Provinces and territories of Canada

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Provinces and territories of Canada

The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second largest country in total area

List of countries and outlying territories by total area

This is a list of the Sovereignty of the world sorted by total area.For statistical purposes, dependent territories are listed separately from their sovereign state and are set off in italics....
. The major difference between a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
province and a territory is that a province receives its power and authority directly from the Crown

Monarchy in Canada

The monarchy of Canada, or Canadian monarchy, is a constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the Sovereignty and head of state of Canada, forming the core of the country's Westminster system Parliamentary system democracy....
, via the Constitution Act, 1867

Constitution Act, 1867

The Constitution Act, 1867 , constitutes a major part of Canada's Constitution of Canada. The Act entails the original creation of a federation dominion and defines much of the operation of the Government of Canada, including its Canadian federalism, the Canadian House of Commons, the Canadian Senate, the justice system, and the taxation sys...
, whereas territories derive their mandates and powers from the federal government

Government of Canada

Canada is a constitutional monarchy. The powers and structure of the federal government are set out in the Constitution of Canada, which includes the written part, the decisions of courts, and unwritten conventions developed over time....
.

Currently, the ten provinces are Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is one of Canada Canadian Prairies Provinces and territories of Canada. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S....
, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
, Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a prairie provinces in Canada, which has an area of 647,797 square kilometres and a population of 1,207,959 , with more than half located within the Winnipeg Capital Region ....
, New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only Constitution of Canada bilingual province in the federation. The provincial capital is Fredericton....
, Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is a Provinces and territories of Canada of Canada, on the country's Atlantic Ocean coast in northeastern North America....
, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is a Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada....
, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
, Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island is a Canada Provinces and territories of Canada consisting of an island of the same name. The Maritimes is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population ....
, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec , in French language, Qu?bec , is a Provinces and territories of Canada in the Central Canada and Eastern Canada regions of Canada....
, and Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie provinces in Canada, which has an area of 588,276.09 square kilometres and a population of 1,015,895 , mostly living in the southern half of the province....
, while the three territories are Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories are a provinces and territories of Canada of Canada.Located in northern Canada, it borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south....
, Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest Provinces and territories of Canada of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999 via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993....
, and Yukon

Yukon

Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada three Territories of Canada. It was named after the Yukon River, Yukon meaning "Great River" in Gwich?in language....
.
following table is listed in the order of precedence (i.e.

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Encyclopedia

The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second largest country in total area

List of countries and outlying territories by total area

Canada

Monarchy in Canada

Constitution Act, 1867

Government of Canada

Alberta

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
, Manitoba

Manitoba

New Brunswick

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is a Provinces and territories of Canada of Canada, on the country's Atlantic Ocean coast in northeastern North America....
, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is a Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada....
, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
, Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island

Quebec

Quebec , in French language, Qu?bec , is a Provinces and territories of Canada in the Central Canada and Eastern Canada regions of Canada....
, and Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Northwest Territories

Nunavut

Yukon

Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada three Territories of Canada. It was named after the Yukon River, Yukon meaning "Great River" in Gwich?in language....
.

Provinces

The following table is listed in the order of precedence (i.e. when a province entered into Confederation

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federalism Dominion of Canada was formed beginning July 1, 1867 from the provinces, colony and Territory of British North America....
).

