101 Useless Facts About Canada

Historical Facts

  1. The world's tallest freestanding structure is Toronto's $63-million CN tower which measures 1,815 feet, 5 inches (553.34m). Completed in 1975, the tower was constructed over almost two-and-a-half years by Canadian National Railways.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Kearney, Mark & Roy, Randy. The Great Canadian Trivia Book. Toronto: Hounslow Press, 1996, p.196.
    (2) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.55.

  2. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in Brantford, Ontario in 1874. From its one-man origins, Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. has grown to 118,000 employees making it the country's largest employer and the second-largest revenue earner ($19.8�billion) in 1993.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Ministry of Industry. Canada - A Portrait. 1995, pp.116-117.

  3. The electron microscope (1938), the snowblower (1925), the baby food, Pablum, (1930) and the zipper (1934) were all Canadian inventions.

  4. Canada boasts the world's first radio station. XWA, now Montreal's CFCF, originally went on the air in 1919 and broadcast its first scheduled music show in May 1920.

  5. The world's first commercial oil well was drilled in 1858 in Lambton County, Ontario, by James Williams of Hamilton.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Ministry of Industry. Canada - A Portrait. 1995, p.62.

  6. As the only existing walled city in North America, Quebec City was awarded World Heritage status in 1986 by the United Nations. Founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, Quebec City is the oldest European-style city in North America.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.5.

  7. The Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867 with the signing of the British North America Act (BNA Act). Britain officially proclaimed Canada a sovereign nation in 1931.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, pp.10-11.

  8. A Canadian, Sir Sandford Fleming, created the world's 24 time zones. North American railways first adopted the idea, establishing Greenwich Mean Time as the horological starting point on January 1, 1885.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.12.

  9. Mary Ellen Smith became the first woman Cabinet minister in the Western world when she was appointed to British Columbia's provincial cabinet in 1921. First elected in 1918, Smith served in the provincial legislature for the next 10�years.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.15.

  10. The world's longest national autoroute is the 4,860-mile (7,821 km) TransCanada Highway which stretches from Newfoundland to British Columbia. Begun on April 25, 1950, the highway officially opened on June 28, 1965.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.33.

  11. Canada has the world's longest designated street. From its start in Toronto, Yonge Street runs 1,178.3 miles (1,900.5�km).
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.33.

  12. In 1888, a Georgetown, Ontario paper mill became the first hydroelectricity-powered plant in the world. As well as being the world's first publicly-owned electrical utility, the Hydro-Electric Commission of Ontario was also the world's largest utility company by 1923.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, pp.39-40

  13. Canada established the world's first domestic communications satellite system on November�9, 1972, with the launch of the geostationary orbiter, Anik-1. The world's first national television system broadcast via satellite was also a Canadian accomplishment.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.53.

  14. The 120-year-old Hospital for Sick Children located in Toronto is one of the world's largest pediatric research institutes.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.58.

  15. Frederick Banting and his student, Charles Best, discovered insulin in 1921. For his achievement, Banting was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1923 and was later knighted.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.59.

  16. Canada's universal health care system, internationally recognized as one of the best medical systems in the world, began with the Medical Care Act on July 1, 1968.
  17. The CANADARM, developed by National Research Council of Canada scientists, first went into space in November�1981 on the second launch of the shuttle orbiter Columbia.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.111.

  18. The defect-carrying gene that causes cystic fibrosis (CF) was identified by a molecular biologist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Lap-Chee Tsui and his team of scientists made the discovery in July 1989.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.113.

  19. The first explosives vapour detector (EVD), which takes only two-and-a-half minutes to register the presence of as little as one part explosive material per trillion parts of air, was developed by Dr. Lorne Elias of Canada's National Research Council.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.117.

  20. Basketball is a Canadian invention. Dr. James Naismith of Almonte, Ontario used a peach basket as the "net" in his first game, played in 1891.

  21. Canada's Hudson's Bay Company (est. 1690) is the world's oldest chain store system. With its subsidiaries, Zellers and The Bay, the company earned net profits of C$262 million in 1995.
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    (1)From the Hudson's Bay Company website:
    http://www.hbc.com/hbc1/investor/report.html#SUMMARY

�

Arts and Culture

  1. The National Film Board of Canada is the world's largest government film unit. Since its inception in 1939, the NFB has won almost 3000 national and international awards.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.125.

