Canada today marks National Day

Chisinau, 1 July /MOLDPRES/ - Canada today marks its National Day. This is a state in North America, which comprises the islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, as well as the islands Newfoundland, Vancouver and others. The country is surrounded by waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans.    

Canada has an area of 9.97 million square KM and a population of more than 35 million residents. It is the second largest state of the world in terms of area after Russia. Canada’s territory is organized in ten provinces and three territories, as of a federal state. The state’s capital is the Ottawa city, with a population of over 880,000 residents. The other cities are Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Quebec, Hamilton, etc.

In terms of state organization form, Canada has been a British dominion, a constitutional monarchy since 1867. The country won independence from the United Kingdom peacefully, by a gradual process, which started with the foundation of Canada in 1867 and was given final touches in 1982, when Canada got right to amend its own constitution.  

Presently, Canada is a well-articulated parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. Queen Elisabeth II is the head of state. Her Majesty’s local representative is Governor General of Canada David Lloyd Johnston. The head of the government is the prime minister of Canada, currently Stephen Harper.  

Canada defines itself as a bilingual and multicultural nation. English and French are both official languages.  

An industrialized and technologically advanced country, Canada is a net exporter of energy, due to its considerable reserves of fossil fuels and generation of nuclear and hydro-electric energy. The diversified economy is based much on the abundance of natural resources and foreign trade, especially with the United States. It exports transport means, industrial machines and equipment, ores, fuels, wood goods, paper.

Moldova and Canada established diplomatic relations on 20 February 1992. Ala Beleavschi has been Moldovan Ambassador to Canada since 2013 and has Joanne Lemay is Bucharest-based Canadian Ambassador to Moldova beginning with 2013 too.  

On 2 June 2016, a meeting on the foundation of the Canada – Moldova parliamentary friendship group took place at the federal parliament of Canada. Participating in the event were members of the parliamentary parties of both chambers of the federal parliament, as well as representatives of the Moldovan Embassy in Canada.  

Data by the National Statistics Bureau shows that, in January-April 2016, Moldova exported goods worth 940.3 thousand dollars (a share of 0.16 per cent of all exports). Canada ranks second among Moldova’s partners on the American continents in terms of exported goods. On the same period, Moldova imported goods worth 912,000 dollars from Canada, which accounts for 0.07 per cent of all import.

At present, there are over 20,000 Moldovans living in Canada. The biggest Diaspora is in the cities of Montreal (Quebec province) and Toronto (Ontario province).  

(Reporter N. Roibu, editor L. Alcaza)