Provinces and territories of Canada

"O Canada we stand on guard for thee" Stained Glass, Yeo Hall, Royal Military College of Canada features arms of the Canadian provinces and territories (1965)

Canada's geography is divided into administrative divisions known as provinces and territories that are responsible for delivery of sub-national governance. When Canada was formed in 1867, three provinces of British North America—New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the Province of Canada (which, on the formation of Canada, was divided into Ontario and Quebec)—were united to form a federated colony, which eventually became a sovereign nation in the next century. Over its history, Canada's international borders have changed several times, and the country has grown from the original four provinces to the current ten provinces and three territories. The ten provinces are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. Several of the provinces were former British colonies, and Quebec was originally a French colony, while others were added as Canada grew. The three territories are Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, which govern the rest of the area of the former British North America. Together, the provinces and territories make up the world's second-largest country by area.

The major difference between a Canadian province and a territory is that provinces receive their power and authority from the Constitution Act, 1867 (formerly called the British North America Act, 1867), whereas territorial governments have powers delegated to them by the Parliament of Canada. The powers flowing from the Constitution Act are divided between the federal government and the provincial governments to exercise exclusively. A change to the division of powers between the federal government and the provinces requires a constitutional amendment, whereas a similar change affecting the territories can be performed unilaterally by the Parliament of Canada or government.

In modern Canadian constitutional theory, the provinces are considered to be sovereign within certain areas based on the divisions of responsibility between the provincial and federal government within the Constitution Act 1867, and each province thus has its own representative of the Canadian "Crown", the lieutenant governor. The territories are not sovereign, but instead their authorities and responsibilities come directly from the federal level, and as a result have a commissioner instead of a lieutenant governor.

Location of provinces and territories

A clickable map of Canada exhibiting its ten provinces and three territories, and their capitals.
Victoria Whitehorse Edmonton Yellowknife Regina Winnipeg Iqaluit Toronto Ottawa Quebec Fredericton Charlottetown Halifax St. John's Northwest Territories Saskatchewan Newfoundland and Labrador New Brunswick Victoria Yukon British Columbia Whitehorse Alberta Edmonton Regina Yellowknife Nunavut Winnipeg Manitoba Ontario Iqaluit Ottawa Quebec Toronto Quebec City Fredericton Charlottetown Nova Scotia Halifax Prince Edward Island St. John'sA clickable map of Canada exhibiting its ten provinces and three territories, and their capitals.
About this image

Provinces

Flag Shield Province Postal
abbreviation		 Capital[1] Largest city
(by population)[2]		 Entered
Confederation[3]		 Population
(May 10, 2016)[4]		 Area: land
(km2)[5]		 Area: water
(km2)[5]		 Area: total
(km2)[5]		 Official
language(s)[6]		 Federal Parliament:
Commons seats[7]		 Federal Parliament:
Senate seats[7]
Ontario ON Toronto Toronto July 1, 1867 13,448,494 917,741 158,654 1,076,395 English[lower-alpha 1] 121 24
Quebec QC Quebec City Montreal July 1, 1867 8,164,361 1,356,128 185,928 1,542,056 French[lower-alpha 2] 78 24
Nova Scotia NS Halifax Halifax[lower-alpha 3] July 1, 1867 923,598 53,338 1,946 55,284 English[lower-alpha 4] 11 10
New Brunswick NB Fredericton Moncton July 1, 1867 747,101 71,450 1,458 72,908 English and French[lower-alpha 5] 10 10
Manitoba MB Winnipeg Winnipeg July 15, 1870 1,278,365 647,797 94,241 742,038 English[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 6] 14 6
British Columbia BC Victoria Vancouver July 20, 1871 4,648,055 925,186 19,549 944,735 English[lower-alpha 1] 42 6
Prince Edward Island PE Charlottetown Charlottetown July 1, 1873 142,907 5,660 0 5,660 English[lower-alpha 1] 4 4
Saskatchewan SK Regina Saskatoon September 1, 1905 1,098,352 591,670 59,366 651,036 English[lower-alpha 1] 14 6
Alberta AB Edmonton Calgary September 1, 1905 4,067,175 642,317 19,531 661,848 English[lower-alpha 1] 34 6
Newfoundland and Labrador NL St. John's St. John's March 31, 1949 519,716 373,872 31,340 405,212 English[lower-alpha 1] 7 6
Total 35,151,728 5,490,918 572,013 6,062,931 — 335 102

Notes:

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 De facto; French has limited constitutional status.
  2. ↑ Charter of the French Language; English has limited constitutional status.
  3. ↑ Nova Scotia dissolved cities in 1996 in favour of regional municipalities; its largest regional municipality is therefore substituted.
  4. ↑ Nova Scotia has very few bilingual statutes (three in English and French; one in English and Polish); some Government bodies have legislated names in both English and French.
  5. ↑ Section Sixteen of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
  6. ↑ Manitoba Act.

