Québec is a Canadian province in Eastern Canada. It joined Confederation on July 1, 1867 and is one of the original four provinces of Canada.
Québec is surrounded by the province of Ontario, James Bay and Hudson Bay to the west, by the Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay to the north, by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the provinces of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador to the east, and by the United States (the states of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine) to the south. It also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.
The population of the province (as of 2006) is 7,651,531. It is the second-largest province in Canada by population.
The capital of Québec is Québec City. The largest city in the province is Montréal, which is also the second-largest city in Canada. Other large communities include Longueuil, Laval, Gatineau, Saguenay, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, Lévis, and Terrebonne.
The current Premier of the province is Hon. Jean Charest, Libéral. The current Lieutenant Governor is Hon. Pierre Duchesne.
The official language of Québec is French; it is the sole Canadian province whose population is mainly French Canadian, and where English is not an official language at the provincial level.
The name "Québec", which comes from an Algonquin word meaning "strait" or "narrowing", originally meant the narrowing of the St. Lawrence River off what is currently Québec City.
Part of New France until 1760, Québec became a province within Canadian Confederation at its founding in 1867. Since then, a significant movement for statehood has resulted in two referendums (in 1980 and 1995) rejecting sovereignty-association.