Pretty simple… why are the Yukon, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories not full fledged Canadian provinces?
I found sites stating what, but not why. If it’s a similar case to Australia’s states and territoties, I’d wager it’s purely population-based.
I found a site regarding the Yukon Party, laying the reason down as part of a recent Constitution Act and the voting pattern of provinces, with Quebec acting possibly as a naysayer so that it isn’t swamped by the others plus new ones. The existing provinces need to vote another one in. The Yukon territory doesn’t look likely to become one.
Given that the territories (unlike American territories) already have voting representation in both houses of Parliament, is that a very realistic concern? What exactly is the difference between a province and a territory?
Concerning population, I see that the three territories have populations between 26,000 and 38,000, which are awfully small, but then Prince Edward Island isn’t a whole lot bigger with 135,000.
The difference is that provincial legislatures have more autonomy than territorial legislatures. Don’t know any of the details off the top of my head.
I always thought territories were indeed the same thing as a province. The different name being due to historical reasons, more or less.
Before 1975, the territories had no voting representation in the Federal Parliament. Since then they have held seats in both the House of Commons and the Senate.
An interesting article on Nunavit and some of its problems is: http://princetonindependent.com/issue11.02/item5.html