The provinces of Canada

As mentioned in the government section, Canada is a federal state divided into ten provinces and three territories. Because Canada is such a gigantic country with such widely dispersed populations, Canada's Provinces all have strong regional values and identities, and in some ways almost function as mini-countries within the larger Canadian Confederation.

When people describe the provinces they usually catagorize them into the following five regional blocs (from west to east):

"Western Canada"

British Columbia is the Province where I live. Most often referred to as simply "B.C.", British Columbia borders the Pacific Ocean, as well as the Yukon Territory and the American states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. As a West Coast Province, B.C. is home to the rocky mountains, and many vast evergreen forests. Its beautiful landscape makes it one of Canada's most popular tourist destinations, and despite its rainy weather, has one of Canada's most mild climates.

Vancouver is B.C.'s largest city, and Canada's third largest. The Capital of British Columbia is Victoria, a small city on Vancouver Island, which is Canada's most populous island.

British Columbia is regarded as being a very left-wing, radical, or "hippie" province which can be partially explained by the fact that it was governed by the socialist New Democratic Party for over a decade. The NDP recently collapsed in scandal, much like the Social Credit Party did, so BC politics have earned a reputation as being chronically unstable, and even comical. British Columbia also has a long cultural tradition of environmental activism, and was the birthplace of Greenpeace.

B.C. has an enormous amount of Asian immigrants, and it is often said that it has the highest number of Asians anywhere outside of Asia itself. A large number immigrated from Hong Kong prior to the infamous "handover" of 1997. There is also a sizebale Indian and Pakistani community. Many Canadians have tended to migrate to the province as well, and to this day a large number of B.C.'s "baby boom" population were born outside of British Columbia.

Before joining Canada in 1871, British Columbia was an independent colony of the British Empire, not associated with eastern Canada at all. We had to be persuaded to join the confederation after the country was founded. One would expect this has given British Columbians a Texas-like spirit of independence, but really, it hasn't.

Moving east, we have Alberta. Alberta is an extremely rich oil producing province, and because of its enormous wealth it tends to operate in quite an isolationistic manner.

Within the rest of Canada, Alberta has a reputation for being the "Canadian Texas", full of oil-tycoons, cowboys, evangelical Christians, and rednecks of all stripes. It is also the center of Canadian conservatism, and is the only province that continues to openly challenge some of Canada's "sacred cow" liberal policies, such as socialized heathcare.

Alberta's control of the country's natural gas reserves likewise makes it a very important player in provincial / federal relations, and the the Alberta government always seems to have a sort of underlying "don't piss us off it you still want to drive your SUV" mentality. In the 1970's the Canadian federal government tried to forcibly nationalize Alberta's oil, and this incredibly unpopular move (since reversed) spawned an entire generation of Albertans hostile to Ottawa.

Alberta's Premier is Ralph Klein, hard-drinking, plain talking Westerner. He has been in power for over ten years, and enjoys great personal popularity with most Albertans.

There is something of an informal Alberta separatist movement these days, though it tends to be more of an emotional response than an actual formal political philosophy. Because Alberta is so conservative, and thus culturally distinct from a nation that increasingly tends to define itself according to liberal political values, many Albertans are forced to speculate as to whether or not their province will ever be fully embraced by Canada's political establishment. Politicians from Alberta, like current Prime Minister Stephen Harper, always have to struggle to overcome the "redneck" label and make a breakthrough with skeptical Eastern Canadian voters. This in turn breeds a sort of "East / West" animosity not entirely unlike the "North / South" conflict that underscores US politics.

In recent years it's been revealed that Alberta's oil reserves may be even larger than previously thought. They may even larger than those in Saudi Arabia, and provide enough oil to fuel entire United States and Canada for at least 100 years. If this is indeed the case, Alberta could become one of the most financially important places in the entire world.

Saskatchewan is a large, rectangular province where not much happens. It's known as the "Prairie Province" because of its vast wheat fields, which in turn represent the province's best-known export.

With all due respect to Saskatchewan, no one really ever gives the province much of a thought. It's flat, and has a lot of wheat. By knowing those two simple facts, you now know as much about Saskatchewan as most Canadians.

Saskatchewan has been ruled by the NDP for over 12 years. Because of the province's large working class farmer population, socialism has traditionally been rather popular there. Saskatchewan is the proud home of Tommy Douglas, the founder of Canada's modern healthcare system, as well as the New Democratic Party. Today, however, Saskatchewan has once again become quite conservative, and even the NDP has moved to the right to stay in power.

