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Facts
The capital of Canada is Ottawa. Edmonton and Calgary are also very big cities. Population centres are Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Official languages are English and French.
The currency in Canada are Canadian Dollars. There are six times zones.
Canada is a parliamentary monarchy in Commonwealth of Nations. So the head of the State is Queen Elizabeth the II. Head of the Government is the Prime Minister, Jean Chretien.
Land
Canada is the 2nd largest land after Russia in the world. The total area is about 9 970 610 square kilometres. This is about 120 times larger than Austria. There are ten provinces and three territories, which are put under the Federal Government of Canada.
Climate
Canada comprises eight vegetation zones, most of which are dominated by forest.
In Canada there are long, snow guaranteed winters and short, partly hot summers. There are also high temperature differences.
In winter most people in the cities live underground because of the coldness. Also some shopping centres are subterranean to keep the warmth as long as possible. Montreal has the largest underground area with about 30 square kilometres. As well as there are shopping centres, there are also offices and blocks of flats.
Population
Canada has 30,7 mill. inhabitants. This are 3,1 inhabitants per square kilometre. This is very low because in Austria there are 97 inhabitants per square kilometre. The urbanisation is about 77% (in Austria 64%).
35% of the Canadian people are British, 28% are French, 20% European, 2% Indian and 15% others: e.g. Americans, Russians, Ukrainians, Chinese, Japanese.
Nearly half of the population are Catholics, 40% Protestant and 14% are Orthodox, Jews, Muslims and Hindus.
Economic Profile
The major industries respectively products are agriculture, minerals, natural gas, oil, hydroelectricity, forest products and motor vehicles. Major trading partners are the USA, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany and South Korea.
History (most important facts)
At about 1000 Norwegian sailors discovered Canada. In 1534 Canada became a French colony. There was a war between Great Britain and France from 1756 to 1763. Finally Great Britain got Canada. In 1791 there was a partition of Upper-Canada, were mainly English was spoken, and Lower-Canada, were French was spoken. Canada became independent in 1931 and in 1993 the Eskimos got their own territory.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or "Mounties" for short
The famous force was started in the late 19th century. On 23 May 1873, the Canadian parliament passed an act establishing a "Mounted Police force for the North-West Territories". Recruiters looked for healthy men of good character between the ages of 18 and 40 who were able to ride. Relatively high educational standards were also demanded of the new recruiters, who were expected to be able to read and write either English and French. The new police force, known as the North West Mounted Police, came into existence on 30 August 1873.
Its main goal had been to establish good relations with the native people. Mounties accept women since 1974. They wear the colourful red uniforms and stetson hats only on special occasions. And the horses are no longer standard equipment either. But the force remains highly popular with the general public and continues to have long waiting lists of young people of both sexes.
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