Province, with flag	Postal abbreviation/ ISO code ISO 3166-2:CA ISO 3166-2:CA is the subset of codes defined in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standardization published by the International Organization for Standardization , for the names of the principal subdivisions of Canada....	Other abbreviations	Capital	Largest City	Entered Confederation	Population (2008)	Area (km²)
Province, with flag		Other abbreviations	Capital	Largest City	Entered Confederation	Population (2008)	Land	Water	Total
¹	ON	Ont.	Toronto Toronto Toronto is the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population in Canada and the Provinces and territories of Canada Provincial and territorial capitals of Canada of Ontario....	Toronto Toronto Toronto is the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population in Canada and the Provinces and territories of Canada Provincial and territorial capitals of Canada of Ontario....	July 1 1867	12,891,787	917,741	158,654	1,076,395
¹	QC	Que., PQ, P.Q.	Quebec City Quebec City Qu?bec or Quebec, also Quebec City or Qu?bec City , is the Capital of the Canada Provinces and territories of Canada of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region....	Montreal Montreal Montreal, or Montr?al, is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada of Quebec and the List of largest cities and second largest cities by country List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population....		7,744,530	1,356,128	185,928	1,542,056
²	NS	N.S.	Halifax	Halifax		935,962	53,338	1,946	55,284
²	NB	N.B.	Fredericton	Saint John Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the oldest incorporated city in Canada. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 68,043....		751,527	71,450	1,458	72,908
³	MB	Man.	Winnipeg Winnipeg Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada. It is located near the longitude centre of North America, at the confluence of the historic Red River of the North and Assiniboine River Rivers, a point now commonly known as The Forks, Winnipeg....	Winnipeg Winnipeg Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada. It is located near the longitude centre of North America, at the confluence of the historic Red River of the North and Assiniboine River Rivers, a point now commonly known as The Forks, Winnipeg....	July 15 1870	1,196,291	553,556	94,241	647,797
²	BC	B.C.	Victoria Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia. Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria is a major tourism destination seeing more than 3.65 million visitors a year who inject more than one billion dollars into the local economy....	Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver is a coastal city and major seaport located in the Lower Mainland of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is the largest city in British Columbia and the second largest metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest region....	July 20 1871	4,428,356	925,186	19,549	944,735
²	PE	PEI, P.E.I., P.E. Island	Charlottetown Charlottetown Charlottetown is a Canada city and the provincial capital of Prince Edward Island. Charlottetown was first incorporated as a town in 1855 and designated as a city in 1885....	Charlottetown Charlottetown Charlottetown is a Canada city and the provincial capital of Prince Edward Island. Charlottetown was first incorporated as a town in 1855 and designated as a city in 1885....	July 1 1873	139,407	5,660	—	5,660
⁴	SK	Sask., SSK, SKWN	Regina Regina, Saskatchewan Regina is the capital of Saskatchewan, Canada. The city is the second largest in the province , and is a cultural and commercial metropole for both southern Saskatchewan and adjacent areas in the neighbouring American states of North Dakota and Montana....	Saskatoon Saskatoon Saskatoon is a city located in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River, with a metropolitan area population of 233,923. Saskatoon is the most populous city in the province of Saskatchewan, and has been since the mid-1980s when it surpassed the provincial capital of Regina, Saskatchewan....	September 1, 1905	1,010,146	591,670	59,366	651,036
⁴	AB	Alta.	Edmonton Edmonton Edmonton is the capital of the Canada Provinces and territories of Canada of Alberta. The city is located on the North Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province, an area with some of the most fertile farmland on the prairies....	Calgary Calgary Calgary is the largest city in the province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and High Plains, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies....	September 1, 1905	3,512,368	642,317	19,531	661,848
⁵	NL	NFLD, NF, LB	St. John's St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador St. John's is the Provinces of Canada capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada and located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the Newfoundland ....	St. John's St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador St. John's is the Provinces of Canada capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada and located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the Newfoundland ....	March 31 1949	508,270	373,872	31,340	405,212

Notes:

Territories

There are currently three territories in Canada. Unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada have no inherent jurisdiction

Inherent jurisdiction

Inherent Jurisdiction is a doctrine of the England common law that a superior court has the jurisdiction to hear any matter that comes before it, unless a statute or rule limit that authority or grants exclusive jurisdiction to some other court or tribunal....
and only have those powers delegated to them by the federal government. They include all of mainland Canada north of latitude 60° north and west of Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay is a large , relatively shallow body of water in northeastern Canada. It is approximately 850 miles long and 650 miles wide. It drains a very large area that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana, and the southeastern area of Nunavut...
, as well as essentially all islands north of the Canadian mainland (from those in James Bay

James Bay

James Bay is a large body of water on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean. James Bay borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario; islands within the bay are part of Nunavut....
to the Canadian Arctic islands). The following table lists the territories in order of precedence (territories take precedence after provinces regardless of the date of their creation).

Territory, with flag	Postal abbreviation/ ISO code ISO 3166-2:CA ISO 3166-2:CA is the subset of codes defined in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standardization published by the International Organization for Standardization , for the names of the principal subdivisions of Canada....	Other abbreviations	Capital and largest city	Entered Confederation	Population (2008)	Area (km²)
Territory, with flag		Other abbreviations	Capital and largest city	Entered Confederation	Population (2008)	Land	Water	Total
	NT	N.W.T., NWT	Yellowknife Yellowknife, Northwest Territories Yellowknife is the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories . It is located on the north shore of Great Slave Lake, approximately south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of the Yellowknife River....	July 15 1870	42,514	1,183,085	163,021	1,346,106
	YT		Whitehorse Whitehorse, Yukon Whitehorse is the Capital of the Yukon, Canada. Whitehorse accounts for more than 75% of the territory's population and is the largest city in the three Canadian territories....	June 13 1898	31,530	474,391	8,052	482,443
	NU		Iqaluit	April 1 1999	31,152	1,936,113	157,077	2,093,190

Note: Canada did not acquire any new land to create Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, or Nunavut. All of these originally formed part of Northwest Territories.

