"CANADA (I y II)" Y "QUEBEC" EN "YEAR 2000 GROLIER MULTIMEDIA ENCYCLOPEDIA.

Canada, the world's second-largest country (after Russia), is the largest country in the Western Hemisphere and comprises all the North American continent north of the United States, with the exclusion of Alaska, Greenland, and the tiny French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Its most easterly point is Cape Spear, Newfoundland, and its western limit is Mount Saint Elias in the Yukon Territory, near the Alaskan border. Its east-west extent is 5,514 km (3,426 mi), a distance so wide that six time zones lie within the country's borders. The southernmost point is Middle Island, in Lake Erie; the northern tip of land is Cape Columbia, on Ellesmere Island, 1,850 km (1,150 mi) north of the Arctic Circle.

Canada is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and its associated bodies of water, including Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea. Its only international land boundary is with the United StatesÑon the northwest, where the Yukon Territory and British Columbia border the state of Alaska, and on the south, where the U.S.-Canada border is 6,416 km (3,987 mi) long.

Canada has a total population of 28,846,761 (1996), or approximately 11% that of the United States. About 80% of this number live within 160 km (100 mi) of the U.S. border on the south; approximately 89% of the country is virtually unsettled. Because of these vast tracts of nearly uninhabited northern forests and tundra, Canada has one of the lowest population densities in the world.

Canada is rich in natural resources. It is a world leader in value of mineral exports and produces and exports many of the minerals needed for modern industrial economies, although a few minerals, such as manganese, chromium, bauxite, and tin, must be imported. Its soils, which are especially rich in the three prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, are intensively utilized and make Canada one of the world's largest exporters of agricultural products. Forests cover much of the land, and Canada is the world's largest exporter of newsprint and a leading supplier of lumber, pulp, paper, and wood products.

Canada has a dual cultural heritage that stems from the British conquest (1763) of the French colony of New France. Today both French and English are official languages. The threat of separatism by the largely French-speaking province of Quebec intensified during the 1980s and 1990s. A provincial government whose major objective was to lead the province to independence held referenda in 1980 and 1995 on proposals mandating the sovereignty of Quebec. Both were defeated by Quebec's electorate. The Meech Lake Accord of 1987, an addition to the 1982 constitution (see Constitution Act) that acknowledged Quebec's distinctness, failed in 1990 when two provinces refused to finalize it and a third rescinded its former support. The similar 1992 Charlottetown Accord also was defeated. In August 1998, Canada's Supreme Court handed down an advisory opinion on whether Quebec was legally entitled to secede from Canada, indicating that such an event would have to be negotiated with the rest of Canada and processed as though it were an amendment to the Constitution.

Canada also has sought to address aboriginal claims to land and self rule. In 1991 a land-claims agreement negotiated with the Inuit and federal and provincial authorities established Nunavut, carved from the Northwest Territories, effective in 1999. In 1998 in British Columbia, federal and provincial authorities and the Nisga'a Indians initialed a treaty that if ratified will provide the Nisga'a with land, various resources, a cash settlement, and self-rule (see Canada, history of).

The name Canada is thought to be derived from Kanata, the Huron-Iroquois word meaning "village" or "community."

THE LAND AND RESOURCES

Physical Regions

Canada has six major physical, or physiographic, regions: the Canadian Shield, the Arctic Islands, the Great LakesÐSt. Lawrence Lowlands, the Appalachian Region, the Interior Plains, and the Cordilleran Region.

Canadian Shield

In simple terms, Canada can be considered a vast, saucer-shaped basin, bordered by mountainous lands on the west, east, and northeast. Hudson Bay and the lowlands along its southern shore form the central depression of this "saucer." Surrounding this depression on all sides, including Baffin Island, is the Canadian Shield (also known as the Laurentian Plateau or Laurentian Upland), a region of ancient, mostly Precambrian rocks that covers nearly half of Canada. The Canadian Shield includes all of Labrador and large areas of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Nunavut. As a result of glacial action during the Pleistocene Ice Age, much of the region is covered with numerous lakes and marshy areas.

Arctic Islands

The Arctic Islands lie to the northwest of the central depression and constitute about 8.3% of Canada's land area. They are mostly covered by permanent snow and ice fields. The northern sections of the region include the United States Range, which reaches 2,926 m (9,600 ft) in northern Ellesmere Island. The southern sections are lower in altitude and are sometimes referred to collectively as the Arctic Lowlands and Plateaus.

Great LakesÐSt. Lawrence Lowlands

The Great LakesÐSt. Lawrence Lowlands region constitutes only 1.3% of Canada but is the area where most people live. It is a flat to gently rolling region that extends southwest from Quebec City to Lake Huron and includes all of the St. Lawrence River valley and the Ontario Peninsula, a triangular, densely populated area of southern Ontario that is bordered by the shores of Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario.

Appalachian Region

The Appalachian Region occupies about 3.4% of Canada and is the northward continuation into Canada of the Appalachian Mountains system of the eastern United States. It includes all of the Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) and the island of Newfoundland and forms most of Quebec's Gasp} Peninsula. It is a region of geologically old, worn-down uplands, with summits ranging from 150 m (500 ft) to nearly 1,270 m (4,166 ft). The highest and most rugged mountains are in the Shickshock Mountains of the Gasp} Peninsula, where Mount Jacques Cartier rises to 1,268 m (4,160 ft).

Interior Plains

The Interior Plains lie between the Canadian Shield and the Rocky Mountains and are a continuation of the Great Plains of the United States. The region occupies 18.3% of Canada; it extends to the Arctic coast and includes the northeastern section of British Columbia and parts of the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The southern sections are principal grain-growing areas. The northern sections support some pioneer farming communities but are generally too cold for commercial agriculture.

Cordilleran Region

The Cordilleran Region occupies 15.9% of all Canada and includes most of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory and the southwestern corner of Alberta. It is a complex mountain system, approximately 800 km (500 mi) wide, that extends along the Pacific coast. The three main subsections of the region are the eastern ranges, the western ranges, and an intermontane area between the two.

The eastern ranges include the Rocky Mountains in the south and the Mackenzie and Richardson Mountains in the north. They include such scenic areas as Banff and Jasper national parks and rise to 3,954 m (12,972 ft) in Mount Robson; at least 20 other peaks are higher than 3,000 m (10,000 ft). The western ranges of the region include the Saint Elias Mountains, which reach 5,959 m (19,550 ft) in Mount Logan, the highest point in Canada; the scenic Coast Mountains, along the mainland shores, which rise abruptly from the sea to heights of more than 3,000 m; and a partially submerged range that appears offshore as Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands, separated from the mainland by a structural depression known as the Coastal Trough.

The intermontane section of the Cordilleran Region, located between the eastern and western ranges, is a series of wide, rolling tablelands, such as the Fraser and Kamloops plateaus, and short mountain ranges, such as the Cascade, Cariboo, Selkirk, Monashee, Purcell, Stikine, Skeena, and Hazelton mountains.

Soils

Tundra and subarctic soils cover 31% of Canada, mostly in the north, with ice and stone deserts found over large areas. The subsoil in much of this area is permanently frozen, and the soils are unsuitable for agriculture.

Podzol soils, which are soils of low natural fertility found in forested regions, cover 26% of Canada. They are most extensive in the Appalachian Region and in most of the Canadian Shield north of a line through Quebec and Sudbury. Podzol soils tend to be acidic, gray in color, and leached of soil nutrients, but they are suitable for farming where climatic conditions permit and where fertilizers are used. Brown and gray brown soils cover most of the Great LakesÐSt. Lawrence Lowlands and the southern fringes of the Canadian Shield in Quebec and Ontario. These soils are naturally fertile and, when properly farmed, support a wide range of crops and other agricultural activities.

Of the western soils, the three chernozemic, or black earth, soils are the most important. Although they cover only about 7% of Canada, mainly in the southern part of the interior plains, they account for nearly all of Canada's wheat production. The true chernozem, or black earth, is extremely productive and is found in an arc passing through Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Calgary; grain crops and mixed farming are the principal activities on these rich soils. To the south, forming a more southerly arc passing through Regina, Saskatoon, and Lethbridge, and reflecting the somewhat drier climate of this region, are the dark brown soils, most of which are used for wheat production. Brown soils predominate in the southern, semiarid parts of the interior plains. They are capable of producing good crops with sufficient rainfall or under irrigation, but agriculture on these soils is risky, and ranching is increasingly common in the drier sections.

Cordilleran Region soils, as in all mountain areas, follow altitudinal and climatic zones and, where topography and climate are suitable, support a variety of agricultural activity, especially along the coast and in British Columbia valleys.

Climate

The populated southern areas of Canada have a wide variety of temperate climates. The Pacific coastal areas have a temperate marine west coast type of climate, with cool summers in the 16¡Ð18¡ C (60¡Ð65¡ F) range and mild winters in the 0¡Ð4¡ C (32¡Ð39¡ F) range. The interior plains have a middle-latitude steppe-type climate in the drier southern sections and a more humid and extreme continental type of climate elsewhere. Temperatures average about ç20¡ to ç15¡ C (ç5¡ to +5¡ F) in long winters and 18¡Ð20¡ C (65¡Ð68¡ F) in short summers.

