Here are 30 weird facts about
Canada that prove it's the most interesting country ever:
1. Canada only got its own
flag 100 years after it became a country — on February 15, 1965.
2. Part of Canada is on
Mars... kind of. A crater on the planet was named after the town of Gander,
Newfoundland in honour of its efforts in space research.
3. The famous Canadian
interjection "eh" is actually listed in the Canadian Oxford
Dictionary as a valid word.
4. The Royal Canadian Mint once made a gigantic loonie made of 99.9% gold that was worth $1 million.
5. You can write a letter in
any language and send it to the North Pole, H0H 0H0, Canada and you will
receive a letter back from Santa.
6. Quebec manufactures more
than 77% of the world's maple syrup.
7. Canada shares the largest
demilitarized border in the world with the United States.
8. The townspeople of
Nanaimo, B.C. race their bathtubs as part of an annual aquatic tradition.
9. Some of the world's most
popular superheroes were conceived by Canadian minds, including Superman and
Wolverine.
10. That being said, it is
against Canadian law to have comics that depict criminal acts.
11. Canada is home to the Narcisse Snake Pits of Manitoba, the largest orgy of garter snakes in the world.
12. Twenty percent of the world's fresh water is in Canada, and it has more lakes than any other country.
13. The most common last name
in Canada is "Smith."
14. In Alberta's Banff
National Park, overpasses that go over highways are made for wildlife and have
trees and shrubs growing on them.
15. The third official
language of Canada is "goose" — just kidding. But Canadian geese do
have as many as 13 different animal calls that are distinctly their own.
16. Only in Canada could it go from minus 19C to plus 22C in an hour! (Pincher Creek, Alberta in 1962. Look it up!)
17. Ogopogo is a mythical monster similar to the Loch Ness Monster that supposedly lives in Lake Okanagan, B.C.
18. As much as Canadians love hockey, it's actually not the national sport — lacrosse, a First Nations' game, is.
19. The Westboro Baptist
Church and its members are banned from entering Canada.
20. Hawaiian pizza was
actually invented by a man from Ontario, not by the Hawaiians.
21. At the Bay of Fundy in
Nova Scotia, you can run on the sea bed, but you have to make it across before
the 100 billion tons of water rush back!
22. There's an area in the
Hudson Bay region that has less gravity than the rest of the planet.
23. Up to 30% of Canada is
covered in trees and thick forest.
24. Prostitution laws are
hazy in Canada — the purchase of sexual services is criminalized, but the
selling of sexual services is allowed under certain conditions (if that makes
any sense at all...).
25. Canada has been invaded
twice by Americans — both in 1775 and 1812.
26. The largest Sony big
screen TV can be found in Toronto's Rogers Centre.
27. Canada consumes more mac
and cheese than any other country in the world.
28. Old Quebec is still
walled off and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
29. The lowest temperature
ever recorded in Canada was in Snag, Yukon Territory at minus 63C.
30. The official phone number
for Canada is 1-800-O-Canada.
