I’m Honoured!

My good buddy over at Canucklehead has bestowed upon me a great award. Even though I am a Canuck – I still think it rocks! How many of the things do you know?

It’s like the knapsack maple leaf for the blogosphere! Get yours today and tell your friends.

GET YOURS HERE!

Bob & Doug Mania, eh?

Happy Canada Day – enjoy the video below!

The loveable Canadian hosers, among Canada’s greatest ambassadors.

Enjoy this trip back to 1983 …

 

Images: A Collection of Canada

  

Now That’s How You Sing an Anthem!

‘O Canada’ as sung by the Rexall crowd before the Oilers’ Stanley Cup playoff game vs. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, May 2006. In a word? Awesome.

 

Canada is Real People!

SOURCE: xkcd.com

Canadian Geographical Facts

Total Area of Canada

The total area of Canada is 9 984 670 square kilometres. Of this, 9 093 507 square kilometres is land and 891 163 square kilometres is fresh water. Canada’s area is the second largest in the world (after Russia which has a total area of 17 075 000 square kilometres). On Canadian territory, the longest distance North to South (on land) is 4 634 kilometres from Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut to Middle Island in Lake Erie, Ontario. The longest distance East to West is 5 514 kilometres from Cape Spear, Newfoundland and Labrador, to the Yukon Territory – Alaska boundary.

Boundary

The total length of the Canada-United States boundary is 8890 kilometres.

Landmass and Freshwater

Approximately 40% of Canada’s landmass and freshwater is north of 60 degrees North latitude. Between them, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut contains 9.2% of the world’s total freshwater. The area of Canada north of the treeline is 2 728 800 square kilometres or 27.4% of the total area of the country.

Earthquakes

Canada’s largest, and one of the world’s greatest earthquakes, happened on the 22nd of August 1949, off the Queen Charlotte Islands (53°62′ N 133°27′ W). The magnitude was 8.1 and it was widely felt. Some damage occurred on the Queen Charlotte Islands. One of most destructive Canadian earthquakes happened on the 18th of November 1929, in the Atlantic Ocean, south of Newfoundland. The magnitude was 7.2 and it was widely felt. Twenty-seven people were drowned and much damage was caused by a tsunami on the Burin Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland.

The Great Lakes

The Great Lakes – Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario – are the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world. They have a total surface area of 245 000 square kilometres, of which about one third is in Canada. Lake Michigan is entirely within the USA.

Coastline

Canada has the world’s longest coastline: 202 080 kilometres.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls (on the Niagara River) is acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest cataracts because of its height and its estimated mean annual flow of 6000 cubic metres per second.

Non-polar Ice Field

The largest non-polar ice field in the world can be found in the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon Territory. It covers an area of 40 570 square kilometres of which 16 900 square kilometres are located in Canada, the remainder being in Alaska.

Trans-Canada Highway

The Trans-Canada Highway length (using the Perth-Peterborough-Parry Sound route) is 7604 kilometres. It is the longest national highway in the world.

Alaska Highway

The fastest-built highway is the Alaska Highway which runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Fairbanks, Alaska. All 2451 kilometres of this highway were built in less than a year (1942 to 1943). Fireweed, the floral emblem of Yukon Territory, is a common sight along the Alaska Highway.

Dempster Highway

The northernmost highway is the Dempster Highway found mainly in Yukon Territory. It is the only public highway above the Arctic Circle that is open year-round. It runs from near Dawson, Yukon, to Inuvik, Northwest Territories; a distance of 720 kilometres.

Hailstorm

At the time it happened, the most expensive natural catastrophe in terms of property damage was a violent hailstorm that struck Calgary on September 7, 1991. Insurance companies paid about $400 million to repair over 65 000 cars, 60 000 homes and businesses, and a number of aircraft.

Tornado

The Regina Tornado of June 30, 1912, rated as F4 (winds of 330 to 416 kilometres per hour) was the most severe tornado so far known in Canada. It killed 28 people, injured hundreds and demolished much of the downtown area.

Most Severe Flood

The most severe flood in Canadian history occurred on October 14 to 15, 1954 when Hurricane Hazel brought 214 millimetres of rain in Toronto region in just 72 hours.

Manitoulin Island

The world’s largest island in a freshwater lake is Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, 2765 square kilometres.

Mount Logan

The highest mountain in Canada is Mount Logan, Yukon Territory, 5959 metres.

