English-Canadian
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English-Canadian is a term that has been used loosely and strictly speaking erroneously to refer to the non-francophone, English-speaking majority population of Canada. The more accurate terms English-speaking Canadian and anglophone Canadian are also widely used.
Traditionally, it has referred to anglophone Canadians, that is to say Canadians who are of British descent. In this case, the term refers to language, not ethnicity; however, according to the 2001 Canadian census, the majority of Canadians of British descent are English, followed by the Scottish, Irish, or Welsh. Respondents are free to answer as they wish and may erroneously consider the terms anglophone and English synonymous. It can also be safely assumed that some of the respondents who selected "Canadian" originally came from one of these charter British groups. [1].
However, with this population ever-shrinking as a proportion of the whole, the term is now often applied in a much broader sense, referring to all Canadians outside of Quebec, including English-speaking immigrants.
Striking a balance between "French" and "English" has been a political issue in Canada for quite some time. In the cabinet of the Prime Minister of Canada, for example it is often expected that he will have some degree of balance between the amount of "French" and "English" cabinet ministers. Likewise, the office of the Governor General of Canada is said to alternate between "French" and "English" persons.