num_pages: 701
description: Canada occupies most of the northern half of the North American continent, but is inhabited by less than an eighth of the population of its southern neighbor, the United States. Far from being crowded, it can afford to expand. A member of the British Commonwealth, it enjoys an abundance of natural resources and a network of trade relationships that have assured it a high standard of living, exemplified by its system of social insurance and a 99% rate of literacy. For the future of Canada, the prospects look bright.Yet Canada suffers from the same problems of overexploitation and pollution being experienced today throughout the industrialized world, and its economy is inextricably linked to and dependent on the economies of its larger trading partners. While there is little poverty in its cities, Canada has a sizable population of indigenous peoples whose standard of living falls far below the average, and whose territorial rights are a matter of ongoing friction and dispute. The danger of division inherent in its historically bilingual culture is another of Canada's perpetual concerns.Canada, the seventh volume in the series of Handbooks to the Modern World, opens a window on the inner workings of this important nation and illuminates its current crises and controversies. In addition to a valuable compendium of basic but otherwise hard-to-find information, which includes maps and statistical tables relating to each of the federation's ten provinces and two territories, thirty-five eminent Canadian scholars provide an up-to-date overview of Canada in all its significant aspects.Two major essays that comprise the historical section - Kenneth McNaught's " An Historical Overview" and R. Douglas Francis's "Regionalism and the Regions" - add depth to our understanding of how Canada took the shape that it did and came to be one of the world's great economic powers. In the political section, Canada's governmental system - a parliamentary democracy - is examined in such essays as Gerald L. Gall's "The Canadian Constitution and Legal System" and William Christian's "Political Parties." The bilingual question - with 70% of Canadians speaking English, 20% French and the rest bilingual - is addressed in Peter Lyon's "Canada, the Commonwealth, and La Francophonie" and Pierre Fournier's "Quebec." With regard to economics, there are in-depth examinations of the subject such as Alex N. McLeod's "Banking and Finance" and Anthony Masi's "Industry and Technology." And in the final section dealing with social issues, there are especially relevant treatments of contemporary concerns in such articles as G. Bruce Doern's "Energy" and Dixon Thompson's "Environment." There is also an indispensable essay on Canada's "Indigenous Peoples" by the volume's editor, Mel Watkins.Altogether, there is an extraordinary amount of new and relevant information between this compact volume's covers. For teacher, student researcher, civil servant and diplomat, for anyone with a genuine interest in the reality of today's Canada and the challenges it faces, this volume will prove to be an invaluable resource.
language: English
title: Canada
titlecomplete: Canada (Handbooks to the Modern World)
ratings_count: 2
publisher: Facts on File