The Great LakesÐSt. Lawrence Lowlands and the Appalachian Region have a more humid version of a continental type of climate. Both areas have a long, cold winter, with January averages about ç10¡ C (14¡ F) in the eastern sections and ç4¡ C (25¡ F) in the Ontario Peninsula, and short, warm summers with average temperatures of near 20¡ C (68¡ F).

Precipitation is heaviest in the west, where moisture-laden winds from the Pacific Ocean are forced to rise over the mountainous coastal regions and bring more than 5,000 mm (195 in) of rain a year to some areas, although average annual precipitation is 1,525 to 2,540 mm (60 to 100 in). Precipitation is least in the Interior Plains, where many areas receive less than 500 mm (20 in) a year. Except for the low-lying Pacific coast areas, winter precipitation throughout Canada is usually in the form of snow, and thick blankets of accumulated snow cover most of Canada east of the Rockies for 3 to 6 months of the year.

The sparsely settled northern areas have an arctic, or tundra, type of climate on the islands and northern coastal areas and a subarctic type of climate in the vast transitional area between the frozen north and the settled south. The arctic type of climate is characterized by long, very cold winters, with average temperatures far below freezing and no summer month with an average temperature higher than 10¡ C (50¡ F). In the subarctic areas, winters are similarly long and bitterly cold, but summers are warm enough (more than 10¡ C) to support vegetation growth. Precipitation is generally light in the western areas of the arctic and subarctic regions and heavier in northern Quebec and Labrador. Despite the low precipitation, snow covers the ground permanently for more than 6 months of every year.

Drainage

Fresh water covers about 755,180 Ü (291,577 æ), or 7.6% of Canada. The many rivers and lakes supply ample fresh water to meet the nation's needs for its communities and for irrigation, agriculture, industries, transportation, and hydroelectric power generation. In addition, large quantities of groundwater supply about 10% of municipal needs.

Canada has four principal drainage basins. By far the most important economically is the Atlantic Basin, which is the third-largest of the four with a total area of 1,756,012 Ü (678,000 æ) and drains to the Atlantic Ocean by way of the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, and their tributaries. This great drainage system forms an inland waterway that reaches into the heart of the continent for 3,670 km (2,280 mi).

Larger in area but less important because of the sparsely populated area it includes is the Hudson Bay Basin, with a total area of 4,010,000 Ü (1,548,270 æ). The Hudson Bay Basin drains northward into Hudson Bay via the Churchill, Nelson, and Saskatchewan rivers and their tributaries.

The Arctic Basin, covering an area of 1,812,992 Ü (700,000 æ), is drained by the 4,241-km-long (2,635-mi) Mackenzie River, Canada's longest, and its principal tributary, the Peace River.

The Pacific Basin covers an area of 1,095,000 Ü (422,780 æ) and carries the waters of the Fraser River and the headwaters of the Columbia and Yukon rivers to the Pacific Ocean. In addition to these four major drainage basins, a few minor areas of inland drainage have no outlet to the sea; and a small area of the southern prairies, totaling 29,500 Ü (11,400 æ), drains into the headwaters of the Mississippi River system and thus is part of the great Gulf of Mexico Basin that lies mostly in the United States.

Canada's largest lakes are the four Great LakesÑSuperior, Huron, Erie, and OntarioÑthat lie partly on the Canadian side of the U.S.-Canada boundary. Other large lakes are Great Bear Lake, Great Slave Lake, and Lake Winnipeg.

Vegetation and Animal Life

Canada has three major natural vegetation zones: forests, grasslands, and tundras. Natural forests occupy the largest area and are classified into three main types. Eastern forests native to the Great LakesÐSt. Lawrence Lowlands and the Appalachian Region compriseÑwhere not cleared for agriculture and settlementÑdeciduous trees such as sugar maple and beech and coniferous trees such as yellow pine, white and red pine, and hemlock. Fauna include white-tailed deer, squirrels, mink, and skunks.

The boreal, or northern, coniferous forest, sometimes also referred to as the taiga, stretches across the continent from Newfoundland to the Alaska border and accounts for 82% of all Canadian forestland. It includes white and black spruces and white birches, which are common throughout its vast extent, extensive areas of balsam poplar and tamarack, and balsam fir, jack pine, and trembling aspen in local concentrations. This northern forest supports nearly all the fauna recognized as distinctly Canadian, including the moose, beaver, Canada lynx, black bear, and Canada jay.

The third great forest zone is found along the humid Pacific coast; it is a dense, tall-timber forest where Douglas fir, western hemlock, and western red cedar are the dominant trees.

Natural grasslands, or prairies, once extended across the southern part of the interior plains. These natural grasslands have been largely plowed under and replaced by field crops. Animals characteristic of the interior plains include gophers, badgers, jackrabbits, and elk.

Tundra vegetation covers Canada's northern quarter, where low temperatures and permanently frozen subsoil inhibit the growth of most plants except the hardy mosses and lichens. Various grasses and flowers are also found. Trees are absent, but dwarf, often berry-bearing shrubs survive in sheltered locations. Distinctive animals include the polar bear, seal, musk-ox, caribou, lemming, Arctic wolf, and white fox.

Natural Resources

Canada has an abundance of mineral, forest, and waterpower resources. The mining industry has been a major force in Canada's economic development in the past and is still the main force in the advance and economic activity and permanent settlement into the northlands. The principal minerals are petroleum, nickel, copper, zinc, iron ore, natural gas, asbestos, molybdenum, sulfur, gold, and platinum; in addition, extensive beds of coal, potash, uranium, gypsum, silver, and magnesium are found.

Forests cover about 49% of Canada and are the basis for the important lumber, pulp and paper, and wood-products industries. More than half of the forestland is capable of producing a regular harvest of commercial timber, and one-third is currently accessible.

Water is a major natural resource, and hydroelectric power a leading source of energy. Major hydroelectric installations are located on the Niagara, St. Lawrence, Ottawa, St. Maurice, Saguenay, Bersimis, Manicouagan, Churchill, Peace, and Columbia rivers. Phase One of Quebec's controversial James Bay development project began in 1972 and was completed in December 1985. Construction of phases two and three has been placed on hold. When completed, this complex will be one of the largest hydroelectric complexes in the world. Rivers affected are the La Grande, Rupert, Nottaway, Broadback, and Great Whale.

PEOPLE

The great majority of Canadians were born in Canada, and most are of European descent. The ethnic composition of the population today is the result of successive waves of immigration by various European national groups in the past, as well as the arrival more recently of immigrants from Asia and the West Indies.

Composition of the Population

The French, the first to settle in large numbers, established numerous communities along the St. Lawrence River during the 17th and early 18th centuries, and they have retained their language and culture. People of French mother tongue account for just under 24% of the total population and are concentrated in the provinces of Quebec (the Qu}b}cois), where they are about 81% of the population, and New Brunswick, where they constitute about a third of the population. Nearly 10% (1996) of Canada's population claim only French ancestry.

People of British origin settled mainly after the British conquest of the French territory in 1763. Also, after 1783 many Loyalists moved north from the newly independent United States. The British settled primarily in the Atlantic provinces and in Ontario and later in British Columbia. They remain a major element in the population of these regions today, although the proportion of the British ethnic group in Canada as a whole has declined steadily. About 17% (1996) of the population list their origins as stemming solely from the British Isles. At the 1996 census of the population, for the first time, Canadian was listed as an ethnic origin, and more than 18% of the population reported it as their sole ethnic background. Among those who reported multiple ethnic origins, an additional 26.3% reported Canadian, British, or French origins.

About 28% of the population had ethnic origins other than Canadian, British, or French. These included continental European groups, made up principally of Germans, Italians, Scandinavians, Ukrainians, Dutch, and Poles; blacks; and Asians. The largest Asian ethnic groups were of Chinese, South Asian, Arab/West Asian, and Filipino origins, and many lived in the Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver metropolitan areas.

Indigenous Indians (see Indians, American), m}tis, and Eskimo (Inuit) account for about 3% of the total population. Ontario, British Columbia, and the prairie provinces have the largest aboriginal populations, with aboriginals representing about 7% of the total population in the cities of Winnipeg, Regina, and Saskatoon. The highest aboriginal concentrations are in the north where they account for nearly 50% of the population in the Northwest Territories, about 80% in Nunavut, and a significant population (20%) in the Yukon.

Language

Canada has two official languages, English and French, which have equal status in affairs of the federal government and one provincial government, New Brunswick, and in the federal courts. In other provinces the two languages have equal status for specified services. Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982, all provinces are required to provide education in English and French where numbers warrant. Of the total population, about 68% speak English at home and nearly 24% speak French; 17% classify themselves as bilingual in the two official languages. The majority of new immigrants prefer to learn English rather than French and to enroll their children in schools in which the language of instruction is English. Among aboriginal languages, Cree is the most widely spoken.

Religion

Canada has no official religion. The largest religious denomination is the Roman Catholic church, with about 45% of the population adhering to that faith. Second is the United Church of Canada, followed by the Anglican church (see Canada, Anglican Church of). Also, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans have substantial memberships. Jews make up about 1% of the population.

