[ti]hearts[/ti]Canada

The garage at Toronto International Airport - 6 levels decked out

13 AWESOME THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW WERE MADE IN CANADA



Forget Labatt’s beer and maple syrup. Canadians have created plenty of awesome and strange stuff,



and here are 13 things you probably didn’t know were proudly made in Canada.







While hockey players and great beer may be Canada’s favourite exports, there are actually tons of great Canadian products used around the world every day. And while everybody knows the telephone was invented in Canada, how many people know that 95 per cent of the world’s Lentils come from Saskatchewan, or that we make more submarines than most countries combined? Check out this strange and surprising list of Canada’s most fascinating exports, and let us know what we forgot in the comment section below.









1. Did You Know Most of the World's French Fries Come from New Brunswick?

New Brunswick-based McCain Foods makes one-third of all the frozen French fries produced in the world, and many come from a $65-million state-of-the art potato processing plant that’s in Florenceville-Bristol. The small town in western New Brunswick has taken on the moniker ‘The French Fry Capital of the World.’ Not surprisingly, this is the location of the Potato World museum, and the heart of the mid-July National French Fry Day celebrations.





2. Did You Know Carlton Place Makes the World's Best Baseball Bats?

In 2012, more than 100 Major League Baseball players chose to swing Canadian maple wood bats - better known as the "Sam Bat". Sam Holman, founder of the The Original Maple Bat Corporation, invented the bat by choosing maple wood, a harder wood than the traditionally used ash. So, if you see a professional player with a little logo on their baseball bat, that’s one of the 18,000 sluggers produced each year in Carlton Place, a half-hour from Ottawa.





3. Did You Know Saskatchewan Makes Most of the World's Lentils?

Mmmm, Lentils! Whether home or travelling abroad, order some lentil soup and odds are you’re getting a little taste of home. Canada is the largest exporter of green lentils in the world - about 1.5 million metric tonnes annually, with 95% of it coming from Saskatchewan.





4. Did You Know Scarborough Makes Most of the World's Halls?

If you pick up a pack of Halls you’ll be getting another little taste of home since they are made in Scarborough, Ontario. The plant at Bertrand produced more than 6 billion pieces of “medicine” for the U.S. last year – enough that if you lined them side-by-side they would circle the earth at the equator approximately 3.4 times.



5. Did You Know Winnipeg Mints Coins for Over 60 Countries?

Canada produces currency for more countries than you can imagine! The Royal Winnipeg Mint produces coins for 60 different countries, including Centavos for Cuba, kroner for Norway, and pesos for Colombia. Currently the mint can produce over 20 million coins a day.





6. Did You Know Hamilton Makes the World's Swedish Fish?

Those chewy Swedish Fish sure weren’t made in Sweden! More than 5 billion of the colourful little candies are produced in Hamiltion, Ontario every year – that’s all of the Swedish Fish consumed in North America. Every day about 13 million of the little fish are produced at a factory in Hamilton, which also makes all Maynards Candy for Canada, and key brands for the U.S., including Sour Patch Kids.





7. Did You Know Toronto Makes the World's Best Racing Bikes?

Using the same tools and techniques as Formula One teams, Toronto-based Cervélo builds what have been called the world’s fastest and lightest bikes. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, athletes riding Cervélo bikes won 10 medals, while in 2008 Carlos Sastre rode a Cervélo bike to win le Tour de France.





8. Did you Know Winnipeg Makes Most of the World's Scratch Cards?

Walk into almost any corner store in the world for an instant win lottery ticket, and there’s a good chance your scratch card was printed by Winnipeg company Pollard Banknote. Founded in 1907, Pollard now has facilities throughout North America, however a significant amount of its lottery scratch cards are still made in Canada.



9. Did You Know the World's Best Cymbals come from New Brunswick?

Where do the cymbals used by Rush, Keith Harris of the Black Eyed Peas, the Philadelphia Orchestra and marching bands around the world come from? The small village of Meductic (population 300), located along the Saint John River in southern New Brunswick.SABIANcymbals are sold in 120 countries around the world.





10. Did You Know Trenton Makes Tons of Dinos?

No, they don't make dinosaurs like in Jurassic Park, but close. Research Casting International, the leading company for constructing dinosaur remains (casting, restoring, mounting, repairing), is located in a 45,000 sq.ft. airplane-hanger-sized building in Trenton, Ontario. The company has created more than 750 of the mighty beasts for museums around the world.





11. Did You Know Kelowna Makes Most of the World's Water Slides?

When you slip down one of those clear tube water slides on a Disney Cruise, you’re likely using Canadian design and technology. Canada’s Whitewater West Industries Ltd. is the largest water parks attraction company in the world. Their Kelowna, B.C. facility, FormaShape, makes thousands of water slides each year.





12. Did You Know Peterborough is the Custom Aircraft Capital of Canada?

Flying Colours Corp. of Peterborough, Ontario doesn’t make airplanes, but they sure make them special. Entertainment systems, corporate logos, iPad-holders, custom exterior paint, upholstery, and they’ve even added a permanent bed in an aft cabin. Everything is custom made in-house, from the leather seats and wood trim to the side walls – for customers from across the globe, including much of Europe, the Middle East, Russia, Asia, and India.





