1.
Canada spans 9,984,670 sq km and comprises 6
time zones.
2. At 3,855,103 square miles, Canada is the second largest country in the world, after Russia.
3. Canada officially got its own national flag on February 15, 1965, almost 100 years after it became a country (in 1867).
4. John Cabot was the first explorer to reach Canada in 1497
5. Canada has twice been invaded by the USA, first in 1775 and again in 1812.
6. The National Flag of Canada came into being in 1965 to replace the Union Jack. It is an 11 pointed red maple leaf on a white square.
7. Canada became a country on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act was passed by the British Parliament
8. Canada Day, the national holiday is celebrated on 1 July.
9. Canada is the second largest country in the world.
10. The highest tides in the world occur in the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick.
11. The capital of Canada is Ottawa, the second coldest capital in the world.
12.
Canada has six time zones.
13. Canada has the longest coastline of any country in the world at 151,600 miles.
14. The nation’s official phone number is 1-800-O-Canada.
15. Canada is the most educated country in the world.
16. Canada’s official languages may be French and English, but our geese have their own language: scientists believe that Canada geese have as many as 13 different calls for everything from greetings and warnings to happiness.
17. Canada is home to the longest street in the world. Yonge Street in Ontario starts at Lake Ontario, and runs north through Ontario to the Minnesota border, a distance of almost 2,000 km.
18. Canada has the longest coastline of any country in the world at 151,600 miles.
19. While we’re talking ‘longest’, here’s another record: Canada has the world’s longest coastline at 202,080 km.
20. Canada is the largest producer of uranium in the world.
21. Canada has more than 31,700 big lakes (over 300ha).
22. Toronto’s Rogers Centre, formerly known as the SkyDome, is home to the largest Sony big screen in the world, measuring 10 m x 33.6 m.
23. The Canadian motto, A Mari Usque ad Mare means “From sea to sea.”
24. The Big Nickel in Sudbury, Ontario is the world’s largest coin. It is a huge reproduction of a 1951 Canadian nickel and measures nine meters in diameter.
25. Canada holds the record for the most gold medals ever won at the Winter Olympics, taking 14 Golds at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
26. Canada was named through a misunderstanding. When Jaques Cartier, a French explorer, came to the new world, he met with local Natives who invited them to their ‘kanata’ (the word for ‘village’). The party mistakenly thought the name of the country was “Kanata” or Canada.
27. A bear cub named Winnipeg was exported from Canada to the London Zoo in 1915. A little boy named Christopher Robin Milne loved to visit Winnipeg, or Winnie for short. His love for the bear cub inspired the stories written by his father, A.A. Milne, about Winnie-the-Pooh.
28. The Blackberry Smartphone was developed in Ontario, at Research In Motion’s Waterloo offices.
29. Canada is home to approximately 55,000 different species of insects.
30. Canada’s only desert in British Columbia is only 15 miles long and is the only desert in the world with a long boardwalk for visitors to walk on.
31. In 1962, Pincher Creek, Alberta experienced the fastest, biggest temperature change ever recorded in Canada as a result of a Chinook (a warm, dry wind that comes off the Rocky Mountains). The temperature rose from -19C to 22C in just one hour!
32. Montreal is home to many beautiful churches and is often called The City of Saints or City of a Hundred Bell Towers.
33. And every year the Netherlands sends Canada thousands of tulips to show their gratitude.
34. Canada does not allow pre-employment or randomized employee drug tests.
35. Ontario is believed to be home to the world’s smallest jail, which measures only 24.3 sq metres.
36. Alberta, Canada, is the only region in the entire world free of Norwegian rats.
37. No cows in Canada are given artificial hormones for milk production.
38. There’s also a prison for polar bears who break into people’s homes for food.
39. Forget the Loch Ness Monster: Canada has its own mysterious lake creature, Ogopogo, who reportedly lives in Lake Okanagan, British Columbia.
40. Canada’s post office receives millions of letters addressed to “Santa Claus, North Pole” each year. They respond to each one as Mrs. Claus.
41. George Street in Newfoundland has more bars and pubs per square feet than on any street in North America.
42. The Narcisse Snake Dens in Manitoba have more snakes in a concentrated area than anywhere else in the world. Tens of thousands of red-sided garter snakes gather there every year. On the other hand, there are no snakes on the island of Newfoundland.
43. The Hotel de Glace in Quebec is built every year using 400 tons of ice and 12 000 tons of snow. Every summer it melts away, only to be rebuilt the following winter.
44. The Citizenship and Immigration Minister declared that Santa Claus is Canadian.
45. British Columbian pioneers made use of the oolichan, also called candlefish, at nighttime. The small fish is so fatty that it can be dried, strung on a wick and burned like a candle!
46. Between 1984 and 2008, it was illegal to sell pop in cans in PEI. All carbonated drinks had to be purchased in refillable glass bottles. PEI was the only place in North America to have "can ban".
47. For one day in 1943, Ottawa designated a hospital room to be “extraterritorial” (international) ground so a Dutch princess could be born a full Dutch citizen.
48. The West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, was once the world's largest shopping mall. It now ranks fifth, but it still contains the world's largest indoor amusement park.
49. Canada is known as the home of large animals like the moose and grizzly bear, but it is also home to about 55,000 species of insects and about 11,000 species of mites and spiders.
50. Alberta has 50% of the world's supply of bitumen
Thanks for reading ^_^
