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UFC
News MMA
UFC
113 BetUS
News
UFC
113 will be quickly upon us this weekend May 8th,
2010. I thought Id send out a quick reminder
and an highlight some of the matches. Im
not sure about you, but I seem to have to constantly
reminded of these dates or these events will just
pass me by. Anyways, the last event for WEC 48
was really cool and featured some great bouts.
I hope UFC 113 will do the same.
The big fight of the night is the re-match Machida
vs. Rua for the Light Heavyweight Championship
belt. I see things going a little better this
time around for Machida. Last fight he got beat
up a bit but retained the belt on a split decision.
This time he knows hell have to be the aggressor
and Rua will get caught with his chin out. My
pick Machida KO 3rd round.
The fight between Koscheck vs. Daley should be
fight of the night and all stand up. Koscheck
the more experienced and superior wrestler has
indicated hell stand and bang with Daley.
The brash, cocky Daley has secured a staggering
78% of his 23 wins by knockout. "If he wants
to stand-up, that's easy", says Daley. "If
you're gonna stand up with me, you're gonna get
knocked out--I've said it time and time again."
These guys dont like each other now and
Koscheck is going to hate him later after he gets
KOd. My pick Daley KO 2rd round.
Another potential KO bout is the Kimbo vs Mitrione.
Kimbo should be vastly improved skill wise from
his showing against Houston Alexander over 6 months
ago. Hes got the right work ethic and training
now and should be a force at this weight class.
Mitrione was one of the better athletes on the
TUF 10 season and should be as he did play in
the NFL. He only got one of two fights under him
so I dont give him much of a chance. My
pick Kimbo KO 2rd round.
One last bout which could also vie for fight of
the night is the Stout vs. Stephens one. Stout
is one of the fiercest brawlers in the UFC and
among all the Canadian fighters on this card hes
the one with the most skill. Stout made his pro
debut at the age of 19 and has since racked up
a slew of victories.
Stout will surely be a crowd favorite as he defends
his home turf against human pitbull Jeremy "Lil'
Heathen" Stevens at UFC 113 in Montreal.
If both fighters' past performances are any indication,
then this fight could be worth the price of admission
all by itself!
UFC 113 match-ups
Main Card
Light Heavyweight Championship bout: Lyoto Machida
vs. Mauricio Rua
Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley
Lightweight bout: Sam Stout vs. Jeremy Stephens
Heavyweight bout: Kimbo Slice vs. Matt Mitrione
Middleweight bout: Patrick Côté vs.
Alan Belcher
Preliminary Card
Middleweight bout: Joe Doerksen vs. Tom Lawlor
Welterweight bout: Marcus Davis vs. Jonathan Goulet
Welterweight bout: TJ Grant vs. Johny Hendricks
Heavyweight bout: Tim Hague vs. Joey Beltran
Welterweight bout: Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Mike
Guymon
Middleweight bout: Jason MacDonald vs. John Salter

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Canada
is the world's second-largest country by total
area, occupying most of northern North America.
Extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific
Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, Canada
shares land borders with the United States to
the northwest and south.
Inhabited
first by aboriginal peoples, Canada was founded as
a union of British colonies (some of which were formerly
French colonies). Canada gained independence from
the United Kingdom in an incremental process that
began in 1867 and ended in 1982; it remains a Commonwealth
Realm.
Canada
is a federal constitutional monarchy with parliamentary
democracy. Comprising ten provinces and three territories,
Canada is a bilingual and multicultural country, with
both English and French as official languages at the
federal level. A technologically advanced and industrialized
nation, Canada maintains a diversified economy that
is heavily reliant upon its abundant natural resources
and upon trade particularly with the United
States, with which Canada has had a long and complex
relationship.
Origin
and history of the name
Canada's name
The name Canada comes from a word in the language
of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, canada, meaning
"village" or "settlement".
In 1535, inhabitants of the present-day Quebec
City region used the word to direct Jacques Cartier
towards the village of Stadacona. Cartier used
the word 'Canada' to refer to not only that village,
but the entire area subject to Donnacona, Chief
at Stadacona. By 1547, maps began referring to
this and the surrounding area as Canada.
