Canadian Baskets - Express Canadian Gifts & Baskets
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Canada (IPA: /ˈkænÉ™dÉ™/) is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area,[2] and shares land borders with the United States to the south and northwest.
The lands have been inhabited for millennia by various groups of aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion.[3][4][5][disputed] This began an accretion of additional provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster in 1931 and culminating in the Canada Act in 1982 which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament.
A federation now comprising ten provinces and three territories, Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. It is a bilingual and multicultural country, with both English and French as official languages at the federal level. Technologically advanced and industrialized, Canada
Provinces and territories of Canada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Canada is a federation consisting of ten provinces that, with three territories, make up the world's second largest country in total area. The major difference between a Canadian province and a territory is that a province receives its power and authority directly from the Crown, via the Constitution Act, 1867, whereas territories derive their mandates from the federal government.
The current provinces are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. The three territories are Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon.
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[edit] History
Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia are the original provinces, formed when British North American colonies federated on July 1, 1867 into the Dominion of Canada and by stages began accruing the indicia of sovereignty from the United Kingdom. Over the following six years, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island were added as provinces.
The Hudson's Bay Company maintained control of large swaths of western Canada until 1870, when it turned over the land to the Government of Canada, forming part of Northwest Territories. On September 1, 1905, a portion of the Northwest Territories south of the 60° parallel became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1912, the boundaries of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba were expanded northward: Manitoba's to the 60° parallel, Ontario's to Hudson Bay and Quebec's to encompass the District of Ungava.[1]
In 1869, Newfoundland decided in an election to remain a British territory, over concerns that central Canada would dominate taxation and economic policy. In 1907, Newfoundland and Labrador acquired dominion status. However, in 1933, the government of Newfoundland fell and during World War II, Canada took charge of Newfoundland's defence.[citation needed] Following World War II, Newfoundland's status was in question. In a narrow majority, the citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador voted for confederation in a 1948 referendum. On March 31, 1949, Newfoundland and Labrador became Canada's tenth and final province.
Government
Theoretically, provinces have a great deal of power relative to the federal government, with jurisdiction over many public goods such as healthcare, education, welfare, and intra-provincial transportation. They receive "transfer payments" from the federal government to pay for these, as well as exacting their own taxes. In practice, however, the federal government can use these transfer payments to influence these provincial areas. For instance in order to receive health care funding under medicare, provinces must agree to meet certain federal mandates, such as universal access to required medical treatment.
Provincial and territorial legislatures are unicameral, having no second chamber equivalent to the Canadian Senate. Originally, most provinces did have such bodies, known as legislative councils, but these were subsequently abolished, Quebec's being the last in 1968. In most provinces, the single house of the legislature is known as the Legislative Assembly except in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, where it is called the House of Assembly, and Quebec where it is generally called the National Assembly. Ontario has a Legislative Assembly but its members are called Members of the Provincial Parliament or MPPs. The legislative assemblies use a procedure similar to that of the Canadian House of Commons. The head of government of each province, called the premier, is generally the head of the party with the most seats. This is also the case in Yukon, but Northwest Territories and Nunavut have no political parties at the territorial level. The Queen's representative to each province is the Lieutenant-Governor. In each of the territories there is an analogous Commissioner, but he or she represents the federal government and not the monarch. These terminological differences are summarized below.
- Further information: Monarchy in the Canadian provinces
Federal, provincial, and territorial terminology compared
| Canada | Governor General | Prime Minister | Parliament | Parliamentarian | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senate | House of Commons | Senator | Member of Parliament | |||
| Ontario | Lieutenant-Governor | Premier | n/a* | Legislative Assembly | n/a | Member of the Provincial Parliament (MPP) |
| Quebec | National Assembly | Member of the National Assembly (MNA) | ||||
| Newfoundland and Labrador | House of Assembly | Member of the House of Assembly (MHA) | ||||
| Nova Scotia | Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) | |||||
| Other provinces | Legislative Assembly | |||||
| Territories | Commissioner | Government Leader (Premier) | ||||
*Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island historically had Legislative Councils, analogous to the federal Senate.
- See also: Office-holders of Canada
Provinces of Canada
The following table is listed in the order of precedence (i.e. when a province entered into Confederation).
| Province, with flag | Postal abbreviation/ ISO code |
Other abbreviations | Capital | Entered Confederation | Population (2007)[2] |
Area (km²) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Land | Water | Total | ||||||
 Ontario1 |
ON | Ont. | Toronto | July 1, 1867 | 12,753,702 | 917,741 | 158,654 | 1,076,395 |
 Quebec1 |
QC | Que., PQ, P.Q. | Quebec City | 7,687,068 | 1,356,128 | 185,928 | 1,542,056 | |
 Nova Scotia2 |
NS | N.S. | Halifax | 932,966 | 53,338 | 1,946 | 55,284 | |
 New Brunswick2 |
NB | N.B. | Fredericton | 748,878 | 71,450 | 1,458 | 72,908 | |
 Manitoba3 |
MB | Man. | Winnipeg | July 15, 1870 | 1,182,921 | 553,556 | 94,241 | 647,797 |
 British Columbia2 |
BC | B.C. | Victoria | July 20, 1871 | 4,352,798 | 925,186 | 19,549 | 944,735 |
 Prince Edward Island2 |
PE | PEI, P.E.I., P.E. Island | Charlottetown | July 1, 1873 | 138,800 | 5,660 | — | 5,660 |
 Saskatchewan4 |
SK | Sask., SSK, SKWN | Regina | September 1, 1905 | 990,212 | 591,670 | 59,366 | 651,036 |
 Alberta4 |
AB | Alta. | Edmonton | 3,455,062 | 642,317 | 19,531 | 661,848 | |
 Newfoundland and Labrador5 |
NL | Nfld., NF, LB | St. John's | March 31, 1949 | 506,548 | 3 | ||
