GenerEHtor

return to posts June 26th, 2018

So, how’s she goin’ eh?

We love Canada. We love it so much that, for Canada’s 150 birthday, we came up with 150 reasons to love our country. And we launched it just in time for the Canada Day weekend on July 1st, 2017! How did we get started on such a huge endeavour?

It went a little something like this:

“Canada’s 150th birthday is coming up. How can we contribute?”

This was the question that started it all during one staff lunch. Turning 150 is a big deal. Not something for which you can just stick candles in a poutine and crack open a two-four case to celebrate. Well, you can. But to look beyond the prairies and the maple syrup and rediscover the heroes and the landmarks of this country; to recognize what makes Canada, Canada. The conversation opened up in between mouthfuls of food.

“Well, there’s Niagara Falls.”

“Don Cherry.”

“And JAVA.”

“Like the coffee?”

“No, the programming language.”

“What? That’s Canadian?”

The give and take grew livelier, full of increasingly impressive Canadian trivia, when suddenly:

“What if we made a fact generator—“

“A Gener-Eh!-tor!”

And so the Generator Team, with the energy of five extra-large Double-Doubles, set forth into brainstorming ideas, jotting down every truly Canadian thing. Pages were filled, illustrations were sketched. We soon realized that if our small and mighty team was able to pool together so many points over lunch, that our project would surely benefit from the contributions of others. So we asked social media to send in their suggestions too, and before we knew it, we had our 150 amazing reasons Canada is such an amazing country.

After compiling our chosen 150 uniquely Canadian factoids, we added them for all to enjoy on the GenerEH!tor. This website featured tiles with a simplified Canadian icon that would flip with the hover of a mouse to reveal information about it.

While the website is gone, we’ve added them here for you to enjoy all 150 reasons Canada rocks from Eh to Zed; just in time for another Canada Day weekend.

No, it doesn’t rhyme with the rest of the ABC song, but up here zed is how it’s said.

Welcome to Earth, eh! St. Paul, Alberta built an official UFO landing pad as part of Canada’s centennial celebration in 1967. It contains a time capsule to be opened in 2067.

A Canadian company and product of the same name. Louise Poirier designed the original Wonderbra, which created a comfortable, uplifting experience for the wearer.

Also known as Logan or Weapon X, this fictional character of the X-Men series was born in northern Alberta. In addition to superhuman reflexes, this mutant possesses retractable bone claws on each hand.

White River, Ontario is the birthplace of “Winnie”, a black bear. The inspiration of author A.A. Milne, his son Christopher Robin Milne grew fond of Winnie during trips to the zoo where she lived, adding “the Pooh” to her name.

Born in Montreal, Québec, this actor, author, producer, and director has been in seven decades of television. He is a cultural icon for his portrayal of the Captain of the USS Enterprise, James T. Kirk, in the Star Trek franchise.

From Brantford, Ontario, he holds over 100 official and unofficial NHL records, including the one for holding the most records. The Wayne Gretzky Foundation is dedicated to helping less fortunate youth participate in hockey.

French and English. Français et anglais.

A two-four is a case of 24 bottles of beer sold in Canada. You would make sure to bring a two-four with you on the May two-four weekend.

At 7,821 kilometres long, this transcontinental federal-provincial highway connects Canada from coast to coast.

A meat pie originating from Québec typically made with minced pork, beef, veal, or game.

Canadians can’t agree on the spelling, but we can agree that we all own at least one of these winter weather knit hats.

Canada is surrounded by three of the world’s oceans: the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic.

No, not the g-string undies. Thongs are what many Canadians call these style flip flop sandals.

Bet you hear the kazoos playing the fanfare from the intro of this mock news program. Since 1993, Canadians have gathered around their televisions for satirical sketches of the weekly news and Canadian political events.

AKA "The Hip”, this Canadian rock band hails from Kingston, Ontario. Lead singer Gord Downie is known for his philanthropy, support of indigenous peoples of Canada, social and environmental work, and numerous other contributions and collaborations.

