Canada is a federation composed of ten provinces and three territories; in turn, these may be grouped into regions. Western Canada consists of British Columbia & the three Prairie provinces ( Saskatchewan, Alberta, & Manitoba). Central Canada consists of Quebec & Ontario. Atlantic Canada consists of the three Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, & Nova Scotia), along with Newfoundland & Labrador. Eastern Canada refers to Central Canada & Atlantic Canada together. Three territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, & Nunavut) make up Northern Canada. Provinces have a large degree of autonomy from the federal government, territories somewhat less. Each has its own provincial or territorial symbols.Provinces are responsible for most of Canada's social programs (like : health care, education, and welfare) & together collect more revenue than the federal government, an almost unique structure among federations in the world. Using its spending powers, the federal government can initiate national policies in provincial areas, such as the Canada Health Act; the provinces can opt out of these, but rarely do so in practice. Equalization payments are made by the federal government to ensure that reasonably uniform standards of services and taxation are kept between the richer and poorer provinces.
All provinces have unicameral, elected legislatures headed by a Premier selected in the same way as the Prime Minister of Canada. Each province also has a Lieutenant-Governor representing the Queen, analogous to the Governor General of Canada. The Lieutenant-Governor is appointed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Canada, though with increasing levels of consultation with provincial governments in recent years.