What kind of country is canada

Despite this concession, many Quebec citizens have long sought independence. In votes held in and , Quebec decided to stay in Canada. But the second vote was very close, and the debate is still alive. Canada has provided fish, furs, and other natural resources to the world since the s.

Today, it is a world leader in agricultural production, telecommunications, and energy technologies. The vast majority of Canada's exports go to the United States. The first people to come to Canada arrived between 15, and 30, years ago across a land bridge that joined Asia and North America. Around A.

He tried to establish a settlement, but it didn't last. In the 16th century, French and British settlers arrived. Land disputes between farmers and fur traders led to four wars between and The final war, called the French and Indian War, left the British in control of Canada, but French influence remains strong even today. In , Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick combined to form a dominion with its own government, parliament, and prime minister. Manitoba joined soon after.

In , Canada became an independent nation. All rights reserved. Personality Quizzes. Funny Fill-In. Amazing Animals. Weird But True! Party Animals. The odds are that if you like movies, you're already familiar with some of Canada's cultural exports. Many of the world's most famous and beloved actors come from Canada, although their Canadian heritage is sometimes forgotten by the greater public.

Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, and Dan Akyroyd are just some of the many icons of "American" film and television that come from Canada. For that matter, you may have seen a great deal of Canada without even knowing it; due to production and filming costs, many films set in the United States are actually filmed across the border in Canada's own lovely towns and cities.

Canada does have its own robust film industry, and Canadian programming is regularly exported to the United States and other anglophone countries. Canadian music is equally prominent on the world stage. Canadians figure among the most influential musicians in practically all genres of music; some stars include Leonard Cohen , Rush , and Neil Young , among others.

Canada's most enduring cultural export, though, is the sport of ice hockey. Beginning with various stick-and-ball games played by the country's early settlers especially young men trying to channel some energy and aggression and by the First Nations of Canada, the modern sport of ice hockey was properly developed around the turn of the 20th century.

It became a permanent fixture of the Winter Olympics that same year. It is now the most popular winter sport in the world. Canada is one of the world's leading economies, driven largely by Canada's incredible wealth of natural resources.

Despite having little over a tenth the population of the United States, Canada produces more energy than its large neighbor. This low population and high energy production makes Canada a major economic power, helped along by a healthy services industry and strong tech and automotive industries. Inflation: 1. Public Debt: Working Population: Unemployment: 6.

Population Below the Poverty Line: 9. Major Exports: Motor vehicles and parts, industrial machinery, aircraft, telecommunications equipment; chemicals, plastics, fertilizers; wood pulp, timber, crude petroleum, natural gas, electricity, and aluminum. Export Partners: US Major Imports: Machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and parts, crude oil, chemicals, electricity, and durable consumer goods.

Import Partners: US Agricultural Products: Wheat, barley, oilseed, tobacco, fruits, vegetables; dairy products; fish; forest products. Major Industries: Transportation equipment, chemicals, processed and unprocessed minerals, food products, wood and paper products, fish products, petroleum, natural gas.

Natural Resources: Iron ore, nickel, zinc, copper, gold, lead, rare earth elements, molybdenum, potash, diamonds, silver, fish, timber, wildlife, coal, petroleum, natural gas, and hydropower. Land Use: Agricultural land: 6. Fixed Lines: 15,,, 42 per residents est. Cell Phones: 30, million, 86 per residents, est. International Country Code: 1. Total: 1,, km Paved: , km includes 17, km of expressways Unpaved: , km The first inhabitants of Canada were native Indian peoples, primarily the Inuit Eskimo.

Canada was taken for France in by Jacques Cartier. The actual settlement of New France, as it was then called, began in at Port Royal in what is now Nova Scotia; in , Quebec was founded. France's colonization efforts were not very successful, but French explorers by the end of the 17th century had penetrated beyond the Great Lakes to the western prairies and south along the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Meanwhile, the English Hudson's Bay Company had been established in Because of the valuable fisheries and fur trade, a conflict developed between the French and English; in , Newfoundland, Hudson Bay, and Nova Scotia Acadia were lost to England. During the Seven Years' War ? Louis Montcalm outside Quebec on Sept. The Treaty of Paris in gave England control over the French territory. At that time the population of Canada was almost entirely French, but in the next few decades, thousands of British colonists emigrated to Canada from the British Isles and from the American colonies.

