Original question by Kitty's 13 yo daughter:
I am doing a travel guide to Canada in my class,
I was just wondering if you knew any good stuff I could put in it?
Have a lovely day
J
Answer the poor girl received 23 hours later - 3 a.m. EST:
Although its big, not a lot of people live there (just over half the UK population) and of these 33 million people, 90% live within 100 km of the US border (the longest land border in the world). Luckily, should the population of the USA be turned into zombies, the Canadians are numerous enough to be able to man the barricades and repel the invaders with one person every 20 cm or so (though most will have to stand in barges as the Great Lakes form a lot of this border). The only problem is that only one out of four Canadians will have a gun whilst the zombies will have nearly one each. Canada better hope that zombies can`t work guns.
Canada is made up of 10 provinces (from West to East: British Columbia; Alberta; Manitoba; Saskatchewan; Ontario; Québec; New Brunswick; Nova Scotia; Prince-Edwards Island; Newfoundland) and three territories (Yukon, Northwest territories and Nunavut).
The Capital of Canada is Ottawa, situated in Ontario near the border with Québec. Each Province and Territory also has a capital, and there are three (sometimes four) level of government (see this page for the division of responsibilities between the different levels).
Canada has two official language, English and French. However, only one of its provinces is truly bilingual: New Brunswick's population is mostly English-speakers (mostly descendant of Loyalist who fled the American revolution) with about one third French-speakers (descendant of the French patriotes who got deported after losing the Lower Canada rebellion). All three territories however, have been forced to have both English and French as official languages. Quebec (the largest province in terms of area and the second largest in terms of population) has French only as its official language.
Weather-wise, you better know where you're going and pack for the time of year. Obviously in the territories (which are north of the country) average weather varies between cold and colder (-31C in winter to a balmy +10C in summer). However, closer to civilisation, in the middle of the country (for example Winnipeg, Alberta) average temperatures go from -23C in January to +26C in August (compare this to Birmingham, UK where average goes from +2C to +20C over the year) and that's average. This means every mid-west Canadian you meet abroad will swear to you that it's either -40C or +40C back home right now, and once or twice a year they will be right (you can test this, Canadians abroad are always happy to talk about the weather, as soon as they realise you know nothing about hockey). For more about weather see this BBC page.
For more about hockey, do not ask a Canadian unless you have two or three days to spare. Ice hockey is a fast and furious and frequently violent game that is followed zealously by most Canadians. As football is to England, so is hockey to Canada. It's the only one of the two Canadian official sport that people actually know anything about (the other one - according to an act of parliament - being Lacrosse, but eh, who cares?)
Approximately 60% of Canada's electricity is produced by water (hydroelectricity); other ways include conventional thermal (a bit more than 20%), nuclear (approx. 17%) and other renewable sources. Canada is the second largest world producer of hydroelectricity; within the country, Québec produces the largest share, followed by British Columbia. In Québec, 94% of the electricity is produced by water power. The biggest hydroelectric complex, La Grande 2 (LG2) now named the Robert-Bourassa complex as per the name of the Prime minister who initiated the project, can be visited year round near the town of Radisson, in northern Québec. Don't forget to put petrol in the car before you set off though, the only road that goes there is 740 kms (462 miles) through wilderness with only one petrol station, at kilometer 381 (mile 238).
The Confederation bridge, linking Prince-Edward Island to New Brunswick is 8 miles long, making it the longest bridge over ice-covered water in the World.
The Bay of Fundy in between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia has the highest tides in the world.
The beaches on the east coast of New Brunswick have the warmest waters north of Virginia Beach, USA (a bit more than 700 miles south by road).
Quebec has the second largest French-speaking city in the world (after Paris).
Ontario has half of Niagara Falls (the other half belonging to the State of New York, USA) which are the most powerful falls in North America (yes, there is a hydroelectric plant there). If that fails to impress, the town of Sudbury has the largest nickel in the World (and a nickel is a 5 cents coin. Impressive, I know). Speaking of which, all nickels issued before 1981 are worth more melted than whole as their content in metal is worth about 11 cents a piece!.
Saskatchewan and it's capital, Saskatoon, are probably two of the most misspelled word in the world. There really is nothing else world famous to say about them unless you have a great interest in wheat.
Manitoba has corn fields, cows and sponge hockey, another version of ice hockey for days where the weather is too bad for the original game. It's played with winter boots rather than skates (for warmth) and a sponge puck rather than vulcanized rubber (for reduced risk of GBH caused by a deep frozen rubber projectile to the shin).
Alberta used to have the biggest shopping mall in the world (until 2004) but China took the honours. It still has the self-titled "greatest outdoor show on Earth" though, the Calgary Stampede held every July. Thanks to the barrier formed by the Canadian Rockies to the West of the province, it also has the oh! so lovely Chinook wind, which is a warm winter wind who can easily rise the temperature from -20C to +10C or even +20C and melt a whole foot of snow during a day. Unfortunately, the wind is shifty as.. well, the wind, and the next day you're back to very freezing.
British Columbia has the most stable (boring!) weather in all of Canada and the proximity of the Rockies and the Pacific mean you could ski in the morning and swim in the afternoon. I guess you could probably ski in your bikini if you wanted ... though swimming with a couple of skis strapped to your feet would be a lot more challenging. The world's largest octopus, scallop and sea star are found in British Columbia's ocean waters.
