Provinces and territories of Canada

Canada is a federation of ten provinces that, together 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 powers directly from the Constitution Act, 1867, giving them greater competences and rights than a territory, which is delegated powers by the federal government.

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia are the original provinces, formed when British North American colonies federated on July 1, 1867 and by stages began accruing the indicia of sovereignty from Great Britain. 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, the portion of Northwest Territories south of the 60° parallel became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

In 1869, Newfoundland decided in an election to remain a British territory, over concerns that central Canada would dominate when it comes to taxation and economic issues. 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. 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 13, 1949, Newfoundland and Labrador became Canada's tenth province.

Governance

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. The federal government, with its greater powers to tax and spend, 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 a few 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 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; each of the territories has an analogous Commissioner. These terminological differences are summarized below.

Federal, provincial, and territorial terminology compared

Canada	Governor General	Prime Minister	Parliament		Parliamentarian
Canada	Governor General	Prime Minister	Senate	House of Commons	Senator	Member of Parliament
Quebec	Lieutenant-Governor	Premier	n/a	National Assembly	n/a	Member of the National Assembly
Ontario				Legislative Assembly		Member of the Provincial Parliament
Newfoundland and Labrador				House of Assembly		Member of the House of Assembly
Nova Scotia				House of Assembly		Member of the Legislative Assembly
Other provinces				Legislative Assembly
Territories	Commissioner	Government Leader		Legislative Assembly

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/ CA	Other abbreviations	Capital	Entered Confederation	Population (2004)	Area (km²)
Province, with flag	Postal abbreviation/ CA	Other abbreviations	Capital	Entered Confederation	Population (2004)	Land	Water	Total
¹	ON	Ont.	Toronto	July 1, 1867	12,439,755	917,741	158,654	1,076,395
¹	QC	Qué., PQ, P.Q.	Quebec City		7,560,592	1,356,128	185,928	1,542,056
²	NS	N.S.	Halifax		938,134	53,338	1,946	55,284
²	NB	N.B.	Fredericton		751,400	71,450	1,458	72,908
³	MB	Man.	Winnipeg	July 15, 1870	1,170,300	553,556	94,241	647,797
²	BC	B.C.	Victoria	July 20, 1871	4,168,123	925,186	19,549	944,735
²	PE	PEI, P.E.I.	Charlottetown	July 1, 1873	137,900	5,660	—	5,660
⁴	SK	Sask.	Regina	September 1, 1905	996,194	591,670	59,366	651,036
⁴	AB	Alta.	Edmonton	September 1, 1905	3,183,312	642,317	19,531	661,848
²	NL	Nfld., NF, LB	St. John's	March 31, 1949	517,000	373,872	31,340	405,212

Notes:

Immediately prior to Confederation, Ontario and Quebec were part of the Province of Canada.
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island were separate colonies at the time of joining Canada. Prior to its entry, Newfoundland was a Dominion within the British Commonwealth.
Manitoba was established simultaneously with Northwest Territories.
Saskatchewan and Alberta were created out of land that had been part of Northwest Territories.

Territories of Canada

There are three territories in Canada. They include all of mainland Canada north of latitude 60° north and west of Hudson Bay, as well as essentially all 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 (territories take precedence after provinces regardless of the date of their creation).

Territory, with flag	Postal abbreviation/ CA	Other abbreviations	Capital	Entered Confederation	Population (2004)	Area (km²)
Territory, with flag	Postal abbreviation/ CA	Other abbreviations	Capital	Entered Confederation	Population (2004)	Land	Water	Total
	NT	N.W.T., NWT	Yellowknife	July 15, 1870	42,800	1,183,085	163,021	1,346,106
	YT	Y.T., YK	Whitehorse	June 13, 1898	31,200	474,391	8,052	482,443
	NU		Iqaluit	April 1, 1999	28,300	1,936,113	157,077	2,093,190

Note: Canada did not acquire any new land to create Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, or Nunavut. All of these originally formed part of Northwest Territories.

British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island were separate colonies before joining Canada. Ontario and Quebec were united before Confederation as the Province of Canada.

Manitoba and Northwest Territories were created in 1870 from Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory. At the time, the land comprising Northwest Territories was all of current western Canada, except British Columbia and southern Manitoba, and the northern three-quarters of Ontario and Quebec.

In 1999, Nunavut was created from the eastern portion of Northwest Territories. Yukon Territory lies in the western portion of The North, while Nunavut is in the east.

Nunavut's population is about 85% Inuit, while the population of Northwest Territories is about 10% Inuit, 40% First Nations and Métis, and 50% non-Aboriginal.

All three territories combined are the most sparsely populated region in Canada with about 100,000 people spread across a huge area. They are often referred to as a single region, The North, for organizational purposes.

Each of the territories elects one Member of Parliament. In contrast to United States territories such as the Virgin Islands, Canadian territories are each entitled to elect one full voting representative to the Canadian House of Commons. With the sole exception of Prince Edward Island having slightly greater per capita representation than the Northwest Territories, every territory has considerably greater per capita representation in the House than every other province. Residents of the Canadian territories are full citizens and enjoy the same rights as all other Canadians. Each territory also has one unelected Senator.

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. ^*

Other

The District of Keewatin was created as a separate territory from 1876 to 1905, after which it became an administration district of Northwest Territories.

There is also active interest within both Canada and the Turks and Caicos Islands, an overseas UK territory in the Caribbean, for the latter to enter into Confederation in some capacity. While no official negotiations are yet underway, the two have a long-standing relationship and formal committees of both governments are actively exploring the circumstances under which this could be achieved. ^*

Provincial parties

Most provinces have provincial counterparts to the three national federal parties. However, some provincial parties are not formally linked to the federal parties that share the same name. Some provinces have regional political parties, such as the Saskatchewan Party. The provincial political climate of Quebec is quite different: the main split is between sovereigntism (of which separatism is generally held to be one strain), represented by the Parti Québécois, and federalism, represented primarily by the Parti Libéral du Québec.

References

Bumsted, J. 2004. History of the Canadian Peoples, Oxford: Oxford University Press (ISBN 0195416880)
Provincial Government Organization

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