In celebration of all things Canadian, I give to you today a few things to think about this Canada Day weekend, for we are much more than just hewers of wood and drawers of water.
Here are a few facts to think about:
Geography: When dealing strictly with land mass, Canada is the second largest country in the world; Russia just beats us out for first place. We do have the world’s longest coastline, however, measuring approximately an astonishing 243,042 kilometres — we do, after all, have three coastlines to worry about. If you are so inclined and chose to bike, walk or run across the country, you will be facing a gruelling trek that measures about 8,850 km (or 5,500 miles). For comparison’s sake (and to make it easier to understand just how big this country happens to be), Canada is 30 per cent bigger than Australia, three times the size of India, 18 times bigger than France, 41 times the size of the UK, and 142 times larger than Ireland. Population wise, Canada is ranked 38th, just behind Poland, but ahead of Morocco, on the 2024 Woldometer website. For the record, the top three most populous countries are India (1.428 billion), China (1.425 billion) and the United States (340 million). Canada’s population is currently at 40 million (so declared last week, apparently!).
Highways, parks and beaches: Canada is home to the longest highway in the world — the Trans-Canada Highway runs between Victoria, B.C., and St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador. That translates to about 4,860 kms, give or take. We also enjoy the world’s longest freshwater beach — Wasaga Beach in southern Ontario takes that honour with a length of about 14 km (great for those who enjoy “long walks along the beach”). Banff National Park is Canada’s oldest established national park; it was opened in 1885, and is ranked as the world’s fourth oldest national park behind Bodg Khan Uul National Park in Mongolia (1783), Yellowstone National Park (1872) and the Royal National Park in Australia (1879). We do have the world’s largest coin (Sudbury’s Giant Nickel) and the world’s deepest base metal mine right here in Timmins — the Kidd operations mining at 9,889 feet (yaay for us!).
A Guinness Book record: According to the Guinness Book of World records (an authority “par excellence”), the longest street in the world is Toronto’s Yonge Street, which starts at Lake Ontario and finishes at the Ontario/Minnesota border, calculated at 1,896 kms in total. Of course, most of it is known as Highway 11, (and is a part of the Trans-Canada Highway) but we’re not going to be picky about it.
Just a few great Canadian Inventions: The culinary world would be much poorer if enterprising Canadians had not invented butter tarts, Caesars (the drink), Canada Dry ginger ale, canola oil, peanut butter, Pablum, Nanaimo bars and McIntosh apples. We are also responsible for IMAX film, the telephone, the gramophone, quartz clocks, standard time, walkie-talkies, the snowblower (no surprise), the stealth snowmobile, the gas mask (used in the First World War by soldiers), egg cartons, kerosene, plexiglass, insulin, the Ebola vaccine, basketball, five-pin bowling, ice hockey, lacrosse, ringette, Superman and the caulking gun, to name but a very few.
A little history trivia: Did you know that Canada has the only walled city north of Mexico, being Quebec City, or that the United States invaded Canada twice (1775 just before the American Revolution and at the beginning of the war of 1812), and that neither attack was successful? O Canada, originally named Le Chant National, was written by Adolphe-Basile Routhier (French lyrics) and Calixa Lavallée (music), and was first performed in Quebec City in 1880. The song was accepted by the Parliament of Canada in 1967 as the unofficial national anthem (“God save the Queen” was still the official anthem). Surprisingly, it took until July 1, 1980 (?!) for it to be officially adopted as the official anthem of Canada. And while we are at it, Canada got its first official flag (the Maple Leaf), on Feb. 15, 1965.
And a few more “did-you-knows”: We have the world’s largest moose population (estimated to be about one million, spread throughout all the provinces ); we have the world’s highest tides in the Bay of Fundy, N.B.; we have the world’s most northernly sand dunes located in the Athabasca Provincial Park in Saskatchewan; Manitoulin Island is the largest freshwater island in the world; and, the world’s largest totem pole was raised in Victoria, B.C., and stands 180 feet tall.
So, stand tall – we have much to celebrate in this lovely country of ours – and don’t forget to get out to Gillies Lake on July 1st (7 p.m. to 10 p.m.) to enjoy a little food and our community’s first drone show! Happy Canada Day!