The
French colony of Canada referred to the part of New
France along the Saint Lawrence River and the northern
shores of the Great Lakes. Later, it was split into
two British colonies, called Upper Canada and Lower
Canada until their union as the British Province of
Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, the name
Canada was officially adopted for the new dominion,
which was referred to as the Dominion of Canada until
the 1950s. As Canada increasingly acquired political
authority and autonomy from Britain, the federal government
increasingly simply used Canada on state documents
and treaties. The Canada Act 1982 refers only to "Canada"
and, as such, it is currently the only legal (and
bilingual) name. This was reflected again in 1982
with the renaming of the national holiday from Dominion
Day to Canada Day.
History
Main articles: History of Canada and Timeline of Canadian
history
Aboriginal tradition holds that the First Peoples
inhabited parts of Canada since the dawn of time.
Archaeological studies support a human presence in
northern Yukon to 26,500 years ago, and in southern
Ontario to 9,500 years ago. Europeans first arrived
when the Vikings settled briefly at L'Anse aux Meadows
circa AD 1000.
Map
of New France showing location of First Nations -
1702The next Europeans to explore Canada's Atlantic
coast included John Cabot in 1497 for England and
Jacques Cartier in 1534 for France. French explorer
Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1603 and established
the first permanent European settlements at Port Royal
in 1605 and Quebec City in 1608. Among French colonists
of New France, Canadiens extensively settled the St.
Lawrence River valley, Acadians settled the present-day
Maritimes, while French fur traders and Catholic missionaries
explored the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay and the Mississippi
watershed to Louisiana. The French and Iroquois Wars
broke out over control of the fur trade.
The
English established fishing outposts in Newfoundland
around 1610 and colonized the Thirteen Colonies to
the south. A series of four Intercolonial Wars erupted
between 1689 and 1763. Mainland Nova Scotia came under
British rule with the Treaty of Utrecht (1713); the
Treaty of Paris (1763) ceded all of New France to
Britain following the Seven Years' War.
The
Death of General Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham at
Quebec in 1759.The Royal Proclamation (1763) carved
the Province of Quebec out of New France and annexed
Cape Breton Island to Nova Scotia. It also restricted
the language and religious rights of French Canadians.
In 1769, St. John's Island (now Prince Edward Island)
became a separate colony. To avert conflict in Quebec,
the Quebec Act of 1774 expanded Quebec's territory
to the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, and re-established
the French language, Catholic faith, and French civil
law in Quebec; it angered many residents of the Thirteen
Colonies, helping to fuel the American Revolution.
The Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized American independence
and ceded territories south of the Great Lakes to
the Unites States. Approximately 50,000 United Empire
Loyalists moved from the United States to Canada.
New Brunswick was carved out of Nova Scotia to recognize
their settlements in the Maritimes. To accommodate
the English-speaking Loyalists in Quebec, the province
was divided into French-speaking Lower Canada and
English-speaking Upper Canada under the Constitutional
Act in 1791, and granted each their own elected Legislative
Assembly.
The
Canadas 1791, upper (orange) and lower (green)Canada
was a major front in the War of 1812 between the United
States and British Empire. Its successful defence
contributed to a sense of unity among British North
Americans. Large-scale immigration to Canada began
in 1815 from Britain and Ireland. The timber industry
would also surpass the fur trade in importance in
the early 1800's.
The
desire for Responsible Government in the Canadas resulted
in the aborted Rebellions of 1837. As a result, The
Durham Report(1839) recommended responsible government
and the assimilation of French Canadians into British
culture. The Act of Union (1840) merged The Canadas
into a the United Province of Canada. French and English
Canadians would work together in the Assembly to reinstate
French rights and later establish responsible government
in 1849, as would all British North American colonies.
The
signing of the Oregon Treaty by Britain and the United
States in 1846 ended the Oregon boundary dispute,
extending the border westward along the 49th parallel,
and paving the way for British colonies on Vancouver
Island (1849) and in British Columbia (1858). Canada
launched a series of western exploratory expeditions
to claim Rupert's Land and the Arctic region. The
Canadian population grew rapidly because of high birth
rates; British immigration was offset by emigration
to the United States, especially by French Canadians
moving to New England.
