Provinces and Territories of Canada

Canada is a state that consists of ten provinces and three territories .

The provinces are the constituent states of the Canadian state. They have a high degree of independence vis-à-vis the Federal Government of Canada and draw their power and authority directly from the Crown under the Constitutional Act of 1867 . The current provinces are mostly formed from former British and French colonies. Provinces can only be created through a constitutional law.

The territories comprise that part of the Canadian state that does not belong to any of the provinces and have fewer separate competencies than the provinces. New territories can be created through a simple federal law.

Overview map

Overview table

Surname	Type	abbreviation		main town	accession	Area in km²		population		Density in inhabitants / km²	Official languages
		ISO	otherwise.			total	country	(2012)	(2017)
Alberta	province	FROM	Alta.	Edmonton	1905	661.848	642.317	3,847,119	4,286,134	05.9	English
British Columbia	province	BC	BC	Victoria	1871	944.735	925.186	4,606,451	4,817,160	04.9	English
Manitoba	province	MB	Man.	Winnipeg	1870	647.797	553,556	1,261,498	1,338,109	02.3	English
Newfoundland and Labrador	province	NL	Nfld.	St. John's	1949	405.212	373.872	509.348	528.817	01.36	English
New Brunswick	province	NB	NB	Fredericton	1867	72.908	71,450	755.381	759,655	10.6	English France
Northwest Territories	territory	NT	NWT	Yellowknife	1870	1,346,106	1,183,085	43,247	44,520	00.03	English, French, Chipewyan , Cree , Gwich'in , Inuinnaqtun , Inuktitut , Inuvialuktun , North Slavey , South Slavey and Tlicho
Nova Scotia	province	NS	NS	Halifax	1867	55.284	53,338	944.968	953.869	17.7	English
Nunavut	territory	NU	NV	Iqaluit	1999	2,093,190	1,936,113	33,588	37,996	00.02	English, French, Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun
Ontario	province	ON	Ont.	Toronto	1867	1,076,395	917.741	13,472,438	14,193,384	14.7	English
Prince Edward Island	province	PE	PEI	Charlottetown	1873	5,660	5,660	146.070	152.021	25.8	English
Quebec	province	QC	Que.	Quebec	1867	1,542,056	1,365,128	8,028,434	8,394,034	05.9	French
Saskatchewan	province	SK	Sask.	Regina	1905	651.036	591,670	1,072,082	1,163,925	01.8	English
Yukon	territory	YT	YT	Whitehorse	1898	482,443	474.391	35,010	38,459	00.07	English France
total	Country			Ottawa		9,984,670	9,093,507	34.755.234	36,708,083	03.48	English France

history

See also : Territorial Development of Canada

Animated development of the provinces and territories

On July 1, 1867, former colonies in British North America united to form the Canadian Confederation , thus establishing the Dominion Canada. On this day the four provinces of Ontario , Québec , New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were created . Over the next six years, three more provinces were added: Manitoba on July 15, 1870 (previously part of the Northwest Territories), British Columbia on July 20, 1871 (previously an independent British colony) and Prince Edward Island on July 1, 1873 ( previously independent British colony).

The Hudson's Bay Company controlled large parts of western Canada until July 15, 1870, when it ceded its leases to the Canadian government and the Northwest Territories emerged. A small portion of this area became the Province of Manitoba under the Manitoba Act . On September 1, 1905, the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan emerged from the part of the Northwest Territories located south of the 60th parallel . On June 13, 1898, the Yukon Territory was created from the western part of the Northwest Territories . In 1912 the borders of Ontario, Manitoba and Québec shifted northwards: Manitoba to the 60th parallel, Ontario to Hudson Bay , the entire Ungava district fell to Québec.

The colony of Newfoundland refused to join the confederation in 1869. In 1907 the colony received the status of an independent Dominion . Due to a protracted economic and political crisis, Great Britain regained direct control in 1934. In a referendum, the Newfoundlands narrowly approved joining the confederation. This took place on March 31, 1949.

The Northwest Territory was again reduced in size on April 1, 1999 by forming the Nunavut Territory from a part of it.

autonomy

The provinces have a high degree of autonomy vis-à-vis the federal government. According to Articles 92, 92A and 93 of the Constitutional Act of 1867 (with subsequent amendments), they have the right to legislate, for example, in the areas of public institutions, municipal services, civil servant salaries, direct taxes, education, hospitality and other local businesses, property and civil law, judicial constitutional law , Civil procedural law, mining, forestry and energy. Together, they collect more taxes than the federal government and use it to finance their diverse tasks, including education, culture, the judiciary, the police, health care, social assistance and economic development. They also control the use of natural resources.

The federal government makes compensatory payments and thereby influences the legislation of the provinces so that the differences between richer and poorer provinces in terms of taxation are not too great and the standard of services remains the same. The provinces, in turn, can decide not to apply new federal laws for a certain period of time, but this rarely happens in practice. In the territories, the federal government takes on numerous administrative tasks itself.

Institutions

As the representative of the crown, a vice- governor acts as the vice-head of state in the provinces , who mainly performs ceremonial tasks. The commissioners in the territories perform the same functions, but represent the federal government and not the monarch, since the territories are not independent legal entities.

Each province and territory has a unicameral parliament and a government responsible for it. Originally there was a second chamber in all provinces, but these upper houses were all abolished, most recently in Québec in 1968. The provincial or territorial parliament is in most cases referred to as the Legislative Assembly , in Québec as the National Assembly (Assemblée nationale), in Newfoundland and Labrador and in Nova Scotia as House of Assembly . The parliaments have similar rules of procedure as the Canada's lower house .

In all provinces of the Prime Minister's (premier) designated prime minister usually the chairman of the party that has the most seats. This is also the case in the Yukon Territory, but not in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, as there are no parties at the territorial level.

Each province has its own judicial system. The highest court is always the Court of Appeal .

See also

• List of Canadian flags
• Postal abbreviations for provinces and territories of Canada

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Population estimate 2nd quarter 2012 - Statistics Canada
2. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada: CANSIM - 051-0005 - Estimates of population, Canada, provinces and territories. Retrieved October 26, 2017 (English).