History

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia are the original provinces, formed when British North America

British North America

British North America consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of United States ....
n colonies federated

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federalism Dominion of Canada was formed beginning July 1, 1867 from the provinces, colony and Territory of British North America....
on July 1 1867, into the Dominion of Canada

Dominion

A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomy polity that were nominally under United Kingdom sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations, from the late 19th century....
and by stages began accruing the indicia of sovereignty from the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
. Ontario and Quebec were united before Confederation as the Province of Canada

Province of Canada

The Province of Canada or the United Province of Canada was a British North America#BNA colonies after the American Revolution: in North America from 1841 to 1867....
. Over the following six years, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island were added as provinces.

The Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world. The company was incorporated by British royal charter in 1670 as The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay; it is now domiciled in Canada and has adopted the mo...
maintained control of large swaths of western Canada until 1870, when it turned over the land to the Government of Canada, forming part of Northwest Territories. Manitoba and Northwest Territories were created in 1870 from Rupert's Land

Rupert's Land

Rupert's Land, also sometimes called "Prince Rupert's Land", was a territory in British North America, consisting of the List of Hudson Bay rivers, that was owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870....
and North-Western Territory

North-Western Territory

The North-Western Territory was a region of British North America until 1870. Named for where it lay in relation to Rupert's Land, the territory at its greatest extent covered what is now Yukon, mainland Northwest Territories, northwestern mainland Nunavut, northwestern Saskatchewan, northern Alberta and northern British Columbia....
. At the time, the land comprising Northwest Territories was all of current northern and western Canada, including the northern two thirds of Ontario and Quebec, with exception of the Arctic Islands, British Columbia and a small portion of southern Manitoba. On September 1 1905, a portion of the Northwest Territories south of the 60° parallel became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1912, the boundaries of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba were expanded northward: Manitoba's to the 60° parallel, Ontario's to Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay

District of Ungava

The District of Ungava was a regional administrative district of Canada's Northwest Territories from 1895 to 1912. It covered the northern portion of what is today Quebec, the interior of Labrador and the offshore islands to the West and North which are now part of the Nunavut....
.

In 1869, the people of Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is a Provinces and territories of Canada of Canada, on the country's Atlantic Ocean coast in northeastern North America....
voted to remain a British colony over concerns that central Canada would dominate taxation and economic policy. In 1907, Newfoundland acquired dominion status. In 1933, facing national bankruptcy

National bankruptcy

National bankruptcy is the formal declaration of a government to not or only partially pay/meet its debts or the de facto cessation of due payments....
, the legislature turned over political control to the Commission of Government

Commission of Government

The Commission of Government was a non-elected body that governed Newfoundland and Labrador from 1934 to 1949 . Established following the collapse of Newfoundland's economy during the Great Depression, it was composed of civil servants who were directly subordinate to the British Government in London....
. Following World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, in a 1948 referendum, a narrow majority of Newfoundland citizens voted to join Confederation and, on March 31 1949, Newfoundland became Canada's tenth and final province. In 2001 it was officially renamed Newfoundland and Labrador.

In 1903, the Alaska Panhandle Dispute fixed British Columbia's northwestern boundary. This was one of only two provinces in Canadian history to have its size reduced. The second, in 1927, occurred when a boundary dispute between the province of Quebec and the Dominion of Newfoundland saw Labrador increased at Quebec's expense.

In 1999, Nunavut was created from the eastern portion of Northwest Territories. Yukon

Yukon

Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada three Territories of Canada. It was named after the Yukon River, Yukon meaning "Great River" in Gwich?in language....
lies in the western portion of The North, while Nunavut is in the east. All three territories combined are the most sparsely populated region in Canada with about 100,000 people spread across a huge area. They are often referred to as a single region, The North

Northern Canada

File:Northern Canada.svgNorthern Canada, colloquially the North, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics....
, for organisational purposes. The District of Keewatin

District of Keewatin

The District of Keewatin was a former territory of Canada and later an administrative district of the Northwest Territories.The name "Keewatin" comes from Algonquian languages roots?either kiwehtin in Cree language or giiwedin in Ojibwe language?both of which mean north wind in their respective languages....
was created as a separate territory from 1876 to 1905, after which it became an administration district of Northwest Territories. In 1999, it was dissolved when it became part of Nunavut.

