Provinces and territories of Canada



The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. In 1867, three provinces of British North America—New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the Province of Canada (which, on the formation of Canada, was divided into Ontario and Quebec)—were united to form the new nation. Since then, Canada's external borders have changed several times, and the country has grown from the original four provinces to ten provinces and three territories. The ten provinces are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. The three territories are Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon.

The major difference between a Canadian province and a territory is that provinces receive their power and authority from the Constitution Act, 1867 (formerly called the British North America Act, 1867), whereas territorial governments have powers delegated to them by the federal government. This means that while a change to the division of powers between the federal government and the provinces requires a constitutional amendment, a similar change affecting the territories can be performed unilaterally by the federal Parliament or government. Moreover, in modern Canadian constitutional theory, the provinces are considered to be co-sovereign divisions, and each province has its own "Crown" represented by the lieutenant governor, whereas the territories are not sovereign, but simply parts of the federal realm, and have a commissioner who represents the federal government.