{ facts }
Canada – The GreaT
Population: 32,6 million Area: 9, 984, 670 sq km Capital: Ottawa Location: northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean; it shares land borders with the United States Major cities: Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg
The fLAg
The flag consists of two vertical bands of red with a white square between them and a red maple leaf centered in the white square. The design of the flag is based on a strong sense of Canadian history: red and white were proclaimed the official colours of Canada in 1921 by the British King George V. Canada’s aboriginal people had discovered the food properties of maple sap , which they gathered every spring. It grew in public consciousness as a symbol of the country. In 1965, it became a component of the national flag of Canada.
Canada’s nickname, “The Great White North,” is an accurate one: the Great Lakes are in the South (Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, and Lake Erie); Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories; and the Great Plains cover three of Canada’s Western provinces. Canada survived the Great Depression of 1933, and even at Canada’s Wonderland, the largest amusement park in the country (just outside of Toronto, Ontario), the most popular roller-coaster is named The Great Canadian Minebuster.
Canada truly is a land of great proportions and great variety. Starting in British Columbia on the West Coast, there are the majestic Rocky Mountains (Mount Logan in the Yukon is the highest peak at 5,959 metres). Moving eastward through the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan you will find the vast plateau of the Great Plains, rich with oil in some parts, and ideal for wheat farming in others.
Tourists from all over the world, who enjoy hiking, camping or mountain sports, visit the spectacular Rocky Mountains every year. There are several lovely national parks in the Canadian Rockies, the best-known of which are Banff and Jasper.
beautiful cities of Montreal and Quebec, which is the oldest city in Canada.
Toronto, the country’s largest city, and Ottawa, the capital city, are both situated in Ontario. There is an abundance of natural lakes and forests here. Further East into Quebec, the only province where French is the official language, you can visit the
The Atlantic provinces lie on the East Coast: New Brunswick has the distinction of being Canada’s only officially bilingual province. Prince Edward Island is the smallest province, and the only island province. In Nova Scotia, there are numerous small towns and friendly fishing villages, and the seat of the Canadian shipping industry in Halifax.
Those who live in the area between the Great Lakes experience seasonal extremes: the evaporation of the waters of the Great Lakes makes the air and temperature very humid in the summer, which makes it feel hotter than it actually is and provides a great thunderstorm from time to time. In the winter, that evaporated water has different results – large amounts of snow falls, sometimes enough to bury cars and trucks completely.
Newfoundland sits north of Quebec and the Atlantic provinces; it was the last province to enter Confederation in 1949, eighty-two years after Canadian Confederation began in 1867.
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WhiTe norTh
that Canada occupies! Most of Canada’s northern lands are hostile environments for living in: only the toughest can survive the harsh winters of the territories. Most Canadians live in larger cities and towns close to the southern border with the US. The US has traditionally been Canada’s number one trading partner, and the border between the two countries is the longest unprotected border in the world.
Because of the huge variety of landscapes in Canada, the climate is just as varied. The west and east coasts tend to have warmer winters and cooler
One of the most characteristic landmarks of Toronto, the largest city in Canada, located on the shore of Lake Ontario, is The City Hall of Toronto. The modernist building was designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell and opened in 1965.
In Canada’s northernmost area, three territories cover the frozen lands of ice and tundra: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Nunavut is Canada’s largest and newest dominion , created in 1999. The Inuit people have lived in the northern Canadian lands for centuries (Inuit used to be incorrectly and offensively referred to as “Eskimos”).
Canada is the second largest country in the world (after Russia). However, its population is small. Canada has only three times more people than the Czech Republic, yet you can fit 125 Czech Republics into the same area of land
The Canadian national animal is the beaver, which is less populous now than it used to be because of past trapping. Moose, bears (polar bears, grizzly bears, and black bears), foxes, wolves, seals, deer, and many different species of fish are among the other common wildlife of Canada.
Great
Bear
Lake
Yukon Nunavut
Mount
Logan Great
Slave
Lake
Labrador
G r e a t P l a i n s
British Alberta Manitoba Quebec
Columbia
Prince
Edward
Calgary Ontario Island
Vancouver Quebec Halifax
Winnipeg Montreal Nova Scotia
Victoria Ottawa
Toronto
Northwest
Territories
Great Lakes
Newfoundland
Saskatchewan New Brunswick
y MRockountains
Jeff Gulley (Canada)
Quebec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec. The city is divided between an Old Town, the only North American fortified city north of Mexico whose walls still exist (it was declared as the “Historic District of Old Quebec” in 1985), and districts with museums, cafes, and restaurants attracting international tourism.
summers, while the inland provinces experience the opposite.
Canada, which was formerly a dominion of the British Empire, is now one of fifty-three voluntary states of the British Commonwealth. Its government is a parliamentary democracy based on the British system; the head of government is the Prime Minister (currently Stephen Harper), and the head of state is the reigning British Monarch (currently Queen Elizabeth II). The British Monarch is represented in Canada officially as the Governor General (currently Michaëlle Jean).
Y Vocabulary
to extend [Ik”stEnd] - táhnout se, rozléhat se vertical band [“v@:tIk(@)l b&nd] - svislý pruh maple [“meIp(@)l] - javorový to proclaim [pr@“kleIm] - prohlásit aboriginal people [&b@“rIdZIn(@)l] - domorodí lidé property [“prQp@ti] - vlastnost sap [s&p] - míza to gather [“g&D@] - sbírat consciousness [“kQnS@snIs] - povědomí roller-coaster [“r@Ul@“k@Ust@] - horská dráha vast plateau [vA:st “pl&t@U] - rozhlehlá rovina rich with oil [rItS OIl] - bohatou na ropu wheat farming [wi:t] - pěstování pšenice abundance [@“bVnd(@)ns] - velké množství has the distinction of being [dI”stINkS(@)n] - se vyznačuje tím, že je bilingual [baI”lINgw(@)l] - dvojjazyčná dominion [d@“mInj@n] - oblast used to be… offensively referred to as [@“fEnsIvlI rI”f@:d] - byli… urážlivě nazýváni hostile [“hQstaIl] - nevlídný the toughest [tVfIst] - ti nejodolnější harsh [hA:S] - drsný, krutý tend to have [tEnd] - mívají evaporation [I%v&p@“reISn] - vypařování populous [“pQpj@l@s] - hojný
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