Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
Categories: Communities in Newfoundland and Labrador | Newfoundland and Labrador geography stubs
Happy Valley-Goose Bay (53° 18′ 07″ N, 60° 25′ 00″ W AST) is a town in Labrador of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The town is built around the largest air force base in northeastern North America, CFB Goose Bay. Happy Valley-Goose Bay is also the largest population centre in the central part of Labrador.
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Geography
Happy Valley-Goose Bay lies at the southeast end of Lake Melville near the mouth of the Churchill River.
History
The community was created from a 1975 amalgamation of the civilian community of Happy Valley, formerly called Refugee Cove, with the military community of Goose Bay during a time of uncertainty for defence funding to keep the air base operational.
CFB Goose Bay has seen a reduction of NATO low-level tactical flight training in the past decade and the town is facing an uncertain future as the federal government has reduced the number of permanent Canadian Forces Air Command personnel to less than 100 all-ranks. The only remaining NATO nations using CFB Goose Bay for flight training, Germany and Italy, have not renewed their leases which terminate in early 2006.
The runway at Happy Valley-Goose Bay is also an alternative landing site for the NASA space shuttle due to its size and length.
Culture
| Population in 2001 | 7,969 |
| Population change from 1996 | -7.9% |
| Median age | 32.7 |
| Number of families | 2,360 |
| Number of married couples | 1,535 |
| Total number of dwellings | 2,745 |
| Catholic | 20.1% |
| Protestant | 73.9% |
| Land Area (sq. km.) | 305.85 |
Statistics Canada detail demographics follow link here
Ballistic Missile Defence
Labradorian politicians such as Liberal Senator Bill Rompkey have advocated using part of CFB Goose Bay as a site for a missile defense radar system under development by the United States Department of Defence. Executives from BMD contractor Raytheon have surveyed CFB Goose Bay as a suitable location for deploying such a radar installation.[1].
See also
External link
| Newfoundland and Labrador | Image:Newfoundlandflag.png |
| Cities: Corner Brook | Mount Pearl | St. John's | |
| Notable towns: Bonavista | Carbonear | Channel-Port aux Basques | Clarenville | Cupids | Ferryland | Fogo | Gander | Grand Falls-Windsor | Happy Valley-Goose Bay | Harbour Grace | Labrador City | Marystown | Nain | Placentia | Red Bay | St. Anthony | Stephenville | Trinity | |