The Big Book of Canadian Trivia

Il_9781554884179_int_0195_001 SNAPSHOT

Suicides in Canada
1950: 1,067
1970: 2,413
1990: 3,379
1995: 3,970
2004: 3,613

• On average, Canadian households spend $257 a year on gaming, which includes the purchase of lottery tickets, casino gambling, and playing games of chance on video lottery terminals. Quebec leads the way, spending an average of $267 per family.

• The smallest, oldest jail in North America is found in Rodney, Ontario, southwest of London. Built in 1890 and now a tourist attraction, the 24.3-square-metre jail had two cells. Others have challenged Rodney’s claim, but the town has refuted them.

• Canada’s first grain elevator, a round structure, was built in Niverville, Manitoba, in 1879. It was the Ogilvie flour company that built the first of the rectangular, pitch-roofed grain elevators that became a common sight in communities across the Prairies. That elevator was built in Gretna, Manitoba, in 1881.

• The only post office in a lighthouse in North America is found in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. The lighthouse no longer serves its original purpose of guiding boats and is only used as a post office in the summer during peak tourist times.

• At a dinner meeting in Toronto of the Canadian Manufacturers Association, several speakers advocated the advantages of introducing the metric system to Canada. But this was no recent dinner; it took place in February 1901. The system was not adopted until 1971, and it was not used until April 1975.

Trivia BITE!

In 1933 there were nearly 5,500 licensed primary grain elevators in western Canada, more than half of them in Saskatchewan. In 2006, fewer than 400 were still standing thanks to the grain industry’s move toward increased efficiency. Some of the elevators were replaced with computerized concrete monstrosities with eight times the holding capacity.

Trivia BITE!

The first formal advertisement in Canada is believed to have been an ad to help sell butter that appeared in 1752 in the Halifax Gazette. But the first advertising agency didn’t open until 1889, when Anson McKim created a firm in Montreal.

• The Haskell Free Library and Opera House on the Vermont-Quebec border has the unique distinction of having a stage in Canada while the seats are in the United States. Construction on the building started in 1901 thanks to a bequest by Martha Stewart Haskell, a Canadian, to honour her husband, Carlos, an American.

1. The Great Lakes: in the late 1960s and early 1970s Lake Erie was declared dead and lakes Ontario, Superior, Huron, and Michigan were on their way to becoming ecological wastelands. But since Canada and the United States signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972, the lakes have returned to better health, as evidenced by the return of many species of fish and wildlife.

2. The 1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs: After losing the first three games to the Detroit Red Wings in the 1942 Stanley Cup Final, The Leafs, under coach Hap Day, roared back with four straight wins to capture the cup, the only team in NHL history to come back from a three games to zero deficit in the finals.

Il_9781554884179_int_0197_001 SNAPSHOT

Annual Birth Rates:

Year	Births per 1,000 women	babies born
1921	29.3	264,879
1941	27.3	263,993
1961	34.1	475,700
1981	17.8	371,346
1995	12.8	378,011
1997	12.1	364,765
2004	10.5	337,072
2007	10.75	358,944

3. Chrysler Canada: On May 10, 1980, the federal and Ontario governments provided $200 million in loan guarantees as part of a Canada-U.S. government restructuring program which saved the automaker from bankruptcy and salvaged more than 12,000 Canadian jobs.

4. Silken Laumann: The Canadian rower was the reigning world singles champion and the overwhelming favourite to win gold at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona until her boat was accidentally hit by a German rowing pair prior to the Games, seriously injuring her right leg. Doctors said she would not compete in the Olympics but she recovered and won a bronze medal.

5. The Whooping Crane: In 1900 there were approximately 1,350 birds in Canada, but by 1951 only 15 remained because of hunting practices, destruction of prairie breeding habitats, and egg and specimen collection. By 1999, the population had rebounded to more than 250 birds, thanks to strong preservation methods and a captive breeding program.

Il_9781554884179_int_0198_001 ^SNAPSHOT

Divorce Rates per 100,000 Population

1921	1941	1961	1981	1995	2004
6.4	21.4	36.0	278.0	262.2	246.0

Statistics Canada

1. The Olympic Stadium, Montreal: Without a doubt, one of the 20th century’s biggest screwups. The Big O (or more appropriately, The Big Owe), had problems from the start, including a flawed design, poor workmanship, and a $52 million retractable roof that was not installed in time for the 1976 Summer Olympics. In subsequent years, roofs have been damaged by weather and by workmen; on other occasions pieces of the outside walls and a 55-ton beam crashed to the ground. And if that’s not enough, the initial $120 million price tag had ballooned to close to $1.5 billion by the time the debt was paid off in December of 2006.