Confederation
Evolution
of the borders and names of Canada's provinces
and territories. Following several constitutional
conferences, the British North America Act brought
about Confederation creating "one dominion
under the name of Canada" with four provinces:
Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.
As Canada assumed control of Rupert's Land and
the North-Western Territory to form the Northwest
Territories, Métis grievances ignited the
Red River Rebellion and the creation of the province
of Manitoba in July 1870. British Columbia and
Vancouver Island (which had united in 1866) and
the colony of Prince Edward Island joined Confederation
in 1871 and 1873, respectively. Prime Minister
John A. MacDonald's Conservative Party established
a National Policy of tarrifs to protect nascent
Canadian manufacturing industries. To open the
West, the government sponsored construction of
three trans-continental railways (most notably
the Canadian Pacific Railway), opened the prairies
to settlement with the Dominion Lands Act, and
established the North West Mounted Police to assert
it's authority over this territory. Under Liberal
Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, continental European
immigrants settled the prairies, and Alberta and
Saskatchewan became provinces in 1905.
Canadian
soldiers advance behind a tank at the Battle of Vimy
Ridge in 1917.Canada automatically entered the First
World War in 1914 with Britain's declaration of war,
sending volunteers to the Western Front to fight as
a national contingent. Casualties were so high that
Prime Minister Robert Borden was forced to bring in
conscription in 1917; this move was extremely unpopular
in Quebec, resulting in his Conservative party losing
support in that province. Although the Liberals were
deeply divided over conscription, they became the
dominant political party.
In
1919, Canada joined the League of Nations in its own
right, and in 1931 the Statute of Westminster confirmed
Canada's independence from Britain. At the same time,
the worldwide Great Depression of 1929 affected Canadians
of every class; the rise of the Co-operative Commonwealth
Federation (CCF) in Alberta and Saskatchewan presaged
a welfare state as pioneered by Tommy Douglas in the
1940s and 1950s. After supporting appeasement of Germany
in the late 1930s, Liberal Prime Minister William
Lyon Mackenzie King secured Parliaments approval
for entry into the Second World War in September 1939,
after Germany invaded Poland. The first Canadian Army
units arrived in Britain in December 1939. The economy
boomed during the war mainly due to the amount of
military materiel being produced for Canada, Britain,
China and the Soviet Union. Canada finished the war
with one of the largest militaries in the world. In
1949, the formerly independent Dominion of Newfoundland
joined the Confederation as Canada's 10th province.
By
Canada's centennial in 1967, heavy post-war immigration
from various war-ravaged European countries had
changed the country's demographics. Increased
immigration, combined with the baby boom, an economic
strength paralleling that of the 1960s United
States, and reaction to the Quiet Revolution in
Quebec, initiated a new type of Canadian nationalism
based on bilingualism and multiculturalism. During
the Vietnam War, thousands of American draft dodgers
and politically-motivated migrants fled to and
settled in various parts of Canada, shifting the
political centre in Canada slightly to the left.
After
Quebec underwent profound social and economic
changes during the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s,
some Québécois began pressing for
greater provincial autonomy, or partial or complete
independence from Canada. Alienation between English-speaking
Canadians and the Québécois over
the language, cultural and social divide had been
exacerbated by many events, including the Conscription
Crisis of 1944. While a referendum on sovereignty-association
in 1980 was rejected by a solid majority of the
population, a second referendum in 1995 was rejected
by a margin of just 50.6% to 49.4%. In 1997, the
Canadian Supreme Court ruled unilateral secession
by a province to be unconstitutional; Quebec's
sovereignty movement has continued nonetheless.
At
a meeting of First Ministers in November 1981, Prime
minister Pierre Trudeau pushed through the patriation
of the constitution, adding an amending formula and
enshrining a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Only
the Quebec government did not agree to the changes.
On 17 April 1982, Canada formally patriated its Constitution
from Britain.