Demography

Most of Canada's people live in the southern part of the country, in an elongated, discontinuous belt of settlement parallel to the U.S.-Canada border. The most populous provinces are Ontario, with 37.3% of the population in 1996; Quebec, with 24.7%; and British Columbia, with 13%.

More than three-quarters of Canada's population are classified as urban. Ontario is the most urbanized province, with about 83% of its population living in urban areas. Prince Edward Island is the least urbanized, with about 44% in urban areas.

Canada's largest metropolitan areas (1996 census) are Toronto (4,263,757) and Montreal (3,326,510). Vancouver ranks third (1,831,665), followed by metropolitan Ottawa (including Hull), Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Quebec, and Hamilton, each with more than 500,000 residents. Farm families account for only 3Ð4% of the nation's families.

Since 1851, when the first census was taken, Canada's population has increased more than elevenfold, from 2.44 million in 1851 to 28.8 million in 1996. Despite continuing immigration in every decade since 1851, the dominant components of this growth have been natural increase and a falling death rate. The peak growth decades were 1851Ð61, 1901Ð11, and 1951Ð61, when the annual growth rate was close to 3%. The growth rate for the period 1986Ð96 was about 1.4% per year. British Columbia grew by 29% between 1986 and 1996, the highest rate among the provinces.

Canada is one of the world's most sparsely populated nations, with an average population density of about 3.1 persons per Ü (8.1 per æ). This overall figure is misleading, however, and obscures the fact that nine-tenths of it is virtually uninhabited, with the population concentrated in the other one-tenth. The most densely populated province is Prince Edward Island, with nearly 24 persons per Ü (62 per æ).

Education

Each of the provinces and territories administers its own educational system. Schools are operated by local education authorities and generally offer 6 to 8 years of elementary and 3 to 5 years of secondary schooling. Schools for Roman Catholic students, known as separate schools, are publicly maintained by the provinces of Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Under Newfoundland's terms of entry into the Canadian Confederation in 1949, all schools were church-run. In a 1995 referendum and, following a challenge, another in 1997, Newfoundland's voters agreed to the establishment of a public-school system for the first time. In June 1997 the National Assembly of Quebec passed a unanimous resolution that would allow for the creation of linguistic school boards in place of denominational boards.

Canada has community colleges and related institutions that offer technical and vocational training and a number of universities and four-year colleges. Among the largest universities are the University of Toronto (Toronto), University of British Columbia (Vancouver), University of Alberta (Edmonton), McGill University (Montreal), and the University of Manitoba (Winnipeg), in all of which the language of instruction is English. The largest French-language universities are the University of Montreal, Laval University, and the University of Quebec. (See also Canadian education.)

Health

Health services are the concern of the provincial and territorial governments, conforming to certain national standards. All participate in the national insurance program, called Medicare, made up of interlocking plans that supply comprehensive coverage of all required services rendered by a physician or surgeon. Under the system, Canadians receive a provincial insurance card with an individual number on it. They are entitled to choose their own physician. When receiving health-care services, the patient presents the card to the health-care provider, who bills the provincial insurance plan directly. While most health-care expenses are covered under the plan, there may be some additional charges. The Canada Health Act, effective in 1984, consolidated original federal health insurance laws and clarified the national standards, which may penalize provinces that allow doctors to bill patients for more than the Medicare rate. Canadian health costs amount to about 10% of the gross domestic product. In 1995 the leading cause of death in Canada was heart disease, followed by cancer, respiratory disease, cerebrovascular disease, and accidents.

The Arts

Of the visual arts, painting has been the most successful in expressing a Canadian national identity. Famous 19th-century painters include Paul Kane, Cornelius Krieghoff, and Homer Watson. The Group of Seven, led by J. E. H. MacDonald and influenced by Tom Thomson, who had died in 1917, developed a distinctly Canadian style in the 1920s. Other noted 20th-century painters include Emily Carr, Alfred Pellan, Paul-’mile Borduas, and Clarence Gagnon.

Noted Canadian sculptors include Frances Loring and Emanuel Hahn. Canada is also famous for its indigenous Eskimo sculpture, including much contemporary as well as traditional work. (See Canadian art and architecture.)

Canadian literature comprises strong traditions in both French and English. Among the noted French-Canadian poets are Octave Cr}mazie, Louis Honor} Fr}chette, and ’mile Nelligan. Bliss Carman is the most famous of the English-Canadian poets, and others include E. J. Pratt, Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, Duncan Campbell Scott, Robert W. Service, and John McCrae. Famous novelists and short-story writers include Louis H}mon, Gabrielle Roy, and Roger Lemelin for the French Canadians and Margaret Atwood, Morley Callaghan, Robertson Davies, Frederick Philip Grove, T. C. Haliburton, Stephen Leacock, Hugh MacLennan, Alice Munro, Mordecai Richler, and Mazo de la Roche, in English. Northrop Frye was a renowned literary critic.

Music is the most widespread of the performing arts in Canada. Four leading orchestras of Canada are the Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, in Ottawa. Other large orchestras include the Calgary Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, and Quebec Symphony. Professional opera companies include the Canadian Opera Company (Toronto), the Montreal Opera, the Vancouver Opera Association, and the Edmonton Opera Association; opera is also featured at both the Stratford and Vancouver festivals. The three professional ballet companies of Canada are the internationally famous Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada (formerly the National Ballet Company of Toronto), and the Grands Ballets Canadiens, in Montreal.

Professional theater flourishes in both English- and French-speaking communities. The Stratford Festival offers Shakespearean plays and other theater at Stratford, Ontario. Other influential theaters are the National Arts Centre, in Ottawa; the Shaw Festival, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario; and the French-language Th}0tre du Nouveau Monde, in Montreal. Toronto offers much theater, particularly through the Downtown Theatre District and the East End Theatres.

A key cultural institution is the Canada Council, which, through Canada Council grants established in 1957, supports study and innovations in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Coveted awards are the Governor General's Literary Awards for excellence in Canadian writing and the Molson Prizes awarded by the Canada Council for special contributions to the arts, social sciences, or humanities. The National Museums (Ottawa), Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto), National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), and the National Library (Ottawa) are other major cultural institutions.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

During the last 75 years the Canadian economy has been transformed from one based primarily on agricultural production and the export of agricultural products and raw materials to one based on its manufacturing and service sectors, as well as a mining sector of continuing importance. Canada's economy reflects an affluent high-tech industrial society and resembles the United StatesÑwith whom it has close economic tiesÑin its per-capita output, pattern of production, and market-oriented economic system.

Manufacturing and Mining

Manufacturing employs about 14% of Canada's total labor force and accounts for nearly 20% of the gross domestic product. The ten leading industries, by value of shipments of goods, are transport equipment; food and beverages; paper and allied industries; chemicals; electrical and electronic products; primary metals; wood industries; metal fabricating; refined petroleum and coal products; and printing, publishing, and allied industries. About 70% of all manufacturing plants are located in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Manufacturing in Ontario is diversified, with an emphasis on the manufacture of automobiles and automobile parts and accessories at Brampton, Hamilton, Oakville, Oshawa, Talbotville, and Windsor and in lesser concentrations elsewhere. Other major manufacturing activities include nickel smelting in the Sudbury area, pulp and paper production along the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, machinery production concentrated in the Toronto area, and oil refining and the manufacture of chemicals at Sarnia. The manufacturing activities of Quebec include the resource-oriented industries of pulp and paper and newsprint manufacture; power-oriented industries, such as the aluminum refineries at Arvida and Baie-Comeau; market-oriented industries, such as the huge oil refining and petrochemical complex at Montreal East; and such labor-intensive industries as the clothing and textile industries concentrated in Montreal and the Eastern Townships, an area east of Montreal and south of the St. Lawrence River.

Of the minerals produced in Canada, the mineral fuels, which include mostly oil, some natural gas, and lesser amounts of coal, account for 60% by value. Oil and natural gas are produced mainly in Alberta and, to a lesser extent, Saskatchewan and are being actively searched for in the Mackenzie delta following discovery of oil on the North Slope at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in 1968. Metals account for about 28% of production by value. The leading metals by volume of production are zinc, copper, nickel (of which Canada is the world's major producer), and iron ore (produced mainly in Labrador and Quebec). The principal nonmetals, which account for 12% of production by value, include sand and gravel, stone, salt, potash, and asbestos, mined mainly in the Eastern Townships. Canada is a leading nation of the world in terms of total mineral output and leads the world in mineral exports.

Agriculture

Although restricted by climate and topography to less than 10% of the country, primarily along the United States border, agriculture remains an important segment of Canada's economy. From the 1940s to the 1990s the agricultural labor force declined from nearly 30% to less than 4% of the total, and the number of farms halved. Today, Canadian agriculture is highly mechanized and integrated within the larger agri-food system, including agribusiness and governments, although most farms remain owner operated. Increased scale and productivity has made Canada self-sufficient in agricultural produce, with up to 80% of the grain crop from the prairie provinces going for export.