What Canadians call our neighbours to the south, while rest of the world mostly refers to it as “America”.

They took the red pill. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, who play Neo and Trinity in The Matrix trilogy, are both Canadian.

The famous Canadian sketch comedy series featuring five male actors who portray almost every character in the dark humoured show. Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson introduced us to characters including The Axe Murderer, The Chicken Lady, and Idiot Boy.

The longest recreational trail in the world. You can hike, cycle, paddle, ride, cross-country ski, or snowmobile across the Canadian landscape following this route.

Located in Sudbury, Ontario, this 9 metre, 12,000 kilogram nickel is made of steel plates, is 64 million times larger than the actual Canadian nickel, and celebrates the region’s status as a world leader in the mining industry.

Canada’s national animal, responsible for a booming fur trade in the 1500s. These master aquatic animal architects chew down trees and reshape the landscape with their dams. The largest beaver dam in the world is in Wood Buffalo National Park, Alberta. It can be seen from space.

After a diagnosis of osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 cm (6 inches) above the knee, he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research in his Marathon of Hope. Today, the Terry Fox Run is held in Canada and internationally to fund cancer research.

Located in Manitoba, this underground mine has the largest known deposit of pollucite in the world. It is also the world's largest producer of caesium, a chemical element used in the atomic clocks that regulate the timing of cell phone networks and the Internet.

Not actually fish, these fish-shaped wine gum candies were developed in Sweden. Those consumed in North America are made in Hamilton, Ontario.

Located 2,070 metres below the surface of Creighton Mine near Sudbury, Ontario, this detector was designed to pick up solar neutrinos through their interactions with a large tank of heavy water. The Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to SNOLAB director and Canadian astrophysicist, Arthur B. McDonald, for the discovery of neutrino masses.

A singer, songwriter, fiddler, and guitarist, this Country legend captured the essence of Canadian people and places in his songs. Best known for his black Stetson hat and foot stomp to keep tempo, he entertained us with classics such as "The Hockey Song,” "Bud the Spud,” and "Sudbury Saturday Night.”

Canadian former eight-time National Basketball Association All-Star, seven-time All-NBA selection, and twice named the NBA Most Valuable Player. Nash is currently general manager for the Canadian men’s national basketball team.

Governor General of Canada, Lord Stanley, presented a decorative cup he purchased to the top hockey team in Canada, the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (1892–93). The Stanley Cup competition has been under the control of the National Hockey League (NHL) since 1926.

Sir Sandford Fleming, Canada's foremost railway construction engineer, as well as an scientist and inventor, advocated time zones after spending a night in a railway station because of time confusion. Devising 24 Time Zones on a world map, each zone had a clock to indicate the same time, with a one hour difference between the adjoining zones.

What Canadians call a Bachelor and Bachelorette party.

The standard catchphrase of the Canadian people. Said even when something isn’t our fault, sometimes directed at inanimate objects.

It snows a lot in Canada! Thankfully, inventor, engineer, and entrepreneur Joseph-Armand Bombardier of Valcourt, Québec, brought us the snowmobile. He also invented the Ski-Doo.

Inspired by a grain thresher, Canadian inventor Arthur Sicard wanted to help farmers clear their fields of snow so their cows could feed. It took him 31 years to get it right, but in 1925 he unveiled the “Sicard Snow Remover Snowblower” in Montreal, Québec.

A Canadian who travels south for the winter.

Small, flat, round, coloured chocolates. You eat the red ones last.

The Sifto Salt Mine in Goderich, Ontario is the largest operating salt mine in the world. Located 1,800 feet under Lake Huron, the mine is as deep as the CN Tower is tall.

Born in London, Ontario, he is the first actor born in the 1980s and the first Canadian-born performer to have been nominated for the Best Actor Oscar in over 60 years for his role in Half Nelson (2006). He has also become an Internet sensation with “Hey Girl” and “Ryan Gosling won’t eat his cereal” memes. He doesn’t know why.

Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart make up this iconic Canadian rock band. With 40 million records sold worldwide and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, these three friends have been performing to sold-out tours for over 40 years.

Canadian term referring to any type of sneakers.

Do you have a Roots hoodie? Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, this famous apparel brand just might be the official clothing line of Canadians.

After cutting his hand on a spring-loaded screwdriver blade, Peter Lymburner Robertson manufactured a less dangerous square recess impression in the head of a screw in Milton, Ontario.

Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, this comedian, television personality, political satirist, and author is best known for his work on the CBC Television comedy shows The Rick Mercer Report and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

In 1894, Theodore Harding Estabrooks established this beverage company in Saint John, New Brunswick. The idea of a pre-blended, packaged tea was innovative, and the business grew rapidly throughout Atlantic Canada the United States as well. It is considered an iconic part of Canadian culture.

Born in East Bolton, Québec, this inventor pioneered developing radio technology, the foundations of amplitude modulation (AM) radio, the first transmission of speech by radio, and the first two-way radiotelegraphic communication across the Atlantic Ocean.

Also known as “Mounties”, they are unique in the world for being a national, federal, provincial and municipal policing body. They are identified by their red and black uniforms, broad rimmed hats, and black horses.

In North America, these are the only remaining fortified city walls North of Mexico.

The most Canadian food you can eat. The basics: french fries, topped with cheese curds, smothered in gravy.

Canada’s North is home to nearly 60% of the world’s polar bears, who are also on the Canadian two-dollar coin, the Toonie.

Love it or loathe it, Sam Panopoulos of Chatham, Ontario is credited with the Hawaiian, a pizza with pineapple and ham as toppings.

A sweet, oval roll with pink icing made of either raspberries or strawberries. Credited to have originated at Bennett's Bakery in Thunder Bay, Ontario, it remains popular in the region. Rumour has it that the “Persian” was named for U.S. General John 'Blackjack' Pershing.

A Canadian mashup between the French “crayon de couleur” and English “coloured pencils.”

A small rural community located on St. Margaret’s Bay, Nova Scotia. Famous for the Peggy’s Point Lighthouse, there is a legend that the name came from the only survivor of a shipwreck near the cove.

A contracted form of the Latin word pabulum, meaning “foodstuff.” Pablum is a processed cereal for babies, developed by Frederick FItzgerald Tisdall, Theodore G.H. Drake, and Alan Brown from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario.

Isn’t that funny! Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Québec, is the only place on earth named with two exclamation marks. Its name is a toponym for an old French word meaning an unexpected obstacle or abruptly ending path.

The legendary monster of Okanagan Lake in British Columbia is also known as Naitaka. Some believe it to be a water spirit, a dinosaur, or even a stray floating log from the nearby timber industry.

A self-taught artist born in Sand Point Reserve, Ontario. Known for using bright colours to portray traditional stories, political messages, and spiritual themes in his work, he created in what is known as "Woodlands School," “legend/medicine painting”, or "x-ray art.” Signing his Ojibwa name in Cree syllabics as “Copper Thunderbird” he worked to restore cultural pride in his people.

Located on the border between Ontario, Canada, and New York, USA, the falls are made up of three waterfalls. Combined, they produce the highest flow rate of any waterfall on earth.

Located in Manitoba, this is the largest congregation of red-sided garter snakes on earth. This harmless snake’s habitat reaches further North than any other land-dwelling reptile in Canada.

A no-bake bar dessert named after the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia, made of a wafer crumb layer, a layer of custard flavoured butter icing, and a layer of melted chocolate.

Adirondack chairs, but in Ontario they are named after the Muskoka region.

Children's entertainer Ernest "Ernie" Arthur Coombs played his famous role on CBC. Joined by Casey, Finnegan and other friends, he took viewers on adventures through song, art, and a little help with costumes from the Tickle Trunk.

The jolly holiday couple are Canadian, and they have the passports to prove it. Through Canada Post, children can even send their wish lists and letters to the North Pole. The postal code? HOH OHO. And he’ll even write back.

