Ontario + Quebec = Midlands. You heard it here first.

Time to coin a new phrase, people.

New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador: that's East Coast, right?

BC is West Coast.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan (and depending on who you ask, Alberta) are the Prairies.

I propose a new category for the provinces in between. THE MIDLANDS. Something that encompasses the not-east/not-west provinces, without having to single out Ontario and Quebec. Because sometimes a comment is just about the middle of the country: if you say "Ontario," the rest of the country immediately bristles and starts talking about what a bunch of jerks we all are; if you say "Quebec" people immediately get locked into issues of language and distinct culture.

Maybe Midlands should be expanded. I'd be happy to welcome the Prairies into the fold, which would make the Midlands anything that's not a Canadian coast. After all, Ontario and Quebec are hardly in the middle of the country. They're sort of middle and east, though I hesitate to call them the Middle-East Lands. I await the no doubt riveting debate that will follow this post, but for the time being will keep using "Midlands" to mean Ontario and Quebec.

Still to be determined: How do we aggregate the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut under a particular term? Is it just The Canadian North?

(BTW, for those lexicographers who will some day be tracking the first usage of the term Midlands, you'll find it at my comment on a blog post by your friend and mine, Bessy.)