Portal:Canada
Showcase | Contents | Contributing |
Introduction
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's second-largest country by total area, with the world's longest coastline. Its border with the United States is the world's longest international land border. The country is characterized by a wide range of both meteorologic and geological regions. With a population of just over 41 million people, it has widely varying population densities, with the majority residing in urban areas and large areas of the country being sparsely populated. Canada's capital is Ottawa and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in the Westminster tradition. The country's head of government is the prime minister, who holds office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the elected House of Commons and is appointed by the governor general, representing the monarch of Canada, the ceremonial head of state. The country is a Commonwealth realm and is officially bilingual (English and French) in the federal jurisdiction. It is very highly ranked in international measurements of government transparency, quality of life, economic competitiveness, innovation, education and human rights. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration. Canada's long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its history, economy, and culture.
A developed country, Canada has a high nominal per capita income globally and its advanced economy ranks among the largest in the world by nominal GDP, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Recognized as a middle power, Canada's strong support for multilateralism and internationalism has been closely related to its foreign relations policies of peacekeeping and aid for developing countries. Canada is part of multiple international organizations and forums. (Full article...)
Featured article -
Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system (also known as the Quebec interconnection) is an international electric power transmission system centred in Quebec, Canada. The system pioneered the use of very high voltage 735-kilovolt (kV) alternating current (AC) power lines that link the population centres of Montreal and Quebec City to distant hydroelectric power stations like the Daniel-Johnson Dam and the James Bay Project in northwestern Quebec and the Churchill Falls Generating Station in Labrador (which is not part of the Quebec interconnection). (Full article...)
Featured biography -
Ida Joséphine Phoebe Éva Gauthier (September 20, 1885 – December 20 or 26, 1958) was a Canadian-American mezzo-soprano and voice teacher. She performed and popularized songs by contemporary composers throughout her career and sang in the American premieres of several works by Erik Satie, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky, including the title role in the latter's Perséphone. (Full article...)
Selected panorama -
National symbol -
Parliament Hill (French: Colline du Parlement), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern bank of the Ottawa River that houses the Parliament of Canada in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. It accommodates a suite of Gothic revival buildings whose architectural elements were chosen to evoke the history of parliamentary democracy. Parliament Hill attracts approximately three million visitors each year. The Parliamentary Protective Service is responsible for law enforcement on Parliament Hill and in the parliamentary precinct, while the National Capital Commission is responsible for maintaining the nine-hectare (22-acre) area of the grounds. (Full article...)
Selected vital article -
The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is one of the key components of Canadian sovereignty and sits at the core of Canada's constitutional federal structure and Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. The monarchy is the foundation of the executive (King-in-Council), legislative (King-in-Parliament), and judicial (King-on-the-Bench) branches of both federal and provincial jurisdictions. The current monarch is King Charles III, who has reigned since 8 September 2022. (Full article...)
Selected picture -
Current events
- December 3, 2024 – Red Sea crisis
- The Government of Canada officially designates the Yemen-based Houthi movement as a terrorist organization due to the group's attacks on civilian and military vessels in the Red Sea. (Al Jazeera)
- November 20, 2024 – November 2024 Northeast Pacific bomb cyclone
- Two people are killed and more than 570,000 people are without power when a bomb cyclone makes landfall over the West Coast of the United States and British Columbia, Canada. (CNN) (NBC News)
- November 15, 2024 –
- The Canadian Union of Postal Workers go on strike after failing to renegotiate their contract with Canada Post. (AP)
- October 25, 2024 –
- A man fatally shoots two of his family members before killing himself in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada. (CTV News Barrie)
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government announces that Ontario is planning to ban international students from medical schools in the province beginning in 2026. (Pelham Today)
- October 24, 2024 –
- Four people are killed and one other is seriously injured when a Tesla car crashes into a guardrail and struck a concrete pillar at high speed after losing control causing a fire in Toronto, Canada. (CTV News Toronto)
Did you know -
- ... that jazz singer Judi Singh's mother and father were, respectively, among the earliest Black and Sikh settlers of Alberta, Canada?
- ... that in 1819 Michael O'Sullivan, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, fought a duel in Montreal with William Caldwell over a proposal to create the Montreal General Hospital?
- ... that the shores of Kesagami Lake in Kesagami Provincial Park (northern Ontario, Canada) are surrounded by "exceptional" peat cliffs reaching 4 metres (13 ft) in height?
- ... that the Saskatchewan Conservation House, built in 1977 to withstand Canadian winter temperatures, did not use a furnace?
- ... that Lyle Bauer continued to attend Canadian Football League executive meetings despite being unable to speak due to his treatment for stage four throat cancer?
- ... that Pituamkek National Park Reserve, Canada's newest national park, protects a chain of barrier islands that have been used for fishing and hunting by the Mi'kmaq for 4,000 years?
- ... that the Otoskwin–Attawapiskat River Provincial Park, protecting the Otoskwin and Attawapiskat Rivers in Ontario, Canada, has archaeological and historical sites dating from 3000 BC to the 1800s?
Featured list -
The 400-series highways are a network of controlled-access highways in the Canadian province of Ontario, forming a special subset of the provincial highway system. They are analogous to the Interstate Highway System in the United States or the Autoroute system of neighbouring Quebec, and are regulated by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO). The 400-series designations were introduced in 1952, although Ontario had been constructing divided highways for two decades prior. Initially, only Highways 400, 401 and 402 were numbered; other designations followed in the subsequent decades. To this day, not all controlled-access highways in Ontario are a part of the 400-series highway network. The network is situated almost entirely in Southern Ontario, although Highway 400 extends into the more remote northern portion of the province. (Full article...)
Main articles
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus