Comprises 19.6% of Canada's land mass in the three Prairie Provinces: Manitoba (MB), Saskatchewan (SK), and Alberta (AB)

Contains 17% of Canada's population

Accounts for 17% of Canada's GDP, 66% of Canada's energy and mineral production, but only 8% of employment in Canada's Manufacturing sector

Land dominated in the south by the fertile Interior Plains (better known as the Prairies) and in the north by boreal forest and Canadian Shield (major exception in the north: fertile Peace River valley AB)

Physical asset in the fertility of grasslands and sufficiently long growing season for the cultivation of grains

Physical deficit in the long distance from metropolitan trade markets elsewhere in Canada and in the USA

Economy dominated by Agriculture (including ranching), Oil and Gas Industry, other resource extraction (Logging, Mining), and research and high technology sectors in Edmonton

Well-developed labour force, but economic diversification still a challenge

Annual unemployment rate of about 7%.

Sense of regional identity dominated by alienation from central Canada (Ontario)

One negative stereotype of Westerners: an earnest grain farmer with deeply conservative values who invariably finds injustice in the perspective of Ontarions and favouritism towards Québec by the federal government

One positive stereotype of Westerners: enterprising, stolid Canadians who can enjoy life in an uncongested part of the country