Provinces and territories of Canada

Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North America—New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada (which upon Confederation was divided into Ontario and Quebec)—united to form a federation, becoming a fully independent country over the next century. Over its history, Canada's international borders have changed several times as it has added territories and provinces, making it the world's second-largest country by area.

The major difference between a Canadian province and a territory is that provinces receive their power and authority from the Constitution Act, 1867 (formerly^[1] called the British North America Act, 1867). Territories are federal territories whose governments are creatures of statute, with powers delegated to them by the Parliament of Canada. Powers are divided between the Government of Canada (the federal government) and the provincial governments by the Constitution Act, either exclusively or concurrently. A change to the division of powers between the federal government and the provinces requires a constitutional amendment. A similar change affecting the territories can be performed unilaterally by the government or Parliament of Canada.

In modern Canadian constitutional theory, the provinces are considered to be co-sovereign, based on the division of responsibility between the provincial and federal governments within the Constitution Act, 1867; each province thus has its own representative, the lieutenant governor, of the Canadian Crown. The territories are not sovereign but have their authorities and responsibilities devolved from the federal level; as a result, each has a commissioner who represents the federal government.