Farming is also specialized by farm and by region. The prairie provinces, which make up more than 80% of Canada's farmland area, have long been major wheat and barley production areas; canola is now also grown there. Other grains (oats, rye) and oilseeds (flax, sunflowers) contribute to a regional economy based primarily on cash crops. There is also significant regional livestock raising, notably beef (Alberta) and hogs (Manitoba and Alberta). While the number of farms has declined, farmland in the prairie provinces has increased, and average farm size is more than 300 ha (741 acres).

In contrast, throughout eastern Canada there has been a loss of half the total farmland (up to 80% in the Maritime provinces), and average farm sizes are closer to 100 ha (247 acres). Eastern Canada has a predominantly livestock-based farm economyÑthat is, based on hay and feed grains, especially maize. Formerly mixed farms have given way to specialized dairy, beef, hog, and poultry operations, the latter including separate egg, chicken, and turkey production. There are also regional crop specializationsÑpotatoes in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick and tobacco in southern Ontario. Most output is consumed domestically by urban populations.

Forestry and Fishing

Forests occupy nearly half of Canada, with almost 60% of them productive. Ownership is largely provincial with tracts leased to forest companies. Canada is a major world producer and exporter of lumber, wood products, wood pulp, paper, and newsprint. Regionally, British Columbia leads in softwood lumber and plywood, while in the Maritime provinces, Quebec, Ontario, and more recently in Alberta, the emphasis is on softwood pulp, with some hardwood lumber in the Great Lakes region.

The leading provinces by employment and value of output are British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario. Despite mechanization, the forest industry employs more than 300,000 workers directly and another 450,000 indirectly and is the primary support of more than 350 single-industry towns. The industry is dominated by relatively few large companies, either Canadian or multinational. More than 50% of forest products by value are exported, making the industry a major contributor to Canada's gross domestic product and balance of trade.

Canada was a leading producer of fish and fish-related products. The waters off the Atlantic coast, including the famous "banks" off Newfoundland (see Grand Banks) and the coastal waters, once yielded large quantities of cod, herring, flatfish, and redfish. Valuable amounts of lobster and scallops are still taken, but in July 1992 the federal government declared a moratorium on northern cod fishing. A year later a similar declaration was made against the depleted stocks of cod and other ground fish elsewhere on the banks inside the 200-naut.-mi Exclusive Economic Zone. A limited reopening of cod fisheries occurred in May 1997. The Pacific coast catch includes mainly salmon and halibut. On both coasts a large portion of the fish catch is frozen or canned in fish-packing plants for export. In 1977, Canada extended jurisdiction over coastal waters to 370 km (230 mi) in order to conserve and manage the fish resources. Freshwater fishing, mainly in Georgian Bay, Great Slave Lake, Lake Superior, and Lake Ontario, is of minor importance.

Power

In 1995 hydroelectric stations produced about 61% of all electricity (down from 90% during the 1950s), and thermal stations (including those fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, and nuclear-power plants) produced the remainder. Nuclear-power plants produced only about 17%, mostly in Ontario and, to a lesser extent, in New Brunswick and Quebec. Quebec is the leading producer of hydroelectric power, followed by British Columbia, Newfoundland, and Ontario. Ontario is a leading producer of thermal electricity. Some Canadian-generated electricity is sold to the United States.

Transportation

Canada's network of roads covers the southern populated areas and the southern fringes of the Northlands. Water transportation is dominated by traffic on the Great LakesÐ St. Lawrence Seaway system, although the seaway is closed to navigation by ice from December to April. Using this route, oceangoing vessels can reach the interior of the continent. Air transportation services are supplied primarily by Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International.

Pipelines are important for the transport of oil and natural gas from the prairie provinces to the principal oil markets in the east and on the west coast. Major oil pipelines include the Interprovincial, which extends from Edmonton to Montreal, and the Trans-Mountain, from Edmonton to Vancouver. Pipelines also deliver Canadian crude to the Atlantic provinces (the Maritimes and Newfoundland) and to the United States. In 1985 an oil pipeline was constructed linking Alberta with the northern Mackenzie valley.

Trade

In 1989, Canada and the United States put into effect a deal that had eluded the two nations for a centuryÑfree trade. The subsequent North American Free Trade Agreement, which became effective in 1994 and includes Mexico, has created the world's largest trade zone. Since taking effect Canada's two-way trade with Mexico has jumped by nearly 60%, and its trade with the United States has risen more than 40%. In 1997, Canada signed a similar free-trade agreement with Chile.

The leading exports by value in 1995 were automotive products, machinery and equipment, industrial goods and materials, forest products (including paper), energy products, ferrous and nonferrous ores, and grain. Over three-quarters of all exports (1995) went to the United States.

Leading imports by value in 1995 were machinery and equipment, automotive products, industrial and electronic goods and materials, computers, and consumer items. About 70% of all imports (1995) came from the United States. Canada's principal ports are Montreal, Vancouver, and Sept-ëles-Pointe Noire, and large tonnages are also handled by the ports of Quebec, Halifax, Saint John, and Prince Rupert.

GOVERNMENT

Canada is a self-governing federal union of ten provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan) and three territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon Territory) within the Commonwealth of Nations. The core of the constitution is derived, with modifications, from the British North America Act of 1867, patriated (brought under direct Canadian control) and renamed the Constitution Act in 1982. Queen Elizabeth II is head of state and is represented in the federal government by the governor-general and in the provinces by lieutenant governors.

Legislative power is vested in Parliament, which comprises the queen; the Senate, with 104 members appointed to age 75 (or for life before 1965); and the House of Commons, with 301 elected members (as of the 1997 election). National elections are held at least once every five years or whenever the majority party is voted down or calls an election. The leader of the political party with the largest number of seats in the House of Commons usually serves as prime minister.

Provincial legislative power, which extends to education, municipal affairs, direct taxation, and civil law, is vested in unicameral, elected legislatures known as legislative assemblies except in Newfoundland, where it is the House of Assembly, and Quebec, where it is the National Assembly. The legislatures of the provinces are headed by premiers, who are usually the leaders of the majority party. The provincial legislatures are elected every five years or less.

The principal political parties have been the Liberals, the Progressive Conservatives, and the New Democrats. The Liberal party was long led by Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who served as prime minister in 1968Ð79 and 1980Ð84; he was succeeded by John N. Turner (1984Ð90), prime minister briefly in 1984, and then Jean Chr}tien, who became prime minister in 1993 and whose party retained a majority in the federal elections of June 1997. The Progressive Conservatives were led by Brian Mulroney, who was also prime minister (1984Ð93); he was briefly (1993) succeeded as leader (and prime minister) by Kim Campbell and then by Jean Charest (1995Ð98); in 1998, Joe Clark, leader (1976Ð83) and prime minister for nine months in 1979Ð80, again became leader. The New Democratic party, headed by Audrey McLaughlin (1989Ð95), is now led by Alexa McDonough. Major regional parties include the western provinces' Reform party, led by Preston Manning, and the Bloc Qu}b}cois, led by Gilles Duceppe. These emerged as the second- and third-largest parties in Parliament in 1997.

Norman L. Nicholson

Reviewed by Don Cartwright

CANADA IN CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

Since the 1960s and particularly since 1980, Canada has been embroiled in a series of disputes arising out of efforts to "patriate" and modernize Canada's constitution. Quebec nationalists, provincial premiers, and, more recently, feminists and aboriginal leaders have sought and sometimes won major victories as Canadians transformed their constitution from a British law into a homemade institution.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE (1867Ð1982)

The British North America Act

The British North America Act (BNA Act) of 1867, negotiated by the politicians of British North America's three colonies between 1864 and 1866, had its admirers. It created a new country out of three quarrelsome coloniesÑNova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the united Canadas (Ontario and Quebec). It helped preserve Canada's French-speaking minority. It allowed Canada to expand to the Pacific and Arctic oceans. It was flexible enough to foster provincial rights in times of peace and a strong central government during two world wars. Under the BNA Act, Canada evolved into a modern industrialized welfare state.

Critics had other views. The BNA Act gave Canada an appointed Senate and a division of powers that led federal and provincial governments into overlapping jurisdictions in health, social, and economic policy. It had no clear statement of individual rights and freedoms. Above all, it was a vestige of Canada's colonial era. For, although Canada had become sovereign in 1931, its constitution from 1867 to 1982 was an act of Britain's Parliament.

That was not Britain's fault. In 1931 the premiers of Canada's two biggest provinces, Ontario and Quebec, had objected so strenuously to patriating the BNA Act that nothing was done. The leaders of the two provinces feared that a "made-in-Canada" constitution might give Canada's federal government too much power, and many French-Canadians had believed since the Quebec Act of 1774 that their rights were safer in British hands.

Canadian Federalism

Through the BNA Act, a Confederation of four provincesÑNova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and QuebecÑwas created. Canada and its provinces were given a British-style parliamentary government with a House of Commons elected by the people and a Senate appointed to give equal representation to Canada's three (later four) geographical regions. Since the "Fathers of Confederation" wanted a country strong enough to stand up to their American neighbors and to occupy the great northern and western hinterland, they assigned most important powers and revenue sources to the central government. What seemed minor matters in the 1860s, such as schools, roads, and charity were left to the provinces.

