Canada

Canada ( ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION: [ˈkænədə] ; FRENCH PRONUNCIATION: [kanaˈdɑ] ), officially the Canadian Republic (French: République canadienne), is a country located in the northern part of North America. A federation of twelve provinces and four territories, the great majority of the country extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres. The southern half of the country is home to 99% of Canada's population, consisting of nine mainland provinces, three insular provinces, and the federal capital of Ottawa; the sparsely populated northern half of the country consists of three territories, while the Turks and Caicos Islands, Canada's fourth and only insular territory, are located southeast of The Bahamas and north of the West Indies near the Caribbean Sea. Mainland Canada's southern border with the United States is the world's longest bi-national land border, and is the only land border Canada shares with another sovereign state; it also shares maritime borders with Russia, Greenland, the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and The Bahamas.

As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, mainly near the southern border where the weather is most mild. Its three largest cities are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north to hot summers in the southern regions near the US border, with four distinct seasons; the Turks and Caicos Islands, the only part of Canada with a tropical climate, are a popular winter destination for Canadians from the mainland escaping the cold.

Various indigenous peoples have inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years before European colonization. Beginning in the 16th century, British and French expeditions explored and later established colonies along the Atlantic coast, the first being the Colony of Canada established by France in 1535. As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 to the British Empire. 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 confirmed by the Statute of Westminster of 1931, which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament. 1967 saw the introduction of a new flag, which continues today as the country's internationally recognised flag and ensign; however, it is still legal to fly the former flag, which includes a stylised maple leaf coat of arms charged on a red flag with the Union Jack at the canton, paying homage to the country's British heritage. On 1 July 1988, the Canadian Parliament passed the Acts of Republic simultaneously with complimentary legislation in the provinces, which ultimately Canadianized the head-of-state by severing the ties between the House of Windsor and the office of Governor-General, the latter of which was renamed President of Canada and made into a popularly elected office, while leaving the country's Westminster system intact. The offices of lieutenant-governor, which represented the monarch in each province, were abolished entirely, with the provincial premiers elevated to head of state of their respective province alongside their already-existing role as provincial head of government.

Canada is a federal parliamentary republic and a constitutional democracy, with an executive head of government called the prime minister, and a mostly ceremonial head of state called the president who is also commander-in-chief of the Canadian Armed Forces, informally known as the Canadian Forces. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the fourth-largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Canada's long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture; both countries continue to be each other's largest trading partners.

Canada is a developed country which has the world's tenth-highest Human Development Index value. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, and education. Canada is a realm within the Commonwealth of Nations, a member of the Francophonie (French language league), and part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations, the G7 (formerly G8), the Group of Ten, the G20, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Canada was also a founding member of the former North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which it exited formally in 2016 amid much controversy, in spite of the stated aim of the NATO exit being increased sovereignty for Canadian diplomatic and military relations abroad. Many groups in Canada, notably the Conservative Party, which currently forms the official opposition in the House of Commons, have expressed their desire to re-enter NATO, while others, including the ruling Republican Party as well as the Communist Party and New Democratic Party maintain a steadfast desire to remain out of NATO and allow Canada to pursue a truly independent foreign policy, which they see membership in NATO as hampering.