Canada is composed of ten provinces and three territories. The provinces are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. The three territories are the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon. The provinces have a large degree of autonomy from the federal government, the territories somewhat less. Each has its own provincial or territorial symbols.

Province	Flower	Bird	Animal	Tree	Mineral	Motto	Other
British Columbia	Pacific dogwood	Steller's Jay	Spirit bear	Western Redcedar	Jade	Splendor sine occasu	[1]
Alberta	Wild rose	Great Horned Owl	Big Horn Sheep	Lodgepole Pine	Ammolite	Fortis et liber	[2]
Saskatchewan	Western red lily	Sharp-tailed Grouse	White-tailed Deer	Paper Birch	Potash	Multis e gentibus vires	[3]
Manitoba	Prairie crocus	Great Grey Owl	Bison	White Spruce	-	Gloriosus et liber	[4]
Ontario	White trillium	Common Loon	-	Eastern White Pine	Amethyst	Ut incepit fidelis sic permanet	[5]
Quebec	Blue flag iris	Snowy Owl	-	Yellow Birch	-	Je me souviens	[6][7] Provincial symbol: Fleur-de-lis
New Brunswick	Purple Violet	Black-capped Chickadee	-	Balsam Fir	-	Spem reduxit	[8]
Prince Edward Island	Lady's Slipper	Blue Jay	-	Red Oak	Charlottetown soil	Parva sub ingenti	[9]
Nova Scotia	Mayflower	Osprey	Duck-Tolling Retriever	Red Spruce	Agate	Munit haec et altera vincit	[10]
Newfoundland and Labrador	Purple pitcher plant	Atlantic Puffin	Caribou	Black Spruce	Labradorite	Quaerite primum regnum dei	[11] Anthem: Ode to Newfoundland

[edit] Territories

Province	Flower	Bird	Animal	Tree	Mineral	Motto	Other
Yukon	Fireweed	Common Raven	-	Subalpine Fir	Lazulite	-	[12]
Northwest Territories	Mountain avens	Gyr falcon	Arctic grayling	Tamarack Larch	Diamond	-	[13]Provincial symbol: Polar Bear
Nunavut	Purple Saxifrage	Rock Ptarmigan	Canadian Eskimo Dog	-	-	Nunavut Sanginivut	[14]Provincial symbol: Inukshuk

The provinces are responsible for most of Canada's social programs (such as health care, education, and welfare) and together collect more revenue than the federal government, an almost unique structure among federations in the world. Using its spending powers, the federal government can initiate national policies in provincial areas, such as the Canada Health Act; the provinces can opt out of these, but rarely do so in practice. Equalization payments are made by the federal government to ensure that reasonably uniform standards of services and taxation are kept between the richer and poorer provinces.

All provinces have unicameral, elected legislatures headed by a Premier selected in the same way as the Prime Minister of Canada. Each province also has a Lieutenant-Governor representing the Queen, analogous to the Governor General of Canada, appointed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Canada, though with increasing levels of consultation with provincial governments in recent years.

Geography and Climate

Canada occupies most of the northern portion of North America. It shares land borders with the contiguous United States to the south and with the US state of Alaska to the northwest, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west; to the north lies the Arctic Ocean. Since 1925, Canada has claimed the portion of the Arctic between 60°W and 141°W longitude;^[26] this claim is not universally recognized. The northernmost settlement in Canada (and in the world) is Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island—latitude 82.5°N—just 817 kilometres (450 nautical miles) from the North Pole.^[27] Canada is the world's second-largest country in total area, after Russia.

The population density of 3.5 people per square kilometre (9.1/mi²) is among the lowest in the world.^[28] The most densely populated part of the country is the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor along the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River in the southeast.^[29] To the north of this region is the broad Canadian Shield, an area of rock scoured clean by the last ice age, thinly soiled, rich in minerals, and dotted with lakes and rivers—Canada by far has more lakes than any other country in the world and has a large amount of the world's freshwater.^[30][31]

In eastern Canada, the Saint Lawrence River widens into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the world's largest estuary; the island of Newfoundland lies at its mouth. South of the Gulf, the Canadian Maritimes protrude eastward from the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are divided by the Bay of Fundy, which experiences the world's largest tidal variations. Ontario and Hudson Bay dominate central Canada. West of Ontario, the broad, flat Canadian Prairies spread toward the Rocky Mountains, which separate them from British Columbia.

Northern Canadian vegetation tapers from coniferous forests to tundra and finally to Arctic barrens in the far north. The northern Canadian mainland is ringed with a vast archipelago containing some of the world's largest islands.

Average winter and summer high temperatures across Canada vary depending on the location. Winters can be harsh in many regions of the country, particularly in the Prairie provinces, where daily average temperatures are near −15°C (5°F), but can drop below -40°C (-40°F) with severe wind chills.^[33] Coastal British Columbia is an exception and enjoys a temperate climate with a mild and rainy winter.

On the east and west coast average high temperatures are generally in the low 20°C (68 to 74°F), while between the coasts the average summer high temperature range between 25°C to 30°C (78 to 86°F) with occasional extreme heat in some interior locations exceeding 40°C (104°F).^[34][35] For a more complete description of climate across Canada see Environment Canada's Website.^[36]