  2. Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion was recently honoured as the world's top-selling female francophone recording artist.
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    (1) Statistics Canada. Canada Yearbook 1997. 1996, p.230.

  3. Canada is home to the world's fastest human. Sprinter Donovan Bailey set a new world record of 9.84�seconds in the 100�metres at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

  4. Canadians are long-lived. A baby girl born in Canada today can expect to reach, on average, 81�years while a baby boy will live to about 75�years.
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    (1) From Health Canada's website:
    http://www.hwc.ca/datahpsb/nhrdp/english/healthofcanadians/index-e.htm

  5. If Canada was divided equally among Canadians, each person would receive a piece of land roughly the size of 27�baseball fields, or about 365,000 square metres. In the US, each American would get about three baseball fields, in Japan just one-quarter of a baseball field, and in Hong Kong, less than a quarter of a baseball diamond.
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    (1) Ministry of Industry. Canada - A Portrait. 1995, p.121.

  6. Canadians are guardians of one-fourteenth of the world's land, one-tenth of the world's forest and one-fifth of the world's wilderness.
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    (1) Ministry of Industry. Canada - A Portrait. 1995, p.123.

  7. Canada has about 78�telephones for every 100�people. In comparison, the industrial world as a whole boasts 48�telephones per 100�people while developing countries count 3 for every 100�people.
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    (1) Ministry of Industry. Canada - A Portrait. 1995, p.125.

  8. The widely distributed board game "Trivial Pursuit" was conceived in 1979 by two Canadians, Chris Haney and Scott Abbott. "Yachtzee," "Balderdash," and "Pictionary" are also Canadian creations.
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    (1) Ministry of Industry. Canada - A Portrait. 1995, pp.137-140.

  9. There were actually eight painters in the famous Group of Seven: Tom Thomson (who died before the name was coined), J.E.H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, Frank Johnston, Franklin Carmichael, Lawren S. Harris and A.Y. Jackson.
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    (1)From the McMichael Canadian Art Collection website:
    http://www.mcmichael.com/@@Xe3jNwQA1MEDnzDt/group.htm

  10. World-renowned classical pianist, Glenn Gould, was a Canadian celebrity before he reached the age of 20. Aside from being an acclaimed musician, he was a radio and television broadcaster and producer, a writer and an outspoken supporter of the electronic media.
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    (1)From the National Library of Canada website:
    http://www.gould.nlc-bnc.ca/exhi/esect1c.htm

  11. At 67, Montreal-born Maureen Forrester, Canada's most famous contralto, still averages about 60 performances a year plus as many as 25�benefit concerts. She was honoured in 1995 with the Governor General's Performing Arts Award.
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    (1)From the article, "Mo's the Merrier," Vancouver Sun. November 14, 1996. C1, C12.

  12. Recently retired prima ballerina Karen Kain became the Principal Dancer for Canada's National Ballet Company just one year after graduating from the company's school. Her illustrious career has included guest appearances with most of the world's premier ballet groups.
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    (1)From the Footnotes website:
    http://www.bravo.ca/footnotes/biographies/kain.html

  13. The internationally acclaimed National Ballet of Canada has more than 60�dancers and its own full symphony orchestra. It is still the only Canadian company to present a full range of traditional full-length classics. _____________________________________
    (1)From the National Ballet of Canada website:
    http://www.national.ballet.ca/

  14. Montreal's Festival Juste pour rire/Just for Laughs Festival, the world's largest comedy event, started in 1983 as a two-night French comedy show. Now the 12-day bilingual festival draws close to 500,000 people a year to see some of the world's funniest people.
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    (1)From the Festival Juste pour rire website:
    http://www.rozon.ca/eng/sponsor.htm and
    http://www.hahaha.com/eng/histo/histo.htm

  15. Each July, Montreal closes its streets to automotive traffic during the Festival International de Jazz de Montr�al. For 11 days nearly 1.5 million visitors, a quarter from out of town, groove to the tunes of jazz's musical elite.
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    (1)From the Montreal International Jazz Festival website:
    http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/en-bon.html

  16. Montreal-born jazz pianist Oscar Peterson has recorded over 80�albums during his 47 years in the recording business. The legendary musician was inducted into the Juno Awards Hall of Fame in 1978 and awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for 1996-1997.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Culp, Bruce W. "The Importance of Being Oscar". The Globe and Mail, October 5, 1996. C16.
    (2)"Zappa gets life award." The Globe and Mail, January 3, 1997. C8.

