The most powerful of the churches is, however, Roman Catholic Church.

It is an independent federal parliamentary system with Queen Elizabeth II. as the head of state. She is represented in Canada by the Governor – General. The country’s supreme body is the Federal Parliament consisting of two houses. The House of Commons is elected every five years. The Senate consists of senators appointed by Governor – General on the advice of the Prime Minister. The leading figure in political life is the Prime Minister. Canada is divided into 10 provinces and two territories. The two territories are the Yuken and N.W.T – Northwest Territories. The biggest province is Quebec with the capital Quebec City. The population is mainly French speaking and the premier of Quebec wants more powers for this province. Other provinces are Prince Edward Island, Ontario (Toronto), Alberta, British Columbia, etc. The capital of Canada is Ottawa. The biggest city is Montreal. Other large cities are Calgary, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Quebec, Halifax, Vancouver and Hamilton.

Canada is member of many international organisations such as the UN and its main special agencies (FAO, UNESCO), the Commonwealth, NATO.
Canada has its own national flag. It is red and in the centre there is a white square with a simple red maple leaf. The red stripes are symbolical of Canada’s position between the two oceans.

AUSTRALIA

Australia is smallest, youngest continent, with the lowest population density. It is a lonely country and it is often said that Australia lies at the edge of the world, divided from other continents by long distances. We also sometimes called this Australia as a country of antipodes, but this is a mistake because a country of our antipodes does not exist in reality. Australia is allocated in south-east from Asia. The Indian Ocean is west and south the Pacific (Coral and Tasmania Seas) is east. Tasmania lies 240 km south. Nearest is Indonesia, Papua New Guinea on north, Solomon, Fiji and New Zealand are on east. Its area is 7.7 million sq. k. Australia is an island continent. The Great Dividing Range along the eastern coast (The Australian Alps) has the highest Australian mountain Mt. Kosciusko. The western plateau rises to 607 m with arid areas in the Great Sandy and Great Victoria Deserts. The north-east have heavy rainfalls (it is an area often visited by destructive hurricanes) and Cape York Peninsula has jungles. Rivers that flow permanently are to by found only in the north, east, and in Tasmania.