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Winnipeg

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Winnipeg is a Canadian city, and the provincial capital of Manitoba. The city is located at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, and protected from flooding by the Red River Floodway. It is the province's largest city and one of the world's largest wheat markets. It has Winnipeg International Airport, railroad shops, grain elevators, stockyards, meatpacking and automobile plants, flour and textile mills, and breweries.

History

In 1738, the Sieur de la Vérendrye built the first post on the site, Fort Rouge, but it was later abandoned. Other posts were built in the Red River region, which was fiercely contested by the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. Fort Gibraltar, a post of the North West Company on the site of present-day Winnipeg, was renamed Fort Garry in 1822 and became the leading post in the region. In 1835 its name was changed to Winnipeg. In 1869-1870, Winnipeg was the site of the Red River Rebellion, one of Canada's civil wars.

Winnipeg experienced an economic boom during the 1920s, and the provincial legislature reflects that. Built of Tyndall Stone in 1920, it is topped by the "Golden Boy", a four metre high five ton scultpure sheathed in 23.5 karat gold. The Golden Boy carries a sheaf of golden grain in his left arm, while his right hand holds high a torch. The Golden Boy's torch was illuminated in 1970, as part of Manitoba's Centennial Celebration. The lamp was removed in 2003 as part of a refurbishment of the famous statue, when it was discovered the cable supplying power to the lamp also contributed to the erosion of its internal frame. The statue is now lit at night by floodlights.

The current city of Winnipeg was created by the Unicity Act of 1971. The municipalities of St. James-Assiniboia, St. Boniface, Transcona, St. Vital, West Kildonan, East Kildonan, Tuxedo, Old Kildonan, North Kildonan, Fort Garry and Charleswood were amalgamated with the Old City of Winnipeg. Small portions of the city have since seceded, but the vast majority of the populated area of the city remains within one single municipality. In order to prevent urban sprawl, the city restricted development to inside an urban limit line and in most cases left several kilometres of open space between the municipal boundary and suburban developments. Surrounding municipalities have a combined population of less than 60,000.

Because of its extremely flat topography and substantial snowfall, Winnipeg is subject to flooding. The Red River reached its highest flood stage in the last two hundred years in 1826. A large flood occurred in 1950, which prompted Duff Roblin's government to build the Red River Floodway, a 49-kilometre long diversion channel that protects the city of Winnipeg from flooding. Other related water diversion projects include the Portage Diversion (also known as the Assiniboine River Floodway) and the Shellmouth Dam. The flood-control system prevented flooding in 1974 and 1979 when water levels neared record levels. However, in 1997, flooding threatened the city's relatively unprotected southwest corner. Flood control dikes were reinforced and raised using sandbags and the threat was avoided. Winnipeg suffered very limited damage compared to cities without flood control structures, such as Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Demographics

The metro area is home to 671,274 people (2001), about 60% of the total population of Manitoba. Winnipeg's population was 667,205 in 1996 and 660,450 in 1991. Winnipeg's growth rate has been 0.5% since 1971; Edmonton and Calgary, once Winnipeg's smaller cousins, have grown 3.0% and 4.5% per year, respectively, over the same period. Long Canada's 4th-largest city, Winnipeg dropped to 8th in the last decade. The city's ethnic makeup is approximately 79% Caucasian, 10% Native or Metis, 5% Filipino, 3% Chinese, 2% Indian and 1% Black.

Workforce

Approximately 375,000 people are employed in the metropolitan Winnipeg area. Winnipeg's largest employers are The Province of Manitoba, The City of Winnipeg, The University of Manitoba, The Health Sciences Centre, Manitoba Telecom Services (crown corporation, privatized in 1997), Manitoba Hydro, Palliser Furniture and Great-West Life Assurance. Other large private employers include Motor Coach Industries, New Flyer Industries, Boeing Aerospace, Bristol Aerospace and Investors Group. More than 54,000 people are employed in the public sector.

Transportation

Winnipeg has had a public transit system since the 1880s, starting with horse-drawn streetcars. It had electric streetcars from 1891 until 1955, and electric buses from 1938 until 1970. Its public transit system now operates entirely on diesel buses. For decades, the city has explored the idea of a rapid transit link, either bus or rail, from downtown to the University of Manitoba's suburban campus. No agreement has ever been reached. Winnipeg is home to large transit bus manufacturers such as New Flyer Industries and Motorcoach Industries.

Winnipeg is unique among North American cities its size in that it does not have any freeways. Beginning in 1958, the primarily suburban Metropolitan council proposed a system of freeways, including one which would have bisected the downtown area. Like in Toronto, New York and San Francisco, the freeway plan faced stiff community opposition, and the projects were eventually shelved in the mid-1970s when freeway-building fell out of favour with municipal governments.

