Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867 while retaining ties to the British crown.

Economically and technologically, the nation has developed in parallel with the United States, its neighbor to the south across the world’s longest unfortified border.

Canada faces the political challenges of meeting public demands for quality improvements in health care, education, social services and economic competitiveness, as well as responding to the particular concerns of predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec.

• Canada is made up of 10 provinces and three territories; Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Yukon.

• Its constitution is made up of unwritten and written acts, customs, judicial decisions, and traditions; the written part of the constitution consists of the Constitution Act of March 29, 1867, which created a federation of four provinces, and the Constitution Act of April 17, 1982, which transferred formal control over the constitution from Britain to Canada and added a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as procedures for constitutional amendments.

• As an affluent, high-tech industrial society in the trillion-dollar class, Canada resembles the United States in its market-oriented economic system, pattern of production and affluent living standards. Since World War II, the impressive growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy into one primarily industrial and urban.

• The 1989 U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (which includes Mexico) touched off a dramatic increase in trade and economic integration with the United States, its principal trading partner. Canada enjoys a substantial trade surplus with the U.S., which absorbs about three-fourths of Canadian exports each year.

• Canada is the United States’ largest foreign supplier of energy, including oil, gas, uranium, and electric power. Given its great natural resources, highly skilled labor force, and modern capital plant, Canada enjoyed solid economic growth from 1993 through 2007.

Buffeted by the global economic crisis, the economy dropped into a sharp recession in the final months of 2008, and Ottawa posted its first fiscal deficit in 2009 after 12 years of surplus. Canada’s major banks, however, emerged from the financial crisis of 2008-09 among the strongest in the world, owing to the financial sector’s tradition of conservative lending practices and strong capitalization. Canada achieved marginal growth in 2010 and 2011 and plans to balance the budget by 2015.

In addition, the country’s petroleum sector is rapidly becoming an even larger economic driver with Alberta’s oil sands significantly boosting Canada’s proven oil reserves, ranking the country third in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

SOURCE: The CIA World Fact Book