Cold Lake, Alberta

Cold Lake is a city in northeastern Alberta, Canada, named after the lake it is situated near. Cold Lake itself was formerly known as Coldwater Lake.

Geography

The city is situated in Alberta's "Lakeland" district, 300 km northeast of Edmonton, near the Alberta-Saskatchewan provincial border. The area surrounding the city is sparsely populated, and consists mostly of farmland. The Canadian Forces Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR), located to the north of the city, is the Canadian equivalent to the United States Air Force's Nellis Air Force Range.

North and South

The city is made up of three parts: Grandcenter, Medley and Coldlake. When the three towns were united to become a city, Grandcenter was renamed Coldlake South. Coldlake North is the original town. The city hall was placed in Coldlake South because of Coldlake becoming part of the city. When this first took effect, residents nicknamed the city the tri-city because of the three separate parts.

Demographics

In 2006, Cold Lake had a population of 11,991 living in 4,834 dwellings, a 4.1% increase from 2001. The city has a land area of and a population density of .

About 8.7% of residents identified themselves as aboriginal at the time of the 2006 census.

Almost 89% of residents identified English and more than 7% identified French as their first language. Almost 1% identified German, 0.5% identified Chinese, 0.4% each identified Dutch and Ukrainian, and 0.3% each identified Cree and Arabic as their first language learned.

About 82 percent of residents identified as Christian at the time of the 2001 census, while more than 17 percent indicated they had no religious affiliation. For specific denominations Statistics Canada found that 40% of residents identified as Roman Catholic, 14% identified with the United Church of Canada, 5.5% identified as Anglican, 3% as Baptist, 2.5% as Lutheran, and 2% as Pentecostal.

Economy

The city's economy is inextricably linked to military spending at CFB Cold Lake. The region also supports oil and gas exploration and production. The Athabasca Oil Sands project in Fort McMurray is having a growing influence in the region as well.

Every year Cold Lake hosts military forces from around the world for Exercise Maple Flag, a training exercise where pilots and support staff of NATO allies can take advantage of the Air Weapons Range and relatively open rural air space. Running from 4 to 6 weeks and starting in May of each year, commercial accommodations in the entire region are left with little to no vacancy. This annual exercise contributes a substantial amount of capital into these industries and other hospitality-related businesses.

Recreation

Cold Lake is situated near a large number of campgrounds due to its proximity to the lake. The M.D. campground has powered sites, shower facilities with flush toilets, a covered camp picnic area, and a lookout. The Cold Lake Provincial Park has a large number of sites, and is more secluded than the M.D. site (which is surrounded by development). The Provincial campground boasts a wilderness trail system, a beach, boatlaunch and a powered section.

Kinosoo Beach is a favorite destination during the hot summer months between June and August.

The Iron Horse Trail, a recreational trail situated on a former railway line (see rail trail) has its eastern-most terminus in Cold Lake.

Recreational pastimes include:

• Hockey
• Martial Arts
• Swimming
• Bowling
• Curling
• Golf
• Horseback Riding
• 4H (in Cherry Grove)
• Rodeo (Cold Lake Ag Society)
• Dance
• Sailing
• Boating
• Fishing
• Downhill Skiing
• Cold Lake Museums

Politics

The last local election was held in 2007, seeing 7 councillor candidates and 3 mayoral candidates. One incumbent councillor was elected the new mayor, and 2 other incumbent councillors were re-elected to council.

• Raymond Coates, 1996-1998
• Hansa Thaleshvar, 1998-2004
• Allan Buck, 2004-2007
• Craig Copeland, 2007-present

The current councillors of Cold Lake are Kelvin Plain, Bob Buckle, Debra Pelechosky, Duane Lay, Hubert Rodden, and Jean-Yves Taschereau.

At the provincial level, the city is in the district of Bonnyville-Cold Lake. Its current representative is Genia Leskiw, from the Progressive Conservatives.

At the federal level, the city is in the district of Westlock—St. Paul, and is the largest community in the riding. Its current representative is Brian Storseth, from the Conservative Party of Canada.

Schools

Cold Lake hosts several public schools:Northern Lights School District (Publicly funded)

• Grand Centre Elementary School (Preschool, K-4)
• Cold Lake Elementary School (1-4)
• Grand Centre Middle School (5-8)
• Nelson Heights School (5-9)
• Grand Centre High School (9-12, Work Experience), founded in 1972, has approximately 650 students.
• R.A. Reynolds School (K-6 French, K-9 English)
• Cold Lake Off-CampusLakeland Catholic School District (Publicly funded)

Lakeland Catholic was the recipient of the "2005 Alberta Premier's Award for Innovation and Excellence" for their "Anti-bullying/Moral Intelligence" Initiative.

• Assumption Junior/Senior High School (Catholic) (7-12 French Immersion and English)
• Holy Cross Elementary School (Catholic) (K-6 French Immersion and English)
• St. Dominic's Elementary School (Catholic) (K-6 French Immersion and English)Francophone School (Publicly funded)
• Ecole Voyageur (K-12 French, Catholic)

Sports

Cold Lake has a variety of sports, including:

• Hockey (Home to the Cold Lake Ice, Junior B Team) & (Home to the Cold Lake Freeze, Minor Hockey Teams)
• Football (GCHS Royals)
• Soccer (Indoor and outdoor)
• Baseball
• Rugby
• Lacrosse
• Hapkido
• Tae Kwon Do (unified taekwondo) and occasionally (international taekwondo federation) or (world taekwondo federation)
• Figure Skating (Cold Lake Figure Skating Club)
• Figure Skating (Norlight Skating Club)
• Downhill Skiing (Kinosoo Ridge Snow Resort)
• Dancing (Dancenterprise dance school with award winning dance team)

Air Cadet Summer Training Centre

Cold Lake is also home to the Cold Lake Air Cadet Summer Training Centre (CLACSTC). CLACSTC is situated in the heart of 4 Wing Cold Lake and hosts around five hundred Air Cadets and 200 staff members including both Cadet staff and CF officers. Courses at CLACSTC include the prestigious Senior Leaders Course (6 weeks) which comprises a wing of three squadrons, each with 3 flights of about 30 cadets, the Survival Instructor Course (6 weeks) and Introduction to Surivival Course (2 weeks), which includes roughly 300 cadets a summer and the Service Band Course (6 weeks) which includes around 30 cadets. CLACSTC is run by the Department of National Defense in conjunction with the Air Cadet League of Canada. The Service Band and Senior Leaders Course are situated on the main base, whereas the Survival Wing is situated in a more suitably wild area a small distance away from the base.

References

External links

• City of Cold Lake