Yet some of the "Fathers" made sure that provinces would have power to protect "cultural nations" like the French Canadians. After 1867, constitutional judgments by the highest court in the British Empire, the Privy Council, tended to favor provincial claims to power. So did the growth of the government role in education, health, roads, and welfare. Unlike U.S. states, which have tended to lose importance, Canadian provinces grew in influence, particularly after 1945.

Patriation

There were many attempts after 1931 to settle Canada's unfinished constitutional business. Patriation was easy; the hard part was getting federal and provincial governments to agree on how the constitution would be amended. In 1949, Ottawa persuaded Britain's Parliament to give it the right to change any section of the BNA Act that applied only to the federal government. It also ended appeals to the Privy Council from rulings of Canada's own Supreme Court. In 1960 and again in 1964, an amending formula seemed close to acceptance, but everyone assumed that any amending formula had to be unanimously accepted. In 1972, Canadian prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau finally won unanimous agreement for a complex package including an amending formula, a provincial role in choosing Supreme Court judges, and transfer of powers to the provinces. Then, on his way home, Quebec premier Robert Bourassa changed his mind. It usually was Quebec that backed away. By the 1960s, Quebecers had abandoned the traditional defense of French-Canadian cultureÑa conservative Catholicism. They finally discovered that state power could be a powerful instrument for a people who had preferred group interests to individualism. Their provincial government could ensure cultural survival and collective power, at least for the 6 million French Canadians in Quebec. Another million scattered across Canada might be lost, and a million English-speaking Quebecers could submit or move out. Quebec's "Quiet Revolution" created a dynamic new business and political elite, determined to protect and increase Quebec's constitutional status.

Some Quebecers went further. If other conquered peoples around the world claimed independence, Quebecers could at least be equals with the rest of Canada, "the English." As early as the 1870s, some Quebecers insisted that the BNA Act was a "compact" between the French and the English in Canada. Reviving the "two-nations" theory in the 1960s infuriated Canadians whose ethnic roots were neither French nor English, to say nothing of a million or more aboriginal people who soon christened themselves "First Nations."

Sovereignty-Association

In 1967 the centennial of Confederation, a popular Quebec politician, Ren} L}vesque, helped carry the argument further still, creating a movement dedicated to giving Quebec full sovereignty, together with an association with the rest of Canada. L}vesque and his Parti Qu}b}cois, founded in 1968, soon became a force among young and well-educated Quebecers, and in the 1976 provincial election, L}vesque defeated Premier Robert Bourassa.

Most Quebecers, however, decided to give Canada another chance. In a May 1980 referendum 60% voted against even trying to negotiate "sovereignty-association." One reason was a new law that made French the only official language in Quebec and the only one that could appear on signs, billboards, and even on restaurant menus. It suddenly became hard to believe that French was disappearing. Another reason was that Prime Minister Trudeau and most provincial premiers had promised constitutional reforms that Quebecers could accept.

FROM 1982 TO THE PRESENT

The Constitution Act, 1982

Canadian politicians soon forgot Quebec in their enthusiasm to get their own ideas into a new constitution, however. When federal and provincial leaders met for the purpose of negotiating a Canadian constitution in September 1980, all the old bickering resumed. Prime Minister Trudeau soon had enough. Whether the provinces liked it or not, he would patriate Canada's constitution, adopt an amending formula, and, in addition, include a "Charter of Rights and Freedoms" that would override any federal or provincial law. There was an uproar. Only two provincial governments, Ontario and small, bilingual New Brunswick, supported Trudeau. Others, including Quebec, challenged Trudeau's initiative in the courts. In Parliament, opposition members delayed business until Trudeau agreed to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to rule on his procedure. In September 1981, in a split decision, the Court agreed that Ottawa could proceed, but only if it tried once again to get the provinces to agree.

On Nov. 5, 1981, after intense negotiations and a late-night meeting of key officials in a conference-center kitchen, a compromise emerged. Trudeau would have his charter, although most of its provisions could be overridden with sufficient support. The provinces, including Quebec, had their amending formula adopted. The politicians seemed happyÑexcept for L}vesque, who had never believed any compromise could be worked outÑbut many other Canadians were not satisfied. For the next few months women's groups, native people, the disabled, and ethnic minorities lobbied furiously. By Apr. 17, 1982, when Queen Elizabeth II signed Canada's new Constitution Act, many of the outside groups had succeeded. A new "Equality Clause" in the charter proclaimed that men, women, and the disabled would be guaranteed complete equality before the law. Without defining them the charter also would guarantee aboriginal rights.

The Meech Lake Accord

Only one partner was excluded: Quebec. Publicly L}vesque insisted that his province had been betrayed. In any case Quebecers' expectations were not met. The new charter could override Quebec laws. Most constitutional amendments would need support from Ottawa and from at least seven provinces totaling 50% of the population. That could shut out Quebec. Quebec's other demandsÑfor exclusive powers over immigration, communications, and social programs, plus federal funding to pay for themÑhad been ignored. The 1980 promise was not fulfilled.

Nonetheless, in 1985, Quebec reelected the Liberal Robert Bourassa and a more profederalist government. Shortly before, Canadians had elected (1984) as federal prime minister a Quebec-born Conservative, Brian Mulroney, who promised to bring Quebec into the constitution "with honour and enthusiasm." After marathon meetings that included a session at a government conference center at Meech Lake and ended in Ottawa in June 1987, Quebec's demands were reduced to five and accepted by Mulroney and all ten provincial premiers. These were that (1) senators and Supreme Court judges would be picked from provincial nominees; provinces could (2) share in immigration policy and (3) claim financial compensation if they did not join federal programs in their area of jurisdiction; (4) the amendment formula would extend the unanimity rule to cover central institutions; and, above all, (5) Quebec would be recognized for its language, culture, and legal system as a "distinct society." The price, of course, was acceptance of demands from several other premiers. A triumphant Brian Mulroney announced the Meech Lake Accord as a promise fulfilled. But it soon collapsed.

Collapse and Crisis

Former prime minister Trudeau claimed that Mulroney had sold out to provincial premiers. The "distinct society" made Quebecers different from other Canadians. Women, aboriginal leaders, and others who had influenced the 1982 Constitution claimed that there was nothing for them in the new accord. The northern territories complained that their becoming provinces would now depend on unanimous agreement from the existing provinces. Opposition had time to grow since the 1982 amending formula gave Ottawa and the provinces three years to ratify, and issues covered by the accord required unanimity. By 1990, three provinces had changed governments, and the new premiers were not bound by their predecessors' agreements. The accord was in trouble. In June 1990, Mulroney summoned all the premiers to Ottawa. A dinner turned into a week-long marathon bargaining session. After bitter battles behind closed doors, a fragile compromise emerged, and then it collapsed.

Was it Mulroney's indiscreet comment that they had "rolled the dice" for Canada's future? Was it due to opinion polls that showed solid opposition to the accord among English-speaking Canadians? Newfoundland's premier, Clyde Wells, became their hero when he resumed his opposition, but most claimed the credit for Elijah Harper, a Cree member of Manitoba's legislature, who filibustered until the June 23 deadline for ratifying the accord had passed.

The Meech Lake Accord and its failure showed how explosive constitutional debate had become. By autumn, polls showed that 60% of Quebecers wanted independence. A separatist Bloc Qu}b}cois formed in the federal Parliament, and Bourassa's government agreed to an Oct. 26, 1992, deadline for a referendum on sovereignty.

In the rest of Canada critics attacked the accord for undermining the "equality" section of the charter and condemned the "eleven middle-class white men" who had arranged it behind closed doors. Polls showed that most Canadians outside Quebec wanted more power for the central government, and few understood why Quebec should be recognized as "a distinct society." Elijah Harper's decisive role inspired strong support for the claims of Canada's native people.

The "Canada Round"

The Mulroney government had to keep the country together. Public criticism of closed-door constitution making led Ottawa and some provinces to organize public forums, opinion polls, and hearings across Canada, where special-interest groups promoted their views. In the new "Canada Round," there were many issues, from creating an "Equal, Elected and Effective" ("Triple E") Senate to smashing economic barriers between provinces to giving Canadians a constitutional right to health care, education, a clean environment, and free collective bargaining. Backed by public opinion, native peoples demanded that the constitution recognize their "inherent right of self-government" and the right of consent to any constitutional amendment affecting them.

While Bourassa boycotted constitutional negotiation, Mulroney and his constitutional affairs minister, Joseph (Joe) Clark, decided to include leaders of the Yukon and Northwest territories and four native and m}tis (mixed native and European ancestry) organizations, as well as the nine remaining premiers. The 1982 amending formula proved difficult. Some provinces passed laws requiring plebiscites before they ratified changes. While not a formal requirement, native, m}tis, and territorial leaders would henceforth have to be persuaded. And Quebec's deadline forced the pace.

Also, native politicians had their own divisions. While "status" Indians tended to speak for all natives, they were outnumbered by "non-status Indians," who no longer lived on reserves but who were assured of the same rights as other aboriginal people. Both groups may have been outnumbered by m}tis, but only a minority were represented by the M}tis National Council. The Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, a native advocacy group, kept its distance. The ancient rivalries of Inuit (Eskimo) and Dene (Indian) led to demands that the huge and predominantly native-governed Northwest Territories be split to create separate territories of Nunavut and Denendeh.

