The Canadian Prairies is a region in Western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political. The region comprises the Canadian portion of the Great Plains, and notably, the Prairie provinces or simply the Prairies comprise the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are partially covered by prairie (grasslands), mostly in the southern regions of each province. In a more restricted sense, the term may also refer only to the areas of those provinces covered by prairie; their portions of the physiographic region known as the Interior Plains. Prairie also covers portions of northeastern British Columbia, though that province is typically not included in the region in a political sense.