Quebec

Quebec Forklift Parts - Quebec is a province situated within east-central Canada. It is the only province within Canada which has a predominantly French-speaking population. It is likewise the only province whose sole official language is French at the provincial level.

Quebec is the biggest province in the nation as designated by area. It is the 2nd largest administrative division. The only larger place is the territory of Nunavut. On the west of Quebec the province of Ontario forms the border along with James Bay and Hudson Bay. To the east are the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick;to the north is Ungaya Bay and Hudson Strait. Likewise on the eastern border is the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The U.S. states located to the south of the province of Quebec are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. The province also shares maritime borders along with Nunavut, Nova Scotia and PEI.

The province of Quebec is the 2nd most populace province after Ontario. Most of the residents within the province live near the Saint Lawrence River within urban locations between Quebec City and Montreal. There are English-speaking institutions and communities concentrated within the west of the island of Montreal. English speaking areas are likewise important in the Eastern Townships, the Gaspe and the Outaouais regions. The northern part of the province of Quebec is occupied by the Nord-du-Quebec district and this region is inhabited mainly by Aboriginal peoples and is sparsely populated.

The official opposition social democratic Parti Quebecois advocates national sovereignty for the province and secession from the nation. Sovereignty plays a big role within Quebec politics. In the years 1980 and 1995 Sovereignist governments have held referendums on independence. Each and every time they were voted down by the voters, though, the latter was defeated by a very tiny margin. During 2006, the Canadian House of Commons passed the Quebecois nation motion. This was a symbolic motion that recognized the "Quebecois as a nation within a united Canada."

There are an abundance of substantial natural resources that have long been the mainstay of the economy of the province. Various important businesses with major operations within the province comprise information and communication technologies, biotechnology, aerospace and the pharmaceutical industry. Second only to the province of Ontario, these different businesses have each contributed to making the province of Quebec become the second province which is most economically influential.

The economy is mostly market-based, open and advanced. According to the year 2009 numbers, the per capita GDP of the province was US$32,408. These figures place the province of Quebec at par with Spain, Italy and Japan but remain lower compared to the Canadian average GDP of US$37,830 per capita. Quebec's economy is ranked 37th largest in the world just after Greece. In the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, it is placed the 21st largest.

Described as a clean energy superpower, the province has seen a large shift in the balance of energy during the past thirty years. During 2008, the main form of energy was electricity at 41.6% followed by 38.2% of oil and 10.7% of natural gas. After China, Brazil and the United States, Quebec is the 4th biggest producer of hydroelectricity within the globe. During the year 2008, sources show that the province of Quebec depends practically exclusively on this particular source of renewable energy for its electricity requirements.