Territorial organization of Canada

Geopolitical map of Canada.

Canada is a North American federation made up of ten provinces and three territories that make up the second largest country in the world. The main difference between a province and a Canadian territory is that the province receives the powers of government directly from the Crown, through the Constitution Act of 1867, which gives it more powers and rights than a territory, whose powers are delegated. by the federal government.

The main difference between a Canadian province and a territory is that the provinces receive their power and authority from the Constitution Act, 1867 (previously called The British North America Act, 1867), while the Territorial governments are charter creations with powers delegated to them by the Parliament of Canada. The powers derived from the Constitution Act, 1867 are divided between the Government of Canada (the federal government) and the provincial governments, each to be exercised exclusively. A change in the division of powers between the federal government and the provinces requires a constitutional amendment, while a similar change affecting the territories can be made unilaterally by the Parliament of Canada or the government. In modern Canadian constitutional theory, the provinces are considered co-sovereign within certain areas based on the divisions of responsibility between the provincial and federal governments under the Constitution Act, 1867, and each province therefore it has its own representative of the Canadian Crown, the Lieutenant Governor. The territories are not sovereign, but their authorities and responsibilities are delegated directly from the federal level, and as a result, they have a commissioner who represents the federal government.

History

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia are the original provinces, formed when the British North American colonies federated on July 1, 1867, into the Dominion of Canada and by stages, signs of UK sovereignty began to accumulate. Over the next six years Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island were added as provinces.

The Hudson's Bay Company maintained control of large portions of western Canada until 1870, when it would turn these lands over to the Canadian government and form the Northwest Territories. On September 1, 1905, a portion of the Northwest Territories lying south of the 60th parallel became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1912, the borders of Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba were extended to the north: Manitoba was extended to the 60th parallel; Ontario towards Hudson Bay and Quebec annexed the Ungava district.

In 1869 Newfoundland and Labrador decided in a referendum to remain a British territory and not part of the Dominion of Canada because they feared that central Canadian policies would dominate Newfoundland's policies on taxes and other economic matters. In 1907, Newfoundland and Labrador acquired Dominion status. However, in 1933, the Newfoundland government fell and during World War II, Canada took responsibility for defending Newfoundland. After the war, Newfoundland's status was challenged, and by a narrow majority, the citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador voted to join the Canadian Confederation in 1948, in a referendum. On March 31, 1949, it became the tenth and last province to join the confederation.

Government

Evolution of the borders and names of the provinces and territories of Canada.

The provinces enjoy great autonomy in relation to the federal power, and have jurisdiction over most of the public services of health, education, welfare and intra-provincial transport. They receive "transfer payments" from the federal government to fund these services, and they also have the ability to collect their own taxes. The federal government, with superior powers in terms of tax collection, conditions these transfer payments and influences the provinces; For example, as a condition of receiving funds to finance health services, provinces have to commit to offering universal access.

Each province has a different system of local government that may include upper level or rural jurisdictions, such as counties, municipal districts, regional municipalities, regional districts, or regional county municipalities. These divisions are then divided into lower-level or urban jurisdictions, such as cities, towns, villages, townships, and parishes. Quebec cities are further subdivided into arrondissements (similar to boroughs), while boroughs are found outside of Quebec cities.

The legislative bodies of the provinces are unicameral. Previously, some provinces had a second chamber, known as the legislative council, but these were abolished; the last to be so would be Quebec in 1968. In most provinces, the legislative body is called the Legislative Assembly, except in the provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador where it is called the House of Assembly, and in Quebec, where It is known as the National Assembly. Ontario has a Legislative Assembly but its members are called members of the Provincial Parliament. The Legislative Assemblies use a procedure similar to that of the Canadian House of Commons. The head of government of each province is the premier, generally the leader of the party with the parliamentary majority. This is also the case in the Yukon, but the Northwest Territories and Nunavut do not have political parties at the territorial level. The queen's representative in each province is the provincial lieutenant governor or viceroy. In each of the territories there is a similar commissioner, but he or she represents the federal government and not the monarch. These terminological differences are summarized below.

Comparative federal, provincial and territorial terminology

(*)Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island historically had a Legislative Council, analogous to the federal Senate.

