Business View Magazine | April 2019

203 BERTA L acombe, Alberta, which became the province’s 17th city on September 5, 2010, is located in the rolling parkland of central Alberta, be- tween the Rocky Mountain foothills to the west and the flatter Alberta prairie to the east. The city is approximately 16 miles north of Red Deer and 78 miles south of Edmonton. With a wide array of amenities and facilities, a diverse economy, and an innovative government, Lacombe is a city in balance. Lacombe is named after Father Albert Lacombe, a French-Canadian Roman Catholic Oblate mission- ary who lived among and evangelized the Cree and Blackfoot First Nations of western Canada. The first permanent settler, Ed Barnett, a retired member of the North-West Mounted Police, arrived in 1883. The Canadian Pacific Railway came to the area in 1891, and by 1893 the downtown blocks and lots were sur- veyed. Village status was granted in 1896, and town status in 1902. Today, Lacombe is a thriving city with a population approaching 15,000. Its economy includes a strong agricultural base supplemented by the oil and gas industry, the financial services industry, Burnam University – a four-year degree-granting institution, a vibrant healthcare sector and federal and provincial government offices. Lacombe is also home to the La- combe Research Centre (LRC), one of 19 national ag- AT A GLANCE LACOMBE, ALBERTA WHAT: : A city of 15,000 WHERE: West of the Rocky Mountains in central Alberta WEBSITE: www.lacombe.ca