Economic
integration with the United States has increased
significantly since World War II. The Canada-United
States Free Trade Agreement of 1987 was a defining
moment in integrating the two countries. In recent
decades, Canadians have worried about their cultural
autonomy as American television shows, movies
and corporations became omnipresent. However,
Canadians take special pride in their system of
universal health care and their commitment to
multiculturalism.
Government
Government of Canada, Politics of Canada, and
Monarchy in Canada
Parliament Hill, Ottawa.Canada is a constitutional
monarchy with Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada as head
of state, and a parliamentary democracy with a federal
system of parliamentary government and strong democratic
traditions.
Canada's
constitution governs the legal framework of the country
and consists of written text and unwritten traditions
and conventions. The Constitution includes the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees basic
rights and freedoms for Canadians that, generally,
cannot be overridden by legislation of any level of
government in Canada. It contains, however, a "notwithstanding
clause", which allows the federal parliament
and the provincial legislatures the power to override
some other sections of the Charter temporarily, for
a period of five years.
The
position of Prime Minister, Canada's head of government,
belongs to the leader of the political party that
can obtain the confidence of a plurality in the House
of Commons. The Prime Minister and their Cabinet are
formally appointed by the Governor General (who is
the Monarch's representative in Canada). However,
the Prime Minister chooses the Cabinet, and by convention,
the Governor General respects the Prime Minister's
choices. The Cabinet is traditionally drawn from members
of the Prime Minister's party in both legislative
houses, and mostly from the House of Commons. Executive
power is exercised by the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
all of whom are sworn into the Queen's Privy Council
for Canada, and become Ministers of the Crown. The
Prime Minister exercises vast political power, especially
in the appointment of other officials within the government
and civil service. Michaëlle Jean has served
as Governor General since September 25, 2005, and
Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party,
has served as Prime Minister since February 6, 2006.
The
federal parliament is made up of the Queen and two
houses: an elected House of Commons and an appointed
Senate. Each member in the House of Commons is elected
by simple plurality in a "riding" or electoral
district; general elections are called by the Governor
General when the Prime Minister so advises. While
there is no minimum term for a Parliament, a new election
must be called within five years of the last general
election. Members of the Senate, whose seats are apportioned
on a regional basis, are chosen by the Prime Minister
and formally appointed by the Governor General, and
serve until age 75.
Canada's
four major political parties are the Conservative
Party of Canada, Liberal Party of Canada, New Democratic
Party (NDP), and the Bloc Québécois.
The current government is formed by the Conservative
Party of Canada. While the Green Party of Canada and
other smaller parties do not have current representation
in Parliament, the list of historical parties with
elected representation is substantial.
Law
Law of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa, west of Parliament
Hill.Canada's judiciary plays an important role in
interpreting laws and has the power to strike down
laws that violate the Constitution. The Supreme Court
of Canada is the highest court and final arbiter and
is led by the Right Honourable Madam Chief Justice
Beverley McLachlin, P.C. Its nine members are appointed
by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime
Minister. All judges at the superior and appellate
levels are appointed by the Governor General on the
advice of the prime minister and minister of justice,
after consultation with non-governmental legal bodies.
The federal cabinet appoints justices to superior
courts at the provincial and territorial levels. Judicial
posts at the lower provincial and territorial levels
are filled by their respective governments (see Court
system of Canada for more detail).
Common
law prevails everywhere except in Quebec, where civil
law predominates. Criminal law is solely a federal
responsibility and is uniform throughout Canada. Law
enforcement, including criminal courts, is a provincial
responsibility, but in rural areas of all provinces
but Ontario and Quebec policing is contracted to the
federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
Foreign relations and military
Foreign relations of Canada, Canadian Forces,
and Military history of Canada
The Peacekeeping Monument in Ottawa.Canada has a close
relationship with the United States, sharing the world's
longest undefended border, co-operating on some military
campaigns and exercises, and being each other's largest
trading partners. Canada also shares history and long
relationships with the United Kingdom and France,
the two former imperial powers most influential in
its founding. These relations extend to other former-members
of the British and French empires, through Canada's
membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and La Francophonie.
Canada
joined the Organization of American States (OAS) in
1990 and hosted the OAS General Assembly in Windsor
in June 2000, and the third Summit of the Americas
in Quebec City in April 2001. Canada seeks to expand
its ties to Pacific Rim economies through membership
in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC).
