Editing Canadian Prairies (section)

== Culture and politics ==

The Prairies are distinguished from the rest of Canada by cultural and political traits. The oldest influence on Prairie culture are the [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]], who have inhabited this region for millennia. This region has the highest proportion of [[Indigenous peoples in Canada|Indigenous people in Canada]], outside of the [[Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories|three territories]]. The first Europeans to see the Prairies were [[fur trade]]rs and explorers from [[eastern Canada]] (mainly present-day [[Quebec]]) and Great Britain via [[Hudson Bay]]. They gave rise to the [[Métis]], who were [[working class]] "children of the fur trade."<ref name=atlas /> 

During their settlement by Europeans, the prairies were settled in distinct ethnic [[block settlement]]s giving  areas distinctively [[British Canadians|British]], [[Ukrainian Canadians|Ukrainian]], [[German Canadians|German]], [[French Canadians|French]], or [[Nordic and Scandinavian Canadians|Scandinavian Canadian]] cultures. Farm family operations predominate, where families supplement their cash income with home-grown farm produce. Grain crops are the main cash crop, but mixed farming had natural advantages in the wooded areas of the [[Aspen parkland|parkland]] and [[Taiga|boreal]] forest to the north. Local conditions attracted particular ethnicities. Those of Ukrainians and [[Polish Canadians|Polish]] heritage were drawn to the parkland of east north-central Alberta.

[[File:Badlands Alberta.JPG|thumb|The Alberta [[badlands]]]]
Southern Alberta is renowned for its [[cowboy culture]], which developed when real [[Ranch#The Open Range|open range ranching]] was practiced in the 1880s.<ref name=atlas /> Canada's first rodeo, the [[Raymond Stampede]], was established in 1902. These influences are also evident in the [[music of Canada's Prairie Provinces]]. This can be attributed partially to the massive influx of American settlers who began to migrate to Alberta (and to a lesser extent, Saskatchewan) in the late 1880s because of the lack of available land in the United States.

The Prairie Provinces have given rise to the "prairie protest" movements. Radical solutions are sometimes considered sound in the more open western culture. Organized farmer groups and politicized labour groups were a feature of the inter-war years. The [[One Big Union (Canada)|One Big Union]] was founded on the Prairies; the [[Winnipeg general strike]] (1919) was the biggest [[general strike]] in Canadian history. The [[United Farmers of Alberta]] was the longest-lasting post-WWI farmer government in Canada. Monetary reform ([[Canadian social credit movement|Social Credit]]) elected its first government in the world, the [[Alberta Social Credit Party]], in the [[1935 Alberta general election]]. The [[Reform Party of Canada]] (1987 to 2000), founded by [[Preston Manning]], had its strongest support among Prairie voters. 

These political movements (both of the left and right) tend to feed off of well established feelings of [[Western alienation]], and each one represents a distinct challenge to the perceived [[Central Canada|Central Canadian]] elite.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Peterson |first1=Larry |title=Revolutionary Socialism and Industrial Unrest in the Era of the Winnipeg General Strike: The Origins of Communist Labour Unionism in Europe and North America |journal=Labour / Le Travail |date=1 January 1984 |volume=13 |pages=115–131 |doi=10.2307/25140403 |jstor=25140403 |s2cid=73518869 |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/LLT/article/view/2604 |issn=1911-4842|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Prairies continue to have a wide range of political representation. While the [[Conservative Party of Canada]] has widespread support throughout the region at both federal and provincial levels, the [[New Democratic Party]] holds seats at the provincial level in all three provinces, and takes turns with Conservatives or another right-wing party at provincial government. The NDP holds [[List of House members of the 43rd Parliament of Canada|seats at the federal level]] in Alberta and Manitoba. The [[Liberal Party of Canada]] often holds seats in Alberta and Manitoba; it presently holds four federal seats in Winnipeg, while the [[Manitoba Liberal Party]] holds one seat in Manitoba.