Who owns quebec

At the end of the 18th century, people of British origins made up Several thousand of these people had come to Canada after the American Revolution the Loyalists. During the 19th century, the source of immigration shifted to Britain, particularly Scotland and Ireland. During the 19th century, 17 million people left Britain, 9 per cent of whom came to Canada. These included 53, Irish between and , , between and , and almost , during the Great Famine of About 20 per cent of the Irish immigrants settled in Quebec.

By the end of the 19th century, the predominantly Irish immigration was replaced by East European Jews and Italians. The Jewish population in Quebec grew from 1. The Italian population was only 0. Since the Irish immigration of the s and s, Quebec society has been demographically and culturally diverse. According to the census, the most cited ethnic origins were Canadian, French and Irish, and 13 per cent of the province was a visible minority. Within the visible minority population, Black, Arab and Latin American were the largest communities.

Just over 79 per cent of the population has French of their mother tongue, compared to 8. The three main Aboriginal groups in Quebec, according to linguistic classification, are the Algonquian, the Eskimo-Aleut and the Iroquoian see Aboriginal Languages of Canada.

In , 2. Since New France , the influence of the Catholic Church has been a major factor in the development of the province. There were also seven communities of sisters. By the end of the 19th century, however, there were more than communities of priests and communities of sisters.

The Jesuits returned to Canada in The first Oblates arrived in and settled in the Ottawa region and in the James Bay region before sending missionaries to Western Canada. The Clercs de Saint-Viateur arrived in Communities of sisters were also active, particularly the Grey Nuns , an order formed in Many sociologists, political scientists and historians have argued that francophone Quebec was a society dominated by religion, obsessed with the maintenance of rural values and deeply opposed to modernity and its consequences, mainly urbanization and industrialization.

Some facts are irrefutable. In , the average number of parish members per priest was only Overall, there was one member of the Church for every Catholics in the province. But while the bureaucracy was immense, there remains the question of whether it frustrated the province's development or provided a different road to modernity.

The Church ran a relatively complex school system, invested in real estate and financial markets. At the same time, Catholic unions opposed trusts and big business. Communities of sisters, like the Grey Nuns, managed hospitals. The role of the Church in the history of Quebec is a complex one and continues to be debated by historians and sociologists.

Results of the NHS show that By comparison, In Quebec, 5,, people The other most commonly reported religious affiliations are Islam 3. One year later the French came into contact with Iroquoian villages on both shores of the St. But the real beginning of French colonization in the St. By the beginning of the 17th century, the Iroquois Haudenosaunee had mysteriously disappeared from the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. The population of the Innu nation Montagnais-Naspaki nation on the north shore was then around 4, people.

In the first census revealed a colonial, non-native population of only 3, people. The French North American empire expanded considerably during the 17th century. In , the Coutume de Paris became the law in the colony. In the Treaty of Utrecht , following France's defeat by a coalition of European countries in the War of the Spanish Succession, demanded that France surrender Acadia in the territory of Nova Scotia, excluding that area which is today Cape Breton Island , Newfoundland and the lands around Hudson Bay.

Several thousand Acadians thus became part of the British empire in North America. It was the end of the French empire in North America. A few years after the Conquest, the remaining French population of the new British colony benefited from tension between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain with the Quebec Act of The Quebec Act enlarged the frontiers of the Province of Quebec, recognized freedom of religion for Catholics, the legality of the seigneurial system and the French civil code.

After the American Revolution, the Constitutional Act of reduced the frontiers of the province for the purpose of establishing a new colony, Upper Canada eventually Ontario , and guaranteed a legislative assembly, although with limited powers, in each colony Upper Canada and Lower Canada. French-Canadians were, during the years to , extremely active both politically and in every aspect of economic life. Local markets, as revealed by recent research, were extraordinarily complex and diversified.

At the international level some French-Canadians, like Augustin Cuvillier and Joseph Masson, were also involved in international commerce and banking.

In , the rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada over the principle of self-government resulted in military repression and the Durham Report of Lord Durham recommended the application of the principle of self-government but suggested that the only solution to the French-Canadian problem was the union of the two colonies.

The aim was to assimilate the French-Canadians. That plan was implemented in through the Union Act , voted in London in and enacted in Section 41 of the Union Act stipulated that English was the only language of the new colony. But, when Britain abolished the mercantilist system between and , the principle of self-government was granted to the colonies as compensation for the loss of protected access to the British market.

Following that decision, a coalition of reformists led by Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hyppolite LaFontaine formed the first democratic government of the Province of Canada the colony formed by the union of Lower and Upper Canada in The right of the French language was recognized by the reformists. By , during negotiations for a new federation of British North American colonies, it was clear that there was a growing recognition of the French reality in the proposed federation.