Over
the past sixty years, Canada has been an advocate
for multilateralism, making efforts to resolve
global issues in collaboration with other nations.
This was clearly demonstrated during the Suez
Crisis of 1956 when Lester B. Pearson eased tensions
by proposing peacekeeping efforts and the inception
of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force.[22]
In that spirit, Canada developed and has tried
to maintain a leading role in UN peacekeeping
efforts; Canada has served in 50 peacekeeping
missions, including every UN peacekeeping effort
until 1989. Canada's UN peacekeeping contributions
have diminished over the first years of the 21st
century. Although Canadian foreign policy is often
similar to that of the United States, Canada has
always maintained an independent foreign policy
in such areas as maintaining full diplomatic and
trade relations with Cuba.
Canadian
soldiers in Afghanistan.A founding member of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Canada currently
employs about 64,000 regular and 26,000 reserve military
personnel. The unified Canadian Forces (CF) comprise
the army, navy, and air force. Major CF equipment
deployed includes 1,400 armoured fighting vehicles,
34 combat vessels, and 861 aircraft.
In
addition to major participation in the Second Boer
War, the First World War, the Second World War, and
the Korean War, Canada has maintained forces in international
missions under the United Nations and NATO since 1950,
including peacekeeping missions, various missions
in the former Yugoslavia, and support to coalition
forces in the First Gulf War. Since 2001, Canada has
had troops deployed in Afghanistan as part of the
U.S. stabilization force and the UN-authorized, NATO-commanded
International Security Assistance Force. Canada's
Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) has participated
in three major relief efforts in the past two years;
the two-hundred member team has been deployed in relief
operations after the December 2004 tsunami in South
Asia, the Hurricane Katrina in September 2005 and
the Kashmir earthquake in October 2005.
Administrative divisions
Provinces and territories of Canada
A geopolitical map of Canada, exhibiting its ten provinces
and three territories.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.
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
Geography of Canada
A satellite composite image of Canada. Boreal forests
prevail throughout the country, ice is prominent in
the Arctic and through the Coast Mountains and Saint
Elias Mountains, and the relatively flat Prairies
facilitate agriculture. The Great Lakes feed the St.
Lawrence River (in the southeast) where lowlands host
much of Canada's population.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;
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 Islandlatitude 82.5°Njust
817 kilometres (450 nautical miles) from the North
Pole. 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. 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 riversCanada by far has more lakes than
any other country in the world and has a large amount
of the world's freshwater.
The
Horseshoe Falls in Ontario is the largest component
of Niagara Falls, one of the world's most voluminous
waterfalls, a major source of hydroelectric power,
and a tourist destination.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. 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). For a more complete
description of climate across Canada see Environment
Canada's Website.
Economy
Economy of Canada and Economic history of Canada
Five denominations of Canadian banknotes, depicting
(from top to bottom) Wilfrid Laurier, John A. Macdonald,
Queen Elizabeth II, William Lyon Mackenzie King, and
Robert Borden.Canada is one of the world's wealthiest
nations with a high per capita income, a member of
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) and Group of Eight (G8). Canada is a free market
economy with slightly more government intervention
than the United States, but much less than most European
nations. Canada has traditionally had a lower per
capita gross domestic product (GDP) than its southern
neighbour (whereas wealth has been more equally divided),
but higher than the large western European economies.For
the past decade, the Canadian economy has been growing
rapidly with low unemployment and large government
surpluses on the federal level. Today Canada closely
resembles the U.S. in its market-oriented economic
system, pattern of production, and high living standards.
While as of October 2006, Canada's national unemployment
rate of 6.3% is among its lowest in 30 years, provincial
unemployment rates vary from a low of 3.6% in Alberta
to a high of 14.6% in Newfoundland and Labrador.
In
the past century, the growth of the manufacturing,
mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation
from a largely rural economy into one primarily industrial
and urban. As with other first world nations, the
Canadian economy is dominated by the service industry,
which employs about three quarters of Canadians. However,
Canada is unusual among developed countries in the
importance of the primary sector, with the logging
and oil industries being two of Canada's most important.
