Province (Canada)
Canada consists of ten provinces and three territories. The major difference between a Canadian province and a Canadian territory is that a province is a creation of the Constitution Act, while a territory is created by federal law. Thus, the federal government has more direct control over the territories, while provincial governments have many more competences and rights.
Provinces have a great deal of power relative to the federal government, having a large measure of control over spending on social programs such as medicare, education, employment insurance, and the like. They receive "transfer payments" from the federal government to pay for these, as well as exacting their own taxes.
Provincial legislatures are unicameral, having no second chamber equivalent to the Canadian Senate. Originally several provinces did have such bodies, known as Legislative Councils, but these were subsequently abolished, Quebec being the last in 1968. They operate on a procedure similar to that of the Canadian House of Commons. In most offices, the provincial legislature is known as the Legislative Assembly, except in Newfoundland and Labrador where it is called the House of Assembly, and in Quebec where it is called the National Assembly. Members of the Legislative Assembly in Ontario are called Members of the Provincial Parliament or MPPs. The head of government of each province, called the premier, is the head of the party with the most seats. This is also the case in Yukon. The legislatures of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have no parties. The Queen's representative to each province is the Lieutenant-Governor. Each of the Canadian Northern Territories has a Commissioner in the place of a Lieutenant-Governor. These terminologies are summarized in the following table:
Provincial and Territorial Terminology Compared with
Federal
| Canada |
Governor general |
Prime minister |
Parliament |
House of Commons |
Member of Parliament |
| Ontario |
Lieutenant governor |
Premier |
Legislature |
Legislative Assembly |
Member of Provincial Parliament |
| Quebec |
National Assembly |
Member of the National Assembly |
| Newfoundland and Labrador |
House of Assembly |
Member of the House of Assembly |
| Other Provinces |
Legislative Assembly |
Member of the Legislative Assembly |
| Territories |
Commissioner |
Provinces, their capitals, and the date that they joined Confederation:
Territories, their capitals, and the date that they joined Confederation:
Note: Canada did not acquire any new land to create Manitoba, Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, or Nunavut. All of these originally formed part of the Northwest Territories (q.v.).
British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island were seperate colonies before joining Canada. Ontario and Quebec were united before Confederation as the Province of Canada.
The Northwest Territories was created in 1870, from Ruperts Land and the North-Western Territory. The land of the Northwest Territories at the time is, today; all of western Canada except British Columbia, the northern three quarters of Ontario and Quebec, and half of Labrador.
See also
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