Domain experts...two questions about .ca domains
 

I am in the UK and need to register a Canadian extension domain name (.ca) but I need some clarity on a couple of things:

1. I am being advised that .ca domains were set-up solely for Canadian residents or people with an affiliation in the country. True?
2. Is the .ca extension penalized by Google in any way? (I read in a guide a while back that lesser TLD extensions are sometimes given a lesser priority by the algo hence possible poorer rankings). True or false?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Thanks.
People got some thoughts on the domain extension and rankings?