Did you know that Canada is the second-largest country in the world at 10 million square kilometers. It is only surpassed by Russia in terms of land size.
Canada’s border with the USA is the world’s longest land border, with hundreds of thousands of crossings (both ways) each day.
Canada touches three oceans – the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Arctic Ocean to the north. It contains ten provinces and three territories – the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.
Although physically large, there are only about 33 million of us here – that’s about 4 million less than the population of California.
So we have lots of space and relatively few people. If you like to get away from it all, it’s tough to beat Canada.
Main Cities
The major cities of Canada (from West to East) are Vancouver (British Columbia), Edmonton, Calgary (Alberta), Saskatoon (Saskatchewan), Winnipeg (Manitoba), Toronto, Ottawa (Ontario), Montreal (Quebec), Fredericton (New Brunswick), Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island), Halifax (Nova Scotia), St. John’s (Newfoundland). I’ll discuss each city in more detail in future.
Vancouver
Vancouver is probably best known as the home of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games which took place not only in Vancouver, but also in Whistler, one of Canada’s premier skiing destinations, about an hour’s drive from Vancouver.
Vancouver is located on British Columbia’s west coast, tucked between the coastal mountains and the Pacific Ocean. This limited geography means that Vancouver has some of the highest property prices in Canada. However, you can still enjoy Vancouver by moving to a bedroom community such as Surrey, Burnaby, Coquitlam, New Westminster and others, where house prices are less, and transportation into Vancouver is easy.
Vancouver has a mild climate, matched only by other coastal communities (such as Victoria, the capital of British Columbia). Summers are warm but rarely uncomfortably hot. However, winters are wet and grey, with long periods of rain and cloud cover, though it rarely goes below freezing unlike most of the rest of Canada. Vancouver’s mild winters are what draws immigrants to this city (and surrounding cities) as a top immigration destination.
Ottawa
Ottawa (located in the Province of Ontario) is the capital city of Canada. It is one of the most culturally rich city in terms of Canadian history, museums and monuments. For example, the Canadian Museum of Civiliation, the Museum of Nauture, the Museum of Science and Technology and the Canada War Museum are all located in Canada. In addition, Ottawa has the very popular Byward Market where vendors sell their wares.
Ottawa is not a top three immigrant destination, however, it has a lot to offer new Canadians including reasonable housing prices.
Toronto
Toronto is Canada’s center of business and commerce. It is located in Ontario and is also Canada’s largest city with a population of 2.7 million people and is located on the north shore of Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes.
I’ll continue to add to this page in the future with interesting facts about Canada.
