~Canada~
This page is about on of my favorite countrys,Canada.I put together
some tid bits of facts about the wonderful country of canada,that I
have learned out over the past few months...I hope you enjoy reading this.
I surely enjoyed reading about Canada myself:) and enjoyed
putting this page together:)(basicly,this page,is..like a lesson about Canada,
and is alot to read.)
GENERAL INFORMATION
Official Name
Canada
Capital
Ottawa
Flag
The maple leaf is a national symbol of Canada.
The red commemorates the blood shed by Canadians during World War I
(1914-1918), and the white represents snow.
The flag first flew in 1965.
Anthem
O Canada
(("O Canada" Music attributed to Calixa Lavallée.
Words by Justice Robert Stanley Weir;
French version by Judge Adolphe-Basile Routhier. Adopted 1980.))
United Church of Canada
religious denomination and largest Protestant body
in Canada, established in 1925 by the organic union of
the Methodist, Congregational, and Presbyterian churches
of Canada. About 30 percent of the membership of
the Presbyterian church remained outside the union
and still exists as a separate denomination.
The Canada Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren
Church joined the United Church of Canada in 1968.
The doctrine of the United Church is based on 20 articles
agreed upon at the time of union. The government
of the church is presbyterian. The church engages in
missionary work on all continents through its division
of World Outreach. It also maintains theological
institutions and is represented in several institutions
of higher education. The United Church Observer,
published in Toronto, is its main publication.
In the early 1990s the church had about 2 million members.
Parliament, Canadian
national legislature of Canada; modeled on the British Parliament,
it was established by the British North America Act in 1867.
Canada's Parliament is made up of two divisions:
an appointed Senate and an elected House of Commons.
The 104 senators are chosen, as vacancies occur, by the prime minister,
with the approval of the governor-general, for service until age 75
(before 1965 for life). The 295 members of the House are
selected to represent constituencies by resident Canadian citizens
of age 18 or over. A general election must be called at least once every
five years, although the House can be dissolved at any time by the
government with the approval of the governor-general.
A complicated formula reflecting population figures allocates
the number of seats in the Senate and House among the various
regions and provinces to ensure a balance of local interests.
The powers of each division are in theory equal,
but money bills must originate in the House of Commons.
Bills receive three distinct readings in the House and the Senate before
passage, allowing time for debate and consideration by special committees.
In practice, the House is the key legislative branch,
where most important bills are introduced.
The prime minister and most of the cabinet are members of the House.
Tradition decrees that if a government loses the support of a majority of the House,
it must surrender power or call a general election.
The extent of Parliament's authority is defined by the Constitution Act, 1982.
Parliament may legislate on a wide range of issues
including defense, banking, criminal law, broadcasting,
and other such matters that involve the general welfare of Canadians.
It may also act in areas of jurisdiction shared with the provinces,
such as immigration, agriculture, and social policy. Parliament may not
intrude on areas exclusive to the provinces,
notably education or municipal institutions.
Members of Parliament are subject to party discipline.
The result is that Parliament as an institution enjoys
ittle real independence in the political system.
However vigorous debate might be, votes on proposed bills are determined
in party caucuses. Except in moments of crisis,
or when the official opposition has a majority in the Senate,
Parliament normally ratifies the measures put forward by
the government.
Hockey
Ice Hockey
fast-paced winter sport in which two opposing teams of skaters use long,
curved sticks to try to drive a hard rubber disk into each other's goal.
A rough, action-packed game,
ice hockey is considered one of the fastest of all sports.
It is played in about 30 countries,
principally in North America, Europe, and the countries of the former
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Ice hockey is especially popular in Canada, where the modern game developed.
history of hockey
Hockey was one of the earliest stick-and-ball games.
The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, and Arabs played forms of the sport.
Hurling, a sport similar to hockey, is known to have been
played during the 1st millennium BC in Ireland,
and similar sports were adopted by other Europeans in the Middle Ages
(5th century to 15th century).
Ice hockey was also significantly influenced by lacrosse,
a stick-and-ball game developed by native North Americans.
The name hockey is thought to have been adapted by the English
from the French word hoquet (shepherd's crook).
