Portal:British Columbia
The British Columbia Portal
i/ˌbrɪtᵻʃ kəˈlʌmbɪə/ (BC) (French: la Colombie-Britannique, C.-B.) is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ("Splendour without Diminishment"). In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada. The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the fifteenth largest metropolitan region in Canada. The largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada and the second-largest in the Pacific Northwest. In 2009, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,419,974 (about two million of whom were in Metro Vancouver).
The province's name was chosen by Queen Victoria when the Colony of British Columbia and the Mainland became a British colony in 1858. It refers to the Columbia District, the British name for the territory drained by the Columbia River, which has its origins and upper reaches in southeastern British Columbia, which was the namesake of the pre-Oregon Treaty Columbia Department of the Hudson's Bay Company. Queen Victoria chose British Columbia to distinguish what was the British sector of the Columbia District from that of the United States ("American Columbia" or "Southern Columbia"), which became the Oregon Territory in 1848 as a result of the treaty.
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Chartered in 1912, the railway was acquired by the provincial government in 1918 after running into financial difficulties. A railway that ran "from nowhere, to nowhere" for over 30 years, neither passing through any major city nor interchanging with any other railway, it expanded significantly between 1949 and 1984. Primarily a freight railway, it also offered passenger service, as well as some excursion services, most notably the Royal Hudson excursion train. The railway's operations were not always profitable, and its debts, at times, made it the centre of political controversy.
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Over the course of his career, Sakic has been one of the most productive forwards in the game, having twice scored 50 goals and earning at least 100 points in six different seasons. His wrist shot, considered to be one of the best in the NHL, has been the source of much of his production. At the conclusion of the 2006–07 NHL season, he was the 9th all-time points leader in the NHL, as well as 14th in all-time goals and 11th in all-time assists. During the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, Sakic helped lead Team Canada to its first gold medal in 50 years, and was voted as the tournament's most valuable player. He has represented the team in six other international competitions, including the 1998 and 2006 Winter Olympics. After the 2000–01 NHL season, Sakic was named the MVP of the NHL by the hockey writers and his fellow players.
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British Columbia News
- January 4: Suspect arrested in Los Angeles arson rampage case
- November 3: Beleaguered British Columbia Premier resigns
- November 3: NuCaptcha introduces a video captcha service, ads included
- July 1: Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers face potential charges in Dziekanski tasering death
- June 30: Braidwood Inquiry finds Dziekanski tasering in British Columbia unjustified
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| WikiProject British Columbia | WikiProject Vancouver | WikiProject Canada | |
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| WikiProject Nova Scotia | WikiProject Newfoundland and Labrador | WikiProject Alberta | |
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British Columbia topics
- For comprehensive topic coverage, see Outline of British Columbia
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