Oh Canada!

*Even though I am aware that I may be the only American not related to an Olympian who watches the Olympics, I feel the need to share Olympics themed facts with everyone anyway. As I began watching the coverage, I realized how little I know about the Canadian government. Ergo, my facts for this Opening Ceremony night are Canada themed:
**Canada is a Federation consisting of 10 Provinces and 3 territories. Let's name them:
The Providences are British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec,
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia (not a word according the Blogspot's spell check),
Newfoundland and Labrador (that's one province/ two dogs), and Prince Edward Island.
The three territories that make up Canada's Northern region are the Yukon, Northwest, and
Nunavut.
**Canada is a Parliamentary Democracy and a Constitutional Monarchy.
**Canada has a ceremonial Head of State (a position which is largely ceremonial anyhow), Queen
Elizabeth II, and an acting Head of State known as the Governor General. The current
Governor General is Michaelle Jean.
**The Head of Government is the leader of the majority party in Parliament. Currently, that
person is Prime Minister Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party.
**As in the British Parliament, the Leader of the Opposition party is an official government
position. The current leader of the minority party, the Liberal Party, is Michael Ignatieff.
**The Canadian Parliament is composed of an Upper House, the Senate, and a Lower House, the
House of Commons.

*Those who follow the news may have heard that an Olympian died today during a training run.
Twenty-one-year-old Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili crashed while taking his practice
run on the Vancouver course, which is known to be extremely dangerous. The athlete is only the second Olympic hopeful to be killed while competing.