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Vancouver :

Diverse in nature and culture

Vancouver is consistently rated one of the most livable cities in the world, and it doesn’t take visitors long to see why: the city enjoys a stunning natural setting, a mild climate (by Canadian standards), and a diverse, progressive, cosmopolitan population.

It’s been said that in Vancouver, you can surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon – and indeed, one of the best ways to experience the city is to get outdoors. Visitors can walk, bike, or jog in the enormous waterfront Stanley Park, ski the North Shore Mountains, indulge in almost any type of water sport on the city’s Pacific shoreline, or lounge on its many beaches.

The world-famous ski resort at Whistler, which will co-host the 2010 Winter Olympics with Vancouver, is within reach as well. After exhausting themselves outdoors, visitors can choose from the city’s range of restaurants, where Vancouver’s diversity – more than fifty percent of the population speaks a first language other than English – makes itself felt. Try Chinatown or the Punjabi Market to taste the city’s cultural variety. Vancouver is also a great place to learn more about the aboriginal peoples of the Pacific Northwest at the University of British Columbia’s renowned Museum of Anthropology.

According to the 2006 Census, the city of Vancouver had a population of 578,041 and Metro Vancouver 2,116,581. As of July 2009, the city’s estimated population was 615,473 and that of the metropolitan area, 2,318,200. Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area in Western Canada and the third largest in the country, although as a municipality it is ranked eighth nationally. Vancouver is ethnically diverse, with 52% of city residents having a first language other than English.
Prior to the 1980s, the economy of Vancouver had traditionally relied on British Columbia’s resource sectors: forestry, mining, fishing and agriculture. It has diversified over the past 30 years, however. Today its second largest industry, after forestry, is tourism, and it has become the third-largest film production centre in North America after Los Angeles and New York City, earning it the nickname Hollywood North.

|Source:Wikipedia + tripwolf.com

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Canada :

Canada is a federation composed of ten provinces and three territories; in turn, these may be grouped into regions. Western Canada consists of British Columbia and the three Prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba). Central Canada consists of Quebec and Ontario. Atlantic Canada consists of the three Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia), along with Newfoundland and Labrador. Eastern Canada refers to Central Canada and Atlantic Canada together. Three territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut) make up Northern Canada. Provinces have more autonomy than territories. Each has its own provincial or territorial symbols.

The provinces are responsible for most of Canada’s social programs (such as health care, education, and welfare) and together collect more revenue than the federal government, an almost unique structure among federations in the world. Using its spending powers, the federal government can initiate national policies in provincial areas, such as the Canada Health Act; the provinces can opt out of these, but rarely do so in practice. Equalization payments are made by the federal government to ensure that reasonably uniform standards of services and taxation are kept between the richer and poorer provinces

The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal people. 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.

A federation comprising ten provinces and three territories, Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. It is a bilingual and multicultural country, with both English and French as official languages both at the federal level and in the province of New Brunswick. Technologically advanced and industrialized, Canada has a diversified economy reliant upon its abundant natural resources and upon trade—particularly with the United States, with which Canada has had a long and complex relationship.

 

Source:Wikipedia

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