Made from Canadian water, prairie barley, and without preservatives, this beer is so Canadian it has it in its name.

Most Canadians buy their milk in bags. These bags sit inside a pitcher with the top of the bag exposed. To open the bag, you must snip one of the corners. Too deep a cut and milk flows quickly; too small and the bag will sag. The solution is the milk bag opener, which makes the perfect cut.

Famous for his roles in the Back to the Future trilogy, Family Ties, and Spin City sitcoms. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, he created the Michael J. Fox Foundation to work toward finding a cure for Parkinson’s, a disease which he himself was diagnosed with at the age of 29.

Thank you, Tommy Douglas. This Premier of Saskatchewan, and later the leader of the federal NDP, is the reason we have universal healthcare. He’s also the grandfather of Kiefer Sutherland, Canadian actor, producer, director, and singer-songwriter.

This national apple of Canada has red and green skin, a tart flavour, and white flesh.

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Atwood is author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. A Canadian poet, essayist, novelist, literary critic, and environmental activist, her notable works include The Handmaid's Tale, Cat's Eye, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, Oryx and Crake, and Surfacing.

71% of the world’s pure maple syrup is produced in Canada. 91% comes from Québec.

Canadian author best known for writing Anne of Green Gables, a story about an imaginative orphan growing up in Prince Edward Island. Montgomery wrote numerous short stories, essays, and poems enjoyed by readers worldwide.

Until 1999, the Guinness Book of World Records maintained that Yonge Street of Ontario was 1,896 km (1,178 mi) long, and thus the longest street in the world. That was due to a misconception that it was part of Ontario's Highway 11. Yonge Street is actually 86 kilometres long.

Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, poet, novelist, and painter. His exploration of humanity, religion, politics, isolation, and relationships can be summarized with his Unified Heart icon, a central image in his language of symbolism.

Canadian heroine of the War of 1812, she walked 32 km (20 miles) out of an American-occupied territory to alert British forces of an impending attack. Most Canadians know her name from the Laura Secord Chocolates brand, her cameo being a part of the logo.

Located in Banff National Park, Alberta, this hamlet in the Canadian Rockies is known for its emerald, glacier-fed lake overlooked by Chateau Lake Louise.

Hundreds of years old, it is Canada’s official national sport, national summer sport, and one of North America’s oldest games. Native Peoples traditionally played lacrosse for a variety of reasons including combat training, festivals, and to settle disputes. The games could last for days, played between goals ranging from hundreds of metres to several kilometres apart.

Each week, Canadians purchase 1.7 million of the 7 million boxes sold globally of this macaroni and cheese dish, eating 3.2 boxes on average of Kraft Dinner each year. Affectionately called KD in Canada, it is considered one of Canada’s national dishes.

The slang term Canadians use for kilometres, usually in reference to road speed.

Ketchup-flavoured potato chips enjoyed by Canadians, when we aren’t eating All-Dressed potato chips.

Susan Olivia Poole drew inspiration from Ojibwa elders, who would strap their babies to cradle boards to carry them as ‘papooses’, sometimes hanging the papoose on a tree limb and bouncing them to soothe the baby. Her prototype was made from a cloth diaper, a soft-action steel spring, and an axe handle. Mississauga, Ontario, produces a modernized version under its original name, Jolly Jumper.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, this co-creator of the Man of Steel is said to have based elements of Metropolis on his hometown, including its original newspaper, the Daily Star. Named after the Toronto Daily Star, it was changed to the Daily Planet upon going international.

The programming language, not the beverage. James Gosling, a software engineer from Calgary, set out in 1991 to design a more user-friendly alternative to C++. Intended for digital cable television, it was used for the Netscape Navigator web browser instead.

Also spelled Inukshuk. Found throughout Canada, these structures vaguely resemble the human form. Built of stones, the Inuit traditionally constructed these as important landmarks. Today, they are often built by travellers along Canadian highways.

