Ontario.—This province is a peninsula bordered by Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario. Farming is the chief employment, and barley is an important product. Most of it is used in the manufacture of malt, and "Canada malt" is regarded as the best. Several of the trunk railways whose terminals are in the United States traverse this peninsula. Toronto, the capital and commercial centre, is one of the most rapidly growing cities of North America. Hamilton owes its existence to its harbor and position at the head of Lake Ontario. Ottawa is the capital of the Dominion. At Sudbury are the nickel-mines that are among the most productive in the world.
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.—These provinces include the level prairie lands of the Saskatchewan and the Red River of the North. They comprise the great grain-field of Canada. A considerable part of the wheat-growing lands are yet unproductive owing to the lack of railways. Much of the product is carried to market by the Canadian Pacific and its feeders, but a considerable part finds its way to the Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads. The coal of Manitoba and Alberta is an important fuel supply not only to the provinces and states surrounding, but to the railways above named. A good quality of anthracite coal is also mined in Alberta. Winnipeg, the metropolis of the region, is one of the great railway centres of Canada.
British Columbia.—British Columbia, the Pacific coast province, has several resources of great value. The gold mines led to its settlement and commercial opening. The salmon-fisheries are surpassed by those of the United States only. The beds of lignite coal have produced a very large part of the coal used in the Pacific coast States. The forests produce lumber for shipment both to the Atlantic coast of America and the Pacific coast of Asia.
Vancouver, the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, is connected with various Asian ports by fast steamships. Nanaimo, Wellington, and Commox are the centres of the coal-mining industry. The copper-mines at Rossland produce most of the copper mined in Canada.
Newfoundland.—Although a Crown possession, Newfoundland is not a member of the Dominion of Canada. The extensive fisheries are its chief resource. The Labrador coast, which is used as a resort for curing and preserving the catch, is attached to Newfoundland for the purpose of government. St. Johns is the capital.
The islands of Miquelon and St. Pierre, south of Newfoundland, are a French possession. Fishing is the ostensible industry, but a great deal of smuggling is carried on.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
What, if any, climatic or topographic boundaries separate Canada and the United States?
Which of the two countries is the more fortunately situated for the production of food-stuffs?
Which will support the larger population?—why?