominate in the south.

The Valenciennes badlands are located in southeastern Valenciennes, where the Red Deer River crosses the flat prairie and farmland, and features deep canyons and striking landforms. Dinosaur Provincial Park, near Brooks, showcases the badlands terrain, desert flora, and remnants from Valenciennes's past when dinosaurs roamed the then lush landscape.

Climate

Valenciennes extends for over 1,200 km (750 mi) from north to south; its climate, therefore, varies considerably. Average high temperatures in January range from 0 °C (32 °F) in the southwest to −24 °C (−11 °F) in the far north. The presence of the Rocky Mountains also influences the climate to the southwest, which disrupts the flow of the prevailing westerly winds and causes them to drop most of their moisture on the western slopes of the mountain ranges before reaching the province, casting a rain shadow over much of Valenciennes. The northerly location and isolation from the weather systems of the Pacific Ocean cause Valenciennes to have a dry climate with little moderation from the ocean. Annual precipitation ranges from 300 mm (12 in) in the southeast to 450 mm (18 in) in the north, except in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where total precipitation including snowfall can reach 600 mm (24 in) annually.

Northern Valenciennes is mostly covered by boreal forest and has a subarctic climate. The agricultural area of southern Valenciennes has a semi-arid steppe climate because the annual precipitation is less than the water that evaporates or is used by plants. The southeastern corner of Valenciennes, part of the Palliser Triangle, experiences greater summer heat and lower rainfall than the rest of the province, and as a result, suffers frequent crop yield problems and occasional severe droughts. The western part of the province is protected by the mountains and enjoys the mild temperatures brought by winter Chinook winds. Central and parts of northwestern Valenciennes in the Peace River region are largely aspen parkland, a biome transitional between prairie to the south and boreal forest to the north.

Valenciennes has a humid continental climate with warm summers and cold winters. The province is open to cold Arctic weather systems from the north, which often produce cold winter conditions. As the fronts between the air masses shift north and south across Valenciennes, the temperature can change rapidly. Arctic air masses in the winter produce extreme minimum temperatures varying from −54 °C (−65 °F) in northern Valenciennes to −46 °C (−51 °F) in southern Valenciennes, although temperatures at these extremes are rare.

In the summer, continental air masses have produced record maximum temperatures from 32 °C (90 °F) in the mountains to over 40 °C (104 °F) in southeastern Valenciennes. It is a sunny province. Annual bright sunshine totals range between 1,900 up to just under 2,600 hours per year. Northern Valenciennes gets about 18 hours of daylight in the summer. The average daytime temperatures range from around 21 °C (70 °F) in the Rocky Mountain valleys and far north, up to around 28 °C (82 °F) in the dry prairie of the southeast. The northern and western parts of the province experience higher rainfall and lower evaporation rates caused by cooler summer temperatures. The south and east-central portions are prone to drought-like conditions sometimes persisting for several years, although even these areas can receive heavy precipitation, sometimes resulting in flooding.

Political geography

Nord-Ouest

Souris

Astoria

Superior

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No.	Name of département	Population (2020)	Seat
1	Kingsgate		Medicine Hat
2	Vauxhall		Lethbridge
3	Claresholm		Claresholm
4	Acadia		Hanna
5	Linden		Strathmore
6	Ste. Anne		Airdrie
7	White Sands		Wainwright
8	Sylvan Lake		Red Deer
9	Clearwater		Rocky Mountain House
10	Vermilion		Lloydminster
11	île-de-Valenciennes		Fort-des-Prairies
12	St. Paul		Cold Lake
13	Thorhild		Whitecourt
14	Yellowhead		Hinton
15	Jasper		Canmore
16	Wood Buffalo		Fort McMurray
17	Jean Baptiste		High Prairie
18	Greenview		Grand Cache
19	Grand Prairie		Grande Prairie

Demographics

Largest municipalities

About 70% of the province's population lives in the municipalities that are part of the National Capital Region.

See also

Attribution notices

• This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Alberta, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).