Canada

I have decided to use this space to make myself a more educated person. Starting today - I will try and learn something about the rest of the world by studying the facts about one country each day. I will report some of the facts that I found most interesting (thus both sharing the information and further ingraining the facts in my head by typing them out). I will be using the CIA World Factbook and Google as my primary sources of information. I will start with Canada because I plan to work north to south (plus learning things about Canada may help me with the nervous energy I'm experiencing from watching Game 7 between the Bruins and Canadiens).



- Canada is slightly larger in size than the US (about 10 million sq Km vs. 9.6 million sq km) and the second largest country in the world behind Russia

- the highest point in Canada is Mount Logan at 5,959 meters (19,950 feet). Mount Logan is the second highest peak in North America (Mount McKinley is the highest peak in North America at 6,194 meters). Mount Logan was named in 1891 after Sir William Logan who would have turned 206 tomorrow.

- Canada has a population of roughly 31.8 million people (the US has a population of about 290.3 million). The average age is about 38 and the average life expectancy is 80. About 97% of the population is literate (according to a 1986 estimate) and a current rate of unemployment of 7.5%.

- the Canadiens have never beaten the Bruins in a Game 7

- Technically the Chief of State (Sovereign) is still the Queen of England who is represented by a Governor General. Canada has a bicameral parliament consisting of a Senate and a House of Commons. Only the members of the House of Commons are directly elected. Members of Senate are appointed by the Governor General with the assistance of the Prime Minister and Senators serve until age 75. The Capitol of Canada is Ottawa.

- The US Ambassador to Canada is Paul Cellucci who used to be Governor of Massachusetts.

- The per capita GDP is $29,900 (2002 estimate) as opposed to the US per capita GDP of $36,300 (again 2002 estimate).

- Almost 63% of Canada's exports go to the United States but an American owns the Montreal Canadiens

- Maybe this only interests me but this month Canada banned the importation or sale of "baby walkers". My wife tells me that baby walkers have also been banned in the US and that they have given rise to the new baby "excersaucers".

- I personally think that Canada has one of the best National Anthems in the world.