Baffin Island

The largest island in Canada is Baffin Island, Nunavut, 507 451 square kilometres.

Della Falls

The highest waterfall in Canada is Della Falls, British Columbia, 440 metres high.

Chilko Lake

The highest major lake (over 100 square kilometres) in Canada is Chilko Lake, British Columbia. Its elevation is 1171 metres and area is 158 square kilometres.

Bay of Fundy

The world’s highest tide is in the Bay of Fundy at Burntcoat Head, Nova Scotia. The mean large tide range is 16.1 metres.

Eureka

The lowest tide in Canada is at Eureka, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. The tidal range is about 0.1 metres.

Mackenzie River

The longest river is the Mackenzie River, Northwest Territories-Alberta-British Columbia, whose length is 4 241 kilometres. It is the river system with the largest drainage area: 1 805 200 square kilometres.

Great Bear Lake

The largest lake wholly in Canada is Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, 31 328 square kilometres.

Great Slave Lake

The deepest lake is Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, 614 metres deep.

Largest Hydro-electric Power Development

The largest hydro-electric power development in Canada is the James Bay project in Quebec, which started producing electricity in 1982; its eight dams and 198 dikes contain five reservoirs covering 11 900 square kilometres (half the size of Lake Ontario). The combined output of its generating stations is 15 237 megawatts.

Only Walled City

The only walled city north of Mexico is Québec; it was also the first city in North America to be placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites list.

SOURCE: Atlas of Canada

Your Canadian Questions

CanuckSpeak answers YOUR questions. Got one for us – comment below!

Ernie: Perhaps you could go into some detail regarding the Prime Minister who received advice from his dog…his dead, stuffed dog (McKenzie-King wasn’t it?).

While I almost certainly will be doing a post dedicated to politics at some point. I agree that this is certainly a subject that is worth a special mention. The Prime Minister you are thinking of is in fact William Lyon Mackenzie King who led our great country from 1921 to 1948 and his 21 years in office makes him the longest serving Prime Minister in British Commonwealth history. Mackenzie King is of course best remembered for being, umm ‘eccentric’ for his habit of communing with spirits, including those of Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his dead mother, and several of his Irish terrier dogs, all named Pat. While there is no direct evidence, it has been suggested that some political decisions were made as a result of some of these – ah, meetings. We can say for sure that he sought personal reassurance from the spirit world, rather than seeking political advice. After his death, one of his mediums said that she had not realized that he was a politician. It should be noted in our defence that his occult interests were not widely known during his years in office, and only became publicized later. In 1953 Time Magazine stated, “that he owned—and used—both a Ouija board and a crystal ball and in the 1970s biographers used the extensive diaries he kept during most of his life to delve deeper into his occult activities. King never married, but had several close female friends, including Joan Patterson, a married woman with whom he spent some of his leisure time. Some historians have interpreted passages in his diaries as suggesting that King regularly had sexual relations with prostitutes. Others, also basing their claims on passages of his dairies, have suggested that King was in love with Lord Tweedsmuir, whom he had chosen for appointment as Governor General in 1935. It just goes to show how much you may dislike your current leader, things could always be worse. Wait! What am I saying? This guy was awesome – rock on Willie, see you at the séance later!

NOTE: I also liked Ernie’s unrelated but funny follow up note: In regards to our size, I think The Arrogant Worms (more famous Canadians) said it best, “We’re the second biggest country, on this planet Earth; and if Russia keeps on shrinking, then soon we’ll be first (as long as we keep Quebec)”.

 Freelance Guru: Ok? So uh, in like uh, Cah-na-da, Can-ada, is that correct? Canodia or something? Is there like, is it like true that Canodians can leave their front doors open like in the Michael Moore documentary?

The short answer is yes. I actually used to live only a short distance from where that footage was shot. It is worth mentioning that it is in downtown Toronto, Canada’s largest city. That being said, our hardware stores do of course sell locks and we do carry keys. I actually always lock my doors and lots of us do. That being said, lots of people don’t – and although I hate to generalize, many who don’t likely live in smaller towns or simply grew up in a time when it was less important. There is crime in Canada and it is funny how often you read that criminals were able to make off with loot and/or cars because the doors were unlocked and/or kept in the ignition. I would venture a guess that while you find people who leave there doors unlocked around the world, Canada may have a slightly higher percentage, as to whether this is because they are lazy, trusting or forgetful is anyone’s guess.

