National Capital Region (Canada)

National Capital Region (Canada)

The National Capital Region, also referred to as Canada's Capital Region, is an official federal designation for the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario, the neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec, and surrounding urban and rural communities. The term National Capital Region is often used to describe the Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area.

Defined by the National Capital Act, the National Capital Region consists of an area of 4,715 km2 (1,820 sq mi) that straddles the Ottawa River, which serves as the boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. This area is smaller than that of the Ottawa-Gatineau Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), which is 5,716 km2 (2,207 sq mi) in size, and has a population of the 1,451,415.

Ottawa-Gatineau is the only CMA in the nation to fall within two provinces. The National Capital Region also refers a larger geographic area surrounding Ottawa and Gatineau.

In addition to the Ottawa-Gatineau CMA, this larger area includes municipalities in the bordering Ontario counties of Prescott-Russell, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Leeds-Grenville, Lanark, and Renfrew, as well as municipalities in Quebec's Outaouais region, due to their close economic and social ties with Ottawa.