Provincial legislature buildings

Territories

There are three territories in Canada. Unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada have no inherent sovereignty and have only those powers delegated to them by the federal government.[8][9][10] They include all of mainland Canada north of latitude 60° north and west of Hudson Bay, as well as most islands north of the Canadian mainland (from those in James Bay to the Canadian Arctic islands). The following table lists the territories in order of precedence (each province has precedence over all the territories, regardless of the date each territory was created).

Territories of Canada
Flag Arms Territory Postal
abbreviation		 Capital and largest city[1] Entered Confederation[3] Population
(May 10, 2016)[4]		 Area: land (km2)[5] Area: water (km2)[5] Area: total (km2)[5] Official languages Federal Parliament: Commons seats[7] Federal Parliament: Senate seats[7]
Northwest Territories NT Yellowknife July 15, 1870 41,786 1,183,085 163,021 1,346,106 Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwich’in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey, Tłįchǫ[11] 1 1
Yukon YT Whitehorse June 13, 1898 35,874 474,391 8,052 482,443 English, French[12] 1 1
Nunavut NU Iqaluit April 1, 1999 35,944 1,936,113 157,077 2,093,190 Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut,
English, French[13]		 1 1
Total territories 119,100 3,593,589 328,150 3,921,739 — 3 3

Territorial legislature buildings

Territorial evolution

When Canada was formed in 1867 its provinces were a relatively narrow strip in the southeast, with vast territories in the interior. It grew by adding British Columbia in 1871, P.E.I. in 1873, the British Arctic Islands in 1880, and Newfoundland in 1949; meanwhile, its provinces grew both in size and number at the expense of its territories.
Canada timeline: Evolution of the borders and the names of Canada's Provinces and Territories

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia were the original provinces, formed when several 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.[14] Prior to this, Ontario and Quebec were united as the Province of Canada. Over the following years, Manitoba (1870), British Columbia (1871), and Prince Edward Island (1873) were added as provinces.[14]

The Hudson's Bay Company controlled large swathes of western Canada referred to as Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory until 1870, when it turned the land over to the Government of Canada.[15] Subsequently, the area was re-organized into the province of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories.[15] The Northwest Territories were vast at first, encompassing all of current northern and western Canada, except for the British holdings in the Arctic islands and the Colony of British Columbia; the Territories also included the northern two-thirds of Ontario and Quebec, and almost all of present Manitoba, with the 1870 province of Manitoba originally being confined to a small area in the south of today's province.[16] The remaining Arctic islands were transferred by Britain to Canada in 1880, adding to the size of the Northwest Territories. 1898 saw the Yukon Territory, later renamed simply as Yukon, carved from the parts of the Northwest Territories surrounding the Klondike gold fields. On September 1, 1905, a portion of the Northwest Territories south of the 60th parallel north became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.[16] 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.[17]

1905 Provinces and territories of Canada coat of arms postcard

In 1869, the people of Newfoundland voted to remain a British colony over fears that taxes would increase with Confederation, and that the economic policy of the Canadian government would favour mainland industries.[18] In 1907, Newfoundland acquired dominion status.[19] In the middle of the Great Depression in Canada with Newfoundland facing a prolonged period of economic crisis, the legislature turned over political control to the Commission of Government in 1933.[20] Following Canada's participation in World War II, in a 1948 referendum, a narrow majority of Newfoundland citizens voted to join the Confederation, and on March 31, 1949, Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province.[21] In 2001, it was officially renamed Newfoundland and Labrador.[22]

In 1903, the Alaska Panhandle Dispute fixed British Columbia's northwestern boundary.[23] This was one of only two provinces in Canadian history to have its size reduced. The second reduction, in 1927, occurred when a boundary dispute between Canada and the Dominion of Newfoundland saw Labrador increased at Quebec's expense – this land returned to Canada, as part of the province of Newfoundland, in 1949.[24] In 1999, Nunavut was created from the eastern portion of the Northwest Territories.[25] Yukon lies in the western portion of The North, while Nunavut is in the east.[26]

All three territories combined are the most sparsely populated region in Canada, covering 3,921,739 km2 (1,514,192 sq mi) in land area.[5] They are often referred to as a single region, The North, for organisational and economic purposes.[27] For much of the Northwest Territories' early history it was divided into several districts for ease of administration.[28] The District of Keewatin was created as a separate territory from 1876 to 1905, after which, as the Keewatin Region, it became an administrative district of the Northwest Territories.[29] In 1999, it was dissolved when it became part of Nunavut.

