Bienvenue au Nouveau- Brunswick. Welcome to New Brunswick. -- Canada's only officially bilingual province.

New Brunswick is the largest of the three Maritime provinces. It shares borders with Quebec, Maine, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island via the longest bridge over ice covered waters in the world, Confederation Bridge.

The scenic Atlantic Ocean coastline that borders New Brunswick on the south and east has earned it the nickname "The Picture Province". The powerful Bay of Fundy tides, the world's highest, have carved caves and pillars of rock that resemble gigantic flowerpots from the sandstone cliffs at Hopewell Cape. Lighthouses, charming fishing villages and sand dunes dot the many coves, inlets and islands of New Brunswick's 1000 kilometers of coast. The warmest waters north of Virginia can be found off the many beaches on the eastern side of the province.

Dense forest covers 85% of New Brunswick's interior. Forestry related industry, such as pulp and paper, sawmills and furniture manufacturing, is one of the biggest contributors to New Brunswick's economy. Although only 7% of New Brunswick land is dedicated to agriculture, farming remains an important industry. New Brunswick's most prolific crop is potatoes which are exported throughout Canada and the world.

About 1.5 million tourists visit New Brunswick ever year, many enjoying the myriad of wilderness activities. Whale watching, sea kayaking, hiking, fishing, canoeing and hunting are just a few of the outdoor adventures available.

There are vast differences in New Brunswick weather depending on the location. Temperatures are milder in the south. Fredericton, New Brunswick's capital city, averages 25 degrees Celsius in July and -5 degrees in January. In the sparsely populated northern region of the province, temperatures are about 8 degrees cooler on average. New Brunswick receives more snow than either of the other Maritime provinces making its winters ideal for cross-country skiing, snowmobiling and other winter sports.

Almost 35% of New Brunswickers speak French as their primary language. In towns like Moncton it is not uncommon to hear residents switch between French and English in the same conversation, an indication of the true bilingual nature of the province. A small percentage of Micmac Indians and people of Dutch and German descent add to the province's cultural diversity.

When it comes to entertainment New Brunswick offers a lot more than outdoor adventure. There are museums, art galleries and theatres in the larger towns. King's Landing Historical Settlement, a re-creation of an 1800s loyalist village is a popular attraction near Fredericton as is Acadian Historic Village, a re-creation of a French Acadian village in the 1780s. Magnetic Hill theme park (where the landscape gives the illusion that cars are coasting uphill) has a zoo, water-slides and other family amusements. New Brunswick is also the home of the world's longest covered bridge in Hartland.