Alberta Flashcards
6 cards from real CANADIAN practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Alberta flashcards as text
The Natural Resources Transfer Act of 1930 was a landmark agreement for Alberta. What was its primary significance?
Answer: It transferred control of Crown lands and natural resources from federal to provincial jurisdiction
When Alberta became a province in 1905, the federal government retained control over its public lands and natural resources — unlike the original provinces. The Natural Resources Transfer Act of 1930 corrected this by transferring ownership of Crown lands and resources to Alberta (and the other Prairie provinces), giving the province control over the royalties and revenues that would later fuel its economy.
The Famous Five, led by Emily Murphy of Alberta, won the landmark 'Persons Case' in 1929, establishing that women were legally 'persons' eligible for Senate appointment. Which court issued the final ruling in their favour?
Answer: The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London
The Supreme Court of Canada actually ruled AGAINST the Famous Five in 1928, deciding that women were not 'persons' under Section 24 of the BNA Act. The Famous Five appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London — at that time Canada's highest court of appeal — which overturned the Supreme Court's decision in 1929 and declared women to be persons.
Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed established the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund in 1976. What was the Fund's primary stated purpose?
Answer: To save a share of non-renewable resource revenues for the benefit of future generations
The Heritage Savings Trust Fund was designed to convert a portion of Alberta's finite, non-renewable oil and gas royalties into a perpetual financial asset. The logic was that once the oil runs out, the Fund's investment returns would continue benefiting Albertans. At its peak in the early 1980s it held over $12 billion, though withdrawals and policy changes later reduced its growth.
Alberta holds a unique distinction among Canadian provinces regarding the Métis people. Which of the following accurately describes it?
Answer: Alberta is the only province with a legislated Métis Settlements system that grants Métis communities collective land-holding rights
Alberta's Métis Settlements Act (1990) created eight Métis settlements in northern Alberta, giving Métis communities collective title to approximately 512,000 hectares of land. This is unique in Canada — no other province has a legislated, land-based Métis settlement system. The settlements predate this legislation, but the Act entrenched their land rights in provincial law.
The discovery of oil at Leduc No. 1 on February 13, 1947, is considered a turning point in Alberta's history. Why was it so significant?
Answer: It proved that major conventional oil reserves existed in Alberta, transforming its struggling post-war agricultural economy
Leduc No. 1, drilled by Imperial Oil near Leduc south of Edmonton, was not the first oil find in Canada, but it was the discovery that proved Alberta's Devonian reef geology held massive conventional oil reserves. After years of dry wells and economic hardship, Leduc triggered a drilling boom and fundamentally shifted Alberta from a depression-era wheat economy to an energy powerhouse. The oil sands near Fort McMurray are a separate resource and development came much later.
Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed fiercely opposed Pierre Trudeau's National Energy Program (NEP) introduced in 1980, famously calling it an assault on provincial rights. What was the core basis of Alberta's objection?
Answer: The NEP imposed federal price controls and revenue-sharing on oil and gas, areas Alberta considered exclusive provincial jurisdiction under the Constitution
Under the Constitution Act, natural resources fall under provincial jurisdiction. The NEP set a 'made-in-Canada' oil price below world market value and redirected a significant share of energy revenues to the federal government — revenue Alberta believed belonged to the province. Lougheed retaliated by reducing oil production to pressure Ottawa. The NEP remains deeply resented in Alberta and is a defining moment in federal-provincial tensions over resource jurisdiction.