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Canada
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, and shares land borders with the United States to the south and
northwest.
Canada has been inhabited for millennia by
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, semi-autonomous polity. 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 maintains a diversified economy that is heavily reliant upon its
abundant natural resources and upon trade—particularly with the United
States, with which Canada has had a long and complex relationship.
Canada is a federation composed of ten provinces and three territories; in
turn, these may be grouped into regions. Western Canada consists of British
Columbia and the three Prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and
Manitoba).
Central Canada consists of Quebec and Ontario. Atlantic Canada consists of
the three Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova
Scotia), along with Newfoundland and Labrador. Eastern Canada refers to
Central Canada and Atlantic Canada together. Three territories (Yukon,
Northwest Territories, and Nunavut) make up Northern Canada. Provinces have
a large degree of autonomy from the federal government, territories somewhat
less. Each has its own provincial or territorial symbols.
The provinces are responsible for most of Canada's social programs (such as
health care, education, and welfare) and together collect more revenue than
the federal government, an almost unique structure among federations in the
world. Using its spending powers, the federal government can initiate
national policies in provincial areas, such as the Canada Health Act; the
provinces can opt out of these, but rarely do so in practice. Equalization
payments are made by the federal government to ensure that reasonably
uniform standards of services and taxation are kept between the richer and
poorer provinces.
All provinces have unicameral, elected legislatures headed by a Premier
selected in the same way as the Prime Minister of Canada. Each province also
has a Lieutenant-Governor representing the Queen, analogous to the Governor
General of Canada. The Lieutenant-Governor is appointed on the
recommendation of the Prime Minister of Canada, though with increasing
levels of consultation with provincial governments in recent years.
Canada
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.
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.