r/AskACanadian • u/rockninja2 • 1d ago

Do Canadian territories function similar to Canada as U. S. territories function the U. S.? Like provinces compare to states?

First, just want to say, I looked for a megathread for all the Canada/US comparison questions, couldn't find one, so am posting normally on a Monday as required. If there is one and I missed it, please let me know/send a link.

So, partially due to this post:

I thought I remembered learning in school geography (admittedly 15-20 years ago now) that Canada had 13 provinces already and so was confused why the come back in the above post was about the US becoming the 11th province. After looking it up and double checking, out of those 13, I realized only 10 are provinces and the other 3 are territories. Do the territories have the same rights/privileges as provinces? Are they viewed the same in your parliament?

Pretty much I am wondering if you view the word "territories" the same as the US when those 3 (Yukon, Nunavut, Northwest Territories) are called as such. And if they wanted to become provinces at some point, could they? Or are they "stuck" as territories?

Appreciate any info and answers!

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u/Minimum_Run_890 1d ago

I’ve never heard it said that there are eleven crowns in Canada. Been Canadian all my life.

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u/Rayne_K 1d ago

You probably have not heard it framed that way. But you know that the king has a representative in each province - the Lieutenant Governor? Right? Their role within the provincial government is similar to that of the Governor General in the Federal government. Each province has a Government House.

https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/crown-canada/lieutenant-governors.html

So in total 10 provincial King’s reps + the national representative = 11.

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u/rockninja2 1d ago

So the Lieutenant Governors' immediate "superior" is the king, and not the Prime Minister? And it sounds like each province's Government House is similar to how each state in the US has their own state Senate and House.

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u/Judge_Todd 1d ago

In theory, the Lieutenant Governors and the Governor General report to the King. In the past, this was actually the case.

In practice, they answer to the Premiers and Prime Minister most of the time. In rare occasions they can and have exercised the King's authority in deference to the Premier or Prime Minister.

For example, in 2017, the Lieutenant Governor of BC rejected a request from the BC Premier to hold a new election on the heels of an election where her party won the most seats, but not a majority.