In late 2004, Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary Minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet of Canada, and thus head of government of Canada. The office is not outlined in any of the documents that constitute the written portion of the constitution of Canada; executive authority is formally vested in the Monarchy of Canada and exercised on hi...
Paul Martin

Paul Martin

Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, Queen's Privy Council for Canada was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
surprised some observers by expressing his personal support for all three territories gaining provincial status "eventually". He cited their importance to the country as a whole and the ongoing need to assert sovereignty

Sovereignty

File:Leviathan gr.jpgSovereignty is the exclusive right to control a government, a State, a people, or oneself. A sovereign is a supreme lawmaking authority....
in the Arctic, particularly as global warming

Global warming

Global warming is the increase in the Instrumental temperature record of the Earth's near-surface air and the oceans since the mid-twentieth century and its projected continuation....
could make that region more open to exploitation.

Government

Theoretically, provinces have a great deal of power relative to the federal government, with jurisdiction over many public good

Public good

In economics, a public good is a Good that is rivalry ed and excludability. This means, respectively, that consumption of the good by one individual does not reduce availability of the good for consumption by others; and that no one can be effectively excluded from using the good....
s such as healthcare, education

Education

File:Inukshuk Monterrey 1.jpgEducation can be seen as a product or a process and considered in a broad sense or a technical sense. According to philosophy of education George F....
, welfare

Welfare (financial aid)

Welfare is financial assistance paid to people by governments. Some welfare is general, while specific and can only be invoked under certain circumstances, such as a scholarship....
, and intra-provincial transportation. They receive "transfer payments" from the federal government to pay for these, as well as exacting their own tax

Tax

To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon an individual or Legal person by a state or the functional equivalent of a state.Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entity....
es. In practice, however, the federal government can use these transfer payments to influence these provincial areas. For instance in order to receive health care funding under medicare

Medicare (Canada)

The term medicare is the unofficial name for Canada's universal health care. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the Canada Health Act and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories....
, provinces must agree to meet certain federal mandates, such as universal access to required medical treatment.

Provincial and territorial legislatures have no second chamber like the Canadian Senate

Canadian Senate

The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Canadian monarchy and the Canadian House of Commons. The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the Governor General of Canada on the Advice of the Prime Minister of Canada....
. Originally, most provinces did have such bodies, known as legislative council

Legislative Council

A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.A member of the Legislative Council is commonly referred to as an MLC....
s, but these were subsequently abolished, Quebec's being the last in 1968. In most provinces, the single house of the legislature is known as the Legislative Assembly

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Assembly is the name given in some countries to either a legislature, or to one of its chambers of parliament. The name is used by a number of member-states of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as in a number of Latin American countries....
except in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, where it is called the House of Assembly

House of Assembly

House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral legislature, in some countries, often at subnational level....
, and Quebec where it is generally called the National Assembly

National Assembly of Quebec

The National Assembly of Quebec is the name for the legislative body of the province of Quebec, Canada. The Lieutenant Governor of Quebec and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other Westminster System....
. Ontario has a Legislative Assembly but its members are called Members of the Provincial Parliament or MPPs. The legislative assemblies use a procedure similar to that of the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Canadian monarchy and the Senate of Canada. The House of Commons is a democracy elected body, consisting of 40th Canadian Parliament known as Members of Parliament ....
. The head of government of each province, called the premier, is generally the head of the party with the most seats. This is also the case in Yukon, but Northwest Territories and Nunavut have no political parties at the territorial level. The Queen's representative to each province is the Lieutenant-Governor

Lieutenant-Governor (Canada)

In Canada, the Lieutenant-Governor , is the Monarchy of Canada's representative in a Provinces and territories of Canada, much as the Governor General of Canada is the sovereign's representative in the federal jurisdiction....
. In each of the territories there is an analogous Commissioner

Commissioner

Commissioner is in principal the title given to the holder of a commission, in the sense of a mandate, whether individually or shared, notably as member of a collegial commission....
, but he or she represents the federal government and not the monarch.

