Canada (CWIC)


 * As much as possible, this article will abide by the "Don't Reproduce Wikipedia" policy. Other than the most basic and necessary information, it should only include information about Canada which is different from OTL as a result of the admission of the first West Indian provinces in 1961.

Canada is a transcontinental country in the Americas consisting of sixteen provinces, four territories and a federal district. Over 97% of Canada's 10.25 million square kilometres lies in northern North America, forming a region officially referred to as "Canada proper," which extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Along with a large and diverse group of Atlantic and Caribbean islands, two coastal provinces in Central and South America, bordering Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Suriname and Venezuela, form the remaining 2.5% of the country's territory, giving Canada a southernmost point of 01°11'N. Holding more surface water — almost 900,000km² — than any other state, Canada is the world's second-largest country by both land and total area. Its land border with the United States forms the longest bi-national boundary on Earth.

The land that is now Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French colonies were established on the region's Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various conflicts, the United Kingdom gained and lost North American territories until left, in the late 18th century, with what mostly comprises Canada proper today. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1, 1867, three colonies joined to form the autonomous federal Dominion of Canada. This began an accretion of provinces and territories to the new self-governing Dominion. In 1948, the Dominion of Newfoundland voted to join the Canadian Confederation, sparking a second period of expansion as Canada incorporated other former British colonies in the Americas. In 1931, Britain granted Canada near total independence with the Statute of Westminster; full sovereignty was attained when the Canada Act of 1982 severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament.

Canada is a federal parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, Queen Elizabeth II being the current head of state. 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 countries, with a population of approximately 40 million as of 2015. Its advanced economy is one of the 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.

Canada is a developed country and one of the wealthiest in the world, with the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally, and the eighth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, and education. Canada is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, and is furthermore part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings, including NATO, the G8, the Group of Ten, the G20, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the European Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

History

 * See main articles:, 

Law

 * See main article: 

Proposed redistricting
Division of the West Indian islands into provinces has proved troublesome. Even within the Caribbean, there are some pressure groups advocating distinct provincial status for each major island in the Lesser Antilles (potentially up to ten provinces or territories where currently there are only two), while others seek a union between Windward Province and the Leeward Territory which might give the united province greater sway in national affairs. Few, however, have suggested a reunification of Windward and Leeward into Trinidad Province, which included the entire Canadian Antilles from 1961 until 1967. The Cayman Islands, a perpetual attachment to Jamaica Province, have frequently sought a change in status, with some citizens favouring territorial status and others seeking union with Belize. At the provincial level, the Caymans would hold a far more significant position within less-populous Belize than they do within Jamaica — but federally, Belize is allocated only four Parliamentary seats to Jamaica's 24, so the likelihood of the Caymans continuing to form a single Parliamentary constituency under Belmopan is slim. Even Belize is not entirely secure in its status, with many advocating its union with Jamaica Province.

(Leeward)

Proposed additions to the Confederation
Official "Confederation policy" states that the Government of Canada shall never pursue the annexation of any foreign state or territory without a mandate from that territory's citizenry and an invitation from its government, which in turn must be democratically elected. Furthermore no territory may be annexed without Parliamentary approval of a government report on the predicted benefits the annexation will yield both for Canada and for the annexed territory.

Parliament is bound by convention to give "serious consideration and measured debate" to any proposal of annexation by a non-sovereign territory in the Caribbean region, ie. the Turks and Caicos Islands and the dependencies held by France, the Netherlands and the United States. None of these territories have ever sought union with Canada. The Turks and Caicos were a part of Jamaica Province for thirteen years until returning to the United Kingdom as an overseas territory in 1974, and currently still elect a non-voting delegate to the Canadian House of Commons. Should they rejoin the Confederation, they would likely become a part of Bahamas Province rather than return to the more distant Jamaica.

French Canadian political groups have frequently mentioned Haiti as a potential future province. Such an annexation would swell the numbers of Canada's Francophone population, but would also pose a significant financial problem to the federal government due to Haiti's far lower levels of development than any current Canadian province.

Senatorial regions
Since the first four provinces joined the Confederation in 1867, Canada has been a country defined by regionalism. The Canadian Senate was established with this regionalism in mind, as a chamber of "sober second thought" where regional interests should be given equal weight regardless of their populations — as opposed to the United States Senate, which grants equal representation to individual states, rather than regions. For senatorial purposes, the country is divided along provincial and territorial boundaries into three regions, each of which is allocated 24 seats. In addition, Ontario and Quebec, the two largest provinces, are regions in their own right and also receive 24 Senators each. Uniquely, Quebec's Senators are assigned to geographic districts, a measure first introduced to ensure roughly proportional representation for the province's anglophone and francophone communities. The ten remaining seats are distributed according to population among the five provinces and territories not included in any region.