Editing Economy of Alberta (section)

==Background==
[[File:Leduc oil.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Leduc No. 1]] well, which blew in 1947, marked the beginning of series of petroleum-related [[economic booms]].]]
{{See also|History of Alberta|History of the petroleum industry in Canada}}

Alberta has always been an [[export-oriented economy]]. In line with [[Harold Innis]]' "[[Staples Thesis]]", the economy has changed substantially as different export commodities have risen or fallen in importance. In sequence, the most important products have been: fur, wheat and beef, and oil and gas.

The development of [[transportation in Alberta]] has been crucial to its historical economic development. The [[North American fur trade]] relied on [[birch-bark canoes]], [[York boats]], and [[Red River carts]] on age-old Native trails and [[buffalo trails]] to move furs out of, and European trade goods into, the region. Immigration into the province was eased tremendously by the building of the [[Canadian Pacific Railway]]'s [[transcontinental line]] across southern Alberta in 1880s. Commercial farming became viable in the area once the [[grain trade]] had developed technologies to handle the [[bulk cargo|bulk]] export of grain, especially [[hopper car]]s and [[grain elevator]]s. Oil and gas exports have been possible because of increasing [[pipeline transport|pipeline]] technology.

Prior to the 1950s, Alberta was a primarily agricultural economy, based on the export of [[grain trade|wheat]], [[beef]], and a few other agricultural products. The health of economy was closely bound up with the [[price of wheat]].

In 1947 a major [[oil field]] was discovered [[Leduc No. 1|near Edmonton]]. It was not the first petroleum find in Alberta, but it was large and spawned an industry that significantly altered the economy of the province (and coincided with growing American demand for energy). Since that time, Alberta's economic fortunes have largely tracked the [[price of oil]], and increasingly [[natural gas prices]]. When oil prices spiked during the [[1967 Oil Embargo]], [[1973 oil crisis]], and [[1979 energy crisis]], Alberta's economy boomed. However, during the [[1980s oil glut]] Alberta's economy suffered. Alberta boomed once again during the [[2003 to 2008 world oil market chronology|2003-2008 oil price spike]]. In July 2008 the price of oil peaked and began to decline, and Alberta's economy soon followed suit, with unemployment doubling within a year. By 2009 with natural gas prices at a long-term low, Alberta's economy was in poor health compared to before, although still relatively better than many other comparable jurisdictions. By 2012 natural gas prices were at a ten-year low and the Canadian dollar was highly valued compared to the U.S. dollar, but then oil prices recovered until June 2014.

The spin-offs from petroleum allowed Alberta to develop many other industries. Oilpatch-related manufacturing is an obvious example, but financial services and government services have also benefited from oil money.

A comparison of the development of Alberta's less oil and gas-endowed neighbours, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, reveals the role petroleum has played. Alberta was the least-populous of the three [[Prairie Provinces]] in the early 20th century, but by 2009, Alberta's population was 3,632,483, approximately three times as much as either Saskatchewan (1,023,810) or Manitoba (1,213,815).