Calgary now ranks in second place, behind only Toronto, as the most attractive city in the country to locate corporate headquarters.

One in seven major Canadian corporations is now headquartered in Calgary.

And if population were calculated into the statistics, Calgary would come out on top as the city with the most head offices per capita.

Toronto is still the head office champion with more than twice the number of Calgary's headquarters. But in the past decade, there has been a growth rate of nearly fifty per cent in Calgary, with 114 head offices now in the city.

Calgary's Economic Development Agency just issued a study showing that the city has recently jumped ahead of Montreal.

In its study, the agency suggests continuous work must be done to ensure Calgary's ranking and position as western Canada's head office capital.

Bruce Graham is the president and CEO of the Calgary Economic Development Agency.

"Most of that growth has been incremental and I think it's a reflection of the shift in the economy of Canada to a stronger commodity-based economy.

Calgary is clearly Canada's energy capital, with nearly three quarters of the head offices connected to energy.

Imperial oil's former boss says when that company moved its headquarters here five years ago, it looked at a number of factors.

"We thought that clearly it was the right business decision, we had a number of good reasons to move but I think the biggest reservation was could we attract and retain our people coming here and the post audit is it has been a wonderful success and we're really happy about that," said Tim Hearn.

But it's not just energy. CP Rail made the move west in 1996.

That company's former boss says Calgary was and still is an attractive corporate destination, but he cautions more needs to be to done to attract young people.

"I think a vibrant downtown core is absolutely critical to attract young people going forward. Infrastructure all the time. We're growing so quickly, how do you keep infrastructure up? We're doing a good job there but we can't back off," said Rob Ritchie, past president of CP Rail.

Calgary economic development agrees that any infrastructure investments -- especially downtown -- will pay dividends, and ensure this city remains a Canadian and global business hub.