  17. Canadians are funny people. Comedians John Candy, Dan Ackroyd, Rick Moranis, Martin Short, Jim Carrey and Leslie Nielsen are all Canadian-born.

  18. Laughter is a Canadian tradition. Canadian-produced comic television shows include: SCTV, Kids in the Hall, CODCO, This Hour Has 22�Minutes, Royal Canadian Air Farce, Just for Laughs and Comics.

  19. Canadian Acting Fame: Keanu Reeves, Donald and Kiefer Sutherland, Pamela Anderson Lee, Margo Kidder, Claudette Colbert, Matthew Perry, Jason Priestly and Michael J. Fox are all Canadians.

  20. Canada is home to some of the hottest artists on the charts: Amanda Marshall, Alanis Morrissette, the Tragically Hip, Shania Twain, k.d. lang, C�line Dion, Sarah McLachlan and Bryan Adams.

  21. Some of the best-known names in folk music and classic rock are Canadian: Paul Anka, Anne Murray, Rush, the Guess Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Cockburn, Neil Young, Roch Voisine, Gordon Lightfoot and Stompin' Tom Connors.

  22. As well as providing television and radio services in both French and English, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) transmits its programs internationally in eight languages. The CBC North branch offers services in eight native languages.
    _____________________________________
    (1)From the CBC website:
    http://www.cbc.ca/aboutcbc/factfile/factfile.html

  23. Canada has earned the reputation of "Disney North" due to Oakville, Ontario's Sheridan College. The school's animation program is considered the best in the world.
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    (1) Pevere, Geoff & Dymond, Greig. Mondo Canuck. Scarborough: Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., 1996, pp.4-5.

  24. Canada's cultural industry directly contributes $16 billion a year to the economy, with spinoff effects generating a further $8 billion. That's a pretty impressive return on the $5.8 billion governments in Canada spend each year in support of culture.
    _____________________________________
    (1)From the Canada Council for the Arts website:
    http://www.canadacouncil.ca/anreport/ar-cont.htm

  25. Canada has, in the not-for-profit sector alone, 108 professional symphony orchestras, chamber and other musical organizations; 285 professional theatre companies and 65 professional dance companies.
    _____________________________________
    (1)From the Canada Council for the Arts website:
    http://www.canadacouncil.ca/anreport/ar-cont.htm

  26. Ontario's Stratford Festival attracts more than 500,000�theatre lovers each year. The festival generates $17�million in ticket sales and another $100�million from other sources; all this on a $24�million budget!
    _____________________________________
    (1)From the Northern Illinois University website:
    http://www.niu.edu/depts/ext_prog/strat97.html
    (2)From the Canada Council for the Arts website:
    http://www.canadacouncil.ca/anreport/ar-cont2.htm

  27. Canada's Shaw Festival is home to the second-largest repertory company in North America and the only theatre in the world that specializes in plays written by Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries (1856-1950).
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    (1)From the Shaw Festival website:
    http://www.shawfest.com/

  28. Internationally acclaimed Canadian films include Exotica, Jesus of Montreal, Love and Human Remains, Le Confessionnal, The Decline of the American Empire and Margaret's Museum.
    _____________________________________
    (1)From the Canada Information Centre website:
    http://www.infocan.gc.ca/text/facts/culturalind-e.html

  29. Canadian authors are world class. William Gibson (Nebula Award 1984), Michael Ondaatje (Booker Prize 1992), Carol Shields (Pulitzer Prize 1995), Rohinton Mistry, Margaret Atwood, Timothy Findley, Mavis Gallant and Alice Munro are all award-winning Canadian writers.

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