Government

Theoretically, provinces have a great deal of power relative to the federal government, with jurisdiction over many public goods such as health care, education, welfare, and intra-provincial transportation.[30] They receive "transfer payments" from the federal government to pay for these, as well as exacting their own taxes.[31] In practice, however, the federal government can use these transfer payments to influence these provincial areas. For instance, in order to receive healthcare funding under Medicare, provinces must agree to meet certain federal mandates, such as universal access to required medical treatment.[31]

Provincial and territorial legislatures have no second chamber like the Canadian Senate. Originally, most provinces did have such bodies, known as legislative councils, with members titled councillors. These upper houses were abolished one by one, Quebec's being the last in 1968.[32] In most provinces, the single house of the legislature is known as the Legislative Assembly; the exceptions are Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, where the chamber is called the House of Assembly, and Quebec where it is called the National Assembly.[33] Ontario has a Legislative Assembly but its members are called Members of the Provincial Parliament or MPPs.[34] 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.[35] This is also the case in Yukon, but the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have no political parties at the territorial level.[36] The Queen's representative to each province is the Lieutenant Governor.[37] In each of the territories there is an analogous Commissioner, but he or she represents the federal government rather than the monarch.[38]

Federal, Provincial, and Territorial terminology compared
Jurisdiction Legislature Lower house Members of lower house Head of Government Viceroy
Canada Parliament House of Commons Member of Parliament Prime Minister Governor General
Ontario Legislative Assembly Member of the Provincial Parliament* Premier Lieutenant Governor
Quebec Legislature National Assembly† Member of the National Assembly†
Nova Scotia General Assembly House of Assembly Member of the Legislative Assembly§
New Brunswick Legislature Legislative Assembly§
Manitoba
British Columbia Parliament
Prince Edward Island General Assembly
Saskatchewan Legislature
Alberta
Newfoundland
and Labrador		 General Assembly House of Assembly Member of the House of Assembly
Northwest Territories Assembly Legislative Assembly Member of the Legislative Assembly Premier‖ Commissioner
Yukon Legislature
Nunavut Assembly
* Members were previously titled "Member of the Legislative Assembly".
† Quebec's lower house was previously called the "Legislative Assembly" with members titled "Member of the Legislative Assembly". The name was changed at the same time Quebec's upper house was abolished.
§ Prince Edward Island's lower house was previously called the "House of Assembly" and its members were titled "Assemblyman". After abolition of its upper house, assemblymen and councillors both sat in the renamed "Legislative Assembly". Later, this practice was abolished so that all members would be titled "Member of the Legislative Assembly".
‖ In Northwest Territories and Yukon the head of government was previously titled "Government Leader".

Provincial political parties

Most provinces have rough provincial counterparts to major federal parties. However, these provincial parties are not usually formally linked to the federal parties that share the same name.[39] For example, no provincial Conservative or Progressive Conservative Party shares an organizational link to the federal Conservative Party of Canada, and neither do provincial Green Parties to the Green Party of Canada. Provincial New Democratic Parties, on the other hand, are fully integrated with the federal New Democratic Party – meaning that provincial parties effectively operate as sections, with common membership, of the federal party. The Liberal Party of Canada shares such an organizational integration with the provincial Liberals in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Other provincial Liberal Parties are unaffiliated with their federal counterpart.[39]

Some provinces have provincial political parties with no clear federal equivalent, such as the Alberta Party, Saskatchewan Party, and Wildrose Party.

The provincial political climate of Quebec is quite different: the main split is between sovereignty, represented by the Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire, and federalism, represented primarily by the Quebec Liberal Party.[40] The Coalition Avenir Québec, meanwhile, takes an abstentionist position on the question and does not support or oppose sovereignty.

Currently, the only minority provincial/territorial government is held by the British Columbia Liberal Party after receiving 43 out of 87 seats in the 2017 general election.