Canadian physician Frederick Banting and medical student Charles H. Best are credited with discovering the hormone insulin in the pancreatic extracts of dogs. Together with Professor John Macleod at the University of Toronto and biochemist Bertram Collip, they successfully treated diabetes with their discovery of insulin.

Edward Asselberg, a Dutch-Canadian food chemist, developed a process of making instant mashed potato flakes while working for the Canadian Department of Agriculture.

The 70 mm film format and a set of cinema projection standards were developed in Canada in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Roman Kroitor, Graeme Ferguson, Robert Kerr, and William C. Shaw. There are currently over 1,000 IMAX theatres in 69 countries.

These snow houses are traditionally associated with the Inuit people of Canada's Central Arctic. The Inuit word “iglu" can refer to a home built of any material. Outside of Inuit culture, igloo refers to domed shelters constructed from blocks of compacted snow.

Canada is the world’s largest consistent producer of icewine, with approximately 75 percent being produced in Ontario.

While Canadians generally call it a “Zamboni,” many of the machines on Canadian rinks are made by competitor Resurfice Corporation of Elmira, Ontario. Zamboni also has a large manufacturing facility in Brantford, Ontario, the birthplace of Wayne Gretzky.

Short for humidity index, it is a term used by Canadian meteorologists to describe how hot the weather feels to the average person, by combining the effect of heat and humidity.

Headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, Canada’s most iconic department store still produces it’s Iconic Point Blanket, which was first commissioned in 1800. Founded in 1670 long before Canada was a country, it exists today as a retail business group with Canadians commonly calling it “The Bay.”

A loser. A term coined by Canadians, used by those imitating Canadians. Popularized in SCTV’s “The Great White North” segments, it is said to refer to the days before ice resurfacing machines, where the losing team would have to hose down the ice after a game.

The first game of organized ice hockey as we know it took place in Montréal, Québec, in 1875. While there are disputes over where ice hockey originated, Canadians are typically associated with the sport.

Since 1952, this is the night hockey-loving Canadians gather in the living room and bask in the televised presentations of the National Hockey League.

The Hiram Walker and Sons Ltd. distillery in Windsor, Ontario, is famous for producing Canadian Club whiskey. During the years of Prohibition, one of the distillery's most important clients was Chicago gangster Al Capone, who smuggled thousands of cases of the whiskey from Windsor to Detroit, Michigan.

An exclusively Canadian snack. These salty, smokey, matchstick-sized potato sticks are best shovelled into your mouth right from the bag.

Founded in 1920, these self-proclaimed modern artists are famous for their depictions of Canadian landscapes, frustrated with the conservative quality of most Canadian art at the time. The original group included Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley.

Thomas Sterry Hunt, a professor at McGill University in Montréal and analytical chemist of the Canadian Geological Survey, developed an ink made of chromium trioxide. This green ink cannot be destroyed by acids, bases, or any other agent, nor can it be photocopied. He sold his invention to the United States government, which uses the ink in their paper currency, making it difficult to counterfeit.

Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. These five lakes are the largest collection of freshwater lakes by area in the world, sitting between the Canadian-United States border.

Born in Orillia, Ontario, this Canadian singer-songwriter is an international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. Credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” brought worldwide attention to the Lake Superior disaster of 1975.

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jacques Plante was tired of taking puck shots to the face, so he had a fibreglass mask with straps made to wear during hockey practices. After receiving a bad injury from New York Rangers’ Andy Bathgate (also Canadian) during a game, he refused to continue playing without his mask.

These chocolates covered raisins are sold across movie theatres in Canada.

The design and advertising company responsible for bringing you GenerEH!tor. Located in Windsor, Ontario, they are proud to be a part of the Canada 150 celebration.

Harry Wasylyk, Larry Hanson, and Frank Plomp. It took three Canadian inventors, but we have garbage bags because of them. You can thank Dr. James Guillet, a University of Toronto chemist, for inventing a biodegradable bag that decomposes in sunlight.