13. Did you know B.C. Makes Tons of Submarines?

Atlantis Submarines, of British Columbia, actually owns more submarines than many countries – but these ones are used for tourism. The Canadian company initiated the world’s first commercial tourist submarine in the Cayman Islands in 1986. More than 10 million people have since experienced underwater adventures in their 48 and 64 passenger submarines in the Caribbean and Pacific. The subs they operate in Barbados, the Cayman Islands, Aruba, St. Martin, Cozumel, Curacao & Guam were all made in Canada.

latusita, Absolutely great post. I've been to the Winnipeg Mint. We had a great time and we were amazed at all of the different money being printed there. What a smart idea to print money for other countries! Good thinking! We don't do that. Had a great conversation with the security guard while standing over I don't know how much money in gold bars. By the way, those scenes from bank heist movies where the robber runs down the alley with a duffle bag full of gold bars. Ain't gonna happen in real life. We had an excellent vacation that year in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

But you did forget one product that Canada is famous for - Canola oil. Years ago I started using Canola oil because of the health benefits. I got to thinking about it one day and called the Wesson consumer helpline to ask what it was. A very nice man explained the whole thing to me. I'm still using it. I posted a music video by the Dead South, a group from Regina. At the 3:18 mark, they're standing in a field of rapeseed for anyone who wants to see what it looks like.

I love Canada. We've been to nine of your provinces.

nypitterpat, This is just a place for Canadian members to get together and talk about Canadian news, events or whatever they want. We have quite a few Australians and have spaces for Germany, New Zealand, US, Mexico, the UK and France. I think we have two people from the Netherlands so we need a spot for them, too. This is a global community so we want everyone to feel comfortable and welcome.

And I guess that should be O' Canada

Squirrels love climbing on trees, and that looks like it's a dog.

From my foray into the Harry Potter books, I have learned that if a black dog looks like a bear, it must be Sirius Black in his animagus form. So it looks like the above gif is a rare glimpse of Padfoot chasing a squirrel.

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If you're thinking of our national anthem, there is no apostrophe in it.

Victoria Day. I'm thinking if we're going to continue to have a national holiday named for a British Queen, we should replace Victoria Day with Elizabeth Day -- after all, the length of Elizabeth's reign surpassed Victoria's a few years ago (69 yrs vs 63). I don't know why Canada decided to declare a holiday in 1845 to celebrate Victoria's birthday (she was only 26 yrs old at the time). I guess we just needed a May holiday. It falls on the last Monday in May preceding May 25 -- this year on May 24th, her actual birthday. I'm sure some consider it a nod to our British heritage, our history, but in my opinion, I'd rather see the holiday changed to reflect our current, more diverse population or some Canadian historic event.

Canadians love Victoria Day even though virtually nobody is actually celebrating Victoria's birthday. We're really celebrating the end of a long winter and the beginning of warm weather fun. Affectionately referred to as May Two-Four (as in a case of beer ), it's a big party weekend for many of us, (YAY!), the traditional start of camping season, opening of the cottage (most seem to now be winterized but oh well). Until I was in my 20s or 30s (I'm 67 now), Victoria Day was the only day we were legally allowed to set off fireworks making it a special day indeed. I remember looking forward to those fireworks displays every year. May 24 weekend is also when many Canadians traditionally transplant their seedlings into the garden -- the danger of damaging frosts is usually finally over and fine weather can be counted on.

... kafinkee , please forgive me for crashing your thread with Aussie stuff...but only in the Commonwealth would such stuff happen eh! We don't have Victoria day..(although I live in the state of Victoria )...We do 'the queens birthday'holiday weekend...AND

Its not HER birthday (Elizabeth)...its an old KING. . We call it Queens Birthday (on his birthday)..because the queens (past and present)..hand out the honours and knighthoods on that day and still do now   And we just do it 'on or about the actual date'.. Gotta laugh

"About the Queen's Birthday"
Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and the official head of state is the Monarch of the Realms. This is currently Queen Elizabeth II. She is also the head of state of many other countries and territories, including Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Canada and New Zealand. She was born on April 21, 1926, although her official birthday is celebrated on a range of dates in the different countries of the Commonwealth of Nations.

The Monarch's Birthday was first celebrated in Australia in 1788. In that year, King George III was the Monarch and Governor Arthur Phillip declared a holiday to mark his birthday.  Originally, the Monarch's birthday was celebrated on the anniversary of the actual date of birth of the King or Queen. However, after the death of King George V in 1936, the date remained close to his birthday, which was June 3.

On the second Monday in June, the Queen's Birthday honours list is released. This contains the names of the new members of the Order of Australia and other honours issued by the Australian government or the Queen. These are generally for exceptional service to Australians, Australia or humanity as a whole.

What a dogs breakfast ..but like you...we just LOVE A PUBLIC HOLIDAY
 
Read the post above this one by kafinkee , folks...to find out about Canada's 'Victoria Day' celebrations.

kafinkee, so why doesn't Quebec celebrate Victoria Day?






Valkara, I was actually referring to the bear & squirrel at the top of the page which was a running joke between me and @lusita who was from Canada as well