Portal:Canada
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Introduction
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres (3.85 million square miles), making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Its southern and western border with the United States, stretching 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), is the world's longest bi-national land border. Canada's capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
A developed country, Canada has the seventeenth-highest nominal per-capita income globally as well as the thirteenth-highest ranking in the Human Development Index. Its advanced economy is the tenth-largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Canada is part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the Group of Ten, the G20, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
More about...Canada, its history and culture
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SkyTrain is a light rapid transit system in the Metro Vancouver Regional District, serving Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and surrounding municipalities. SkyTrain has 79.6 km (49.5 mi) of track and uses fully automated trains on grade-separated tracks running on underground and elevated guideways, allowing SkyTrain to hold consistently high on-time reliability. The name "SkyTrain" was coined for the system during Expo 86 because the first line (Expo) principally runs on elevated guideway outside of Downtown Vancouver, providing panoramic views of the metropolitan area. SkyTrain uses the world's second-longest cable-supported transit-only bridge, known as SkyBridge, to cross the Fraser River. Read more...
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Mary Greyeyes Reid (November 14, 1920 – March 31, 2011) was a Canadian World War II servicewoman. A Cree from the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, she was the first First Nations woman to enlist in the Canadian Armed Forces. After joining the Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC) in 1942, she became the subject of an internationally famous army publicity photograph, and was sent overseas to serve in London, England, where she was introduced to public figures such as George VI and his daughter Elizabeth. Greyeyes remained in London until being discharged in 1946, after which she returned to Canada. Read more...
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National symbol -
The Canadian Rockies (French: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains comprise both the Alberta Rockies and the B.C. Rockies in the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. They are the eastern part of the North American Cordillera, which is a system of multiple ranges of mountains which runs from the Prairies to the Pacific Coast. The Canadian Rockies mountain system comprises the southeastern part of this system, lying between the Interior Plains of Alberta and northeastern British Columbia on the east to the Rocky Mountain Trench of BC on the west. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the United States. In geographic terms, the boundary is at the Canada–United States border, but in geological terms it might be considered to be at Marias Pass in northern Montana. The northern end is at the Liard River in northern British Columbia. Read more...
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The Government of Canada (French: Gouvernement du Canada), officially Her Majesty's Government (French: Gouvernement de Sa Majesté), is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. In Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions (the legislative, executive, and judicial branches) or specifically the Queen-in-Council (the executive). In both senses, the current construct was established at Confederation through the Constitution Act, 1867—as a federal constitutional monarchy, wherein the Canadian Crown acts as the core, or "the most basic building block", of its Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. The Crown is thus the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Canadian government. The monarch (currently Queen Elizabeth II) is personally represented by the governor general of Canada (currently Julie Payette). The prime minister (currently Justin Trudeau) is the head of government who is invited by the Crown to form a government after securing the confidence of the House of Commons, which is typically determined through the election of enough members of a single political party in a federal election to provide a majority of seats in Parliament, forming a governing party. Further elements of governance are outlined in the rest of the Canadian Constitution, which includes written statutes in addition to court rulings, and unwritten conventions developed over centuries. Read more...
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Current events
- August 17, 2020 – Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics
- COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, WE Charity controversy
- Bill Morneau resigns as Canada's finance minister following his involvement in the WE Charity scandal. (AAP via The Canberra Times)
- August 7, 2020 – Canada–United States relations
- Canada is set to impose $3.6B in tariffs on aluminum products in response to American tariffs on Canadian aluminum. Most affected manufacturers are in three politically sensitive swing states critical to the presidential election. (CBC)
- August 6, 2020 – Trump tariffs
- Trump implements a tariff of 10% on aluminum imports from Canada, pursuant to Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act. The United States previously imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum in 2018 citing national security concerns, before removing them last year as part of the USCMA Free Trade Agreement. Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau vows "dollar-for-dollar" countermeasures. (CBC)
- August 6, 2020 – Canada–China relations
- A court in China sentences a Canadian man to death on drug charges. His alleged accomplice receives life imprisonment. Police had confiscated 120 kilograms (266 pounds) of ketamine from the defendant's home. He is the third Canadian citizen to receive the death sentence for drug smuggling since Canadian authorities arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in late 2018 on an extradition request from the United States. (AP)
Did you know? -
- ... that publisher Ken McKenzie promised writers of The Hockey News that "they'll know you all across Canada"?
- ... that La Saline Natural Area in northeastern Alberta, Canada, features a large tufa mound?
- ... that Wayne and Shuster poked fun at Canada's Stratford Festival with a skit about a baseball game where the manager, players, and umpires all speak in Shakespearean verse?
- ... that Gord Renwick was part of the inaugural class of the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2012?
- ... that Kent Angus, a Canadian businessman and Paul Loicq Award winner, incorporated hidden details into hockey jerseys for Team Canada and other countries at the 2010 Winter Olympics?
- ... that the 60-metre-high (200 ft) Grande roue de Montréal, built in Montreal for the 375th anniversary of the city, is the tallest Ferris wheel in Canada?
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The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest award of the United Kingdom honours system. It is awarded for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" to members of the British armed forces. It may be awarded posthumously. It was previously awarded to Commonwealth countries, most of which have established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any military rank in any service and to civilians under military command although no civilian has received the award since 1879. Since the first awards were presented by Queen Victoria in 1857, two thirds of all awards have been personally presented by the British monarch. These investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace. Read more...
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Credit: Christianabend