Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day, Canadians! Canada Day marks the establishment of Canada as a Dominion on July 1, 1867. It's a federal holiday celebrated annually on this date. Here are a few facts about Canada:

• Canada is the 2nd largest country in the world by area


• Canada became a confederation of four British North American colonies in 1867


• it remains a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and maintains a parliamentary democracy


• in 1982, Prime Minister Pierre Eliott Trudeau pushed through the patriation of the constitution from Britain, enshrining a Charter of Rights and Freedoms based on individual rights in the Constitution Act of 1982


• Canada is officially bilingual with English and French


• its official national sports are ice hockey (in winter) and lacrosse (in summer)

But what about the interesting stuff, you ask. Okay...okay...

1. Did you know that our national animal is a large aquatic rodent and appears on the Canadian nickel? The hardworking beaver!


2. Or that Canadians consume more macaroni and cheese dinners per capita than any other country? Hmm...not sure I'm proud of that...


3. Or how about those 'loonies' and 'toonies' we use to buy all those mac & cheese dinners? Those are what we call our 1-dollar and 2-dollar coins...because of the loon on the dollar coin; clever, eh?


4. or that the alcoholic beverage Canadians usually prefer is beer? No need to explain that one! :)