Bucky: Why do Canadians buy their milk in bags?

Wow – people sure do find this interesting. For those who are wondering what we are talking about, you can see a picture HERE. The short answer is that not all of us do. That being said, it is an option and as someone who grew up on them, I actually prefer the bagged milk myself. I can only confirm that milk bags are available in Ontario, Quebec and BC- and I think I heard that they are NOT available in Manitoba and Quebec. It is worth mentioning that they are available quite a few places worldwide (see HERE), including Brazil, India, China and even California. Here in Ontario, (and the other places I’m sure) we do of course have both the cartons and, to a lesser degree, plastic bottles as well. The bags were actually adopted to reduce waste and other resources required to transport the milk. It does require a one-time purchase of a plastic pitcher that holds the individual bags and the one major complaint is when the cut on the corner is done improperly, it can result in a lot of spilt milk. The bags themselves are easy to sterilize and transport and some people even freeze their milk. (Blech.) While plastic does break down quite slowly, studies have shown that overall it is the most efficient way of packaging overall. As well, the fact that you buy such a large amount usually means savings. For better or worse, it seems that bagged milk has become a Canadian institution.

Well, that’s all for now – tune in next time when … oh, who am I kidding? I have no idea. (Maybe BEER!) Please keep those questions coming. Have a great weekend and all the best, eh.

SOURCE: Canucklehead.ca

A Brief History of Canada

Clearly, Canada’s history is the dictionary definition of boring. Just centuries of people sitting around and coming up with new words for snow. It is worth noting that a lot of history of Canada is at some level the history of other countries: more than half of Toronto’s current residents actually were born outside of Canada. Of course, we all have to take at least one Canadian history in high school, but I would think it is fair to say that we likely know more about the history of other countries’ history then our own.

Well, let’s get this snore fest out of the way so that we can move on to more exciting subjects. To summarize, Canada’s aboriginal peoples lived here mostly undisturbed until the late 15th century, where they passed the time by getting in tribal wars with each other. I leave out the boring details – just your usual slaughter, rape, kidnapping and pillaging, yawn. Europeans first arrived when the Vikings settled briefly on the eastern seaboard AD 1000. We all know what a boring crew those Vikings were … so, moving on.

The next Europeans to explore Canada’s Atlantic coast included John Cabot in 1497 for England and Jacques Cartier in 1534 for France; in the 1600s the French settlers waged a frontier guerrilla war against the Iroquois, and later, when the English settled en masse, a vast imperial conflict had death and bloodshed filling every inhabited corner of the country. The swashbuckling privateers of France battled to the death with the British redcoats, with a series of four Intercolonial Wars erupting between 1689 and 1763. The most notable event being the two European superpowers’ bloody clash on the Plains of Abraham. Finally, it looks like the boring details will finally cease as I advise that New France was conquered and the Treaty of Paris (1763) ceded Canada and most of New France to Britain following the Seven Years’ War.

Oh, well – actually, no sooner had New France been conquered than the frontier boiled over and the damn Americans invaded Canada. They were gloriously ousted only to regroup for a later re-attack in 1812. Oh yes, Canada was a major front in the War of 1812 between the United States and British Empire and its defence greatly contributed to a sense of unity among British North Americans. All the while, the adventures continued as explorers braved treacherous whitewater rivers and wild beasts of every description as they continued the country’s expansion toward the Pacific. A dangerous and bloody conflict was then ignited on the western coast as Spain, Britain and the U.S. battled for control of the land. (Make the boredom stop!) The desire for Responsible Government resulted in the aborted Rebellions of 1837, which were summarily crushed by the British government. In 1867, the British colonies joined together to form a dominion, mainly as a defensive move to counter the U.S. Civil War, which threatened to spill over into Canada at any moment. Additionally, a railway way beginning to stretch itself across the land, armed Métis rebellions raged in the Northwest and thousands were making their way to one of the most remote and inhospitable places on earth – the Yukon, where gold was recently discovered. The west was won, the Artic taken and over Europe nations started to gather.

