Download
1 / 58
E N D
Canada is a country in North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area. Canada's common border with the United States to the south and northwest is the longest in the world.
In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This widening autonomy was highlighted by the Statute of Westminster of 1931 and culminated in the Canada Act of 1982, which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament.
Provinces and territories • Canada is a federation composed of ten provinces and three territories. In turn, these may be grouped into regions: Western Canada, Central Canada, Atlantic Canada, and Northern Canada (the latter made up of the three territories: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut).
加拿大十省三地区分别为： • 阿尔伯塔省（英语、法语：Alberta，成立年份：1905年） • 不列颠哥伦比亚省（英语：British Columbia，法语：Colombie-Britannique，加入年份：1858年） • 马尼托巴省（英语、法语：Manitoba，加入年份为1870年） • 纽芬兰与拉布拉多省（英语：Newfoundland and Labrador，法语：Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador，加入年份：1949年） • 新不伦瑞克省（英语：New Brunswick，法语：Nouveau-Brunswick，加入年份：1867年） • 西北领地（英语：Northwest Territories，法语：Territoires du Nord-Ouest，加入年份：1870年） • 新斯科舍省（英语：Nova Scotia，法语：Nouvelle-Écosse，加入年份：1867年） • 努纳武特地区（英语、法语：Nunavut，于1999年从西北地区分割出来） • 安大略省（英语、法语：Ontario，加入年份：1867年） • 爱德华王子省（英语：Prince Edward Island，法语：Île-du-Prince-Édouard，加入年份：1873年） • 魁北克省（法语：Québec，英语：Quebec，加入年份为1867年） • 萨斯喀彻温省（英语、法语：Saskatchewan，成立年份：1905年） • 育空地区（英语、法语：Yukon，加入年份：1898年）
Provinces have more autonomy than territories. (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; • 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.
Average winter and summer high temperatures across Canada vary according to the location. Winters can be harsh in many regions of the country, particularly in the interior and Prairie provinces, which experience a continental climate.
In noncoastal regions, snow can cover the ground almost six months of the year (more in the north). • Coastal British Columbia enjoys a temperate climate, with a mild and rainy winter.
People • Aboriginal peoples in Canada include the First Nations Inuit, and Métis. The Métis a culture of mixed blood originated in the mid-17th century when First Nation and Inuit married European settlers. The Inuit had more limited interaction with European settlers during the early periods. • The Inuit had more limited interaction with European settlers during the early periods
The land that is now Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War.
European colonization • New France and Canada under British Imperial control. • The Royal Proclamation (1763) carved the Province of Quebec out of New France . • To accommodate English-speaking Loyalists in Quebec, the Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the province into French-speaking Lower Canada (later the province of Quebec) and English-speaking Upper Canada (later Ontario), granting each its own elected Legislative Assembly.
The desire for responsible government resulted in the aborted Rebellions of 1837. The Durham Report subsequently recommended responsible government and the assimilation of French Canadians into British culture. The Act of Union 1840 merged The Canada into a united Province of Canada. Responsible government was established for all British North American provinces by 1849.
Government and politics • Canada has strong democratic traditions upheld through a parliamentary government within the construct of constitutional monarchy, the monarchy of Canada being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches and its authority stemming from the Canadian populace. The sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II, who also serves as head of state of 15 other Commonwealth countries and resides predominantly in the United Kingdom. As such, the Queen's representative, the Governor General of Canada (presently Michaëlle Jean), carries out most of the royal duties in Canada.
The direct participation of the royal and vice-royal figures in any of these areas of governance is limited, though; in practice, their use of the executive powers is directed by the Cabinet, a committee of ministers of the Crown responsible to the elected House of Commons and headed by the Prime Minister of Canada, the head of government. • To ensure the stability of government, the governor general will usually appoint as prime minister the person who is the current leader of the political party that can obtain the confidence of a plurality in the House of Commons and the prime minister chooses the Cabinet.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is thus one of the most powerful institutions in government, initiating most legislation for parliamentary approval and selecting for appointment by the Crown, besides the aforementioned, the governor general, lieutenant governors, senators, federal court judges, and heads of crown corporations and government agencies. • The leader of the party with the second-most seats usually becomes the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Oppositionand is part of an adversarial parliamentary system intended to keep the government in check.