Politics

Winnipeg's political climate is also unique among North American cities. Starting in 1900, in both provincial and federal elections, central Winnipeg elected politicians from the Labour Party. Winnipeg was the site of a General Strike from May 15 to June 28, 1919. This strike saw violent protests, including several deaths at the hands of the Royal North-West Mounted Police, and the arrest of many of Winnipeg's future politicians. Though it was not chartered until 1932, the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation was born out of the labour unrest of 1919. Its successor, the New Democratic Party, has enjoyed almost unbroken support in Winnipeg since the early 1960s. Winnipeg's longest-serving MPs include J.S. Woodsworth (21 years), Stanley Knowles (38 years), David Orlikow (25 years), Bill Blaikie (25 years and counting), Lloyd Axworthy (21 years).

In 1998, Winnipeg elected Glen Murray mayor, making him the first openly-gay mayor of a city of more than 500,000 people. He was re-elected in 2002. Murray resigned on May 11, 2004 to run for the Liberal Party of Canada in the federal election in the Charleswood-St. James riding. Deputy mayor Dan Vandal was named acting mayor, but he resigned from his position one week later so that he could run in the mayoral election. Until a new mayor is elected, the interim mayor is councillor Jae Eadie.

See also: List of mayors of Winnipeg, Manitoba

Sports

Winnipeg is and has been home to numerous professional sports franchises. The Winnipeg Jets were one of the original teams of the World Hockey Association and won three league titles. The Jets entered the National Hockey League in 1979 and played in Winnipeg until 1996. The Jets featured such hall of famers as WHA Coach Rudy Pilous, players Bobby Hull, Dale Hawerchuk, and (briefly) Serge Savard, as well as potential hall of famers Teemu Selanne, Phil Housley and Keith Tkachuk. Since 1996, Winnipeg has been home to the minor league Manitoba Moose, currently a member of the American Hockey League. Winnipeg has produced Hall of Fame hockey players Andy Bathgate, Billy Mosienko, Art Coulter, Ching Johnson, Frank Fredrickson, Jack Ruttan, Kenny Reardon, Fred Maxwell, and Terry Sawchuk, but perhaps the best-known current professional athlete from the Winnipeg area is Corey Koskie of the Minnesota Twins.

Winnipeg also has a team in the Canadian Football League, the Blue Bombers, who have won 10 Grey Cups, the league's championship trophy. Winnipeg has a long history of minor league baseball, including the Class A Goldeyes, an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, from 1953-1964, the AAA Whips, Montreal's farm team in 1970-1971, and since 1994, the Goldeyes, a franchise in the independent Northern League. Winnipeg hosted the 1967 and 1999 Pan-American Games. In addition, the University of Winnipeg's women's basketball team won 88 consecutive games during the 1990s, a college sports record. Winnipeg is also home to many of the world's best curling teams and hosted the 2003 World Championships.

Arts and culture

Winnipeg is well known for its arts and culture. Among the popular cultural institutions in the city are: the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Manitoba Opera, the Manitoba Theatre Centre, the Prairie Theatre Exchange, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. The city is home to several large festivals. The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival is North America's second largest Fringe Festival, held every July. Other festivals include Folklorama, the Winnipeg Jazz Festival, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Red River Exhibition, and Le Festival du Voyageur.

Winnipeg has a community college, Red River College. Winnipeg's three universities are the University of Manitoba (undergrad + grad, medical), College universitaire de Saint-Boniface and the University of Winnipeg (undergrad).

Local media

Daily newspapers

Television stations

Cable television stations

Radio stations

FM radio stations

  • CBW 88.3 - CBC Radio One (news/information)
  • CKSB 89.9 - SRC (French news/information)
  • CKXL 91.1 - Envol 91 (College universitaire de Saint-Boniface, college/French)
  • CITI 92.1 - 92 Citi FM (classic rock) CITI is the most powerful FM station on the planet, with an effective radiated power of 360,000 watts.
  • CKIC 92.9 - Red River College (college)
  • CHIQ 94.3 - Q94 FM (top 40/pop)
  • CHVN 95.1 - (contemporary Christian)
  • CKUW 95.9 - University of Winnipeg (college)
  • CJKR 97.5 - Power 97 (hard/classic rock)
  • CBW 98.3 - CBC Radio 2 (classical)
  • CJZZ 99.1 - Cool FM (jazz)
  • CFWM 99.9 - BOB FM ("80s, 90s and whatever!")
  • CHNR 100.7
  • CJUM 101.5 - UMFM (University of Manitoba, college)
  • CKY 102.3 - Clear FM (adult contemporary)
  • CKMM 103.1 - Hot 103 (top 40/pop)
  • CKVN 106.3
  • CFEQ 107.1 - Freq 107 (alternative rock; religious license)
  • CJWV 107.9

AM radio stations

  • CJOB 680 - (news/talk/sports)
  • CKJS 810 - (ethnic)
  • CBW 990 - CBC Radio One (news/information)
  • CKSB 1050 - SRC (French news/information)
  • CFRW 1290 - (oldies)

Personalities born in Winnipeg:

Professional sports teams

 

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See also:

Winnipeg is also the name of a bear on whom the Disney character Winnie the Pooh is named.

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