There is a 38 kilometre crater on the surface of Mars named for the Town of Gander, Newfoundland, in recognition of this airport town's history of pioneering aviation and aerospace technologies. You can find it south of the Martian equator in an area called Hellas Planitia.

Robert Foulis, an inventor who moved to Canada’s east coast from Scotland, was walking home in a fog one night when he could hear his daughter playing piano. Noticing that he could hear low notes better than higher notes, he invented the steam-powered foghorn, which could warn ships better than lighthouses in foggy conditions. Unfortunately, he never patented it.

A traditional bag pudding from Newfoundland and Labrador, usually served as a part of a Jiggs dinner, a traditional meal eaten on Sundays.

George Klein, an inventor from Hamilton, Ontario, initiated the design of the motorized wheelchair to assist injured World War II veterans.

How Canadians end most of their sentences, eh?

Newspaper editor Joseph Coyle from British Columbia was inspired to create a solution for safe egg transport after overhearing a dispute between a farmer and a hotel owner about eggs being delivered broken. Coyle patented his paper egg box design in Canada in 1918, which were made by hand until 1919 when he designed a machine to make the boxes.

What Canadians call the rain gutters that run along roof edges.

Born is Toronto, Ontario, this Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer stepped into the spotlight on the popular teen series Degrassi: The Next Generation. His song “The Motto” popularized the the acronym YOLO (you only live once), having a large impact on youth culture.

Canada has the most doughnut shops in the world per capita.

The Canadian way to order a coffee with two creams and two sugars at Tim Horton’s, a Canadian restaurant chain founded in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1964.

75 million years ago, the Canadian Badlands was a subtropical paradise with palm trees, towering redwoods, and giant ferns surrounding a vast inland sea. This UNESCO World Heritage Site in Alberta is home to dozens of dinosaur species, with more than 300 specimens in museums around the world.

The Canadian academic, environmental activist, and science broadcaster best known for hosting The Nature of Things, shown in over forty nations. The David Suzuki Foundation prioritizes oceans and sustainable fishing, climate change and clean energy, sustainability, and Suzuki's Nature Challenge, which encourages people to go green in their everyday life.

Canadian innovator, Roland Galarneau, was born blind with 2 percent vision. He created the Converto-Braille, a computer/printer that read and translated text punched on perforated tape, then embossed it on paper using a braille typewriter. His company produced its first braille books free of charge for visually impaired students. The front of this tile reads “Canada Day” in Braille.

A Broadway musical set in the week following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It tells the true story of what happened when 38 planes had to land unexpectedly in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland.

A crisp chocolate bar unique to Canada, made of alternating layers of vanilla wafer and foam coffee-flavoured candy, covered by a milk chocolate outer layer.

At 553.3 metres high, this concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario is the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. It is named after the company that built the tower, the Canadian National Railway, who wanted to demonstrate the strength of Canadian industry.

Famous Canadian astronaut and astromusician. Appeared in interviews around the globe, playing his guitar and writing songs from aboard the International Space Station.

This Canadian singer and businesswoman was born in Charlemagne, Québec. Her most famous single “My Heart Will Go On” won the Oscar for Best Original Song, propelling the original soundtrack of the movie, Titanic, to become one of the best-selling soundtracks in history, selling 30 million copies.

The Quebec Winter Carnival is held in Quebec City. Bonhomme Carnaval, the festival mascot, is a snowman who wears a red toque and is friends with Santa Claus.

It is possible to canoe almost exclusively across Canada (mild portage required). The Canoe Capital of the World is located in Peterborough, Ontario, home to the Canadian Canoe Museum.

Founded in 1881, this railway linked Canada's populated centres with the west. Completed in 1885, the last spike was driven into place in Craigellachie, British Columbia, six years ahead of schedule.

We have the Loonie, the Toonie, the nickel, quarter, and dime. We no longer use the penny. Some people claim our plastic bank notes smell of maple syrup, with the $100 bills rumoured to pack the most scent. The Bank of Canada denies the claim that scent is added to the bills.