 Canada automatically entered the First World War in 1914 with Britain’s declaration of war, and Canada came into it’s own as our armies established themselves amongst the best in the world. Heavy losses for minimal gains greatly contributed to the national identity. The Conscription Crisis of 1917 erupted when conservative Prime Minister Robert Borden brought in compulsory military service over the objection of French-speaking Quebecers. The Great Depression of 1929 brought economic hardship to all of Canada, turning the prairies into a dustbowl and shortly thereafter Canada was plunged headlong into war once again. (When will this yawn fest end?) Canada declared war on Germany independently during World War II three days after Britain, and well before our American counterparts. The first Canadian Army units arrived in Britain in December 1939 and Canadian troops played important roles in the Battle of the Atlantic, the failed 1942 Dieppe Raid in France, the Allied invasion of Italy, the D-Day landings, the Battle of Normandy and the Battle of the Scheldt in 1944. Despite another Conscription Crisis in Quebec, Canada finished the war with one of the largest armed forces in the world. In 1945, the Cold War began when a Soviet agent defected to our nation’s capital, bringing with him evidence of Communist penetration deep within – ah, why go on? I’ve bored you much too long already and like I said at the start, Canadian history is SO boring. It’s all just murder, mayhem and massacres.

The next important date of note is when Canucklehead Sr., filled with the bravery that can only be achieved through the consumption of a copious amount of rye whiskey, finally worked up the courage to approach my dear mother. My therapist has asked that I not dwell too much on the events of the next little while but in December 1971 the country welcomed Canucklehead: the man who would later come to define a nation. Until next time, keep those questions coming in – I plan to dedicate a post in the near future to addressing these alone.

SOURCE: Canucklehead.ca

Beer, eh?

Ask any Canadian to name things that define our country and beer will certainly make the shortlist. We didn’t invent it, perfect it nor do we drink a terribly large amount of it per capita (citation needed) – but boy – we sure do identify with it. Maybe Bob and Doug MacKenzie are to blame, I mean thank, however – for whatever reason beer is a point of eternal pride among Canadians and one of the few essential items we use to identify ourselves. Beer, along with poutine and strippers, was imported to Canada by the French settlers in the 17th century. For once, the Canadian climate was a bonus as the country could serve as the world’s largest refrigerator.

The first commercial brewery was built by Jean Talon in Quebec City, in 1668. John Molson founded a brewery in Montreal in 1786, Alexander Keith in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1829, Thomas Carling in London, Ontario in 1840, John Labatt in 1847, also in London, and Eugene O’Keefe in Toronto. Over the next century, these names became famous world-wide. After the First World War, Canada flirted with prohibition briefly but quickly abandoned the idea once people realized this would include beer and rye. (Canadian whiskey) Of course, many people became rich as liquor flowed across the border to our Southern neighbours. (You’re welcome.)

For better or worse, the market in Canada for domestic beer became dominated by large breweries like Labatts and Molsons. Their two main brands Canadian and Blue crowded out the market and restrictive liquor licensing laws gave Canadians little choice.

Since the 1980s, many of the draconian laws that restricted beer sales began to ease and Canadians have enjoyed a recent beer renaissance as of late, with many micro-brewery and craft beers being introduced. (Many very good). Canadians could choose more styles of domestic beer and even, god-forbid, foreign beers. Canadian beer did quite well for itself and the fear of being swamped by foreign brews never came to fruition. In fact, Canadian beers are quite popular in American markets, although mainly closer to the border.

There is a long-standing joke that every Canadian already knows. In short, American beer is like having sex in a canoe in that they are both ‘fucking near water’. I’m sorry to tell you that while Canadian beer is slightly stronger – it is only barely. You see, the numbers on the beer labels lie. The average Canadian beer is only 0.5% stronger than the average U.S. beer. You see, Americans use a different method of measuring alcohol content that we do. So, despite it going in the face I have been taught growing up – I feel it is my duty to set the record straight – a 5% Canadian beer is virtually equal to the 4% American. That being said, the fact you learned about ours being so much tastier and more awesome? That was spot on.

Of course, Canadians do drink all other sorts of booze as well, as many of my previous posts will attest. In fact, there is nothing you cannot get here – well, within reason of course. Anyway, I think I’ve written enough for now but I will make it a point to discuss both rye (Once again, foreigners know it as ‘Canadian whiskey) and for sure the Bloody Caesar (think Bloody Mary + clam pee and you’re in the right neighbourhood).  Well, I think I’ll go celebrate another post the way I celebrate all of them – with a cold beer. Until next time, cheers!

SOURCE: Canucklehead.ca

It’s Chilly, eh?

SOURCE: Canucklehead.ca