The National Capital Region (French: Région de la capitale nationale), also referred to as Canada's Capital Region and Ottawa–Gatineau (formerly Ottawa–Hull), is an official federal designation for the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario, the neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec, and surrounding suburban and exurban communities. The term National Capital Region is often used to describe the Ottawa–Gatineau metropolitan area, although the official boundaries of the NCR do not correspond to the statistical metropolitan area. Unlike capital districts in some other federal countries, such as the District of Columbia in the United States, the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India or the Australian Capital Territory in Australia, the National Capital Region is not a separate political or administrative entity. Its component parts are within the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Defined by the National Capital Act (1985), the National Capital Region consists of an area of 4,715 km2 (1,820 sq mi) that straddles the Ottawa River, which serves as the boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. This area is smaller than that of the Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area (CMA), which is 6,287 km2 (2,427 sq mi) in size. Ottawa–Gatineau is the only CMA in the nation to fall within two provinces. From Wikipedia