Party • Each Member of Parliament in the House of Commons is elected by simple majority in an electoral district or riding. General elections must be called by the governor general, on the advice of the prime minister, within four years of the previous election, or may be triggered by the government losing a confidence vote in the House Members of the Senate, whose seats are apportioned on a regional basis, serve until age 75.
Four parties had representatives elected to the federal parliament in the 2008 elections: the Conservative Party of Canada (governing party), the Liberal Party of Canada (the Official Opposition), the New Democratic Party (NDP), and the Bloc Québécois. The list of historical parties with elected representation is substantial.
Foreign relations • Canada nevertheless has an independent foreign policy, most notably maintaining full relations with Cuba and declining to officially participate in the Iraq War. Canada also maintains historic ties to the United Kingdom and France and to other former British and French colonies through Canada's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and the Francophonie .
Economy • Canada is one of the world's wealthiest nations, with a high per-capita income, and it is a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G8. It is one of the world's top ten trading nations. Canada is a mixed market, ranking above the U.S. on the Heritage Foundation's index of economic freedom and higher than most western European nations. The largest foreign importers of Canadian goods are the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan.
In the past century, the growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy to a more industrial and urban one. Like other First World nations, the Canadian economy is dominated by the service industry, which employs about three quarters of Canadians. Canada is unusual among developed countries in the importance of its primary sector, in which the logging and petroleum industries are two of the most important.
Economic integration with the United States has increased significantly since World War II. NAFTA Initialing Ceremony, October 1992
Canada's official national sports are hockey in the winter and lacrosse in the summer. Hockey is a national pastime and the most popular spectator sport in the country.
Ottawa • Ottawa is the capital of Canada.. • the city lies on the southern banks of the Ottawa River, a major waterway forming the local boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
Toronto • Toronto is the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America.
As Canada's economic capital, Toronto is considered an alpha world city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) study group and is one of the top financial centres in the world. • Toronto's leading economic sectors include finance, business services, telecommunications, aerospace, transportation, media, arts, film, television production, publishing, software production, medical research, education, tourism and sports industries.
Australia ,officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific
For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians . • After sporadic visits by fishermen from the immediate north and discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Britain in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales, founded on 26 January 1788.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies became a federation and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and is a Commonwealth realm. • The population is 22 million, with approximately 60% concentrated in and around the mainland state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Geography • The world's smallest continent and sixth largest country by total area, Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed the 'island continent' and variably considered the world's largest island.
History • In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. Cook's discoveries prepared the way for establishment of a new penal colony.
On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation, and voting. The Commonwealth of Australia was established and it became a dominion of the British Empire in 1907. The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed in 1911 as the location for the future federal capital of Canberra. • Britain's Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the UK.
After World War II, Australia encouraged immigration from Europe. Since the 1970s and following the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and elsewhere was also promoted. As a result, Australia's demography, culture, and self-image were transformed.
Final constitutional ties between Australia and the UK were severed with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the government of the Australian States, and closing the option of judicial appeals to the Privy Council in London.
Politics • Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a federal division of powers. It uses a parliamentary system of government with Queen Elizabeth II at its apex as the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms.
As the Queen resides in the United Kingdom, the executive powers vested in her by the Constitution are normally exercised by her viceroys in Australia (the Governor-General at the federal level and by the Governors at the state level), who by convention act on the advice of her Ministers. • The federal government is separated into three branches:
The legislature : the bicameral Parliament ,comprising the Queen ,the Senate ,and the House of Representative; Parliament House
The executive : the Federal Executive Council ,in practice the Governor-General as advised by the Prime Minister of State.
The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts ,whose judges are appointed by the Governor-General on advice of the Council.
States and territories • Australia has six states—New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia—and two major mainland territories—the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
Foreign relations • Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US, under the ANZUS treaty. • Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States through the ANZUS pact.
by a desire to develop relationships with Asia and the Pacific, particularly through ASEAN( Association of Southeast Asian Nations ) and the Pacific Islands Forum. In 2005 Australia secured an inaugural seat at the East Asia Summit following its accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. • Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in which the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings provide the main forum for cooperation
Economy • Australia has a free-market economy with high GDP per capita and low rate of poverty. • Ranked third in the Index of Economic Freedom (2010), Australia is the world's thirteenth largest economy and has the eleventh highest per capita GDP. • An emphasis on exporting commodities rather than manufactured goods has underpinned a significant increase in Australia's terms of trade since the start of the century, due to rising commodity prices.