Provinces and territories

Province	Postal abbreviation ISO Code	Other abbreviations	Capital	Entrance to the Confederation	Population (2008)	Area (km2)			Dens.Pob. (hab/km2)
						Earth	Water	Total
Ontario 1 (Ontario)	ON	Ont.	Toronto	1 July 1867	12.891.787	917.741	158.654	1.076.395	12
Quebec 1 (Québec)	QC	What, PQ, P.Q.	Quebec City		7.744.530	1.356.128	185.928	1,542.056	5
Nova Scotia2 (Nova Scotia)	NS	N.S.	Halifax		935.962	53.338	1.946	55.284	17
New Brunswick 2 (New Brunswick)	NB	N.B.	Fredericton		751.527	71.450	1.458	72.908	10
Manitoba3 (Manitoba)	MB	Man.	Winnipeg	15 July 1870	1.196.291	553.556	94.241	647.797	1,8
British Columbia2 (British Columbia)	BC	B.C.	Victoria	20 July 1871	4.428.356	925.186	19.549	944.735	4.7
Prince Edward Island2 (Prince Edward Island)	PE	PEI, P.E.I.	Charlottetown	1 July 1873	139.407	5.660	-	5.660	24.6
Saskatchewan 4 (Saskatchewan)	SK	Sask.	Regina	1 September 1905	1.010.146	591.670	59.366	651.036	1.5
Alberta 4 (Alberta)	AB	Alta.	Edmonton		3.512.368	642.317	19.531	661.848	5.3
Newfoundland and Labrador2 (Newfoundland and Labrador)	NL	Nfld., NF, LB	San Juan de Terranova	31 March 1949	508.270	373.872	31.340	405.212	1.2

Territory	Postal abbreviation ISO Code	Other abbreviations	Capital	Date of creation	Population (2008)	Area (km2)			Dens.Pob. (hab/km2)
						Earth	Water	Total
Northwest Territories (Northwest Territories)	NT	N.W.T., NWT	Yellowknife	15 July 1870	42.514	1.183.085	163.021	1.346.106	0.03
Yukon (Yukon)	YT	Y.T., YK	Whitehorse	13 June 1898	31.530	474.391	8.052	482.443	0.06
Nunavut (Nunavut)	UN	-	Iqaluit	1 April 1999	31.152	1.936.113	157.077	2.093.190	0.01

Notes:

1. Just before the formation of the Confederation, Ontario and Quebec formed the Province of Canada.
2. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island were separate colonies when they joined the Confederation. Before his entry, Newfoundland was a Dominion of the British Commonwealth.
3. Manitoba was formed at the same time as the Northwest Territories.
4. Saskatchewan and Alberta were created from the Northwest Territories.

There are currently three territories in Canada. Unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada do not have any inherent jurisdiction and enjoy only powers delegated to them by the federal government. The territories cover the portion of Canada north of latitude 60° N and to the west of Hudson Bay, as well as almost all the islands north of mainland Canada (from James Bay to the Arctic Islands). The following table presents the territories in order of precedence.

Notes: Canada did not acquire new territory to create the Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, or Nunavut. These were formed from the Northwest Territories.

Evolution of provinces and territories

British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island were separate colonies before joining Canada, and Ontario and Quebec joined before formalizing the Confederation as the Province of Canada.

Manitoba and the Northwest Territories were created in 1870 through Rupert's Land and the Northwest Territory. At the time, the Northwest Territory region encompassed all of northern and western Canada, including two-thirds of Ontario and Quebec, except for the Arctic Islands, British Columbia, and a small portion of southern Manitoba.

In 1882 provisional districts were formed in the Northwest Territories.

In 1895 changes were made to the districts of the Northwest Territories.

In 1903 the Alaskan boundary dispute set the northwestern boundary of British Columbia. This was one of only two provinces in Canadian history to reduce in size. The second occurred in 1927, when a dividing dispute between the province of Quebec and the Dominion of Newfoundland resulted in the increase of Labrador at the expense of Quebec.

In 1905 the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were formed from the Northwest Territories.

In 1912 the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba were created from territory that had once been part of the Northwest Territories.

In 1999 Nunavut was created from the eastern portion of the Northwest Territories. Yukon is in the western part of northern Canada, while Nunavut is in the east.

Nunavut's population is 85% Inuit, while the population of the Northwest Territories is 10% Inuit, 40% Amerindian (called "First Nations" or "First Peoples") and métis (mixed race) and 50% are not aboriginal. The three territories are the least populated region of Canada, with about 100,000 people. They are often referred to as a single region, "The North," for organizational purposes.

Each of the territories elects a member of Parliament. Unlike the territories of the United States (like the Virgin Islands of the United States), the Canadian territories elect a representative with the same prerogatives as the others in the House of Commons. Residents of the Canadian territories are citizens with all the rights of citizens of the provinces. Each territory also has a senator.

Provincial matches

Most of the provinces have provincial counterparts to the three national federal parties. However, some provincial parties are not formally linked to the federal parties of the same name. Some provinces have regional political parties, such as the Saskatchewan Party. Quebec's provincial political climate is quite different: the main break is between the Parti Québécois, which advocates Quebec's sovereignty, and the Parti Libéral du Québec, whose ideology is federalist, that is, Quebec remains part of the federation. Canadian.