New Brunswick (French: Nouveau-Brunswick) is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces, and the only officially bilingual province (French and English) in the country. It is one of the original four provinces in Canada, having entered Confederation on July 1, 1867.
New Brunswick is bounded on the north by Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula and Baie des Chaleurs. Along the east coast, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Northumberland Strait are found. In the south-east corner of the province, the narrow Isthmus of Chignecto connects New Brunswick to peninsular Nova Scotia. The south of the province is bounded by the Bay of Fundy. On the west, the province borders the American state of Maine.
The population of New Brunswick, as of 2006, is 749,168, making it the eighth most populous province in Canada. The provincial Department of Finance estimates that the majority of New Brunswickers are English-speaking but there is a substantial (35%) French-speaking minority of mostly Acadian origin.
The capital of New Brunswick is Fredericton, which has a census agglomeration population of 85,000. Metropolitan Saint John (Saint John, Quispamsis, Rothesay) and Greater Moncton (Moncton, Riverview, Dieppe) both have urban populations of between 120,000 and 130,000.
The current Premier of the province is Hon. David Alward, Progressive Conservative. The current Lieutenant Governor is Hon. Graydon Nicholas.