For 30 years, this remote-controlled mechanical arm on the International Space Station positioned astronauts, deployed, captured and repaired satellites, moved cargo, and maintained equipment. Retired in July 2011, it inspired a series of other Canadian robotics used on the ISS, including the Canadarm2.

The longest international border in the world between two countries and also the longest undefended border in the world. Windsor, Ontario, is home to two notable crossings; the Ambassador Bridge is North America’s busiest, and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is the only existing sub aqueous international automobile border crossing in the world.

Chemist John J. McLaughlin of Toronto, Ontario, created this ginger ale, the perfect mixer to mask the taste of home brew during Prohibition.

Chef Hidekazu Tojo is credited with creating this “inside-out sushi” in British Columbia. Containing cucumber, crab meat or imitation crab, and avocado, it was a favourite of of out-of-towners from Los Angeles, California, which may have contributed to the name.

Canada’s cocktail of choice. Also known as a “Bloody Caesar,” this drink commonly calls for tomato juice (with clam juice), vodka, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, celery salt, and ground pepper, garnished with a lime wedge and a stalk of celery.

Considered Canada’s quintessential dessert, these tarts are perfect mini pies made with a flaky round shell and contain a buttery filling, commonly including raisins, walnuts, or pecans.

The Northern Canadian landscape is a rugged place. Robert Noorduyn designed the Noorduyn Norseman in Montreal. It featured a rugged landing gear that could have floats, skis, or wheels, allowing the plane to fly and land on a variety of Northern Canadian terrain.

What people in Saskatchewan call a hooded sweatshirt, or a hoodie.

Founded in Waterloo, Ontario, the first BlackBerry device was released in 1999 — a pager capable of email.

A Canadian-based chain of pastry stands named after their line of fried dough pastries, which resemble a beaver’s tail.

Located between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, it is home to the world's highest tides. 160 billion tonnes of water move in and out of the Bay of Fundy twice daily.

Hope it’s a clean race! Starting in Nanaimo, British Columbia, you can race against fellow tubbers in a bathtub boat.

Canadian James Naismith saw the need for an indoor winter sport. Wanting to create a game focusing on skill, he placed peach baskets 3 metres (10 feet) above the floor with the object of the game being to throw a large ball into them. Eventually, the bottoms of the baskets were removed, as someone had to climb a ladder to retrieve the ball with each score.

Famous for their catchy lyrics and vocal harmonies, this Canadian rock band brought the world "One Week,” “Pinch Me,” and “If I Had $1,000,000,” where as part of the lyrics they argued they would be able to eat more Kraft Dinner if they were rich, even though they wouldn't have to.

John Michael Lyons of New Brunswick created the first baggage tag in 1882. It contained information about the owner, departure, and destination.

The Guelph Elastic Hosiery from Guelph, Ontario, founded by Canadian Joe Cartledge, added a hard plastic cup to the jockstrap.

Talk about keeping the beat alive! Canadian John Hopps, an electrical engineer, helped develop a machine that could insert a catheter through a vein to send an electric impulse to give a heart a regular beat.

Canadian inventor, Lewis Urry, powered the electronics revolution with his alkaline dry cell battery creation.

Born in Sudbury, Ontario, this host of the syndicated game show Jeopardy! has a long career as a newscaster, sportscaster, television personality, game show host, and actor.

Canadian inventor and electrical engineer Dr. Brent Townshend created the concept for the 56K bit/sec modem. Groundbreaking technology in 1996, this allowed for “high speed” data transfer between two computers.

A bowling variant played only in Canada. Created by Thomas F. Ryan in Toronto, Ontario, at his Toronto Bowling Club after customers complained that the ten-pin game was too strenuous. Ryan reduced five tenpins down to about 75% size, and replaced bowling balls with hard rubber, hand-sized balls.

You can sing the opening line of the Canadian National Anthem as you dial the toll-free number to the government.

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