Manitoba is another mostly empty, flat province, and like Saskatchewan its economy has traditionally been very agriculture-centric. The province's other claim to fame is the Bison, a hairy cow-like animal that are apparently plentiful in Manitoba. Humans-wise, Manitoba has a fairly diverse population, with a large number of Natives and eastern-European immigrants, especially Ukrainians. It is also home to the unique Metis people, who are the descendants of 19th Century offspring between French settlers and aboriginal women. The province was originally founded to be a Metis homeland.

Manitoba is the most politically diverse province in Canada, and is the only Province that regularly elects MPs from all four political parties. The current Premier is the honorable Gary Doer, a conservative NDPer.

Manitoba is another province that only receives minimal attention from the rest of Canada. Saskatchewan and Manitoba are often lumped together as "the prairie provinces" and assumed to be largely identical.

The weather in Manitoba is horrible, and a few years back they had terrible flooding, with people sitting on their roof tops and paddling canoes down the street and so forth. Manitobans take this in stride, and pride themselves on being hardy folks who can withstand anything.

Manitoba borders Ontario, which is the center of the Universe, and the only important province in Canada.
Ha ha, that's a little cynical western Canadian humor for you, folks. Ontario is indeed Canada's most populated and second-oldest province, and after Alberta, is also Canada's richest. It is home to the Canadian capital city of Ottawa, as well as Canada's largest city, Toronto.

Like Vancouver in BC, Toronto is known for being a very ethnically-diverse city with very large immigrant communities. Over 40% of all immigrants to Canada settle in Toronto, in fact.

Like most provinces, Ontario's population is located almost exclusively along the American border. In fact, they say over 90% of Canada's population lives less than 160 miles from the US border.

It's hard to argue with Ontario's self-proclaimed status as the heart of Canada. Most of Canada's largest corporations and businesses operate out of Toronto, the province houses all of the country's most prestidgesous universities, its home to all of the major media outlets, and generally just houses to most of the rest of Canada's ruling elite. Because it borders four of the five of the Great Lakes, Ontario also serves as Canada's largest trading post to the United States, and as a result is probably the most "Americany" Province in Canada. Detroit, New York, and Boston are all easily accessible from Toronto, and the province is a popular destination for American tourists. When the American media wants to get Canadian opinions on an issue, or Michael Moore wants to show off how lovely Canada is, Ontario is usually the primary destination.

This Ontario = Canada mentality is eagerly embraced by Ontarians, who see their province as the region that gave birth to the nation, but such views are angrily rejected by the rest of Canada. The other Provinces generally are quite jealous of Ontario, and resent its wealth and prestige. Considering Ontario has over 100 seats in Parliament, and 24 Senators, it seems elections are almost entirely decided by the will of Ontario, with the other Province's votes increasingly irrelevant to the process. This had led to the rise of many Western political parties over the years, but since they can never "break through" and win Ontario support, they remain largely powerless. Against the charges of selfishness and arrogance, Ontario will respond by accusing the other provinces of being whiny, petty, and needlessly uncooperative. By constantly scapegoating Ontario, the other provinces are able to hide their own internal problems, and accuse Ontario as being the root of all evil. The conflict is ongoing, and shows no sign of being resolved any time soon.

The Premier of Ontario is Dalton McGuinty, a Liberal, who put an end to the so-called "Common Sense Revolution" led by former Conservative Premier Mike Harris. Ontario party politics are inter-connected with federal party politics to a greater degree than most of the country. Ontario voters always vote Liberal in federal elections, and thus province is nearly single-handedly responsible for keeping the party in power for such a long period.

After Ontario, the province that wields most of the clout in Canada is Quebec. Quebec is a French-speaking province, and it has a very unique and complicated political and cultural role within Canada. Read more about Quebec in the Quebec section.

"Atlantic Canada"

To the immediate east of Quebec we have the four Maritime Provinces, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

The Maritimes are all coastal Atlantic provinces with economies that are largely based on fishing. Because fishing is a seasonal industry, and the fish stocks are increasingly low, unemployment is very high in these parts, and a large portion of the population is persistently on welfare. Nevertheless, the Maritimes are very important to Canada's economic interests, and tend to resent being brushed off as the "problem children" of Canada.

The Maritimes have played a key role in the history of Canada. After the American revolution, many of the so-called Tory Loyalists fled the US and settled in the British colonies which now make up Canada's Maritimes. To this day there still tends to be a somewhat of a proud loyalist tradition in the Maritimes, and a "Britishness" that is lacking in the rest of contemporary Canada.

