Edmonton Metropolitan Region

The Edmonton Metropolitan Region (EMR), also commonly referred to as Greater Edmonton or Metro Edmonton, is a conglomeration of municipalities centred on Edmonton, the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta.

While the EMR is not a strictly defined entity, its commonly known boundaries are coincident with those of the Edmonton census metropolitan area (CMA) as delineated by Statistics Canada. However, the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB)Template:Sndestablished by the provincial government to provide a form of regional government, fostering cooperation for regional planning amongst the City of Edmonton and its surrounding municipalitiesTemplate:Sndhas a membership that differs slightly from the CMA.

The EMR is considered a major gateway to northern Alberta and the Canadian North, particularly for many companies, including airlines and oil/natural gas exploration. Located within central Alberta and at the northern end of the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor, the EMR is both the northernmost metropolitan area in Canada and the northernmost metropolitan area in North America with a population of over one million.

Edmonton CMA

As of the 2021 Canadian census, the Edmonton CMA includes the following 34 census subdivisions (municipalities or municipality equivalents):

• six cities (Beaumont, Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc, Spruce Grove and St. Albert);
• one specialized municipality (Strathcona County, which includes the Sherwood Park urban service area);
• three municipal districts (Leduc County, Parkland County, and Sturgeon County);
• ten towns (Bon Accord, Bruderheim, Calmar, Devon, Gibbons, Legal, Morinville, Redwater, Stony Plain and Thorsby);
• two villages (Spring Lake and Warburg);
• eight summer villages (Betula Beach, Golden Days, Itaska Beach, Kapasiwin, Lakeview, Point Alison, Seba Beach, and Sundance Beach); and
• four Indian reserves for three First Nations (Alexander 134 of the Alexander First Nation, Enoch Cree Nation 135 of the Enoch Cree Nation, and Wabamun 133A and 133B of the Paul First Nation).

The Edmonton CMA is the largest of the 41 CMAsTemplate:Efn in Canada by area, at Template:Convert. In the 2021 Canadian census, it had a population of 1,418,118, making it the sixth largest CMA in Canada by population, with the second largest percentage increase in national CMA population (37.0% versus 37.3% for the Calgary CMA) over the 15 years since the 2006 Canadian census. The Edmonton CMA comprises the majority of Statistics Canada's Division No. 11 in Alberta.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Edmonton metropolitan region recorded a population of 1,418,118 living in 548,624 of its 589,554 total private dwellings, a change of 7.3% from its 2016 population of 1,321,441. With a land area of Template:Convert, it had a population density of Template:Pop density in 2021.

Ethnicity

Panethnic groups in Metro Edmonton (2001−2021)

Panethnic group	2021		2016		2011		2006		2001
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
EuropeanTemplate:Efn	849,515		857,085		822,830		797,420		750,315
South Asian	123,340		91,420		61,135		40,205		29,065
Southeast AsianTemplate:Efn	101,410		78,310		56,240		30,655		23,865
Indigenous	87,600		76,205		61,765		52,105		40,930
African	80,575		57,820		32,725		20,380		14,095
East AsianTemplate:Efn	74,140		70,255		59,140		53,235		45,965
Middle EasternTemplate:Efn	39,955		32,255		21,590		14,865		10,840
Latin American	21,955		18,755		14,530		9,210		7,515
Other/MultiracialTemplate:Efn	20,200		15,170		9,640		6,750		4,430
Total responses	1,397,750		1,297,280		1,139,585		1,024,820		927,020
Total population	1,418,118		1,321,426		1,159,869		1,034,945		937,845
Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses

Language

The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses. The following figures are from the 2021 Canadian Census, and lists languages that were selected by at least 1,000 respondents.

Knowledge of Languages in Metro Edmonton

Language	2021
	Pop.	%
English	1,372,110
French	96,620
Cree	3,915
Oromo	2,615
Somali	10,555
Amharic	5,965
Arabic	34,760
Hebrew	1,360
Tigrigna	6,440
Khmer (Cambodian)	1,055
Vietnamese	12,490
Bisaya, n.o.s.	1,055
Cebuano	3,190
Hiligaynon	1,510
Ilocano	4,760
Tagalog	63,930
Malayalam	6,485
Tamil	4,870
Telugu	2,140
Czech	1,035
Polish	10,715
Russian	10,420
Serbo-Croatian	5,845
Ukrainian	12,680
German	18,685
Afrikaans	1,360
Dutch	4,380
Greek	1,545
Bengali	3,865
Gujarati	10,620
Hindi	41,900
Kacchi	1,110
Marathi	1,470
Nepali	2,500
Punjabi	53,280
Sinhala	2,105
Urdu	16,575
Pashto	1,155
Dari	2,220
Iranian Persian	3,740
Italian	8,095
Portuguese	6,500
Romanian	2,960
Spanish	36,115
Japanese	3,320
Korean	8,020
Akan (Twi)	1,660
Igbo	1,295
Kinyarwanda (Rwanda)	1,520
Rundi (Kirundi)	1,060
Shona	1,100
Swahili	5,030
Yoruba	3,230
Mandarin	32,395
Min Nan (Chaochow, Teochow, Fukien, Taiwanese)	1,685
Cantonese	29,300
Turkish	2,920
Hungarian	1,805
Total Responses	1,397,750
Total Population	1,418,118

Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board

File:Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board Logo.svg

Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board Logo

A fragmentation in regional cooperation and partnership has long played a divisive role within the EMR. Particularly, Edmonton was frustrated that its surrounding municipalities were receiving an increased tax base for major industrial development, while not contributing to Edmonton's burden to maintain and build new infrastructure within Edmonton used by the residents and businesses of the surrounding municipalities.

