Comprises 15.5% of Canada's land mass in the province of Québec

Contains 24% of Canada's population (mostly in southern Québec)

Shares the National Capital region of Hull-Ottawa with Ontario

Accounts for 22% of Canada's GDP

Land dominated in the north by the infertile Canadian Shield

Land dominated in the south by the fertile St Lawrence River Lowlands

Physical asset in the high elevation of the Canadian Shield in north, which permitted harnessing of hydroelectric capability of three vast drainage basins

Physical asset in the proximity to large metropolitan markets in Canada and the USA

Physical asset in St Lawrence River (navigable for ocean-going vessels) and the St Lawrence Seaway (established in 1959)

Economy balanced between resource extraction (Mining, Logging, Hydroelectricity), Industry, Manufacturing, and Tourism (especially to Québec City and Montréal)

Well-developed labour force for all economic sectors

Annual unemployment rate of about 12%

Culture dominated by concentration of French-speaking peoples in the St Lawrence River drainage basin

One negative stereotype of Québecois: insular cultural protectionists with little regard for or knowledge of Canadians in other regions.

One positive stereotype of Québecois: possessed of the most vibrant culture and history in all of Canada.

Further details about language distribution

Rates of English-French bilingualism across Canada, all citizens, by province:

Area	Percent
Canada	17.0
NF	3.9
PEI	11.0
NS	9.3
NB	32.6
QC	37.8
ON	11.6
MB	9.4
SK	5.2
AB	6.7
BC	6.7
YT	10.5
NWT	6.3

When Canadians are identified by the languages they speak, they are known as Francophones, Anglophones, or Allophones:

• Francophones are people whose mother tongue or first language is French. Most Francophones in the province of Québec are known as Québecois. That is, their culture comes from Québec and their first language is French. (A small percentage of people living in Québec have French as their first language but their culture comes from another French-speaking part of the world, such as Haiti, France, Congo, and so forth. Strictly speaking, these French-speaking Canadians, even though they live in the province of Québec, are Francophones but not Québecois.)
• Anglophones are people whose mother tongue or first language is English
• Allophones are people whose mother tongue or first language is not French or English, but another language

Across Canada, including Québec
41% of Francophones are bilingual in French and English
9% of Anglophones are bilingual in French and English
11% of Allophones are bilingual in French and English

In Québec only
38% of Francophones (Québecois) are bilingual in French and English
62% of Anglophones are bilingual in French and English
47% of Allophones are bilingual in French and English

The highest concentration of bilingual Canadians is found in the city of Montréal, where 50% of the total population speaks both French and English.

In Canada, not including Québec
84% of Francophones are bilingual in French and English
7% of Anglophones are bilingual in French and English
5% of Allophones are bilingual in French and English