Current provincial/territorial governments (as of July 2017)
Province/Territory Premier[41] Party in government[41] Majority/Minority Lieutenant Governor/
Commissioner[42]
Alberta Rachel Notley Alberta New Democratic Party Majority Lois Mitchell
British Columbia John Horgan British Columbia New Democratic Party Minority[note 1] Judith Guichon
Manitoba Brian Pallister Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba Majority Janice Filmon
New Brunswick Brian Gallant New Brunswick Liberal Association Majority Jocelyne Roy-Vienneau
Newfoundland and Labrador Dwight Ball Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador Majority Frank Fagan
Nova Scotia Stephen McNeil Nova Scotia Liberal Party Majority John James Grant
Ontario Kathleen Wynne Ontario Liberal Party Majority Elizabeth Dowdeswell
Prince Edward Island Wade MacLauchlan Prince Edward Island Liberal Party Majority Frank Lewis
Quebec Philippe Couillard Quebec Liberal Party Majority J. Michel Doyon
Saskatchewan Brad Wall Saskatchewan Party Majority Vaughn Solomon Schofield
Northwest Territories Bob McLeod Consensus government N/A George Tuccaro
Nunavut Peter Taptuna Consensus government N/A Nellie Kusugak
Yukon Sandy Silver Yukon Liberal Party Majority Doug Phillips
  1. ↑ Supported by a confidence and supply agreement with the Green Party of British Columbia.

Ceremonial territory

Canadian National Vimy Memorial – For First World War Canadian dead and First World War Canadian missing, presumed dead in France.

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial, near Vimy, Pas-de-Calais, and the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, near Beaumont-Hamel, France are ceremonially considered Canadian territory.[43] In 1922, the French government donated the land used for the Vimy Memorial "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada the free use of the land exempt from all taxes".[44] The site of the Somme battlefield near Beaumont-Hamel site was purchased in 1921 by the people of the Dominion of Newfoundland.[43] These sites do not, however, enjoy extraterritorial status and are thus subject to French law.

Proposed provinces and territories

Since Confederation in 1867, there have been several proposals for new Canadian provinces and territories. The Constitution of Canada requires an amendment for the creation of a new province[45] but the creation of a new territory requires only an act of Parliament;[46] therefore, it is easier legislatively to create a territory than a province.

