Canada is divided into provinces and territories, each of which have their own government, which in turn are overseen by the federal government in Ottawa. International students can only benefit from this. The country is extremely large, but due to its geographically northern location, much of the land is sparsely populated, is farmed or remains in a state of natural growth. Most of the relatively small population is clustered along the southern border with the United States. Ontario is the most populated province, with British Columbia and Quebec behind that.
Canadian cities are remarkable in that they are never far from the rural areas.
Even with massive urban sprawl, like in Toronto, you can get out of the city in under an hour and into beautiful cottage country and farmland. Large cities, like Toronto, are full of excitement, big business and cultural life and are host to many many different ethnicities. But, with such a large country of course the weather is variable across the nation. In the southernmost areas of Ontario and Quebec, long winters give way to months of gloriously hot weather in the summer. In Vancouver and Victoria, in southern British Columbia, rain usually takes the place of snow.