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Natural gas ranks among the fastest-growing energy sources in Canada and is seen by many in the energy industry as a game-changer, a comparatively clean, low-cost and versatile fuel. It can directly generate power and heat and can be chemically altered to produce a wide range of useful commodity chemicals. It burns cleaner and more efficiently than other fossil fuels, releasing significantly fewer harmful pollutants into the atmosphere. Natural gas is colorless, odourless, shapeless, lighter than air and contains a mixture of several hydrocarbon gases, which are organic compounds consisting of some combination of hydrogen and carbon molecules.

The primary consumers of natural gas are the industrial (54.1 per cent), residential (26.6 per cent) and commercial sectors (19.3 per cent). Canada is the fifth largest natural gas producer after the United States, Russia, Iran and Qatar. Currently, all of Canada’s natural gas exports go to the United States through a network of pipelines, making Canada the largest foreign source of US natural gas imports. At the end of 2016, Canada had 76.7 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves and had produced 152 billion cubic metres of natural gas that year. It is forecasted that global natural gas consumption will double by 2035.

Canada’s second deadliest road disaster was a single-vehicle bus crash that killed 40 people near Eastman, Quebec on 4 August 1978.

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is a perennial vegetable of the Lily family. Of Eurasian origin, asparagus was grown for food and medicinal purposes over 2000 years ago.

Beet (Beta vulgaris), biennial herbaceous plant of the Chenopodiaceae family. There are 4 cultivated varieties: red or vegetable beet, fodder beet (mangel-wurzel), chard and sugar beet.

Field corn (Zea mays) is a spring-sown annual belonging to the grass family (Gramineae). Native to North America, Indian corn, or maize, has diverged so radically from its ancestral species that these forerunners cannot be identified with certainty.

British Columbia’s natural resources include forests, agricultural land, fish, minerals, natural gas and hydroelectricity.

Quebec’s natural resources include forests, hydroelectricity, minerals, agricultural land, rivers, lakes, wind energy, fish and wildlife.

A collision between a school bus and a freight train on 7 October 1966 killed 19 students from Cité-des-Jeunes secondary school near Vaudreuil, Quebec, and their bus driver. The crash is among the worst road disasters in Canadian history.

The crow family (Corvidae) is a large family of birds that includes jackdaws, choughs, jays, magpies and nutcrackers as well as crows and ravens.

Over 200 species of small, fleshy, wild fruits occur in Canada. Most people consider them all “berries” but, technically, they are classed in different categories. These categories include drupes (e.g. cherries, elderberries), pomes (e.g. saskatoon berries), true berries (e.g. gooseberries, blueberries) and aggregate fruits (e.g. raspberries, strawberries). In this article “berry” is used in its less technical sense. The following are favourite Canadian wild berries.

Aluminum is a lightweight, strong and flexible metal that resists corrosion and is 100 per cent recyclable. It is a common material in vehicles, buildings, consumer goods, packaging, power transmission and electronics. Canada’s aluminum industry began at the turn of the 20th century and grew quickly during both World Wars. Today, Canada is the world’s fourth largest producer and second largest exporter of aluminum. The country nevertheless accounts for less than 5 per cent of global production. Aside from one smelter in Kitimat, British Columbia, all Canadian plants are in the province of Quebec.

Click here for definitions of key terms used in this article.

A scorpion is a carnivorous and venomous arthropod of the class Arachnida, order Scorpiones. Known from fossils 425-450 million years old, scorpions are among the oldest terrestrial animals.

The natural resources of Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut include wildlife, freshwater, minerals, oil and gas. Yukon and the Northwest territories also have vast forests.

A dam is a structure built across a waterway to control or stop the flow of water. This is called impounding the flow of water. Dams can be built by animals, such as beavers, or constructed by humans. In some cases, they are even formed by natural geological forces.