IAN LA COUVEE
C&PA, MONTREAL
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CALGARY - The first time the railway came to town, there was expectation and euphoria, at least as much as could be raised by the 100 or so settlers huddled in the dusty, eight-year-old, tent city at Fort Calgary.

The 1883 arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway line in Calgary was a milestone in Canadian history, essentially giving birth to the city and laying the foundations of Western settlement.

But never in its life has the railway received such a large and public display of goodwill as it has in the days since last 20 Nov 1995 when it announced its head office would move to this growing western metropolis.

This year's move, call it the Second Coming of the Railway, is arguably the best thing to happen to the city since it won the right to host the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Equally historic and prophetic, the railway's head-office relocation, one of the largest in Canadian history, bodes well for the future of Calgary. At the same time, it marks the city's arrival as Canada's next "big city", after Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.

The head-office relocation will add about 800 employees this year to the railway's Calgary workforce, a large influx that supplements CPRS's current Alberta workforce of 3,000 and payroll of about $148 million.

Not surprisingly, effusive Western welcomes are pouring in from all quarters, public and private, local and provincial, commercial and political.

The new jobs and the spending the railway will bring have sparked widespread optimism about Calgary's coming of age. From realtors to retailers, shippers to ski-hill operators, Albertans are eagerly awaiting this second coming of the railway.

In recent interviews with CP Rail System News, leaders of Alberta's political and business communities hailed the railway's head-office relocation as recognition of a city and province on the rise.

Indeed, Mayor Al Duerr, noting Calgary already has become the second-largest centre for Canadian corporate headquarters, predicted his city soon will bypass Toronto as head-office capital of the country.

"I believe, very strongly, that within the next 10 years, we may well overtake Toronto as the largest head-office centre in Canada," Duerr said.

"The decision by CP Rail System to choose Calgary as its Canadian head-quarters has had an outstanding impact on this community. It said that there is something special happening here in Calgary and in Alberta.

"People are thrilled. Every Calgarian I speak to is just thrilled by the decision," he said.

Premier Ralph Klein, formerly mayor of Calgary, said the relocation is a logical move given the large Alberta presence of other Canadian Pacific Limited subsidiaries.

"Most of Canadian Pacific's hotel operations are in Alberta. They have their oil operations headquartered here. So it makes sense that the essence of CP, which is the railway, should be here as well.

"CP Rail System has played a leading role in the development of Alberta, and indeed, the Canadian West. And we look forward to its continued and growing presence here," Klein said.

Doug Mitchell, president of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, said there's been an "overwhelmingly positive response" by local industry leaders to last November's relocation announcement by CPRS.

The move is "tremendously popular here," he said.

As the city attracts new companies, capital, and talent, it also is breaking free from its stereotype as the Canadian capital of cowboys, cattle, and crude oil.

"It's a new dimension for the city of Calgary... we're not perceived any longer as just an oil and gas city," Mitchell said.

With the influx of CPRS's head-office employees, Duerr agreed, Calgary is gaining momentum in its bid to diversify as an economic power base in Canada.

"We're much more than just oil and gas and agriculture. We're very much a centre of technology and a distribution centre for Western Canada."

But the CPRS relocation is mutually beneficial, this high-powered Alberta welcome squad said.

"The benefits are tremendous. From an operating point of view, this location is central to all of CP's rail operations in the West," Klein said.

He pointed to the highly touted Alberta Advantage, a marketing concept devised by his Conservative government that's attracting new workers and capital to the province.

Backed by Alberta's natural physical advantages, as well as low taxes and a balanced provincial budget, Klein said the so-called Alberta Advantage means a lifestyle that's "second to none anywhere in this country, perhaps in the world.

"That advantage is a good lifestyle in terms of quality health care, quality education, a good social safety net, a pristine environment, safe cities, and safe towns," he said.

Beyond the tangible benefits the province may look forward to, as a result of the railway's Western migration, the premier in his interview revealed an abiding appreciation for Canadian railroaders.

Klein, whose rise to the top of the Alberta political ladder may well have been launched from his long apprenticeship as a reporter in Calgary, recounted an episode in which he was dispatched to report on a landslide that knocked out the CPRS line in Field, B.C., near the border of Alberta.

"Many reporters travelled out to cover the landslide. I decided to ask the CPRS superintendent... if I could stick around to see how you clean up a mess like this," Klein said.

"And I guess I spent two or three days in the rain, in absolute misery, but nonetheless got a very, very, good story, a story that involved the dedication, expertise, and efficiency of railroaders to clean up and have the railway running within about 24 hours of this huge, massive, landslide."

Dedication, expertise, efficiency, three more elements that this year will become an even larger component of the celebrated Alberta Advantage.