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Canada consistently comes near the top in the United Nation’s survey of the best places in the world to live, scoring high marks for its access to education, health care system, and low crime rate. The landscape is beautiful and incredibly diverse, encompassing mountains, glaciers, prairies and Arctic tundra. At almost 3.9 million square miles, Canada is the world’s second largest country, with a population of just 32 million people. If you were to drive east to west, from Halifax in Nova Scotia to Vancouver in British Columbia, it would take you seven days. Even by plane, that’s a seven hour trip.
Canada is often described as “a land of immigrants” and Canadians take pride in their welcoming attitude to newcomers. People of British descent make up 28% of the population, followed by French descent (23%), Italian (3%) aboriginal peoples (2%) and significant minorities of German, Ukrainian, Dutch, Greek, Polish and Chinese.
Four out of five people in Canada live in towns and cities within 250 kilometres of the United States border. Canada's largest cities are Toronto, Ontario (4.4 million people); Montréal, Quebec (3.4 million); and Vancouver, British Columbia (1.9 million). Ottawa, Ontario is Canada’s capital city, with a population of nearly 1m.
Canada is made up of five main regions. The Atlantic region – the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador – relies heavily on fishing, farming, forestry, tourism and mining.
The most populated region of the country is Central Canada, with the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Over three-quarters of all Canadian manufactured goods are made here.
The provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta are in the Prairies, where the terrain is flat and fertile and rich in energy resources. Western Alberta is where the Prairies end and the famous Rocky Mountains begin.
On the West Coast, the province of British Columbia is famous for its mountain ranges and forests. The economy here relies on lumber, fishing, fruit farming and tourism.
The most sparsely populated region is the North and the territories of the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, which make up over one-third of Canada’s land mass. They are rich in oil, natural gas, gold, lead and zinc.
If you like talking about the weather, Canada is the place for you; it’s always a topic for conversation. Most people think of Canada as being cold, and it does get down to -25C in some places on a cold winter day, but this is balanced by hot summer temperatures of up to around the 30C mark. Seasonal change is dramatic too, with autumn leaves being particularly spectacular and spring a real affirmation of new life and promise of days to come.
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