Canada and Australia - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 125

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Canada and Australia
Canada and Australia share many aspects of their environmental politics
and history with the United States. They are former British colonies with
democratic governments based on the two-party system and subject to
similar influences from science, literature, and art. Canada shares the
same continent and has had parallel development in agriculture and
industry. Australia is “that other America on the other side of the Pacific.”1 1
Canada: The Canadian coast of North America was discovered in
1497 by John Cabot, sailing for England. This was only 5 years after
Columbus's discovery of the New World. Landing on the Gaspé Peninsula
in 1524, Jacques Cartier claimed Canada for France. Permanent settle-
ment did not occur until 1605 when the Sieur de Monts and Samuel de
Champlain established Port Royal in Acadia (now Annapolis Royal in
Nova Scotia). Three years later a trading post was established in Quebec.
Settlement was slow, with fewer than 300 colonists arriving between
1608 and 1640. The focus was on fishing and trading fur. On numerous
occasions, the British attacked the French. In 1713 the Peace of Utrecht
gave them Acadia, the Hudson Bay area, Newfoundland, and Labrador.
In 1690 Henry Kelsey explored northern Saskatchewan, starting from
York Factory on Hudson Bay. Another Hudson Bay Company trader,
Samuel Hearne, reached the Arctic Ocean in 1771. Meanwhile, the
French had explored west to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Other
Frenchmen like Pere Jacques Marquette and Robert Sieur de la Salle,
turned south to explore the present-day United States. With the con-
quest of Quebec City in 1759, Britain became the permanent master of
Canada. In 1789 Alexander Mackenzie reached the Arctic Ocean along