In , the right of Canada to self-government was recognized. In , Canada purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company the vast middle west Rupert's Land from which the provinces of Manitoba , Alberta , and Saskatchewan were later formed.

The country was linked from coast to coast in by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Macdonald, governed the country, except during the years ? By the Statute of Westminster in the British dominions, including Canada, were formally declared to be partner nations with Britain,? Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province on March 31, , following a plebiscite. Canada also includes three territories?

This new territory includes all of the Arctic north of the mainland, Norway having recognized Canadian sovereignty over the Sverdrup Islands in the Arctic in Much like its southerly neighbor, Canada experienced its own period of westward expansion and a similar period of building national identity. The government and private interests would oversee the construction of the Intercolonial Railway; this project would see a spike in Chinese labor and resultant backlash from white settlers including a policy of Chinese exclusion , rising tensions with the First Nations populations across Canada like the Mtis and the Cree, and massive growth in the West fueled by the region's natural resources.

This time period would also see the rise of the Mounties, both as a real provincial police force and as an important image in Canadian history.

Much like cowboys or the Texas Rangers, the rough-riding Mounties would become an iconic image of both their historical era and the country at large. The Liberals, under the leadership of Lester B. Pearson, returned to power in Pearson remained prime minister until , when he retired and was replaced by a former law professor, Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

Trudeau maintained Canada's defensive alliance with the United States but began moving toward a more independent policy in world affairs. Faced with an increasingly violent separatist movement in the predominantly French province of Quebec, Trudeau introduced the Official Languages Bill, which encouraged bilingualism in the federal government; he also gave an economic portfolio to a French-speaking minister, Jean Chrtien.

Both measures increased the power of French-speaking politicians in the federal government. The Quebec government passed Bill in , which established numerous rules promoting the French-speaking culture; for example, only French was to be used for commercial signs and for most public school instruction.

Many of Bill 's provisions have since been amended, striking more of a compromise; commercial signs, for example, may now be in French and English, provided that the French lettering is twice the size of the English.

Resolving a dispute that had occupied Trudeau since the beginning of his tenure, Queen Elizabeth II signed the Constitution Act also called the Canada Act in Ottawa on April 17, , thereby cutting the last legal tie between Canada and Britain. The constitution retains Queen Elizabeth as queen of Canada and keeps Canada's membership in the Commonwealth. This constitution was accepted by every province except Quebec. In the national election on Sept.

The Conservatives, led by Brian Mulroney, won the highest political majority in Canadian history. The dominant foreign issue was a free-trade pact with the United States, a treaty bitterly opposed by the Liberal and New Democratic parties.

The conflict led to elections in Nov. The issue of separatist sentiments in French-speaking Quebec flared up again in with the failure of the Meech Lake Accord. The accord was designed to bring Quebec into the constitution while easing its residents' fear of losing their identity within the English-speaking majority by giving it status as a?

The economy continued to be mired in a long recession that many blamed on the free-trade agreement. Brian Mulroney's popularity continued to decline, causing him to resign before the next election. In June the governing Progressive Conservative Party chose Defense Minister Kim Campbell as its leader, making her the first female prime minister in Canadian history. The national election in Oct. The Quebec referendum on secession in Oct. In Nov.

After the election, the conservatives rapidly lost steam. In recent years, Canada has introduced some of the world's most liberal social policies.

Medical marijuana for the terminally or chronically ill was legalized in ; the country began legally dispensing marijuana by prescription in July In , Ontario and British Columbia legalized same-sex marriage, and more provinces and territories followed in In July , Canada legalized gay marriage throughout the country, becoming one of four nations along with Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain to do so.

Canada sent 2, soldiers to help fight the U. In Dec. Canada has a long history of public broadcasting and a lively commercial media sector. The Canadian media are free to present a wide range of views and opinions. Quotas exist for broadcasts of Canadian material. Canadian government. Canadian prime minister. Canadian parliament. Canadian governor-general. Statistics Canada. Canada Capital: Ottawa.