Oh Canada! series (6) What makes Canada great?
Canada Day is July 1st so to extend Canada’s birthday celebration, this week I bring you an “Oh Canada!” series. I will feature some of the wonderful people, places, creatures and features that make Canada so special!
I have talked about Canada’s great outdoors, jazz artists and comedians. Today we’ll look into some of the other things and features that make Canada great.
Here are some of the ‘Things that make Canada Great’
Info Source
- Great variety in seasons Read about Canada’s 4 Seasons
- Great world-wide reputation Read “Why Canada has the best reputation in the world”
- We invented Hockey
- We invented Basketball
- We invented the telephone – Read about its Canadian inventor Alexander Graham Bell
- We invented cable T.V.-Read about its Canadian inventor- Reginald Fessenden
- There are over 2 million Canadian patents
- We are one of the G-7 countries
- We are a part of NATO
- We are a part of NAFTA
- We have a low crime rate
- Canadians are polite
- We have one of the top education systems
- Canada introduced peace-keeping
- Our government pays for medicine. In other words, no hospital bills
- We have nice cities
- We have clean cities
- We are at peace with many countries
- We are the leader in telephone technology
- We invented refining
- Canada has more clean water than any other nation
- Canada is a free and democratic society
- Hockey is Canada, Canada is hockey
- We know how, and when to use the word, “eh”
- We have two official languages, and a leader that speaks his own
- Unlike what many people think, Canadians are patriotic
- We are probably the least biased country
- Lots of ski resorts
- We have the world’s longest street –Yonge Street stretches from Toronto to somewhere near Manitoba
- Our schools have less of a dicipline problem than American schools
- Canadian students rank higher than American students in Math, Science, English, …
- 1/3 of Microsoft programmers come from the University of Waterloo
- A Canadian invented the baseball glove
- A Canadian invented insulin
- A Canadian invented the kitchen stove
- The movie “Titanic” was written, directed and produced by a Canadian, James Cameron
- Nelvana Corp. of Toronto hired to produce all American cartoons on CBS
- Canada has a trade surplus, unlike our southern friends
- Canada is slated to get rid of the deficit and debt before the U.S.
- Canadian music is world renowned
- Unemployed Canadians receive higher welfare cheques than unemployed Americans
- Average life expectancy of a Canadian is 79 years, the highest in the world (U.S. is 75 years) Read more about this topic
- Canadian cities are some of the world’ most livable cities Vancouver (3), Toronto (4), Calgary (5)
- Canada receives more immigrants per capita than the U.S. (almost twice as much)
- Canada is among most popular tourist destinations in the world
- Canadian universities are world-renowned for quality education and cheap tuitions
- Canada is one of few countries at the UN to be a part of the security council, giving Canada a strong voice
- Canada has the lowest crime rate among major industrialized countries
- Falling unemployment rate
- Canadian social programs are unsurpassed
- More medals per capita than any other country at the Atlanta Summer Olympics
- Canadian attack at Vimy Ridge during WWI; one of the turning points of the war
- More drinkable water in Canada than anywhere else in the world
- The longest inclined tower in the world – the Olympic Tower in Montreal
Below are some photos taken on Canada Day
at Prince’s Island Park, Calgary
It’s nice to see people come together
to celebrate as a community.
Young and old join in the fun…
Some kind of martial arts exhibition…
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| My sis-in-law Linda and I on Canada Day at Prince’s Island, Calgary |
“I think every Canadian should have a map of Canada in his or her house. It should be displayed in a place where one can sit and contemplate the wonderful vastness of this land. As Canadians we are continuously groping for an identity and a sense of love for our nation. We grapple with the concept, find it somewhat distasteful and leave it for another day. We find American flag waving, hand over heart while belting out Oh, say, can you see… too much and avoid doing the same. We admire their national spirit, but Canadians are, in contrast, understated. To understand the identity that exists in our hearts think of our sweepingly majestic home, its quiet, serene beauty. A beauty recognizable to us all. We are proud of this nation and of who we are. We just don’t say it. It’s like the map. It just sits there on the wall displaying the lines of our coasts, the bulk of our waterways, and the breadth of our northern territories. Surveying all of this leaves me in awe. It brings a tear to my eye…O Canada… ” -Debora O’Neil
“Canada has shown the world how to balance freedom with compassion and tradition with innovation, in your efforts to provide health care to all your citizens, to treat your senior citizens with the dignity and respect they deserve, to take on tough issues like the move afoot to outlaw automatic weapons designed for killing and not for hunting…. “
–Bill Clinton’s Address to Canadian House of Commons,1995
“I believe the world needs more Canada.” – BONO
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