SASKATCHEWAN

Area: 651 942 sq. km

Population: 1 009 000

Distribution: 58 % urban, 42 % rural

Language spoken: 92.8 % English, 1 % French

Entered Dominion of Canada: 1 September 1905

Capital City: Regina

Provincial flower: Western red lily ("prairie lily")

Provincial bird: Sharp-tailed grouse

Principal products: Wheat, beef cattle, food products, machinery, petroleum

Employment:  Services - 65 %  Industry - 21 %  Agriculture - 14 %

Notes: Known as Canada's breadbasket with 40% of the country's farmland. The huge wheat harvests are stored in thousands of grain elevators and shipped by rail to distant markets and ports.

The first elected Socialist government in North America was elected in Saskatchewan in 1944. Many of the country's social programs, including state-funded health care, were first introduced in Saskatchewan.