Battle of Alberta
[2] The peoples of the boreal forest, and to a lesser extent, the aspen parkland, led a subarctic lifestyle which involved trapping fur-bearing animals and travelling by canoe, which made the region a natural fit for the fur trade.
Around this time some Cree and allied peoples (the Iron Confederacy) pushed south onto the plains, and became rivals of the Blackfoot.
By contrast, Edmonton's hinterland is marked by a French Canadian and Métis presence, and was predominantly occupied by people of non-British European origins.
In particular, the region just to the east of Edmonton, Kalyna Country, is Canada's oldest and largest area of Ukrainian settlement.
The result was that Edmonton and northern Alberta became much more ethnically diverse than Calgary and southern Alberta, occurring at a time when prejudice against non-British ethnic groups (in particular, Slavic peoples) was commonplace among those of British extraction, adding yet another layer of ill will between north and south.
Not surprisingly then, when the federal Liberal government admitted Alberta to Confederation in 1905, they named Edmonton the capital.
However, the Calgary elite were even more infuriated when Edmonton's neighbour, the then-separate city of Strathcona, won the right to host the University of Alberta (see below).
The final important rivalry between the cities during Alberta's early years was over economic leadership, especially in the Oil patch.
Edmonton's business community contains more private corporations working in oil and gas, consulting and smaller operations.
Edmonton is also the research and manufacturing centre of the Canadian petroleum industry, and roughly 80% of Canada's oil production is refined and sent to market through Refinery Row, located just east of the city in Strathcona County.
The constant one-upmanship of the two cities in this field has receded in recent years, and they cooperated in a successful joint bid to host the 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (WJIHC).
The federal government granted $1.6 million to develop and renovate the city's cultural institutions and promote the arts.
In July of the same year, a disagreement occurred when Edmonton received provincial funding for its bid, while Calgary did not.
Alberta's most prominent baseball rivalry existed between the Calgary Cannons and Edmonton Trappers of the Pacific Coast League.
The rivalry never reached the same level as it did in other sports, however, and ultimately both teams relocated to the United States (the Trappers to Round Rock, Texas, and the Cannons to Albuquerque, New Mexico).
[15] The Vipers folded after the season, and the Capitals suspended operations in February 2012, leaving the province with no professional baseball.
[17][18] From then on, the two cities had multiple teams represent them in the Alberta Union, but instability led to a lack of consistent rivalry battle between the two.
[18][19] It was not until the creation of the Western Interprovincial Football Union that a truly sustained rivalry could take place between two teams representing the two cities.
Today, the primary football team rivalry consists of the Edmonton Elks and the Calgary Stampeders.
[20] The team's name goes back to the dawn of the Battle of Alberta when, at the end of the 19th century, a "rugby football" game between Edmonton and Calgary saw the Calgary media make reference to Edmonton's more northern latitude by calling the city's residents "Esquimeaux" (an archaic spelling of "Eskimos").
This has been one of the Canadian Football League's marquee match-ups, with the Monday Labour Day Classic in Calgary followed by the Friday night (Saturday, since 2014) rematch in Edmonton, resulting in a very short turnaround for both teams.
In terms of the post-season, the two teams have played each other 27 times, with Edmonton holding a slight edge with 14 victories.
The Eskimos won the WCHL title in 1923, but lost the Stanley Cup to the rival National Hockey League's Ottawa Senators.
The new Edmonton Oilers, then were left without an intra-provincial rival until a new WHA team, the Calgary Cowboys arrived in 1975, but they folded in 1977.
The short and sporadic nature of the Calgary WHA franchises made building meaningful rivalries more difficult.
Although not nearly as intense, the Western Hockey League intends to develop one for the Calgary Hitmen and Edmonton Oil Kings.
In addition to Calgary and Edmonton, there are also the Medicine Hat Tigers, Lethbridge Hurricanes, and Red Deer Rebels and they all play together in one division, making for many intense intra-provincial battles.
[30] As per the fashion in rivalries in Association football around the world, the Wildrose Cup was created and was awarded annually to the team that wins the most points from the Al Classico in league play.
