British Columbia

British Columbia, also commonly referred to by its initials BC or B.C.,  is the westernmost province of Canada. In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada. British Columbia is also a component of the Pacific Northwest, along with the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington. The province’s name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858, reflecting its origins as the British remainder of the Columbia District of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Its Latin motto is Splendor sine occasu(“Splendour without Diminishment”).

The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada, named for Canada’s Queen at Confederation. The largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, the largest in Western Canada, and the second largest in the Pacific Northwest. In 2012, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,622,573 (about two and a half million of whom were in Greater Vancouver). The province is currently governed by the BC Liberal Party, led by Premier Christy Clark, who became leader as a result of the party election on February 26, 2011 and who led her party to an election victory on May 14, 2013.

Thank you to Wikipedia for the data: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia