Eastern Canada (French: Est du Canada, also known as the Eastern provinces, Canadian East or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of Hudson Bay/Hudson Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.
Eastern Canada overlaps into other geographic regions; Ontario and Quebec, Canada's two largest provinces, define Central Canada, while the other provinces in Eastern Canada constitute Atlantic Canada. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island are also known as the Maritime provinces.
Capitals
Ottawa, Canada's capital, is located in Eastern Canada, within the province of Ontario.
The capitals of the provinces are in the list below:
Newfoundland and Labrador - St. John's
Nova Scotia - Halifax
Prince Edward Island - Charlottetown
New Brunswick - Fredericton
Quebec - Quebec City
Ontario - Toronto
Definitions
The Canadian Press defines Eastern Canada as everything east of and including Thunder Bay, Ontario. This definition excludes from Eastern Canada the sparsely populated section of Northwest Ontario that is west of Thunder Bay, that section including Rainy River District and the most populated part of Kenora District.
Population
The total population of this region is about 25,135,649 in 2021, or about 70% of Canada's population. Most of the population resides in Ontario and Quebec. The region contains three of Canada's five largest metropolitan areas, Toronto being the fourth largest municipality in North America.
Largest metropolitan areas
Toronto, Ontario - 6,254,191
Montreal, Quebec - 4,098,927
National Capital Region (Ottawa-Gatineau, Ontario-Quebec) - 1,568,381
Quebec City, Quebec - 807,200
Hamilton, Ontario - 536 917
London, Ontario - 474 786
St. Catharines-Niagara, Ontario - 447,888
Kitchener, Ontario - 441 380
Halifax, Nova Scotia - 403,131
Windsor, Ontario - 329,144
Barrie, Ontario - 212,667
Sherbrooke, Quebec - 212,105
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador - 205,955
The population of each province in 2016, from greatest to least is here:
Ontario - 13,448,494
Quebec - 8,164,361
Nova Scotia - 923,598
New Brunswick - 747,101
Newfoundland and Labrador - 519,716
Prince Edward Island - 142,907
Politics
Eastern Canada is represented by 232 Members of Parliament out of the 338 (122 in Ontario, 78 in Quebec, and 32 in the Atlantic Provinces) and 78 senators out of 105.