Central Canada (French: Centre du Canada, sometimes the Central provinces) is a Canadian region consisting of Ontario and Quebec, the largest and most populous provinces of the country.[4] Geographically, they are not at the centre of Canada but instead overlap with Eastern Canada toward the east. Because of their large populations, Ontario and Quebec have traditionally held a significant amount of political power in Canada, leading to some amount of resentment from other regions of the country. Before Confederation, the term "Canada" specifically referred to Central Canada. Today, the term "Central Canada" is less often used than the names of the individual provinces.
Ontario, Canada's fourth largest subdivision (after Nunavut, Quebec, and the Northwest Territories), had, at the 2021 Canadian census, a land area of 892,411.76 km2 (344,562.11 sq mi)[1] (10.15 per cent of Canada and the fifth largest after Nunavut, Quebec, the Northwest Territories, and British Columbia) and as of 2017, there was 177,390 km2 (68,490 sq mi)[2] (21.55 per cent of Canada and the second largest after Quebec) of fresh water, for a total area of 1,069,801.76 km2 (413,052.77 sq mi) (11.13 per cent of Canada).
Quebec, Canada's second largest subdivision and largest province, had, at the 2021 Canadian census, a land area of 1,298,599.75 km (806,912.47 mi)[1] (14.78 per cent of Canada and the second largest after Nunavut), and as of 2017, there was 183,890 km2 (71,000 sq mi)[3] (22.34 per cent and the largest in Canada) of fresh water, for a total area of 1,482,489.75 km2 (572,392.49 sq mi) (15.42 per cent of Canada).
Together the two provinces have a land area of 2,191,011.51 km2 (845,954.27 sq mi) (24.93 per cent), 361,280.00 km2 (139,490.99 sq mi) (43.89 per cent) fresh water for a total area of 2,552,291.51 km2 (985,445.26 sq mi) (26.55 per cent).[1][2][3]
Despite the rarity of mountainous terrain in the province, there are large areas of uplands, particularly within the Canadian Shield which traverses the province from northwest to southeast and also above the Niagara Escarpment which crosses the south. The highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693 metres (2,274 ft) above sea level in Temagami, Northeastern Ontario. In the south, elevations of over 500 m (1,640 ft) are surpassed near Collingwood, above the Blue Mountains in the Dundalk Highlands and in hilltops near the Madawaska River in Renfrew County.
The Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern region of the province. The temperate and fertile Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Valley in the south is part of the Eastern Great Lakes lowland forestsecoregion where the forest has now been largely replaced by agriculture, industrial and urban development. A well-known geographic feature is Niagara Falls, part of the Niagara Escarpment. The Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario covers approximately 87% of the province's surface area; conversely, Southern Ontario contains 94% of the population.
Point Pelee is a peninsula of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario (near Windsor and Detroit, Michigan) that is the southernmost extent of Canada's mainland. Pelee Island and Middle Island in Lake Erie extend slightly farther. All are south of 42°N – slightly farther south than the northern border of California.
Located in the eastern part of Canada, Quebec occupies a territory nearly three times the size of France or Texas. Most of Quebec is very sparsely populated.[8] The most populous physiographic region is the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands. The combination of rich soils and the lowlands' relatively warm climate makes this valley the most prolific agricultural area of Quebec. The rural part of the landscape is divided into narrow rectangular tracts of land that extend from the river and date back to the seigneurial system.
Quebec's topography is very different from one region to another due to the varying composition of the ground, the climate, and the proximity to water. More than 95% of Quebec's territory, including the Labrador Peninsula, lies within the Canadian Shield.[9] It is generally a quite flat and exposed mountainous terrain interspersed with higher points such as the Laurentian Mountains in southern Quebec, the Otish Mountains in central Quebec and the Torngat Mountains near Ungava Bay. While low and medium altitude peaks extend from western Quebec to the far north, high altitudes mountains emerge in the Capitale-Nationale region to the extreme east. Quebec's highest point at 1,652 metres (5,420 ft) is Mont d'Iberville, known in English as Mount Caubvick.[10] In the Labrador Peninsula portion of the Shield, the far northern region of Nunavik includes the Ungava Peninsula and consists of flat Arctic tundra inhabited mostly by the Inuit. Further south is the Eastern Canadian Shield taiga ecoregion and the Central Canadian Shield forests. The Appalachian region has a narrow strip of ancient mountains along the southeastern border of Quebec.[11]
The public lands of Quebec cover approximately 92% of its territory, including almost all of the bodies of water. Protected areas can be classified into about twenty different legal designations (ex. exceptional forest ecosystem, protected marine environment, national park, biodiversity reserve, wildlife reserve, zone d'exploitation contrôlée (ZEC), etc.).[16] More than 2,500 sites in Quebec today are protected areas.[17] As of 2013, protected areas comprise 9.14% of Quebec's territory.[18]
Population
Ontario and Quebec are the two most populous provinces in Canada, accounting for 61.43 per cent of Canada's population.[1] As of the 2021 census conducted by Statistics Canada there were 22,725,775 people in the two provinces, and represented an increase of 5.1 per cent over the 2016 census figure of 21,612,855 people.[1] The land area was 2,191,011.51 km2 (845,954.27 sq mi) giving a population density of 10.4/km2 (26.9/sq mi).[1]
The median age of Ontario was 41.6, identical to Canada as a whole, and Quebec's population was slightly older at 43.2.[19]
They are represented in the House of Commons of Canada by 199 Members of Parliament (Ontario: 121, Quebec: 78) out of a total of 338.[20] The southern portions of the two provinces — particularly the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor — are the most urbanized and industrialized areas of Canada, containing the country's two largest cities, Toronto and Montreal, the national capital, Ottawa, and the National Capital Region.
^"Natural History of Quebec". A description of the natural history of the province. McGill University. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
^Claude Morneau, Ph. D.; Pierre-Luc Couillard, ing.f., Ph. D.; Jason Laflamme, ing.f., M. Sc; Mélanie Major, ing.f., M. Sc.; Valérie Roy, t.a.a.g. (10 June 2021). "Ecological classification of Quebec territory"(PDF). Quebec Gouvernement (in French). Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks - Forest Inventories Directorate. pp. 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11 of 16. Retrieved 21 June 2024. The ecological classification of Quebec territory consists of mapping and description of ecological units at various levels of perception between the continental scale and that of the landscape{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Commission de toponymie du Québec. "Réservoir de Caniapiscau" (in French). Government of Quebec. Archived from the original on 20 September 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2010.
^"Protected areas in Quebec". Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment, Wildlife and Parks. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
^"Protected areas in Quebec"(PDF). Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks. 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
^"Register of protected areas". Ministry of Development Sustainable, Environment, Wildlife and Parks. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