Canada
is one of the few developed nations that is a net
exporter of energy. Canada has vast deposits of natural
gas on the east coast and large oil and gas resources
centred in Alberta, and also present in neighbouring
British Columbia and Saskatchewan. The vast Athabasca
Tar Sands give Canada the world's second largest reserves
of oil behind Saudi Arabia. In Quebec, British Columbia,
Newfoundland & Labrador, Ontario and Manitoba,
hydroelectric power is a cheap and relatively environmentally
friendly source of abundant energy.
Canada
is one of the world's most important suppliers of
agricultural products, with the Canadian Prairies
one of the most important suppliers of wheat and other
grains. Canada is the world's largest producer of
zinc and uranium and a world leader in many other
natural resources such as gold, nickel, aluminum,
and lead; many, if not most, towns in the northern
part of the country, where agriculture is difficult,
exist because of a nearby mine or source of timber.
Canada also has a sizeable manufacturing sector, centred
in southern Ontario and Quebec, with the automobile
industry especially important.
Canada
is highly dependent on international trade, especially
trade with the United States. The 1989 Canada-U.S.
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and 1994 North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (which included Mexico)
touched off a dramatic increase in trade and economic
integration with the U.S. Since 2001, Canada has successfully
avoided economic recession and has maintained the
best overall economic performance in the G8. Since
the mid 1990s, Canada's federal government has posted
annual budgetary surpluses and has steadily paid down
the national debt.
Demographics
Demographics of Canada, List of cities in Canada,
List of Canadians by ethnicity, and Immigration
to Canada
13.4% of the Canadian population are visible minorities.
A graph showing the biggest ethnic groups present
in Canada.The 2001 national census recorded 30,007,094
people; the population was estimated by Statistics
Canada to be 32.623 million people on July 1, 2006.
Population growth is largely accomplished through
immigration and, to a lesser extent, natural growth.
About three-quarters of Canada's population live within
160 kilometres (100 mi) of the U.S. border.[48] A
similar proportion live in urban areas concentrated
in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor (notably the Golden
Horseshoe - South Central Ontario, Montreal, and Ottawa
metropolitan areas, the BC Lower Mainland (Vancouver
and environs), and the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor in
Alberta.
Canada
is an ethnically diverse nation. According to the
2001 census, it has 34 ethnic groups with at least
one hundred thousand members each. The largest ethnic
group is "Canadian" (39.4%), followed by
English (20.2%), French (15.8%), Scottish (14.0%),
Irish (12.9%), German (9.3%), Italian (4.3%), Chinese
(3.7%), Ukrainian (3.6%) and First Nations (3.4%).[50]
Canada's aboriginal population is growing almost twice
as fast as the rest of the Canadian population. In
2001, 13.4% of the population belonged to visible
minorities. According to the federal government, Canada
has the highest per capita immigration rate in the
world, driven by economic, family reunification, and
humanitarian reasons. Immigrants are particularly
attracted to the major urban areas of Toronto, Vancouver
and Montreal.
Top
religious denominations in Canada in 2001.Canadians
adhere to a wide variety of religions, as people in
Canada have the freedom of religion as one of their
rights. According to 2001 census, 77.1% of Canadians
identified as being Christians; of this, Catholics
make up the largest group (43.6% of Canadians). The
largest Protestant denomination is the United Church
of Canada; about 16.5% of Canadians declared no religious
affiliation, and the remaining 6.3% were affiliated
with religions other than Christianity, of which the
largest is Islam.
In
Canada, the provinces and territories are responsible
for education; thus Canada has no national department
of education. Each of the thirteen education systems
are similar while reflecting their own regional
history, culture and geography. The mandatory
school age varies across Canada but generally
ranges between the ages of 5-7 to 16-18, contributing
to an adult literacy rate that is 99%. Postsecondary
education is the responsibility of the provincial
and territorial governments that provide most
of their funding; the federal government provides
additional funding through research grants. In
2002, 43% of Canadians aged between 25 and 64
had post-secondary education; for those aged 25
to 34 the postsecondary attainment reaches 51%.