After an earlier plebiscite failed in the face of Dene resistance, a second round of negotiations, involving federal, territorial, and Tungavik Federation of Nunavut (TFN) representatives, succeeded in 1992, following the initialing of the Nunavut Political Accord in April (and its signing in October), a vote in the Northwest Territories in May, and an Inuit ratification vote in November. Subject to ratification by federal and territorial governments, over a seven-year transition, Canada's northern map would change. Though Inuvialuit settlements in the western Arctic chose to remain in Denendeh, the Eastern Arctic Inuit would have Nunavut.

Constitutional Packages

In September 1991 a bulky constitutional package emerged from Ottawa to some derision. In February 1992, after well-organized public consultations, a parliamentary committee published a similar package. It included the Meech Lake proposals and added support for aboriginal self-government, a limited social charter, and a Senate that would be elected and equal but only "equitable" in representation. In May, when Clark summoned provincial, territorial, and aboriginal negotiators, agreement seemed unlikely. Gradually, however, negotiators accepted the elements of the Meech Lake Accord and the native claim to self-government but stalled for a month on opposition to Quebec's demand for a constitutional veto and the shape of a future Senate. Supporters of the "Triple E" Senate wanted eight senators from each province. In June the Mulroney government armed itself with powers to conduct a national referendum.

The Premiers' Accord

The nine English-speaking premiers, seeing the dangers of being bypassed by the referendum, met in Ottawa in July. On July 7, Clark announced a deal. Ontario had yielded to a "Triple-E" Senate, all provinces would have a veto on future constitutional changes, and aboriginal self-government would be enforced by the courts after five years, not three. The progress prompted Quebec's Robert Bourassa to return to the bargaining table, and on August 22 an agreement among all ten premiers was struck. In the agreement, the Charlottetown Accord, Quebec accepted a senate with six members per province (if Quebec's representation in Parliament remained a quarter of the total); native right to self-government was confirmed within certain limits; and all of the provinces gained greater authority. Mulroney soon announced an October 26 national referendum on the accord.

The Referendum Campaign and Aftermath

Critics of the agreement soon surfaced. These included women such as New Democratic party leader Audrey McLaughlin and native women who feared the loss of an equal voice, as well as former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. He indicated that the accord would create a hierarchy of people, with French Canadians at the top, followed by aboriginal peoples and ethnic minorities. The loudest protest came from Quebec. Also, rival native spokesmen criticized Ovide Mercredi, grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations, for forcing them to decide on a white man's constitution, and the Western provinces worried about the concentration of power in the central provinces. On Referendum Day, apart from "Yes," or pro-referendum, victories in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, and a margin of 28,000 votes among Ontario's 8 million voters, the "No" side prevailed, taking 55% of Quebec votes, a narrow margin in Nova Scotia, and lopsided victories in the WestÑfrom Manitoba to the Yukon.

Less than a year later, in June 1993, Mulroney retired, and Kim Campbell was briefly prime minister. Federal elections of October 25 brought victory to the Liberal party and to Jean Chr}tien, who became prime minister on November 4. The second-ranking, separatist Bloc Qu}b}cois, led by Lucien Bouchard, became the official opposition in Parliament. Chr}tien and his party were returned to power at the June 1997 federal elections, but Bloc Qu}b}cois, now led by Gilles Duceppe, fell to third position in the number of parliamentary seats, winning 44. Another regional party, based mainly in the western provinces, the Reform Party of Canada, won 60 seats, becoming the official opposition.

The Quebec Referendum of 1995 and Aftermath

Within Quebec, the provincial election of Sept. 12, 1994, returned the separatist Parti Qu}b}cois to power. Jacques Parizeau, Quebec's new premier, promised a referendum in 1995 on the question of separation from Canada, which was later set for October 30.

In order to assure the greatest possibility of success, Parizeau and fellow separatists Bouchard and Mario Dumont of the tiny Parti Action D}mocratique signed on to a deal on June 12, 1995, creating a formal alliance for the referendum. Responding to the contradictory needs of most Quebecers, who were unhappy with status-quo federalism but feared a complete break with Canada, and to attract "soft nationalists" to the separatists' cause, Bouchard advocated a sovereignty-association plan, which Parizeau reluctantly accepted. Similar to the L}vesque plan of 1980, it advocated that an independent Quebec retain vaguely defined economic and political ties with Canada.

Results of the October referendum produced a bare majority of 50.6% to 49.4% of votes in favor of preserving the Canadian union. Parizeau's resignation the next day further underscored the deep division in Quebec. As federalists, led by Chr}tien, indicated a renewed interest in accommodating the aspirations of Quebec's French ethnic majority, both the Bloc Qu}b}cois and Parti Qu}b}cois positioned themselves for a new political process, with Bouchard suggesting that separatists had little inclination to restructure the federation. On Jan. 29, 1996, Bouchard became Quebec's premier. In September of that year the federal government asked Canada's Supreme Court for an advisory opinion on various aspects relating to the separation of Quebec from Canada. In August 1998 the court handed down its opinion that a vote in Quebec was not sufficient to allow the province legally to separate from the rest of Canada. Instead, Quebec's secession would have to be negotiated with the rest of Canada and processed as though it were an amendment to the Constitution.

In the November 1998 Quebec provincial election, Parti Qu}b}cois and Bouchard retained power, although the percentage of the vote fell short of what the separatists had said was needed to call another referendum on independence. While Parti Qu}b}cois gained a majority of the seats in the National Assembly, it received only about 43% of the popular vote; the Liberal Party tallied about 44% of the vote.

Aboriginal Claims

In the 1990s, as Canada prepared for the establishment of Nunavut, another long-term land-claim negotiation in British Columbia came to fruition. A treaty, initialed in August 1998 by federal and provincial leaders and the Nisga'a Indians, provides the Indians with land, self-rule, substantial resources, and a cash settlement. Not yet ratified, the treaty immediately raised certain constitutional concerns that appeared not to bode well for the fragile state of Canadian unity. On Apr. 1, 1999, the split of the Northwest Territories brought the new federal territory of Nunavut into the Canadian union.

Desmond Morton

Bibliography: Audley, Paul, Culture of Commerce: Canadian Culture after Free Trade (1997); Bone, Robert M., The Geography of the Canadian North (1992); Bothwell, Robert, Canada and Quebec: One Country, Two Histories (1995); Britton, John N., ed., Canada and the Global Economy: The Geography of Structural and Technological Change (1996); Browning, P., The Last Wilderness, 2d ed. (1989); The Canada Gazetteer Atlas (1980); Carlsen, Jorn, ed., O Canada: Essays on Canadian Literature and Culture (1995); Clement, W., and Williams, G., eds., The New CanadianPolitical Economy (1989); Dunn, C., Canadian Political Debates: Opposing Views on Issues That Divide Canadians (1995); Dyck, Rand, Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches, 2d ed. (1996); Eagles, Munroe, et al., eds., The Almanac of Canadian Politics, 2d ed. (1996); French, Hugh M., and Slaymaker, Olav, eds., Canada's Cold Environments (1993); Heard, Andrew, Constitutional Conventions and Political Practice in Canada (1990); Jackson, Robert J., et al., Politics in Canada: Culture, Institutions, Behavior and Public Policy, 3d ed. (1994); Laponce, Jean A., and Safran, William, eds., Ethnicity and Citizenship: The Canadian Case (1996); McCann, L. D., ed., Heartland and Hinterland: A Geography of Canada, 2d ed. (1987); McGhee, Robert, Ancient People of the Arctic (1996) and Canada Rediscovered (1991); Malcolm, Andrew H., The Canadians (1985; repr. 1991); Marr, W. T., and Paterson, D. G., Canada (1980); Nicholson, N. L., Canada (1981); Norrie, Kenneth, and Owram, Douglas, A History of the Canadian Economy, 2d ed. (1996); Rugman, Alan M., Multinationals and CanadaÐUnited States Free Trade (1990); Statistics Canada, Canada Year Book 1997 (1996); Stewart, Gordon T., The Origins of Canadian Politics (1986); Taylor, Brook, and Owram, Douglas, eds., Canadian History: A Reader's Guide, 2 vols. (1994); Thomson, Don W., Men and Meridians, 3 vols. (1966Ð69).

Facts about Canada

LAND

Area: 9,970,610 Ü (3,849,672 æ).

Capital: Ottawa (1996 pop., 323,340).

Largest city: Montreal (1996 pop., 1,016,376).

Elevations: highest Mount Logan, 5,959 m (19,550 ft); lowest sea level, along the coasts.

PEOPLE

Population (1998 est.): 30,600,000; density: 3.3 persons per Ü (8.6 per æ).

Distribution (1996): 77.9% urban, 22.1% rural.

Annual growth (1991Ð96): 1.14%.

Official languages: English, French.

Major religions: Roman Catholicism, Protestantism.

EDUCATION AND HEALTH

Literacy (1987): 99% of adult population.

Universities (1995Ð96 est.): 78.

Hospital beds (1993): 163,399.

Physicians (1994): 54,786.

