Portal:Canada
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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. 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. Canada is a federation that is governed as a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. It is a bilingual nation with both English and French as official languages at the federal level. One of the world's highly developed countries, Canada has a diversified economy that is reliant upon its abundant natural resources and upon trade—particularly with the United States, with which Canada has had a long and complex relationship. It is a member of the G8, G-20, NATO, OECD, WTO, Commonwealth, Francophonie, OAS, APEC, and UN. Selected article -
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province which was brought into Confederation in 1870 after the Red River Rebellion. The area has been inhabited for thousands of years, with European contact made in the 17th century. The province has over 110,000 lakes, and has a largely continental climate due to its mostly flat topography. Agriculture, found especially in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to its economy; other major industries are transportation, manufacturing, mining, forestry, energy, and tourism. The political and cultural capital, Winnipeg, is home to four of the province's five universities, all four of its major professional sports teams, and most of its cultural events. The city is also a transportation and military hub, hosting a busy international airport and the regional headquarters of NORAD. The province has a population of over one million; its largest ethnic group is English, but it has a significant Franco-Manitoban minority and a growing aboriginal population. The province's name, meaning "strait of the spirit" or "lake of the prairies", is derived from the languages of its early aboriginal inhabitants.
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Kathy Dunderdale (born February 1952) is a Canadian politician and the tenth and current Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, having served in this capacity since December 3, 2010. Dunderdale was born and raised in Burin, before entering politics she worked as a social worker and ran a consulting company along with her husband. Her first forray into politics was as a member of the Burin town council, where she served as deputy mayor. She was also a Progressive Conservative Party (PC) candidate in the 1993 general election and served as President of the PC Party.
In the 2003 general election, Dunderdale was elected as Member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for Virginia Waters. She served in the cabinets of Danny Williams—at various times holding the portfolios of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development and Natural Resources—where she developed a reputation as one of the most high profile members of Williams' cabinets. Dunderdale became premier upon the resignation of Williams and is the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party. Dunderdale is the first female premier in the province's history and the sixth woman to serve as a premier in the history of Canada. Selected picture -
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What are Portals? · List of Canadian portals
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