After pulling out of the Alberta Capital Region Alliance (ACRA), Edmonton lobbied the provincial government to establish some form of regional government that would be more effective in fostering regional cooperation between it and its surrounding municipalities. As a result, Premier Ed Stelmach announced in December 2007 that a governing board would be established for Edmonton's Capital Region. Four months later, the Capital Region Board was formed on April 15, 2008 with the passing of the Capital Region Board Regulation by Order in Council 127/2008 under the authority of the Municipal Government Act.

On October 26, 2017, the Capital Region Board (CRB) was renamed to the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB).

Member municipalities

The original Capital Region Board (CRB) was established with 25 participating or member municipalities, differing slightly from the municipalities that Statistics Canada included in the Edmonton CMA as the CRB excluded entities which did not take active involvement in the greater regional planning activity (four Indian reserves, eight summer villages and one village) while including the non-CMA Lamont County and the Town of Lamont. The number of member municipalities was reduced to 24 on September 10, 2010 after the Village of New Sarepta dissolved to hamlet status under the jurisdiction of Leduc County on September 1, 2010. Concurrent with the CRB's name change to the EMRB in October 2017, municipal membership decreased from 24 to 13, with the two non-CMA CRB members (Lamont County and Town of Lamont) no longer included, and only those municipalities within the CMA with a population of 5,000 or more remain as members (smaller municipalities are represented by their municipal districts).

More specifically, the EMRB includes:

• six cities (Beaumont, Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc, St. Albert, and Spruce Grove);
• one specialized municipality (Strathcona County, which includes the Sherwood Park urban service area);
• three municipal districts (Leduc County, Parkland County, and Sturgeon County); and
• three towns (Devon, Morinville, and Stony Plain).

Edmonton Metropolitan Region Growth Plan

Under the CRB Regulation, the CRB was tasked with preparing a growth plan to cover land use, intermunicipal transit, housing, and geographic information services components. In March, 2010, Growing Forward: The Capital Region Growth Plan (CRGP), consisting of individual plans for these four components and two addenda, was approved by the Government of Alberta.

The CRGP includes a population and employment forecast for the Capital Region. With a base population of 1.12 million in 2009, the CRB has forecasted the population of the Capital Region to reach 1.31 million by 2019. However, the 2019 population estimate was reached and exceeded by 2014. The CRGP also designates priority growth areas and cluster country residential areas within the Capital Region.

List of municipalities

File:Downtown clocktower St. Albert Alberta.jpg

St. Albert

File:Sherwood Park.jpg

Strathcona County (Sherwood Park)

File:Fort Saskatchewan Downtown.jpg

Fort Saskatchewan

File:Provincial Building Morinville Alberta Canada 02A.jpg

Morinville

The following is a list of municipalities in the Edmonton CMA, with those that are members of the EMRB indicated accordingly.

Municipality	Municipal status	Federal census population (2021)	Latest municipal census population (2016-2017)	Latest municipal census year	EMRB member
Alexander 134	Indian reserve	1,077			N
Beaumont	City	20,888	19,236	2019	Y
Betula Beach	Summer village	27			N
Bon Accord	Town	1,461			N
Bruderheim	Town	1,329			N
Calmar	Town	2,183			N
Devon	Town	6,545			Y
Edmonton	City	1,010,899	972,223	2019	Y
Enoch Cree Nation 135	Indian reserve	1,825			N
Fort Saskatchewan	City	27,088	26,942	2019	Y
Gibbons	Town	3,218			N
Golden Days	Summer village	248			N
Itaska Beach	Summer village	30			N
Kapasiwin	Summer village	24			N
Lakeview	Summer village	29			N
Leduc	City	34,094	33,032	2019	Y
Leduc County	Municipal district	14,416			Y
Legal	Town	1,232			N
Morinville	Town	10,385	10,578	2020	Y
Parkland County	Municipal district	32,205			Y
Point Alison	Summer village	18			N
Redwater	Town	2,115			N
Seba Beach	Summer village	229			N
Spring Lake	Village	711			N
Spruce Grove	City	37,645	35,766	2018	Y
St. Albert	City	68,232	66,082	2018	Y
Stony Plain	Town	17,993			Y
Strathcona County	Specialized municipality	99,225[1]			Y
Sturgeon County	Municipal district	20,061			Y
Sundance Beach	Summer village	42			N
Thorsby	Town	967			N
Wabamun 133A and 133B	Indian reserve	1,001[2]			N
Warburg	Village	676			N
Total Edmonton CMA		Template:Nts	—	—	—

• ^ Strathcona County's 2021 federal census population of 99,225 includes 72,017 in the Sherwood Park urban service area.
• ^ The combined Wabamun 133A and 133B population of 1,001 includes 981 in Wabamun 133A and 20 in Wabamun 133B.

Major industrial areas

Major industrial areas within the ECR include the northwest, southeast and Clover Bar industrial areas in Edmonton, Nisku Industrial Business Park in Leduc County, Acheson Industrial Area in Parkland County, Refinery Row in Strathcona County, and Alberta's Industrial Heartland spanning portions of Sturgeon County, Strathcona County, Lamont County and Fort Saskatchewan.

At the moment, two more major industrial areas are in the final stages of establishment. The establishment of the Horse Hills industrial area in northeast Edmonton is in the final planning stages, while Edmonton Airports is currently planning its inland port development under the Port Alberta initiative at the Edmonton International Airport within Leduc County.

See also

• Edmonton
• Calgary-Edmonton Corridor
• Calgary Metropolitan Region

External links

• Template:Official website
• Edmonton.com - Portal to Greater Edmonton
• EEDC - Edmonton Economic Development Corporation
• Government of Alberta Regional Dashboard economic data for the Edmonton CMA