In late 2004, Prime Minister Paul Martin surprised some observers by expressing his personal support for all three territories gaining provincial status "eventually". He cited their importance to the country as a whole and the ongoing need to assert sovereignty in the Arctic, particularly as global warming could make that region more open to exploitation leading to more complex international waters disputes.[47]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Provinces and Territories". Government of Canada. 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  2. ↑ Place name (2013). "Census Profile". Statistic Canada. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Reader's Digest Association (Canada); Canadian Geographic Enterprises (2004). The Canadian Atlas: Our Nation, Environment and People. Douglas & McIntyre. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-55365-082-9.
  4. 1 2 "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, 2016 and 2011 censuses – 100% data". Statistics Canada. February 6, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Land and freshwater area, by province and territory". Statistics Canada. 2005. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
  6. ↑ Olivier Coche, François Vaillancourt, Marc-Antoine Cadieux, Jamie Lee Ronson (2012). "Official Language Policies of the Canadian Provinces" (PDF). Fraser Institute. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Guide to the Canadian House of Commons". Parliament of Canada. 2012. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Northwest Territories Act". Department of Justice Canada. 1986. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Yukon Act". Department of Justice Canada. 2002. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  10. ↑ Department of Justice Canada (1993). "Nunavut Act". Retrieved January 27, 2007.
  11. ↑ Northwest Territories Official Languages Act, 1988 (as amended 1988, 1991–1992, 2003)
  12. ↑ "OCOL – Statistics on Official Languages in Yukon". Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Nunavut's Official Languages". Language Commissioner of Nunavut. 2009. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  14. 1 2 Janet Ajzenstat (2003). Canada's Founding Debates. University of Toronto Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-8020-8607-5.
  15. 1 2 James Stuart Olson; Robert Shadle (1996). Historical Dictionary of the British Empire: A-J. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 538. ISBN 978-0-313-29366-5.
  16. 1 2 Barry M. Gough (2010). Historical Dictionary of Canada. Wilfrid Laurier University. pp. 141–142. ISBN 978-0-8108-7504-3.
  17. ↑ Atlas of Canada. "Territorial evolution". Retrieved January 27, 2007.
  18. ↑ "Confederation Rejected: Newfoundland and the Canadian Confederation, 1864–1869: Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage". Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage. 2000. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  19. ↑ Sandra Clarke (2010). Newfoundland and Labrador English. Edinburgh University Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-7486-2617-5.
  20. ↑ Trevor W. Harrison, John W. Friesen; Trevor Harrison; John W. Friesen (2010). Canadian Society in the Twenty-first Century: An Historical Sociological Approach. Canadian Scholars' Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-55130-371-0.
  21. ↑ Raymond Benjamin Blake (1994). Canadians at Last: Canada Integrates Newfoundland As a Province. University of Toronto Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-8020-6978-8.
  22. ↑ Fred M. Shelley (2013). Nation Shapes: The Story behind the World's Borders. ABC-CLIO. p. 175. ISBN 978-1-61069-106-2.
  23. ↑ James Laxer (2010). The Border: Canada, the US and Dispatches From the 49th Parallel. Doubleday Canada. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-385-67290-0.
  24. ↑ A. Oye Cukwurah (1967). The Settlement of Boundary Disputes in International Law. Manchester University Press. p. 186. GGKEY:EXSJZ7S92QE.
  25. ↑ Johnson-shoyama-graduate School (2013). Governance and Public Policy in Canada: A View from the Provinces. University of Toronto Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-4426-0493-3.
  26. ↑ Mark Nuttall (2012). Encyclopedia of the Arctic. Routledge. p. 301. ISBN 978-1-57958-436-8.
  27. ↑ Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2002). Oecd Territorial Reviews: Canada. OECD Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 978-92-64-19832-6.
  28. ↑ Carl Waldman; Molly Braun (2009). Atlas of the North American Indian. Infobase Publishing. p. 234. ISBN 978-1-4381-2671-5.
  29. ↑ McIlwraith, Thomas Forsyth; Edward K. Muller (2001). North America: The Historical Geography of a Changing Continent. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 359. ISBN 978-0-7425-0019-8.
  30. ↑ Gregory S. Mahler (1987). New Dimensions of Canadian Federalism: Canada in a Comparative Perspective. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-8386-3289-5.
  31. 1 2 Ian Peach (2007). Constructing Tomorrows Federalism: New Perspectives on Canadian Governance. Univ. of Manitoba Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-88755-315-8.
  32. ↑ Jocelyn Maclure (2003). Quebec Identity: The Challenge of Pluralism. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-7735-7111-2.
  33. ↑ Nathan Tidridge (2011). Canada's Constitutional Monarchy: An Introduction to Our Form of Government. Dundurn. p. 281. ISBN 978-1-4597-0084-0.
  34. ↑ Laura Elizabeth Pinto (2012). Curriculum Reform in Ontario: 'Common-Sense' Policy Processes and Democratic Possibilities. University of Toronto Press. p. 325. ISBN 978-1-4426-6158-5.
  35. ↑ Gordon Barnhart (2004). Saskatchewan Premiers of the Twentieth Century. University of Regina Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-88977-164-2.
  36. ↑ Barry Scott Zellen (2009). On Thin Ice: The Inuit, the State, and the Challenge of Arctic Sovereignty. Lexington Books. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-7391-3280-7.
  37. ↑ Nathan Tidridge (2011). Canada's Constitutional Monarchy. Dundurn. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-55488-980-8.
  38. ↑ Corinna Pike; Christopher McCreery (2011). Canadian Symbols of Authority: Maces, Chains, and Rods of Office. Dundurn. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-4597-0016-1.
  39. 1 2 William Cross (2011). Political Parties. UBC Press. pp. 17–20. ISBN 978-0-7748-4111-5.
  40. ↑ Alain-Gustave Gagnon (2000). The Canadian Social Union Without Quebec: 8 Critical Analyses. IRPP. pp. 209–210. ISBN 978-0-88645-184-4.
  41. 1 2 "Premiers". Parliament of Canada. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  42. ↑ "Lieutenant Governors and Territorial Commissioners". Parliament of Canada. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  43. 1 2 John Wilson (2012). Failed Hope: The Story of the Lost Peace. Dundurn. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-4597-0345-2.
  44. ↑ "Design and Construction of the Vimy Ridge Memorial". Veteran Affairs Canada. August 8, 1998. Retrieved July 20, 2007.
  45. ↑ An amendment to the Constitution of Canada in relation to the following matters may be made only in accordance with subsection 38(1)...notwithstanding any other law or practice, the establishment of new provinces.
  46. ↑ Norman L. Nicholson (1979). The boundaries of the Canadian Confederation. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. pp. 174–175. ISBN 978-0-7705-1742-7.
  47. ↑ CBC News (November 23, 2004). "Northern territories 'eventually' to be given provincial status". Retrieved January 27, 2007.

Further reading

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