Canada’s most distinct province is evoked by the words that used to grace its license plates, La Belle Province. The current Je me souviens – I remember – recalls the history of a land first settled by the French four centuries ago.

Quebec extends from the fertile and populous St. Lawrence lowlands across miles of forest and tundra to the desolate coastline of the Hudson Strait. Still part of Canada despite a quarter century of uncertainty, the province has become more distinctively French in character since the changes begin in the period of the 1960s Quiet Revolution.

The Quebec countryside is one thing, the cities another. Montreal and Quebec City attract international visitors by the million, and once you have arrived in either of them it is easy to see why. Montreal is a great metropolis, whose deep-rooted past is reflected in its claim to the biggest concentration of historic buildings in North America, but whose future aspirations are expressed in a skyline of skyscrapers, some of great elegance and beauty.