Wednesday, July 1, 2020

153 Reasons Why I/We/To Love Canada

On last week's cover of People, the top heading reads "100 Reasons to Love America". Naturally, of course, I decided that I could top that, being a woman of many words, and all :) Our nation is 153 years young on July 1st (Yes, we have a national birthday, too. You're welcome!), and I thought I would write up 153 reasons why I LOVE CANADA!!! (You're welcome again!). Canada has laid claim to many tv shows, celebrities, inventions, records broken of various genres, and of course, we are NICE!


                                                                  Photo Credit: Andrew Strain

So, without further ado...let's begin :)

1) Free Healthcare
2) Colourful Money
3) We can spell correctly (Centre, Favourite, Colour, Saviour)!
4) We are so polite.
5) Freedom!
6) We (usually) have 4 seasons!
7) Poutine
8) Beaver Tails
9) Maple Syrup
10) Our PM is easy on the eyes.
11) The second largest country (in landmass) in the world, with over 9M Sq KM (over 3M Sq M).
12) We share the longest continues undefended land border (with the US) in the world.
13) We are larger than the EU.
14) Alert, NU, is the world's northernmost settlement.
15) Ketchup Chips
16) Viola Desmond
17) Harriet Tubman (not Canadian, but she led people through UR, to Canada)
18) Baby Pablum was invented in Canada.
19) (Ice) Wine (some of the best in the world!) Only country to make ice wine.
20) Beer
21) Tragically Hip/Gord Downie
22) Corner Gas
23) Schitt's Creek
24) Kim's Convenience
25) We use the metric system (ok, though we also use imperial some of the time).
26) 10 provinces, and 3 territories.
27) Coffee Crisp
28) Smarties
29) Cuban Crunch
30) We have the world's longest coastline.
31) NWMP?RCMP/Regional-City/OPP
32) The Ogopogo
33) Tim Horton's, Second Cup, Timothy's Coffee
34) The Maple Leaf is our national emblem.
35) We have the second highest summit in N. America
36) Our National Parks are larger than most countries.
37) We have like, a kajillion lakes; we actually have more lakes than the rest of the world.
38) Blue Rodeo
39) Celine Dion
40) CCMA (that will cover pretty much any Canadian Country Music artist).
41) Sir Frederick Banting/Insulin
42) Margaret Atwood
43) Terry Fox
44) Nellie McClung
45) Clara Hughes
46) Tommy Douglas (see #1)
47) Alexander Graham Bell/Telephone
48) Ryan Reynolds
49) Ryan Gosling
50) Rachel McAdams
51) Brett Kissel
52) Paul Brandt
53) Cirque De Soliel (though I did see that they are filing for bankruptcy).
54) James Cameron
55) Mike Myers
56) Martin Short
57) Eugene Levy
58) Canada has North America's strongest current.
59) Totem Poles and Inuksuks (Inukshuks)
60) Catherine O'Hara
61) Chris Hadfield
62) Kinder Surprise
63) Pluto Living
64) Dr. Bonnie Henry
65) Nanaimo Bars
66) Butter Tarts (with raisins, or with out??)
67) Chapman's Ice Cream
68) Jillian Harris
69) All Dressed Chips
70) Ceaser (Mock) Cocktail (our version the Bloody Mary)
71) Hockey
72) Basketball (yes, it was invented in Canada).
73) Raptors (see above)
74) Lacrosse
75) We are not afraid to be outside ALL year round!
76) Rick Mercer
77) Tourtiere
78) Our Northern Lights are the bomb.
79) MB is host of the Polar Bear Capital of the world.
80) We have a "Royal City".
81) Wells Gray Park/
82) Aveley Heritage Sheep Ranch (yes, that is a shameless plug!)
83) Solitude B&B (yep, another shameless plug!)
84) The best lamb EVA!!!!
85) The best beef EVA!!!
86) We have 3 Indengious people that are the true founders of our Country.
87) There are Metis, Inuit, and the First Nations People
88) No need to go to Europe, when the Okanagan has Europe-Worthy views and vistas.
89) Our anthem turns 40 years old this year.
90) A lot of films are made here; we are called the Hollywood of the North.
91) While we don't have the ONLY Ice Hotel in the world, we do have the COLDEST (QU)!
92) Our National Anthem is actually has Christian lyrics.
93) Our colours are red and white; the red being from Saint George's Cross.
94) Our current flag is "new"; being adopted from the Union Jack in 1964.
95) The Snowbirds
96) A lot of the names of places are named after/for/from the First Nation People
97) We come together and help each other when things happen (fires, floods, pandemics).
98) We have an going "fight" with Denmark about who owns an Arctic Island. Then we trade whiskey.
99) Wayne Gretksy (see what I did there?)
100) There was a fight over maple syrup (isn't this our version of the "Boston Tea Party"?)
