Quebec
Québec, formerly known as Lower Canada, is the largest province in Canada geographically, and the second most populous after Ontario. The capital of Québec is Québec City. The largest city in Québec is Montréal. Quebec entered Confederation in 1867. It has a total area of 1,540,680 km2, The per capita provincial income in 1991 was $21,954 (Cdn).[1] The Population of Quebec was 7,546,131 in 2006, approximately 23.4% of the national total.[2] Quebec traces its roots to French colonization of Canada prior to the English conquest of Canada during the French in the French and Indian Wars. Quebec still retains much of the French culture.
The official language of the province is French, although many residents are bilingual, speaking both French and English.
On May 20th, 1980 a seperatist government held a referendum on declaring independance from Canada. This was defeated by a 60% to 40% vote. A second referendum was held on October 31 1995 and saw the separatist side lose again, but by less than two percentage points.
The seperatist movement has wained recently, and since 2003 Québec has been governed by a Pro-Federalist Party. On March 26, 2007, the Liberal Party of Québec, led by Jean Charest, was elected to a minority government, with Mario Dumont's Action Démocratique Québec forming the official opposition. The former official opposition, the Parti Québecois led by André Boisclair, exited the election in third place.
References
- â [Reader's Digest Atlas of Canada, 1995, pg52]
- â Canadaonline