Canada — our neighbor to the North is also our largest trading partner. The majority of our imported oil comes from Canada not the Middle East. Here are a few fun facts about Canada you might not know.

Canada Facts

  •  “Kanata” is the St. Lawrence-Iroquoian word for "village" or "settlement."
  • When you include Alaska, the US and Canada share the longest borders in the world between two countries. This International Boundary is 5,525 miles between the lower 48 states plus another 1,525 miles between Canada and Alaska.
  • Canada also has the longest coastline of any country in the world at 151,600 miles.
  • Canada, at 3,855,103 square miles, is the second largest country in the world. Only Russia is larger.
  • Need your space? Canada is the ninth most sparsely populated nation. You will only find 8.6 people for square mile. So Walmart checkout should be a breeze.
  • Canadians live longer too. Life expectancy in Canada is the eighth highest in the world at 81.6 years compared to 78.14 years for the United States.
  • Newfoundland was the first part of Canada to be explored by the Europeans and the last area to become a province in 1949.
  • According to Census records 42,6 percent of Canadians are Roman Catholic, 23.3 percent are Protestant and 16 percent listed no religious affiliation.
  • On July 1, 1867, British Parliament passed the British North American Act proclaiming Canada a country.
  • Nine officers formed the Mounted Police in 1873. They merged with the Dominion Police in 1920 forming the now famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police with 28,000 men and women in service.
  •  The lowest temperature ever recorded in North America, -81.4 degrees, was recorded at Snag, Yukon Territory on February 3, 1947.
  • Are you thirsty? Nine percent of the world’s renewable water supply is in Canada.
  • The first letter ever sent from North America occurred in 1527 when John Rut of St. John’s, Newfoundland corresponded with King Henry VIII. Hopefully he had time to read it between beheading wives.
  • Canadian inventors can certainly hold their own with other nations. Canadians invented Kerosene, the electron microscope, the electronic organ, insulin, the IMAX film system, the snowmobile, and your good old electric kitchen range.

Some Final Thoughts

I for one am very happy to have Canada as our friendly neighbor to the North. Who would you rather have for a neighbor — China, Russia, Iran? Count your blessings. We could have had neighbors that we waged war with for centuries.

We did go to war with our southern neighbor Mexico, remember the Alamo, but our northern neighbor has been supportive in the UN, our various conflicts around the globe and I bet they would loan us their lawnmower. After all, that’s what good neighbors do.

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