101) We produce 80% of the world's maple syrup.
102) Bear/Pepper Spray is illegal to carry here.
103) But Cannabis is legal.
104) We have the longest skating rink in the world.
105) We like to host parties and festival. A lot. Even in the winter. Because we are hearty like that.
106) We have the longest highway in the world (TWCH).
107) 80% of the world's cherries originate in Summerland, BC (see also: Weird place names!)
108)  MB has the most production and exportation of Canola Oil in the world.
109) We have the longest running street in the world.
110) Our country started out as a colony, that was called New France.
111) It was given the name Kanata, which is an Iroquios-Huron name for Village or Settlement.
112) It was given to a settlement called Stadacona, in Quebec.
113) The new name was unofficially given by Jacques Cartier in 1545 (approx).
113) The name grew popular in part due to his calling the St. Lawrence River "The River of Canada"
114) You cannot make this stuff up.
115)We have some history that we would like to forget, and that we are not proud of (see #119).
116) However, we helped win WW2, and free Concentration Camps, so that's cool!
117) We like (and not afraid) to say "sorry".
118) In 2008, our PM, Mr. Stephen Harper issued a public apology regarding Residential Schools.
119) This had to do with sending First Nations Children away to schools (Google for more info).
120) CBC, CTV, and Global (plus their own 24 hour news channels!)
121) Elk, Moose, Geese, Bear (Kodiak Bear!), Deer, among amazing animals.
122) The Beaver is our national Animal.
123) Although our history is long, our country is new; 153 years young; 1867!!
124) There is a city that runs btwn VT and QU. True story.
125) We get both the Canadian and American versons of TLC, HGTV, Food Network, etc.
126) We don't have Hallmark in Canada, so the W Network is our version of it.
127) We actually report on news in other countries, not just our own.
128) We (usually!) protest nicely!
129) We have the largest fresh water fishing lake in the world.
130) We invented the snowblower (and again, you're welcome!)
131) We also boast that we have the longest bridge over the shortest body of water.
132) Saskatoons (berries; there is also a city in SK called Saskatoon; not sure which was named first).
133) Huckleberries
134) We have the only walled city in N.America.
135) There is a town called Lloyminster that spans between two provinces (AB/SK).
136) We seem like we are confused. A lot.
137) There are a few places that are in Canada that officially belong to the States.
138) We have 10% of the world's forests.
139) We have the world's largest Hockey stick.
140) The First Nations Assembly recognizes 630 First Nations Communities.
141) We have the world's largest Easter egg.
142) Canada is home to the two top 10 largest/deepest lakes in the world.
143) Excellent TV programming! (RIP 80s and 90s shows!! See also various #s).
144) We have one of the largest diamond mines in the world.
145) We have amazing talent, athletes, celebrities, artists, photographers, singers, inventions, etc.
146) We also have the deepest lake in North America.
147) We invented the paint roller.
148) Our country touches three oceans.
149) Peanut butter (invented in Canada)
150) The first search engine was invented in Canada.
151) Imax
152)  Java Script Language
153) We have the third narrowest streets in the world.

Some Bonus facts:

As you can see, there are A LOOOOOOT of wonderful (and some, not so wonderful) facts about our great nation! There are also a TON MORE that I am either forgetting, or that it would take a life time to post here. But, I think you get the idea!!! I am not going to link anything up b/c A) It would take too long, B), nobody cares, C), you find these links for yourself, it's called Google, and D) I am not getting paid to share them, so, why bother? :) Also, in order to keep the statements one liners, they might not all make sense, nor they will all say where in Canada they are located, so you might want to go and check our the internet for more information. It is also why one fact might take up a few numbers :) 
                                                            πŸ©πŸ’πŸ“πŸƒπŸŽ‰πŸŽ‡πŸŽ†⛄πŸπŸΊπŸŒΏπŸ›Ά

                                          HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!



**This post took me, legit 10 hours to compose. True Story**






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