Newfoundland (pronounced Newf-in-land) is probably the most famous Maritime Province. Until 1949 Newfoundland was a separate country, but after World War II the Newfoundland Government decided it would be in their best interests to formally join with Canada. This move was not universially popular at the time, and some older Newfoundlanders still resent their country's annexation to Canada. It is quite a switch to go from being a sovereign nation to merely one of 10 other provinces, and in many ways Newfoundland is still struggling to adapt to the change.

Geographically, Newfoundland is an Island, but the province also contains a hunk of sparsely inhabited land called "Labrador" that is part of the Canadian mainland, bordering Quebec. The province's full legal name was recently changed to "Newfoundland and Labrador" to finally acknowledge the oft-ignored Labradorians.

As a result of its unique history, the province possess a distinct culture. Newfoundland has its own unique music, cuisine, and even booze, all of which are more infamous than beloved in the rest of Canada.

For some reason, Newfoundland people have a reputation among many Canadians for being quite stupid. The term "Newfie" is a degrading nickname for Newfoundlanders, and many Canadians tell "Newfie Jokes" about the stupidity of the province. Newfoundland people all have very distinct accents that sound sort of like a fast-speaking Irish person. Many Canadian comedians come from Newfoundland, and use their accent to their comedic advantage. Check out this commerical from Nissan Canada, which pokes fun at Newfie accents.

After Newfoundland, all the other Maritime provinces are quite small and rather similar. The most distinct of the three small ones is New Brunswick.

New Brunswick has a very ethnically diverse population, and is notable for having the largest French-speaking community of any province outside of Quebec. Their government goes to great lengths to be as bilingual as possible, something most other provincial governments don't even bother with. To be a successful politician in New Brunswick you have to speak both French and English fluently, which is a lot like being a successful politician in Canada. Some folks have said the Premier of New Brunswick, Bernard Lord, would be a good Prime Minister of Canada for this very reason.

The reason for the strong French presence in the province can be traced back through history. Pressures for New Brunswick to be bilingual come mostly from a distinct North American minority group known as the Acadians, who are the descendants of the original French settlers of the Maritime colonies. In 1755 after the British successfully invaded and conquered the French possessions, the new colonial rulers demanded all Acadians take an oath of loyalty to the British King. When they refused, they were forcibly exiled. Many wound up in Louisiana, where they're now known as Cajuns. In the late 19th Century many started returning from exile, and today the Acadians remain a quaint and interesting cultural minority group within the Canadian Maritimes.

Today much of New Brunswick's economy is infamously controlled by a rich family known as the Irvings. The Irvings literally own most of everything in the province, from the newspapers, to the shopping malls, to the politicians. So it's probably in your best interest to try and stay on their good side.

Nova Scotia (literally: "New Scotland") is a province located on a narrow peninsula that stretches out into the Atlantic Ocean. It has the largest population of any Maritime province (908,000), though I think many Canadians would be surprised to hear this, and assume Newfoundland had that status.

A lot of Canada's history has revolved around Nova Scotia in some manner. Most of the confrences that negotiated the 1867 formation of the Dominion of Canada were held in Nova Scotia, and five of Canada's first Prime Ministers were born there. Though once a powerhouse of political and cultural relevance, over the last few decades it has become increasingly marginalized by the larger provinces. This is basically the story of the Maritime provinces in general.

Prince Edward Island is Canada's smallest province. A tiny island with a population of just over a hundred thousand, PEI is frequently the butt of jokes about its irrelevance.

Prince Edward Island's great contributions to Canada are Potatoes, and Anne of Green Gables novels. It is basically just a puppet in the sphere of influence of the larger Maritime provinces.

There is a lot of political infighting between the provinces, and they all lobby for the attention of the federal government. Today there is a rather clear hiearchy of the provinces which dictates how comparatively "important" each one is, both to the federal govermentment and in a broad sense to Canada itself.

The provinces arranged by population are:

This is generally how the provinces are arranged in terms of importance, as well. However, in most matters the Maritime provinces tend to be over-represented (especially Newfoundland, because of its history of independence) and the prairie provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan tend to be under-represented. No one is in any dispute that Ontario and Quebec are "the big two," however.

Along with the ten provinces there are also three additional regions of Canada known as "The Territories." The Territories are all located in the far northern part of Canada, and have much smaller populations than the provinces. They also have a slightly different political system which makes them distinct geographic entities within the country. For more info on the Territories go to The Territories Page.