CanadaCapital
City: Ottawa
Government Type: parliamentary democracy,
Independence: from Britain July 1, 1867
Total Area: 9,984,670 sq. km.
Land Area: 9,093,507 sq. km.
Water Area: 891,163 sq. km.
Population: 31,752,842 (2004)
Largest cities: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa/Gatineau, Calgary
Population distribution: 79.4% cities, 20.3% rural & small towns
Languages: English 59.3% (official), French 23.2% (official), other 17.5%
Currency:
Canadian dollar (CAD) Smallest paper bill: $5. Coins: 5?, 10?, 25?, $1, $2
Loon on the $1 coin (loonie).
Schooner 'Bluenose II' on the 10-cent coin (dime).
Literacy (15+ years who can read and write): 97%
Religion: Roman Catholic 46%, Protestant 36%, other 18%
Life Expectancy: 80 years
Labor Force: services 74%, manufacturing 15%, construction 5%, agriculture
3%, other 3% (2000)
Industries: transportation equipment, chemicals, minerals, food products;
wood and paper products; fish products, petroleum and natural gas
Exports: motor vehicles and parts, industrial machinery, aircraft, telecommunications
equipment, chemicals, plastics, fertilizers, mineral ores, timber, wood products,
grain, foodstuffs, crude oil, natural gas, electricity, aluminum
Great Lakes shipping: iron, stone, coal, grain, salt, cement, potash
Oceans: Canada borders the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean. Canada has over 151,480 miles (243,791 km) of coastline. The length of the Canada-United States border is about 8900 km., part of which is the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.
Lakes: Canada has about two million lakes, covering about 7.6% of Canada's land mass. Part of its southern border is in four of the the five Great lakes: Superior, Huron, Erie, Ontario (Michigan is entirely in the U.S.). The biggest lakes in area are: Lake Huron (36,000 sq. km of Lake Huron's 59,600 sq. km are in Canada], Lake Great Bear [31,328 sq. km], Lake Superior [of which 28,700 sq. km of Lake Superior's 82,100 sq. km are in Canada], Lake Great Slave [also the deepest lake, with a depth of 614 m], Lake Winnipeg, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The 2,000,000 lakes cover about 7.6% of Canada's land mass. The Northwest Territories contains 9.2% of the world's total of freshwater.
Rivers: The longest river in Canada is the Mackenzie River, which is 2,635 miles (4241 km) long. It runs through the Northwest Territories. Other large and important rivers are the St. Lawrence River (1,900 miles = 3058 km long), the Yukon River, the Columbia River, the Nelson River, the Churchill River, and the Fraser River.
