Ten Interesting Facts about Canada

It's  Almost Canada Day!

Just like you, I love my country too and am thankful to live here.

We celebrate our country on July 1 each year, so tomorrow is a holiday and there will be community parties, get-togethers, barbeques, cakes, fireworks and concerts all across the country.

I thought I would write 10 interesting things about our country and then had a hard time keeping it to just 10.  Please bear with me as I show some Canadian pride.

1. Canada is the second largest country in the world next to Russia.

2. We have basically free health care.  When I had my daughters in hospital, it cost me about $5 each time and that was a charge for a private phone in my room.

3.  Our country has five  biomes...tundra, boreal forest, mountain forest, grasslands, and deciduous forest. That's a lot of forest. There are also over 3 million lakes housing approximately 60 % of the earth's fresh water.

4. Ottawa, where I live, is the second coldest capital city in the world.  If you've been following Canadian Needle Nana, you've heard a little about that. LOL

5.  The border between the United States and Canada is the longest unprotected border in the world and is the longest border between two countries in the world.
Watch This amusing video about the oddities and interesting facts about this border.

6.  Queen Elizabeth II is our official head of state.  We spell many words the British way as some of you have remarked to me since I've been writing to you.


 

7.  Our police are called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the RCMP .  We think they are special especially in their red serge uniforms. LOL




8.  We really are very polite.  The other morning going through the drive-through at Tim Horton's I could hear the drivers saying thank you and the poor girl working there saying "you're welcome"....over and over. By the end of her shift, she must be so tired of saying those two words.

9. Our money is kind of interesting; the bills are colourful which lead to jokes that it looks like play money.





 We have a coin for $1 that features the bird, the loon, on it and this fact quickly led to it being called a "loonie".  It just made sense that when we made a  $2 coin we would affectionately call it a" toonie".


10.  The beaver is our national symbol.  Nothing pompous, grandiose, or legendary.  Just a hard working rodent who minds his own business and spends all his time building his house and feeding his family.  That's us.  LOL

Here is a great little Attenborough video about the value of the beaver's work in an ecosystem.

Happy Canada Day to all who are celebrating!

And of course, so happy to link with Not Afraid of Color and It's a Small Town Life.