Language
Main articles: Language in Canada and Bilingualism
in Canada
The population of Montreal is mainly French-speaking,
with a significant English-speaking community.Canada's
two official languages, English and French, are the
mother tongues of 59.7% and 23.2% of the population,
respectively. On July 7, 1969, under the Official
Languages Act, French was made commensurate to English
throughout the federal government. This started a
process that led to Canada redefining itself as an
officially "bilingual" nation.
English
and French have equal status in federal courts, Parliament,
and in all federal institutions. The public has the
right, where there is sufficient demand, to receive
federal government services in either English or French.
While multiculturalism is official policy, to become
a citizen one must be able to speak either English
or French, and 98.5% of Canadians speak at least one
(English only: 67.5%, French only: 13.3%, both: 17.7%).
French
is mostly spoken in Quebec, but there are substantial
francophone populations elsewhere, mainly in the northern
parts of New Brunswick, eastern, northern and southwestern
Ontario, and southern Manitoba. Of those who speak
French as a first language, 85% live in Quebec. Ontario
has the largest French population outside Quebec.
French has been the only official language of Quebec
since 1974; New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual
province in the country. No provinces other than Quebec
and New Brunswick have constitutionally official language(s)
as such, but French is used as a language of instruction,
in courts, and other government services in all of
the majority English or Inuktitut speaking provinces
and territories. In Ontario, French has some legal
status but is not fully co-official. Several aboriginal
languages have official status in Northwest Territories.
Inuktitut is the majority language in Nunavut, and
one of three official languages in the territory.
Non-official
languages are important in Canada, with 5,202,245
people listing one as a first language. Some significant
non-official first languages include Chinese (853,745
first-language speakers), Italian (469,485), German
(438,080), and Punjabi (271,220).
Culture
Main articles: Culture of Canada, National symbols
of Canada, and Sport in Canada
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, seen here at Expo
67, are the federal and national police force of Canada
and an international icon.Canadian culture has historically
been influenced by British, French, and Aboriginal
cultures and traditions. It has also been influenced
by American culture because of its proximity and migration
between the two countries. American media and entertainment
are popular if not dominant in Canada; conversely,
many Canadian cultural products and entertainers are
successful in the US and worldwide. Many cultural
products are marketed toward a unified "North
American" or global market.
The
creation and preservation of distinctly Canadian culture
are supported by federal government programs, laws
and institutions such as the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation (CBC), the National Film Board of Canada
(NFB), and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications
Commission (CRTC).
A
Kwakwaka'wakw totem pole and traditional "big
house" in Victoria, BC.Canada is a geographically
vast and ethnically diverse country. There are cultural
variations and distinctions from province to province
and region to region. Canadian culture has also been
greatly influenced by immigration from all over the
world. Many Canadians value multiculturalism, and
see Canadian culture as being inherently multicultural.
Multicultural heritage is enshrined in Section 27
of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
National
symbols are influenced by natural, historical, and
First Nations sources. Particularly, the use of the
maple leaf, as a Canadian symbol, dates back to the
early 18th century and is depicted on its current
and previous flags, the penny, and on the coat of
arms. Other prominent symbols include the beaver,
Canada goose, common loon, the Crown, and the RCMP.
Canada's
official national sports are ice hockey (winter) and
lacrosse (summer). Hockey is a national pastime and
the most popular spectator sport in the country. It
is also the most popular sport Canadians play, with
1.65 million active participants in 2004. Canada's
six largest metropolitan areas - Toronto, Montreal,
Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton - have franchises
in the National Hockey League (NHL), and there are
more Canadian players in the league than from all
other countries combined. After hockey, other popular
spectator sports include Canadian football and curling.
The Canadian Football League (CFL) is the nation's
second most popular professional sports league, and
plays a large role in Canada's national identity.
Golf, baseball, skiing, soccer, volleyball, and basketball
are also widely played at youth and amateur levels,
but professional leagues and franchises are not as
widespread. Canada will host the 2007 FIFA U-20 World
Cup, and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and
Whistler, British Columbia. (Credit:
Wikipedia)
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