CANADA

BANFF  

JASP

Canada is a fascination country. The land stretches from the Arctic in the north to the border of the USA. A great variety of climate and way of life of people. The economy is one of the best. 

Canada has as a simple the maple leaf. The red of the flag is a reminder of the blood shed by Canadian soldiers during World War I. The white is for the snow which covers Canada for up to six months of the year.

LAND

The extreme vegetation of the land, the variety of people and one of the most successful economies can only be found in Canada. The land reaches from dense forest with mighty evergreens to the prairies. It covers the arctic and the subarctic flora in the north. the forests are of spruce, hemlock, pines, firs and cedar trees.

The variety of wildlife you is unbelievable. There are several types of weasel, black and grizzly bears, lynxes, wolves, coyotes, foxes and skunks.

Polar bears are to be found in the arctic regions.

Pumas live in British Columbia and gophers are living in the plains.

Elk and bison are in the west and caribous live in the north.

Bighorn sheep and goats live in the mountains. Canada hasn't got any reptiles, apart from the far south, nor insects but for the mosquitoes.

The National Parks are of 730,000 sq km and are Jasper and Banff. Banff has four million visitors a year.

Only 5% of the land is suitable for farming.

PEOPLE

Canada's population is 40% British, 27% French, 20% European and 1.5% indigenous Indian and Inuit. The Inuit are official recognised as the First Nations. The rest is of any nationality of the world. The two official languages are English and French. The First Nations speaks one of the eleven native languages.

Most of the people live in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. French-speaking Canadians live mostly in Quebec.

Canadian people enjoy a high standard of living. Education is free and compulsory from 6 years till 15 or 16 years old Most go onto higher education. Social welfare is established in both states.and paid for by state-sponsored insurance programmes.

Half of the population are Catholics and half of them live in Quebec. The rest are Protestant, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs and others.

Till the late 19th century the cultural influence was French and English. After that a Canadian style developed. The government is now trying to encourage to be a multi-cultural culture. This includes arts from aboriginal people. Famous personalities are writers are Margret Atwood and Robertson Davies and the musician Leonard Cohen to name but a few.

Canadian are known for their winter sport such as curling and ice hockey which win them medals in Winter Olympics.

ECONOMICS

Canada's trade with its neighbour the USA is 80%. It contains the manufactured transport equipment, food, machinery, paper, chemicals and metals. The workforce is of 42% trade and service, 25% of manufacturing and industry, 7% of administration. and 4% of agriculture, forestry, fishing and trapping.

The land is rich in natural resources of zinc, gold, silver, oil, natural gas, cobalt and uranium. As for hydroelectric power it is the world largest provider.

Another great economic factor is their farming and agriculture. They grow 20% of the world's wheat on their prairies. The major farming in the west have 15 million cattle. The farms also grow cereal crops, fruit, tobacco and soya beans. About 14% are forestry products and covers the demand of most of the world's newsprint.

Over a half of a century Canada has been fishing commercially. The north-west Atlantic and north-east Pacific supply cod, herring, salmon, flunder, lobster, scallops, crab and redfish.

The trapping has declined since 1990.