Refinery Row

Alberta was long considered a have-not province until the discovery of oil at Leduc in the 1950s changed that. Today, fossil fuels make Alberta a wealthy province, providing much of the province's employment and allowing Alberta to be the only province in Canada without a provincial sales tax. While many of the corporate offices of energy companies are in Calgary, major refineries are found in and near Edmonton, especially along Refinery Row, shown here, in Edmonton's east end. Alberta's petroleum wealth is guarded jealously. Albertans still seethe with anger when reminded of the federal government's National Energy Program in the early 1980s, which many believe drained the province of multi-billions of dollars in wealth.

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