User:Floozybackloves/Victoria, British Columbia (metropolitan area)

See also Greater Victoria.

The city of Victoria, the capital of the Canadian province of British Columbia, is one component of a considerably larger metropolitan area. The Victoria metropolitan area includes a large number of independent municipalities, plus a scattering of other elements. This page is devoted to information relevant to the entire Victoria metropolitan area. For convenience, on this page "Victoria" and "Greater Victoria" refer to the entire metropolitan area; "the city of Victoria" will be used to distinguish the municipality of the same name.

The Victoria metropolitan area is often called Greater Victoria, q.v.

Political structure
Organized municipalities provide many basic services: police and fire protection; water and sewer; parks and recreation facilities; garbage collection; property tax collection; building, electrical, and plumbing inspection; zoning; building and development permits.

Depending on the municipality, police protection may be handled by an in-house police force or by contract with the RCMP. Fire protection is provided by professional forces in the core municipalities, generally by volunteer forces in the rest of the region.

Other services are generally provided in part, or coordinated by, the Capital Regional District.

Municipalities (organized under provincial law)

 * The "core" municipalities
 * The City of Victoria, proper
 * The District of Saanich which includes two distinct sub-communities
 * Cadboro Bay
 * Cordova Bay
 * The District of Oak Bay
 * The City of Esquimalt
 * Municipalities on the Saanich Peninsula
 * The District of Central Saanich which includes two small urban centers
 * Brentwood Bay
 * Saanichton
 * The District of North Saanich
 * The Town of Sidney
 * The "Western Communities" or "West Shore" municipalities
 * The Town of View Royal
 * The District of Highlands
 * The City of Colwood
 * The City of Langford
 * The District of Metchosin
 * The District of Sooke

Non-municipal areas

 * Willis Point
 * East Sooke

First Nations reserves
There are 29 Indian reserves in and around Victoria. Only 10 of these are inhabited:

Capital Regional District
The Capital Regional District, or CRD, is an umbrella municipality, equivalent to a county government in the United States, which provides for regional cooperation of issue of common interest. The CRD includes a number of areas that may or may not be considered part of the Victoria metropolitan area:


 * the southern Gulf Islands
 * a narrow, sparsely settled strip along the north shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, including several small settlements
 * Otter Point
 * Shirley
 * Jordan River
 * Port Renfrew
 * the uninhabited Sooke Hills
 * the uninhabited hinterland behind the narrow coastal strip along the Strait of Juan de Fuca
 * a scattering of small, uninhabited offshore islands

Climate
The Victoria metropolitan area has a cool Mediterranean climate. Temperatures are moderated by the adjacent saltwater, and rainfall is concentrated in the winter months.

Winter temperatures normally hover around 5℃/42℉ with little diurnal variation. Arctic outflows of extremely cold air from the interior of the continent down the Pemberton and Fraser valleys sometimes cause cold spells around -10℃/15℉, and every thirty years or so, there will be an extended period of such cold weather.

Summer daytime temperatures are typically 18℃/65℉, cooling off significantly at night. Summer visitors to Victoria are well advised to pack a warm jacket to wear in the evening. A day with temperatures over 20℃/68℉ is considered warm, and a day reaching 27℃/80℉ is viewed as hot.

Recreation
Victoria offers a wide range of types of recreation, many year-round thanks to the mild climate. These include
 * saltwater boating and fishin
 * hiking
 * golfing
 * municipal recreation centres with pools, weight rooms, and organized recreational programs
 * gardening (Victoria has often been called "the city of gardens")
 * nightlife
 * cultural activities: music and art
 * a good public library system

Society and Demographics
The population of Greater Victoria was about 325,000 at the time of the census in 2006.

At one time called "a wee bit of old England", Victoria's population in fact has very diverse origins. A rough partial list of ethnic origins represented in Victoria's population would include:
 * the autochthonous First Nations population, mostly Coast Salish groups.
 * Caucasian immigrants, largely from Britain, but historically including many from the USA attracted by gold discoveries in the 1850s; also including a substantial German component.
 * Chinese, perhaps describable as having formed two waves of immigrants
 * an old immigrant population dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries
 * a contemporary immigrant population dating from about 1985 onwards
 * Sikhs, historically prominent in the lumber trade

Economy
In the past, Victoria's economy was based on fishing, the lumber industry, farming, and some light manufacturing. Today, its economy is based on tourism and institutional employers: government, education, and defense.

Major institutional employers include:
 * BC provincial government
 * Canadian federal government
 * University of Victoria
 * Camosun College
 * Royal Roads University
 * Canada's Pacific fleet based in Esquimalt Harbor