Provinces and territories

Main article: Provinces and territories of Canada

See also: Canadian federalism

Political map of Canada showing its 10

provinces and 3 territories[259]
Canada is a federation composed of 10 federated states, called provinces, and
three federal territories. In turn, these may be grouped into four main
regions: Western Canada, Central Canada, Atlantic Canada, and Northern
Canada (Eastern Canada refers to Central Canada and Atlantic Canada together).
[260]
Provinces and territories have responsibility for social programs such
as healthcare, education, and welfare,[261] as well as administration of justice (but not
criminal law). Together, the provinces collect more revenue than the federal
government, a rarity among other federations in the world. Using its spending
powers, the federal government can initiate national policies in provincial areas such
as health and child care; the provinces can opt out of these cost-share programs but
rarely do so in practice. Equalization payments are made by the federal government
to ensure reasonably uniform standards of services and taxation are kept between
the richer and poorer provinces.[262]
The major difference between a Canadian province and a territory is that provinces
receive their sovereignty from the Crown[263] and power and authority from
the Constitution Act, 1867, whereas territorial governments have powers delegated to
them by the Parliament of Canada[264] and the commissioners represent the King in
his federal Council,[265] rather than the monarch directly. The powers flowing from
the Constitution Act, 1867, are divided between the federal government and the
provincial governments to exercise exclusively[266] and any changes to that
arrangement require a constitutional amendment, while changes to the roles and
powers of the territories may be performed unilaterally by the Parliament of Canada.
[267]

Economy