See also Quebec and Confederation ; Quebec since Confederation. The economic history of Quebec can be divided into five major periods. The first period started with the arrival of the French and lasted until the Treaty of Utrecht in The main economic activity was the fur trade. The fur trade was the heart of New France's economy. Other economic activities in the colony that might compete with the home country were discouraged. During the second period , the economy of New France remained dominated by the fur trade although an attempt was made to diversify the economy by improving farming and by encouraging projects like the Forges Saint-Maurice.

The Conquest of did not fundamentally change the mercantilist system, at least for a while, as Britain was also a protectionist country. During the third period , wheat and timber see Timber Trade History replaced fur as the main export products.

This period marked the rise of commercial capitalism. The major event of the period, between and , was the Britain's abolition of its protectionist laws and the abandonment of the mercantilist system. The solution was to transform Canada into an industrialized country. That year marks the beginning of the fourth period , which was characterized by the rise of industrial capitalism. In , 51 per cent of Canada's manufacturing capacity was based in Ontario, compared to 32 per cent in Quebec.

The main industries in Quebec were in the sectors of textiles, footwear , food, railways and timber. By , hydroelectricity was the main source of energy while pulp and paper mills and aluminum factories were sectors of high employment and substantial foreign investment.

The fifth and final period is from to today. It is characterized by the rapid development of modern communications and services. In contrast to previous periods, there has been a shift away from manufacturing. During the s, the government invested significantly in the technology sector, and the province became an important international player with companies such as Softimage, CGI, CAE and Ubisoft.

In the s, Quebec's portion of Canadian agricultural production was around 13 per cent. Quebec has 6. After a period of intense speculation and urban growth between and , the government began protecting agricultural land.

Quebec farmers have supplied public markets since the s, if not before, according to historians. Recent studies have revealed the presence of a complex local economy during the 19th century. Pork and dairy products were a Quebec speciality by the end of the 19th century. Specialization increased the industrialization of agriculture and, as a result, the value of agricultural production in Quebec increased by more than four times between and see History of Agriculture.

The Agricultural Land Protection Act Loi sur la protection du territoire agricole was passed in and now protects Quebec's best farmland. Other measures to support the farming industry were also taken, including the introduction of crop insurance and stabilization insurance plans. There was also a substantial increase in allocations to various assistance programs. There were 29, agricultural enterprises in Quebec in The principal industries in Quebec are manufacturing, generation of electric power, mining, pulp and paper.

The Quebec manufacturing sector represents 25 per cent of the Canadian total. Five groups of industries account for 65 per cent of the factories and over 50 per cent of the manufacturing jobs: clothing and textiles, food and beverages, paper and related products, metal products and wood products. Quebec has the second-largest area of forest land in Canada after the Northwest Territories. Most of this land, km 2 of forests, is provincially owned, although many land claims by Aboriginal peoples are currently being contested in the courts.

Around 33 million m 3 of wood is cut each year, 80 per cent of which is conifer. Most of the cut wood is used for lumber and pulp manufacturing. For the last 20 years, a vast reforestation program has been underway. However, the number of trees planted annually has diminished since due to the adoption of new practices such as timber harvesting that protects advance regeneration.

Consequently, in , million seedlings were planted, compared with million in More than three quarters of these trees were planted in public forests and the majority were softwood. The pulp and paper industry in Quebec is among the 10 leading producers in the world and the second-largest exporter of newsprint in Canada.

Over 23, workers are employed in this sector, producing about 42 per cent of Canada's paper. Timber, wood pulp and newsprint together constitute 20 per cent of Quebec exports, 80 per cent of which goes to the US. The lumber industry is another active sector.

There are over 1, lumber processing plants, and the wood industry alone employs over 36, people. By , this number had been reduced to 1, fishermen. Most owned boats that are less than 10 m long. Quebec's annual catch is only a fraction of that taken by the Atlantic Provinces.

The main catches are groundfish and various molluscs and crustaceans. The fishery now relies more on shellfish, which make up two-thirds of the catch. Groundfish now account for only 10 per cent of the catch and pelagic fish e. Quebec is the largest producer of electricity in Canada.

Its installed generating capacity is 36, MW, or more than 30 per cent of the Canadian total, more than 99 per cent of the production is hydraulic. In the s, the province tried to reduce its dependency on petroleum products. An enormous territory called Rupert's Land was up for sale.

It encompassed almost eight million square kilometers, including most of the prairies, and parts of what are now northern Quebec, northern Ontario, and Nunavut. The once powerful Hudson's Bay Company controlled the area. But the British fur trade giant had been in decline for years and it was now preparing to sell Rupert's Land.

George Brown, editor of The Globe and a Father of Confederation, described it as "the vast and fertile territory which is our birthright - and which no power on earth can prevent us occupying. The sale involved roughly a quarter of the continent, a staggering amount of land, but it failed to take into account the existing residents - mainly Indians and Mtis. In , he acquired 11 stores in the Quebec City region carrying the Couche-Tard banner.

After five years of operation, the network had grown to 34 stores, which were renamed under the Couche-Tard brand. In , the network included stores, of which were directly operated by Couche-Tard.

In , the company made the major step of acquiring C-Corp Inc.