Life expectancy (1997 est.): womenÑ82.48; menÑ75.61.

Infant mortality (1997 est.): 5.7 per 1,000 live births.

ECONOMY

GDP (1996 est.): $721 billion; $25,000 per capita.

Labor distribution (1996): agricultureÑ3.0%; miningÑ1.8%; manufacturingÑ13.8%; constructionÑ4.7%; public utilitiesÑ1.0%; transportation and communicationsÑ5.8%; tradeÑ15.6%; financeÑ5.3%; public administration and defenseÑ5.4%; other servicesÑ33.9%; unemployedÑ9.7%.

Foreign trade (1997): importsÑ$200.9 billion; exportsÑ$214.4 billion; principal trade partners (1996)ÑUnited States, Japan, United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany, France, Taiwan, South Korea.

Currency: 1 Canadian dollar = 100 cents.

GOVERNMENT

Type: federal state.

Government leaders (1999): Romeo LeBlancÑgovernor-general; Jean Chr}tienÑprime minister.

Legislature: Parliament.

Political subdivisions: 10 provinces, 2 territories.

COMMUNICATIONS

Railroads (1995): 71,592 km (44,485 mi) total.

Roads (1995): 1,020,968 km (634,400 mi) total, 35% paved.

Major ports: 16.

Major airfields: 17.

QUEBEC

Quebec (French: Qu}bec) is the largest of Canada's provinces, with an area of 1,540,680 Ü (594,860 æ). It stretches from the U.S. border and the Gulf of St. Lawrence north to Hudson Strait and from Hudson Bay east to Labrador and the Atlantic coast. It is bounded on the west and southwest by the province of Ontario. Quebec is nicknamed la belle province ("the beautiful province") because of its variety of lakes, forests, and open country, its commercial centers, and its French culture.

Quebec was first settled in 1608 by the French. Today 80% of the province's population is French-speaking; it is the only such province in Canada. The demand for greater provincial autonomy has increased, and since the 1960s more political, economic, and social controls have passed from federal to provincial jurisdiction. Some Quebecers advocate complete independence from Canada, but the separatist movement was dealt a blow by the defeat of a proposal for sovereignty in a 1980 referendum. Quebec nevertheless remains a major focus of the Canadian debate on federal-provincial relations. In the 1990s those promoting sovereignty (the separatists) gained new strength as Canada remained unable to resolve its constitutional conflict. In 1995 a second Quebec referendum for sovereignty was only narrowly voted down.

LAND AND RESOURCES

More than 80% of the entire province is made up of the Canadian Shield, a vast, lake-studded plateau extending from the far north to the Laurentian Mountains in the south and sloping westward to Hudson Bay. Deep valleys dissect the plateau edge. An extension of the Appalachian Mountains, including the Shickshock Mountains, reaches from the east coast of the United States to the Gasp} Peninsula of southeastern Quebec. In a fault zone between the Canadian Shield and the Appalachians lie the St. Lawrence lowlands formed by the St. Lawrence River. Near Montreal this lowland region is punctuated by the Monteregians, a line of isolated hills.

Soils

In the warmer southern part of the shield, podzol soils have developed, whereas in the colder north immature tundra soils are underlain by permanently frozen ground called permafrost. Bog soils are extensive around James Bay. The Appalachians have shallow, brown podzols, and the St. Lawrence lowlands have gray brown podzols, the best agricultural soils in the province.

Climate

Temperatures range from a January average of ç9¡ C (16¡ F) at Montreal to ç25¡ C (ç13¡ F) at Inoucdjouac (formerly Port Harrison) in the Arctic zone. July temperatures average 22¡ C (71¡ F) at Montreal and 11¡ C (52¡ F) at Port Hamson. Precipitation ranges from an annual average of about 1,000 mm (40 in) at Montreal to 356 mm (14 in) in the Arctic; at least one-third of the precipitation is snow.

Rivers and Lakes

Quebec contains approximately 183,890 Ü (71,000 æ) of fresh water. Of the two major drainage systems one flows eastward to the Atlantic by way of the St. Lawrence River, and another drains north and westward to Hudson Bay and James Bay. The major lakes include Mistassini, Gouin Reservoir, Manicouagan Reservoir, Eau Claire, Bienville, and Saint Jean.

Vegetation and Animal Life

Low shrubs and lichens dominate the tundra in the north. The subarctic climate of the central and southern shield supports coniferous forests. Hardwoods predominate in the St. Lawrence lowlands. A mixture of hardwoods and fir, spruce, and pine cover the Appalachians. Wildlife is varied: polar bear, seal, arctic fox, and hare in the far north; wolf, black bear, caribou, deer, and moose in the coniferous forests. Partridge, ducks, and geese and trout, pike, pickerel, bass, and salmon attract sports enthusiasts.

Resources

Mineral resources form the basis of much of Quebec's economy: iron ore, gold, copper, and zinc from the Canadian Shield; asbestos and copper from the Appalachians; and limestone from the Montreal plain. Quebec imports all of its petroleum, gas, and coal, but many of its rivers have been harnessed for water power. Productive forests cover about 40% of Quebec. Increased public awareness of environmental problems has led to legislation to further regulate mining and forest exploitation and to reduce water and air pollution.

PEOPLE

The population of Quebec is distributed unevenly. Although much of the total area is unsettled, nearly 80% of the population are urban, and most are concentrated in the southwest. Approximately 47% live in the Montreal census metropolitan area. Other major cities are Laval, Trois-Rivires, Quebec City, Chicoutimi, and Sherbrooke. About 58,640 (1996) registered Indians and Eskimo (Inuit) live in scattered fishing and hunting villages. Quebec's population increased by 3.5% during 1991Ð96. The birthrate, once Canada's highest, has dropped to among the lowest, about 12.2 per 1,000 (1994Ð95). In 1994 half of Quebec's population was over 35 years of age, the oldest provincial population in Canada. The population is 82% French-speaking and 11% English-speaking. Roman Catholics are 86% of the population; 6% are Protestant, 1.4% are Jewish, 1.3% are Eastern Orthodox, and 1.5% practice other religions.

Education and Cultural Activity

Education was originally the responsibility of the Roman Catholic church. After the British conquest (1759) and Confederation (1867), two parallel but independent systems of education evolved: French Catholic and English Protestant, reflecting the dual nature of the population. The Ministry of Education was established (1964) to provide more uniform standards for the whole province. The province's seven universities include McGill University (English language), Laval University, the University of Quebec, and the University of Montreal (all French language).

The many small regional museums, art and music centers, and performing groups play as important a cultural role as those in the major cities. The latter include the Montreal and Quebec symphony orchestras; the Montreal opera; the Museum of Fine Arts, the Place des Arts (4-theater complex), and the National Library, all in Montreal; and in or near Quebec City, the Museum of Quebec and National Archives of Quebec (in nearby Sainte-Foy). The province has a number of theatrical and dance groups and a major film agency for creative documentary and feature films. Montreal has become renowned for its summer jazz and for its film festivals.

Historic Sites and Recreation

Among the preserved historic sites in Quebec City are the Plains of Abraham battlefield, where the English under James Wolfe defeated the French under the marquis de Montcalm; the fortified French city; and several Catholic churches, including Notre Dame (1688), and seminaries. In the Montreal area are the Saint Sulpice Seminary; the old Lachine canals; Notre Dame Basilica (begun 1824); and restored fur-trading posts.

Federal and provincial parks offer year-round outdoor recreational opportunities and attract several million visitors annually. Quebec City's winter carnival (in February before the Lenten season) and Montreal's Expo '67 World's Fair site are popular attractions. Professional hockey and baseball teams from Montreal compete in North American leagues.

Communications

Numerous radio and television stations broadcast in Quebec, the majority of them in French. Montreal has English- and French-language daily newspapers. Le Journal de Montreal has the largest daily circulation in the province. Quebec City's major daily newspapers are in the French language.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

Fur trading and fishing were early economic endeavors in Quebec, and by 1860, the province also had a developing manufacturing sector. Mining began to develop in the early 20th century. Today, the services sector contributes the greatest part of Quebec's gross domestic product.

Forestry and Mining

Forest productsÑwood pulp, paper (especially newsprint), lumber, and plywoodÑare economically important. Quebec leads all other provinces in pulp and paper production, providing about half of Canada's output.

Beginning in the 1960s, Quebec's greatest source of mining income has come from iron-ore and asbestos production. Because of a decline in world demand, however, production has been reduced, and some major mines have closed. Asbestos production has declined because it has been determined to be a health hazard. However, exports that once went to the United States now go to Japan and Third World countries. In 1995, the leading minerals in terms of value were iron ore, gold, copper, and zinc. Nonmetallic minerals besides asbestos were titanium-dioxide, stone, sand and gravel, cement, limestone, dolomite and brucite, quartz, and pyrite.

