Canada

Canada //__ ~Trade with U.S.: __// __ [|Canada’s largest trading partner] is America, and [|America’s largest trading partner] is Canada__ // - Canadian Exports to U.S.://// Petroleum products, passenger cars, car parts & accessories, assembled cars, aluminum, lumber, finishing materials, plastics, telecommunications, engines & parts, sugar, zinc, precious metals, oil field drilling equipment, copper, medicinal/dental & pharmaceutical preparations, and nickel. // // - Canadian Imports from U.S.://// Vehicle parts & accessories, passenger cars, trucks/buses & special purpose vehicles, industrial machines, engines & parts, plastics, electric apparatus, computer accessories, industrial engines, iron & steel mill products, copper, gold, natural gas liquids, nuclear fuels materials, specialized mining, non-ferrous metals, and precious metals. // -__Canada has trade barriers between provinces→ motivate to trade w/ U.S. instead of w/in provinces__ -The 1988 Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, supplemented by NAFTA in 1994, gave companies/workers in Canada greater access to the U.S. and Mexican markets than w/in markets of Canadian provinces. The economies of scale that came from access to more than 400 million consumers to the south dramatically boosted Canada’s productivity and annually increased Canadian GDP—but the U.S. has improved in both categories as well, and Canada has yet to close the gap. __~International trade__: __Canada is a member of the NAFTA.__ The top three import partners of Canada are: the U.S.A, China and Japan. Canada mainly imports vehicles, machines and electronic equipment. The top three export partners are: the U.S.A., Japan and the U.K. The country mainly exports mineral fuels & oils, vehicles, machinery, and electric & electronic equipment. __~Industry/Services prevalent__: agriculture, fishing, mineral production (largest source of nickel, zinc, and uranium in the world), use of reserves of oil and natural gas. Services: telocommunications, tourism, financial services, internet, aeronautics. __~Immigration:__ -Canada has immigrants from practically every country in the world. Welcomes more than 200,000 new immigrants annually. Multiculturalism is promoted by both the federal and provincial governments to help maintain this unique "melting pot". - Estimates range between 35,000 and 120,000 [|illegal immigrants] in Canada. Canada has lost track of as many as 41,000 illegal immigrants (A 2008 report by the [|Auditor General] [|Sheila Fraser] ) __~Government Structure: [|Federation] composed of 10 [|provinces] and 3 [|territories], [|grouped into regions] .__ Provinces have [|more autonomy] than territories. -Provinces are responsible for most social programs; together collect more revenue than the fed gov -Fed gov can initiate national policies in provinces, which can opt out of these but rarely do so. - [|Equalization payments] are made by the fed gov to ensure that reasonably uniform services and -All provinces have [|unicameral], elected [|legislatures] headed by a [|Premier]. Each province also has a [|Lieutenant-Governor] representing the Queen. The Lieutenant-Governor is appointed on the recommendation of the PM. __~Geography:__ - [|Western Canada] = [|British Columbia] and the [|Prairie provinces] ( [|Alberta], [|Saskatchewan] , and [|Manitoba] ). - [|Central Canada] = [|Quebec] and [|Ontario]. - [|Atlantic Canada] = the [|Maritime provinces] ( [|New Brunswick], [|Prince Edward Island] , and [|Nova Scotia] ) + [|Newfoundland and Labrador]. - [|Eastern Canada] = Central Canada and Atlantic Canada together. - [|Northern Canada] = [|Yukon], [|Northwest Territories] , and [|Nunavut] __~Extra:__ __-__When asked to name the country that stands out as a negative force in the world, the U.S. was cited most often (52 per cent). Iran was next at 21 per cent. (Poll in 2008) Election and politics: North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( [|NATO] ) members France, Germany and Canada together with Russia, were opposed to military intervention in Iraq due to the high level of risk to the international community's security and defended disarmament through diplomacy __~Iraqi War:__ Publicly does not support it, but aids U.S. in other ways (training, trading weapons/supplies) -Reason for not supporting: international law and not enough time for due process