Which provinces together formed the Dominion of Canada in 1867?

Discover Canada sets out the founding provinces in a single sentence describing the result of Confederation: The old Province of Canada was split into two new provinces: Ontario and Quebec, which, together with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, formed the new country called the Dominion of Canada. Four provinces are named — Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia — and that is the answer the test wants.

The mechanics are worth understanding. Discover Canada says the negotiating colonies were three: "Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada." The Province of Canada — the merger of Upper and Lower Canada from 1840 — was then split at Confederation into two new provinces, Ontario and Quebec. Add the two Maritime colonies that joined them, and the Dominion of Canada in 1867 had four founding provinces.

Each province kept its own affairs. Discover Canada writes: Each province would elect its own legislature and have control of such areas as education and health. So the founding deal of 1867 created two levels of government — federal and provincial — with each of the four founding provinces given control over key local matters from day one.

Other parts of today's Canada joined later. Discover Canada lists the timeline: Manitoba and the Northwest Territories in 1870; British Columbia in 1871; Prince Edward Island in 1873; Yukon in 1898; Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905; Newfoundland and Labrador in 1949; and Nunavut in 1999. None of those is part of the founding four.

The question is testing whether new citizens can name the four founding provinces. Discover Canada bundles them in a single sentence and the test repeats them: Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Other answer choices include real Canadian provinces, but each gets the founding four wrong. Newfoundland did not join until 1949; Alberta only became a province in 1905; Manitoba joined in 1870. None of those provinces was part of the original Dominion of Canada in 1867.