The name was first given to the sport in the 18th century but was not in common usage
until the 19th century British soldiers stationed in Canada
devised modern ice hockey in the mid-1850s. In 1879 rules were set by
students at McGill University in Montréal, Québec, Canada,
and several amateur clubs and leagues were established in
Canada by the late 1880s. Ice hockey became extremely popular at northern U.S.
colleges in the late 1800s, and by the beginning of the 20th
century the sport had spread to Britain and other parts of Europe.
The first professional league was established in 1904 in northern Michigan.
Because the four-team league included one club from Canada,
it was named the International Hockey League. Several leagues followed,
including the first significant Canadian professional league,
the National Hockey Association (NHA), which began play in 1909.
The Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) was founded in 1911.
The NHA folded following the 1916-17 season,
but its strongest teams then formed the NHL and competed in the 1917-18 season.
The NHL remained a four-team Canadian league until the 1924-25 season,
when a team from Boston (a popular supporter of amateur hockey)
became the first U.S. club admitted. By 1926 there were six U.S. teams
in a ten-team NHL.During this early period, players such as
forward Howie Morenz of the Montréal Canadiens,
defenseman Eddie Shore of the Boston Bruins,
and forward King Clancy of the Toronto Maple Leafs
drew crowds as the NHL's first great stars.
Several organizers were instrumental in building the
NHL in its early days. The most prominent included Frank Calder,
the first NHL president; Conn Smythe, who helped build and guide
Toronto's franchise; and Jack Adams, a coach and general manager
in Detroit from 1927 through 1962.World War II (1939-1945)
drained the league of players, and by 1942 the NHL
consisted of only six teams-the Bruins, the Detroit Red Wings,
the Chicago Blackhawks, the Canadiens, the New York Rangers,
and the Maple Leafs. After the war the six-team NHL
era saw the rise of several dynasties.
Forward Gordie Howe and goaltender Terry Sawchuk
were stars on the Red Wings, who won four
Stanley Cup championships between 1950 and 1955.
The Canadiens, spearheaded by forward Maurice Richard,
played in the Stanley Cup Finals each year from 1951 through 1960,
winning in 1953 and from 1956 to 1960.
Hockey gained popularity in the 1960s,
and late in the decade the NHL began to expand.
The league added ten teams from 1967 to 1972.
Hockey's strength as a spectator sport was also shown by the creation in
1971 of the World Hockey Association (WHA),
a rival professional league to the NHL. In the summer of
1972 the sport's popularity received another boost with an eight-game
competition between Canada's best professionals and the top players
from the USSR's Red Army team. The heavily favored Canadians,
stunned by the Soviets' prowess, barely edged the Red Army team,
4 games to 3 (with 1 tie). The series came down to the last game,
which the Canadians won on a last-minute goal scored by Paul Henderson,
who remains a national hero. A fierce rivalry was born,
and a subsequent series took place in 1974.
Other games between Soviet teams and NHL
clubs later in the decade gave more attention to international ice hockey.
At the same time, the NHL continued to thrive.
Notable standouts of the period included forward Bobby Hull,
who scored 610 NHL goals and another 303 in the WHA; Bobby Orr,
an innovative defenseman who played chiefly with the Boston Bruins;
and Vladislav Tretiak, a Russian goaltender who was the first
non-North American to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame (1989).
The merger of the WHA and the NHL in 1979 and
the entry of 18-year-old center Wayne Gretzky into professional play
the same year marked the beginning of unprecedented popularity for ice hockey.
Gretzky, who came to be called "The Great One,"
dominated the league over the next 15 years with a streak of
unprecedented scoring accomplishments.
Other powerful scorers such as centers Mario Lemieux and Mark Messier,
left wing Brett Hull, and defenseman Paul Coffey
were regarded as the best hockey players of the late
1980s and early 1990s.
The 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York,
also helped spark the boom in ice hockey, at least in the United States.
During the Games the U.S. Olympic men's hockey team,
a collection of college and minor-league players,
defeated the powerful USSR en route to the gold medal.
The victory sparked the formation of several new minor leagues and teams
in the United States, plus expansion by the NHL
into new American markets.