Manufacturing and Energy

Quebec ranks second among Canadian provinces with about 25% (in value) of manufacturing shipments. The province's mineral wealth is the basis for much smelting and refining and for manufacturing of automobiles, aircraft, and machinery. Aircraft design and production and the aerospace sector are developing rapidly. Food and beverages processing is the leading industry in Quebec. Industries based on timber and pulp are also of major importance, with most pulp and paper mills located in the cities of the St. Maurice River Valley and along the north shore of the lower St. Lawrence River. Primary metals, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, telecommunications equipment, electronic components, printed material, and petroleum products are also valuable. Textiles and clothing remain important but have suffered because of the 1988 free trade agreement with the United States and other foreign competition.

Major energy sources in Quebec are petroleum, coal, natural gas, and hydropower. The province is a leading producer of hydroelectric power in North America, and because of its abundant water resources, the hydropower produced in Quebec is cheaper than in most other regions of the continent. Since 1963, Quebec's hydroelectric plants have been under the control of the provincial government. Major hydroelectric plants are located near James Bay and on the Bersimis, La Grande, Manicouagan, Outardes, St. Lawrence, and St. Maurice rivers. Plans for additional development in the James-Bay and Hudson-Bay watersheds and their likely impacts upon the native peoples and the environment have given rise to much controversy. Quebec also has nuclear power resources.

Agriculture and Fishing

Dairy farming is Quebec's predominant agricultural activity. Principal field crops are fodder, corn, mixed grains, barley, oats, tobacco, and wheat. Potatoes are the major vegetable grown in Quebec, and apples are the province's most important fruit. Quebec is also the world's foremost producer of maple sugar and syrup.

The Gulf of St. Lawrence and the estuary of the St. Lawrence River are the centers of the fishing industry. Cod, snow crab, and perch provide about 75% of the fish catch.

Tourism and Transportation

Because of the beauty of the natural landscape and the unique French history and culture, Quebec has a thriving tourist industry, supported by thousands of kilometers of roads and operating rail tracks. Main routes connect Ontario, Quebec City, New Brunswick, and New York. Montreal, one of the hubs of the Canadian and U.S. transportation network, has two international airports and serves as an ocean and inland port.

GOVERNMENT

Constitutional government is based on the British North America Act (1867), which at Confederation in 1867 divided powers between the federal and provincial governments. Quebec retained, as well, many of the administrative and civil judiciary traditions of the old French regime. The province exercises more control and seeks more autonomy than most other provinces over many socioeconomic and cultural affairs. The parliamentary system provides, by universal suffrage from age 18, an elected provincial assembly consisting of 125 members. A federally appointed lieutenant governor has no real powers; most power rests with the premier, the leader of the majority provincial party. The Court of Appeals is Quebec's highest court. It and the Superior Court are made up of federally appointed judges.

HISTORY

The territory around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the lands drained by the St. Lawrence River were claimed by Jacques Cartier for France after his expeditions in 1534 to the Gasp} Peninsula and in 1535 to present-day Montreal. He encountered native Algonquian peoples and Eskimo. European settlement followed with the establishment of the first habitation in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain at Quebec City. The colony of New France grew slowly. Encouraged by King Louis XIV of France, and welcomed by such administrators as Jean Talon and the comte de Frontenac (governor from 1672 to 1682), more than 10,000 immigrants arrived in the 150 years of the French regime, 7,000 of whom stayed. They cleared the land, established schools, churches, and industries, explored westward, and extended the fur trade. A modified feudal system developed for the colony's administration in which the Roman Catholic church played a major role.

By about 1750 the population, aided by a high birthrate, had reached 65,000. British-French rivalries in Europe led to conflicts over hegemony in America, resulting in the French and Indian Wars. In 1759 the British general James Wolfe captured Quebec City, ending the hostilities. In the 1763 Treaty of Paris (see Paris, treaties of) France ceded all of New France to Britain.

Contact with and further immigration from France ceased. New colonists arrived from Britain, and, after the American Declaration of Independence in 1776, Loyalists from America arrived and settled in the foothills of the Laurentians and the Appalachians, in the Maritimes, and in the area of Upper Canada (now Ontario), created in 1791 when the old Province of Quebec (1763Ð91) was divided into Lower Canada and Upper Canada. Through the Quebec Act of 1774, the Constitutional Act of 1791, and the British North America Act of 1867 (when Quebec joined Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick to form the Confederation of Canada), the French-speaking inhabitants were allowed to retain their language and religious and civil administrative systems.

The French remained dominant in agriculture, and they continued to outnumber English-speakers. In the early 1800s the English-speaking inhabitants had begun to develop lumber, paper, mining, textile, and other industries and to establish commercial, financial, and trading companies, many centered in Montreal, which grew rapidly. Thus the English controlled the economic structures of the province, although the French, who formed 80% of the population, dominated the political scene. French Quebecers resented their position, and Louis Papineau led (1837) an unsuccessful revolt (see Rebellions of 1837).

Industrialization and urbanization, accelerated by World War I, continued, and by 1921, 56% of Quebec's population lived in urban areas. As Canada expanded westward and northward, and as world economic structures and trading patterns evolved, more of the economic control of Quebec passed out of the province to Ontario, Great Britain, and the United States, especially that over the mineral and forest resources.

Provincial rights and autonomy became stronger political objectives. World War II hastened the modernization process and the questioning of traditional patterns, including the role of the church in society and government. Successive Quebec governments enacted legislation to achieve greater provincial control of socioeconomic policies. Most sought to do this within the existing Canadian Confederation, but they encountered rising sentiment in favor of complete independence. In 1976 the separatist Parti Qu}b}cois, led by Ren} L}vesque, was elected. In 1980, Quebec voters defeated a referendum proposal that would have mandated federal-provincial negotiations of terms of sovereignty. L}vesque resigned as party leader and premier in 1985, and his party later lost the provincial election to the Liberals. In 1988 a law specifying French-only for outdoor signs was passed after Canada's Supreme Court had struck down earlier similar legislation.

After various unsuccessful efforts to resolve federal-provincial differences that stopped Quebec from signing the 1982 Constitution Act, a strong independence movement emerged again. In 1992, Quebec and other provinces rejected (and thus killed) another constitutional unity plan. In the 1993 federal election the separatist Bloc Qu}b}cois became the official opposition in parliament. In 1994, Parti Qu}b}cois, led by Jacques Parizeau, won the provincial election. Another referendum on Quebec sovereignty occurred on Oct. 30, 1995. By a bare majority Quebecers voted to remain part of Canada. Parizeau resigned the next day. On Jan. 29, 1996, Lucien Bouchard became premier. The former leader of Bloc Qu}b}cois, Bouchard had moved unopposed into the office, becoming leader of Parti Qu}b}cois three days prior to assuming the premiership. In September of that year, Canada's federal government asked the Supreme Court for an advisory opinion regarding Quebec's separation from Canada. The court in an August 1998 opinion indicated that a vote in Quebec was not sufficient to allow the province legally to secede from Canada. Instead, secession would have to be negotiated with the rest of Canada and processed as though it were an amendment to the Constitution. In the November 1998 provincial election, Parti Qu}b}cois retained a majority of seats in the provincial legislature, and Bouchard remained premier, although the percentage of the vote fell short of what separatists had said they needed to call another referendum on Quebec independence. Of the popular vote, Parti Qu}b}cois received only 43% while the Liberal Party won 44%.

R. Norman Drummond

Reviewed by Theo Hills

Facts about Quebec

LAND

Area: 1,540,680 Ü (594,860 æ); rank: 1st.

Capital: Quebec (1996 pop., 167,264).

Largest city: Montreal (1996 pop., 1,016,376).

Municipalities: 1,599.

Elevations: highestÑ1,652 m (5,420 ft), at Mont D'Iberville; lowestÑsea level, along the Atlantic coast.

PEOPLE

Population (1996): 7,138,795; rank: 2d; density: 5.3 persons per Ü (13.6 per æ).

Distribution (1996): 78.4% urban, 21.6% rural.

Average annual change (1991Ð96): 0.7%.

EDUCATION

Enrollment: elementary and secondary (1995Ð96 est.)Ñ1,039,330; higher (1994Ð95)Ñ433,035.

Institutions of higher education (1994Ð95): 98.

ECONOMY (monetary figures in Canadian dollars)

Total personal income (1995): $156.98 billion; rank: 2d.

Median family income (1994): $43,350.

Labor force distribution (1995): agricultureÑ68,000 persons; other primary industriesÑ44,000; manufacturingÑ593,000; constructionÑ144,000; transportation, communication, and other utilitiesÑ240,000; tradeÑ555,000; finance, insurance, and real estateÑ186,000; servicesÑ1,171,000; public administrationÑ203,000.

Agriculture: farm cash receipts (1996)Ñ$4.6 billion.

Fishing: value (1996)Ñ$122.7 million.

Forestry: lumber production (1993)Ñ5.3 billion board feet.

Mineral production (metal mines only): value (1995)Ñ$2.16 billion.

Manufacturing: value added (1993)Ñ$32.77 billion.

GOVERNMENT (1999)

Lieutenant Governor: Lise Thibault.

Premier: Lucien Bouchard, Parti Qu}b}cois.

Parliament: SenateÑ24 members; House of CommonsÑ26 Liberals; 5 Progressive Conservatives; 44 Bloc Qu}b}cois.

Provincial legislature: 125 members.

Admitted to Confederation: July 1, 1867, one of four original provinces.