Federal, provincial, and territorial terminology compared

Canada	Governor General	Prime Minister	Parliament		Parliamentarian
Canada	Governor General	Prime Minister	Senate	House of Commons	Senator	Member of Parliament
Ontario	Lieutenant-Governor	Premier	n/a*	Legislative Assembly	n/a	Member of the Provincial Parliament (MPP)
Quebec				National Assembly		Member of the National Assembly (MNA)
Newfoundland and Labrador				House of Assembly		Member of the House of Assembly (MHA)
Nova Scotia				House of Assembly		Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA)
Other provinces				Legislative Assembly
Territories	Commissioner	Premier		Legislative Assembly

*Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island historically had Legislative Council

Legislative Council

A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.A member of the Legislative Council is commonly referred to as an MLC....
s, analogous to the federal Senate.

Each of the territories elects one Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators....
. Canadian territories are each entitled to elect one full voting representative to the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

Per capita

Per capita is a Latin phrase meaning per head with per meaning "through" or "by" and capita meaning "heads." Both words together equate to the phrase "for each head."...
representation than the Northwest Territories, every territory has considerably greater per capita representation in the Commons than every other province. Residents of the Canadian territories are full citizens and enjoy the same rights as all other Canadians. Each territory also has one Senator.

Provincial parties

Most provinces have provincial counterparts to the three national federal parties. However, some provincial parties are not formally linked to the federal parties that share the same name. The New Democratic Party

New Democratic Party

The New Democratic Party is a political party in Canada with a progressivism social democracy philosophy that contests elections at both the federal and provincial levels....
is the only party that has integrated membership between the provincial and federal wings. Some provinces have regional political parties, such as the Saskatchewan Party

Saskatchewan Party

The Saskatchewan Party is a centre-right political party in the Canada Provinces and territories of Canada of Saskatchewan. The party was established in 1997 by a coalition of former Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Liberal Party party members and supporters who sought to remove the Saskatchewan New Democratic...
.

The provincial political climate of Quebec is quite different: the main split is between sovereignty

Quebec sovereignty movement

The Quebec sovereignty movement refers to the history and present status of multiple, multi-lateral political movements aimed at attaining statehood for the Canadian province of Quebec....
(of which separatism

Separatism

Separatism refers to the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial or gender separation from the larger group, often with demands for greater political Autonomous entity and even for full political secession and the formation of a new state....
is generally held to be one strain), represented by the Parti Québécois

Parti Québécois

The Parti Qu?b?cois is a sovereignist provincial political party that advocates nationalism Quebec sovereignty movement for the Canadian province of Quebec and secession from Canada....
, and federalism, represented primarily by the Quebec Liberal Party. Since 2007, the Official Opposition has been the Action Démocratique du Québec

Action démocratique du Québec

The Action d?mocratique du Qu?bec is a populism, conservatism, nationalism and Autonomous area Provinces and territories of Canada political party in Quebec, Canada....
, which advocates what it calls "autonomy", a middle-of-the-road option supporting localized power in the Federal structure. They have no corresponding Federal party, but polls show their base to align with the Federal Conservative Party of Canada

Conservative Party of Canada

The Conservative Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Tories, is a major political party in Canada, formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada....
.

The provincial Progressive Conservative parties are also now separate from the federal Conservative Party, which resulted from a merger between the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance. Historically and currently, the Canadian provincial and federal political party evolution is somewhat flexible. Provincial political parties are more stable than Canadian federal political parties.

Other

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial, near Vimy

Vimy

Vimy is a communes of the Pas-de-Calais d?partement and chief town of a cantons of France in the Pas-de-Calais departments of France in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France....
, Pas-de-Calais

Pas-de-Calais

Pas-de-Calais is a Departments of France in northern France. Its name is the French language equivalent of the Strait of Dover, which it borders....
département, France

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, is ceremonially considered Canadian territory. In 1922 the French government donated "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada the free use of the land exempt from all taxes". However, unlike diplomatic missions it does not enjoy extraterritorial status

Extraterritoriality

Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as embassy, consulates, or military bases of foreign countries, or offices of the United Nations....
and is thus subject to French law.

In the past, there has been interest in both Canada and the Turks and Caicos Islands

Turks and Caicos Islands

The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the West Indies, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre....
, an overseas UK

United Kingdom

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
, for the latter to enter Confederation in some capacity. While no official negotiations are underway, the two have a long-standing relationship and politicians on both sides have actively explored the circumstances under which a political union could be achieved.

Provinces and territories of Canada

Provinces

Territories

History

Government

Provincial parties

Other

See also