If we lived in a perfect world where everyone got what they wanted, Canada would have 36 provinces. Such concept was explored by Alexandr Trubetskoy a geographer from the University of Chicago, who constructed a map that showed what Canada would look like if every major proposal submitted by the Canadian provinces throughout the years had succeeded.
According to Huffington Post, Trubetskoy's inspirations for the map actually came from a Wikipedia article that listed proposals for possible provinces and territories throughout history.
He briefly explained the map on his website:
Since Canadian Confederation in 1867, there have been several proposals for new Canadian provinces and territories, with varying degrees of support and seriousness.
Included is every new province proposal since the late 19th century that gained any significant political support. Excluded is the rest of the United States (besides Maine, Vermont and the Northeast Angle), because those proposals were satirical.
The three territories of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut) are included as provinces on the map, since there have been many proposals to make them full provinces.
Many province proposals overlap, such as Northwestern Ontario and Northern Ontario. The map assumes that all overlapping proposals had succeeded, resulting in distinct provinces.
After some more research it appeared I was missing the Bahamas. I added them and removed Northwest Angle, because its proposed provincehood was only for later annexation by Ontario.
The most painstaking task Trubetskoy had to deal with was determining historically-accurate borders for the map. Apparently, it took quite a bit of heavy research to figure that out.
Included in the map are also the countries that Canada was once (or still is) interested in annexing, like Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The map hasn't been updated since 2014, but it still offers a unique perspective on Canada's division and expansion possibilities.