CENTRAL CANADA
Ontario and Quebec
What is the capital of Ontario? What is the largest city in Canada?
What is the capital of Quebec? What is the oldest city in Canada?
Why is this region called ‘Central Canada’ but it is not the geographical center of Canada?
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About Ontario
To understand Ontario, you need to start with geography. What is special about Ontario’s geography? The Great Lakes of course.
Remember HOMES (Lake Huron, Lake Ontario (the smallest), Lake Michigan (in USA), Lake Erie and Lake Superior (the biggest of 5) – freshwater lakes
Lakes attracted many people, and now Ontario is home to more people than any other province (13 million in 2017 but please check google – it’s always growing.)
Which language do most people in Ontario speak? English. Why? Because many years ago, during American Revolution, many people ran away from United States and into Canada (they were called ‘United Empire Loyalists’ because they were loyal to the British Empire).
Do any people in Ontario speak French? Yes – because first immigrants to Canada were actually French.
More recent immigrants speak Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi, Somali and many other languages, making Toronto the largest and the most culturally diverse city in Canada.
Toronto is known as the financial ‘heart’ of Canada (which means banks, investment firms, pension funds and insurance companies). Financial industry is considered a service industry. Manufacturing is also an important industry in Ontario (even though they mostly manufacture American cars).
What else is special about Ontario? Niagara Falls. There’s water and there’s land (Southern Ontario has very good agricultural land) so, if you ever travel in Niagara region, you will see that they grow grapes to make wine and also other fruit, such as apples and peaches. In Ontario, farmers also grow vegetables and raise cattle (for meat and dairy).
About Quebec
Which is the largest river in Quebec?
To understand Quebec, you need to understand its water. Please look at the map and find the rivers and lakes. Try to count them. Just joking – there are over a million lakes and thousands of rivers. Quebec holds 2% of fresh water on planet Earth. What can so much water give you? Hydroelectricity. What else? Trees can grow. How do you call many trees growing together? Forest. How do you call the industry? Forestry. What can you make from trees? Pulp and then paper.
What other natural riches does Quebec have and share with Ontario? The Canadian Shield, which means mining industry is big (iron, zinc, gold, silver, etc.) In Ontario, they mine a lot of gold, nickel and copper.
What language is spoken by three-quarters of people in Quebec?
What is the population of Quebec? (please google because the numbers always change)
What is number one city in the world where people speak French? Paris. What is number two? Montreal. Think about French culture, what comes to mind? French food, French films, French literature and music. All of these are available in Quebec.
All the above are nature and history. Anything modern, you ask? There are some major universities and medical schools located here so aerospace (aeronautics), pharmaceuticals, science and technology are all major industries.
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Historically, Ontario was called ‘Upper Canada’ and Quebec was called ‘Lower Canada’. The two provinces are called ‘Central Canada’ because they are the financial and economic center of the country.
PRAIRIE PROVINCES
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta
What is the capital of Alberta? What is Alberta’s second largest city (after Calgary)?
What is the capital of Saskatchewan? Where do they train RCMP officers?
What is the capital of Manitoba? What large lake is located near the capital?
WEST COAST
British Columbia
What is the capital of British Columbia? Which city is located on the island?
Why is this region called ‘The West Coast’?
To understand British Columbia, you need to understand its geography. Please look at the map and locate Vancouver and Victoria. Which ocean borders Canada on the west? Pa…. Ok, good. Now, how do we call a city that is located near the water and where the big ships come and go loaded with goods? That’s right, it’s called ‘a port’. In French, ‘port’ actually means ‘door’, so Vancouver is our door to Asia-Pacific.
So, what do we buy and sell through this largest and busiest port in Canada? About half of B.C. is covered with forest, so we mainly trade forestry products (lumber, newsprint, pulp and paper).
However, some of the trees cannot be cut – they are protected in the 600 provincial parks here (that’s more parks than any other province). British Columbia is known to have warmer weather in winter than the rest of Canada. To find out why, you would have to look at the map. What do you see on the border of British Columbia and Alberta? Rocky Mountains. The mountains protect the province like a huge wall so that the cold wind from the Prairies cannot reach here. Vancouver has its mountains too. Because of these stone walls, the climate here is mild and the trees grow very tall. But it’s not just trees that grow here: the Okanagan Valley is known for its fruit orchards and the wine industry.
Vancouver is also known for its salmon fishing – there are several big rivers near the city. Do you like salmon?
We’ve already discussed the mountains in relationship to the weather. Mountains bring us more than just the milder weather – they are rich in minerals and coal. B.C. is an important producer of copper, gold, silver, lead and zinc. This industry is called mining.
Vancouver is sometimes given a funny name ‘Hongcouver’. Can you guess why? If you ever visit this city, you will understand why: about 30% of population here is of Chinese origin. Chinese and Punjabi are the most spoken languages here after English.
If on the test you get a question “Which city is the headquarters of the navy’s Pacific fleet?”, the answer is Victoria. The province’s capital is located on the island (called ‘Vancouver Island’) and has a large number of beautiful historic buildings that attract tourists. Victoria is nicknamed ‘The Garden City” because the roses here can bloom all year round – there is no snow in winter.
ATLANTIC REGION
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador
What is the capital of Nova Scotia? Where did the largest artificial explosion happen in 1917?
What is the capital of New Brunswick? Which area was first settled by French (Fre-) and then later renamed by English into ‘Frederick’s Town’?
What is the capital of Prince Edward Island? In the smallest province known for the story of a poor little girl of ‘Anne of Green Gables’, which city was named after the Queen Charlotte?
What is the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador? Which lucky city, incorporated in 1888, was lucky to be located so far out east that John Cabot himself is said to have sailed into its harbor?
NORTH
Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut
What is the capital of Yukon? In 1890s, people on horses came to this coldest place covered with snow with one dream: to find gold.
What is the capital of Nunavut? This city, which used to be called ‘Frobisher Bay’ is now called ‘place of many fish‘ because Inuit people used to fish here for many thousands of years.
What is the capital of Northwest Territories? What’s the colour of copper? Aboriginal people used to trade copper knives and other tools made of copper but now this city is known as ‘the diamond capital of North America’.