Geography: Regions of Canada

820 Words2 Pages

Chapter 1: Regions of Canada describe regionalism and how it divides countries, specifically Canada, naturally into six regions: British Columbia, Western Canada, Territorial North, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada. These regions have been divided in a manner that correlates ‘like spaces’ in regards to human and physical geography (Bone, p.6) along with Canada’s historical development. The second key feature of chapter 1 describes Canada’s faultlines and they’re affects on Canada’s regional divide. There are four faultlines within Canada that reciprocate tensions that are mostly solved by being “soft” through negotiation and discussion (according to John Ralston Saul, Bone, p. 10). Bone places a great focus on these faultlines, which include: centralist/decentralist, Aboriginal/Non-Aboriginal, French/English Canadians, and newcomer/old-timer. “Canada’s heterogeneous nature often forms the basis of regional quarrels” (Bone, p. 11) particularly for the centralist/decentralist faultline. English/French speaking Canadians focus on Quebec and sovereignty, while the Aboriginal/Non-Aboriginal faultline deals with land claims, settlement and colonized peoples. Newcomers/old-timers refer to immigrants and settlers of Canada. The core/periphery model is a key concept that is commonly referred to throughout the text. It depicts the core as concentrations of power/wealth/population, with the periphery/hinterland as the weakly developed, resource based area. Chapter 2: Canada’s Physical Base emphasizes reasoning for which its physical geography attributes to its regional geography, along with the population distribution and developing core regions. This chapter outlines main geological structure, landforms, climate, and impact on human a... ... middle of paper ... ...nguage, and religion all make up Canada’s human face, but also front how the cultural accommodation will continue with the risk of losing Canada’s main traditions. Faultlines again come into perspective within demographic issues, especially with newcomers/old-timers, aboriginal population expansions, and French/English language. The core/periphery model is also represented. The end of the chapter places a focus on Canada’s economic face as well, dealing with stresses inside the global economy as well as its strong dependency on the U.S markets (Bone, 169) especially with the stimulating global recession. Canada’s economic structure leans on the relative share of activity in the primary (natural resource extraction), secondary (raw material assembly), tertiary (sale/exchange of goods and services), and quaternary (decision-making) sectors of the economy (Bone, 166).

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