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Introduction John A. Macdonald Canada /ˈkænədə/ is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area. Canada's common border with the United States to the south and northwest is the longest in the world. The land that is now Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This widening autonomy was highlighted by the Statute of Westminster of 1931 and culminated in the Canada Act of 1982, which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament. Canada is a federation that is governed as a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. It is a bilingual nation with both English and French as official languages at the federal level. One of the world's highly developed countries, Canada has a diversified economy that is reliant upon its abundant natural resources and upon trade—particularly with the United States, with which Canada has had a long and complex relationship. It is a member of the G7, G-20, NATO, OECD, WTO, Commonwealth, Francophonie, OAS, APEC, and UN. Selected article - The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign (represented by the Governor General) and the House of Commons. The Senate and the House of Commons sit in separate chambers on Parliament Hill, which is located in Ottawa, Ontario. The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister. Seats are assigned on a regional basis, with each region receiving twenty-four seats. The regions are: Ontario, Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and the Western provinces. The seats for Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut are assigned apart from these regional divisions. Senators serve until they reach the age of seventy-five. The Senate is referred to as the "upper house" of Parliament, and the House of Commons is sometimes referred to as the "lower house." This does not, however, imply the Senate is more powerful than the House of Commons, merely that its members and officers outrank the members and officers of the House of Commons in the order of precedence for the purposes of protocol. Indeed, as a matter of practice and custom, the Commons is by far the dominant chamber and is more intimately referred to as "the other place." Although the approval of both Houses is necessary for legislation, the Senate rarely rejects bills passed by the directly elected Commons. Moreover, the government is responsible solely to the House of Commons; the Prime Minister and Cabinet stay in office only as long as he or she retains the support of the lower house. The Senate does not exercise any such control. Although legislation can normally be introduced in either house, the majority of government bills originate in the House of Commons. Under the constitution, money bills must always originate in the lower house. More information... Selected biography - Jacques Plante (January 17, 1929 – February 27, 1986) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. He grew up in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, and began to play hockey in 1932. Because he suffered from asthma, his skating ability was restricted; thus, he began playing the goaltender position. Plante started to play organized hockey at age 12, and his first professional game was at age 18. He played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1953 to 1963; during his tenure, the team won the Stanley Cup six times, including five consecutive wins. Plante first retired in 1965, but was persuaded to return to the NHL to play for the expansion St. Louis Blues in 1968. He was later traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1970, and to the Boston Bruins in 1973. He joined the World Hockey Association, first as coach and general manager for the Quebec Nordiques in 1973–74; he then played goal for the Edmonton Oilers in 1974–75, ending his professional career with that team. Plante is considered one of the most important innovators in hockey. Most notably, Plante was the first NHL goaltender to wear a goalie mask in regulation play on a regular basis. With the assistance of other experts, he developed and tested many versions of the goalie mask, including the forerunner of today's mask/helmet combination. Plante was the first goaltender to regularly play the puck outside his crease in support of his team's defencemen, and often instructed his teammates from behind the play, as the goaltender usually has the best view of the game. Selected picture - Yellow Warbler. Prince Edward Point National Wildlife Area, Ontario, Canada Credit: Mdf More information... Featured Picture Symbols of Canada - Trillium grandiflorum, commonly known as white trillium, great white trillium, white wake-robin, or in French as trille blanc, is a perennial monocotyledonous plant in the lily family. it serves as the provincial emblem of Ontario, the state wild flower of Ohio, and it is often used in heraldry in Canada... More information... Did you know... - ... that Bristol, Quebec, had Canada's first horse-drawn railroad and Quebec's first iron ore pelletizing plant? ...that the East and West Memorial Buildings in Ottawa, Canada were originally built in 1949 to house the rapidly growing Department of Veterans Affairs? ...that doubt exists about exactly where in Ontario at least two of the three known specimens of the extinct epiphytic moss Neomacounia nitida were collected in the 1860s? ...that Canadian agronomist Seager Wheeler was instrumental in developing a sustainable agricultural economy in Saskatchewan, which has a short prairie growing season and harsh winters? ... that Mary's Point in New Brunswick, Canada has the world's highest density of Corophium volutator, a crustacean which is a food source of millions of migratory Semipalmated Sandpipers?

Selected panorama - Panoramic view of New Glasgow, Prince Edward Island Credit: Chensiyuan Canadian related portals Topics Provinces & Territories Cities & Regions  Canada  Geography of Canada   History of Canada  Canadian Forces   Politics of Canada   Music of Canada   Sports of Canada   Canadian TV   Roads of Canada  Volcanism of Canada  New France   Acadia  Indigenous peoples   Ontario   Quebec   Nova Scotia   New Brunswick   Manitoba   British Columbia   Prince Edward Island   Saskatchewan   Alberta   Newfoundland & Labrador   Northwest Territories   Yukon   Nunavut   Ottawa   Toronto   Vancouver   Calgary   Montreal   Edmonton   Hamilton   Quebec City   St. John's   Quebec Regions   Eastern Ont.   York Region   Arctic WikiProject Canada What are Portals? · List of Canadian portals Associated Wikimedia -