Query: While France and other G7 countries lamented the U.S. exit from the Paris climate accord, America’s air is already cleaner than that of any other country in the G7, except Canada with its scant population.

Relevant passages:
Canada <=SEP=> Canada ( -LSB- ˈkænədə -RSB- -LSB- kanadɑ -RSB- ) is a country in the northern part of North America . Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean , covering 9.98 e6km2 , making it the world 's second-largest country by total area and the fourth-largest country by land area . Canada 's border with the United States is the world 's longest binational land border . The majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate , but southerly areas are warm in summer . Canada is sparsely populated , the majority of its land territory being dominated by forest and tundra and the Rocky Mountains . It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities , many near the southern border . One third of the population lives in the three largest cities : Toronto , Montreal and Vancouver . Its capital is Ottawa , and other major urban areas include Calgary , Edmonton , Quebec City , Winnipeg and Hamilton .   Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization . Beginning in the 16th century , British and French claims were made on the area , with the colony of Canada first being established by the French in 1535 during Jacques Cartier 's second voyage to New France . As a consequence of various conflicts , Great Britain gained and lost territories within British North America until it was left , in the late 18th century , with what mostly geographically comprises Canada today . Pursuant to the British North America Act , on July 1 , 1867 , the colonies of Canada , New Brunswick , and Nova Scotia joined to form the semi-autonomous federal Dominion of Canada . This began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada .   In 1931 , Canada achieved near total independence from the United Kingdom with the Statute of Westminster 1931 , but at the time , Canada decided to allow the British Parliament to temporarily retain the power to amend Canada 's constitution , on request from the Parliament of Canada . With the Constitution Act 1982 , Canada took over that authority ( as the conclusion of Patriation ) , removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom , giving the country full sovereignty .   Canada is a federal parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy , with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state . The country is officially bilingual at the federal level . It is one of the world 's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations , the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries . Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world , relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks . Canada 's long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture .   Canada is a developed country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index . It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency , civil liberties , quality of life , economic freedom , and education . Canada is a Commonwealth realm member of the Commonwealth of Nations , a member of the Francophonie , and part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations , the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the G8 , the Group of Ten , the G20 , the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum .

United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement <=SEP=> On June 1, 2017, United States President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation, and begin negotiations to re-enter the agreement "on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its taxpayers," or form a new agreement. In withdrawing from the agreement, Trump stated that "The Paris accord will undermine (the U.S.) economy," and "puts (the U.S.) at a permanent disadvantage." Trump stated that the withdrawal would be in accordance with his America First policy. In accordance with Article 28 of the Paris Agreement, a country cannot give notice of withdrawal from the agreement before three years of its start date in the relevant country, which was on November 4, 2016 in the case of the United States. The White House later clarified that the U.S. will abide by the four-year exit process. On November 4, 2019, the administration gave a formal notice of intention to withdraw, which takes 12 months to take effect.  Until the withdrawal took effect, the United States was obligated to maintain its commitments under the Agreement, such as the requirement to continue reporting its emissions to the United Nations. The withdrawal took effect on November 4, 2020, one day after the 2020 U.S. presidential election.While celebrated by some members of the Republican Party, international reactions to the withdrawal were overwhelmingly negative from across the political spectrum, and the decision received substantial criticism from religious organizations, businesses, political leaders of all parties, environmentalists, and scientists and citizens from the United States and internationally.Following Trump's announcement, the governors of several U.S. states formed the United States Climate Alliance to continue to advance the objectives of the Paris Agreement at the state level despite the federal withdrawal. As of July 1, 2019, 24 states, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico have joined the alliance, and similar commitments have also been expressed by other state governors, mayors, and businesses.Trump's withdrawal from the Paris agreement will impact other countries by reducing its financial aid to the Green Climate fund. The termination of the $3 billion U.S. funding will ultimately impact climate change research and decrease society's chance of reaching the Paris Agreement goals, as well as omit U.S. contributions to the future IPCC reports. Trump's decision will also affect the carbon emission space as well as the carbon price. The U.S.'s withdrawal will also mean that the spot to take over the global climate regime will be obtainable for China and the EU.President-elect Joe Biden vowed to rejoin the Paris Agreement on his first day in office.

France <=SEP=> France ( -LSB- fʁɑ̃s -RSB- ) , officially the French Republic ( -LSB- ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz -RSB- ) , is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories . The European , or metropolitan , area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea , and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean . Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic , Pacific and Indian oceans . France spans 643801 km2 and had a total population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017 . It is a unitary semi-presidential republic with the capital in Paris , the country 's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre . Other major urban centres include Marseille , Lyon , Lille , Nice , Toulouse and Bordeaux .   During the Iron Age , what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls , a Celtic people . The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome , which held Gaul until 486 , when the Germanic Franks conquered the region and formed the Kingdom of France . France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages , with its victory in the Hundred Years ' War ( 1337 to 1453 ) strengthening state-building and political centralisation . During the Renaissance , French culture flourished and a global colonial empire was established , which by the 20th century would be the second largest in the world . The 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Catholics and Protestants ( Huguenots ) . France became Europe 's dominant cultural , political , and military power under Louis XIV . In the late 18th century , the French Revolution overthrew the absolute monarchy , established one of modern history 's earliest republics , and saw the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , which expresses the nation 's ideals to this day .   In the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire , whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe . Following the collapse of the Empire , France endured a tumultuous succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870 . France was a major participant in the First World War , from which it emerged victorious , and was one of the Allied Powers in the Second World War , but came under occupation by the Axis Powers in 1940 . Following liberation in 1944 , a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War . The Fifth Republic , led by Charles de Gaulle , was formed in 1958 and remains to this day . Algeria and nearly all the other colonies became independent in the 1960s and typically retained close economic and military connections with France .   France has long been a global centre of art , science , and philosophy . It hosts Europe 's fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually , the most of any country in the world . France is a developed country with the world 's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity . In terms of aggregate household wealth , it ranks fourth in the world . France performs well in international rankings of education , health care , life expectancy , and human development . France remains a great power in the world , being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state . It is a leading member state of the European Union and the Eurozone . It is also a member of the Group of 7 , North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) , Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ) , the World Trade Organization ( WTO ) , and La Francophonie .