2. Canadian Football League Expansion to the U.S.: In 1992, the CFL announced plans to expand south of the border, and in 1993 the Sacramento Gold Miners became the first U.S. team to play in the league. Several other American teams were added the next year, and expansion did produce an exciting Grey Cup in 1994. But dogged by poor attendance and huge financial losses, the move to the U.S. ended in failure. By 1996, all American franchises had disappeared.

3. The Bricklin: A U.S.-designed sports car built in New Brunswick in 1974 and 1975 by American promoter Malcolm Bricklin. Only 2,857 were sold because the car was plagued by a high sticker price and technical problems with its unique “gullwing” doors. The company fell into receivership, owing the provincial government $23 million.

4. Mirabel International Airport: Known as Montreal’s other white elephant (right behind the aforementioned Big O), Mirabel opened in 1975 but was soon declared a dud because its use was based on faulty assumptions about air traffic, it was too far from Montreal, and it was poorly designed. In the fall of 1997, the multi-billion-dollar facility was relegated to a cargo and charter terminal after all regularly scheduled international flights were consolidated at Dorval Airport in Montreal.

5. Pickering Airport: Known as the international airport that never got built, plans were announced in 1973 and scrapped in September of 1975 after fierce opposition from area residents. Over the years, with the federal government still the owner of the 7,530 hectares of land it expropriated for the airport, a few villages have become ghost towns, 19th-century farm houses have fallen into disrepair, and many buildings have deteriorated into firetraps. In 1997, Ottawa spent $3.5 million, mostly to maintain buildings on the site.

In 2005, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority released a draft plan for the construction of a new airport, which would have two runways by 2012, serving first general aviation, but later a third runway, and full passenger and cargo services, by 2032.

1. The Maritimes: Phantom ships/ghost ships/Flying Dutchmen: the terms are synonymous and the phenomena are an important component to the folklore of Canada’s Maritime provinces. These retrocognitive images are often so detailed that witnesses throughout the 20th century are still able to identify not only the long-ago sunken ship but, in some cases, even see what’s happening on board.

2. Oak Island, Nova Scotia: This is the haunted site of treasure buried in the 18th century. Despite the enormous amounts of money, technology, and time spent trying to uncover the fortune, only disappointment, poverty, and unexplained deaths have resulted. The ghostly guardians of the cache have been the victors, despite concerted efforts by many determined souls over the last 60 years.

3. Kingsmere in Quebec: The summer residence of Canada’s longest-serving prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, was the venue for many ghostly visitations during King’s lifetime. He and his friends frequently, and successfully, conducted seances during which they summoned numerous spirits into their midst. Since his death in 1950, King’s ghost has been seen there. The spirit reportedly conversed with journalist Percy J. Philip in June of 1954, at the property the deceased had so loved in life.

4. The Hockey Hall of Fame: Situated in a century-and-a-half-old Bank of Montreal building in downtown Toronto, it is haunted by the ghost of a former teller at the bank who killed herself during the early 1950s in response to an unrequited love affair. Her presence has been seen and felt amid the displays of hockey history as recently as the mid-1990s.

5. Grand Theatre in London, Ontario: Staff at the theatre are extremely fond of their resident ghost — Ambrose Small, the theatre’s original owner. Small disappeared in December 1919 under suspicious circumstances and has never been seen since — alive, that is. His ghost continues to make regular appearances at his favourite theatre.

6. The Hotel Fort Garry: The Winnipeg hotel, which opened in December 1913, is home to several ethereal residents. The ghost of a woman wearing a formal gown has been reported by a guest. Employees once caught a glimpse of a male apparition enjoying a meal in the hotel’s dining room, long after the room was closed for the day. Moments later the image vaporized.

7. The Moose Head Inn at Kenosee Lake in Saskatchewan: A much-investigated and well-documented ghost is frequently heard walking around the place. He has grabbed a worker’s hand, borrowed small items, and caused plumbing and electrical fixtures to turn on and off independently. This ghostly activity continues today.

8. Banff Springs Hotel: Legend has it that this Alberta hotel is home to several ghosts. The manifestation of a dancing bride is said to be seen, even today, at the base of the stairs where she apparently fell to her death. A long-deceased bellman reportedly helped guests with their luggage a few years ago.

9. Victoria Golf Course: Doris Gravlin’s ghost is only seen for a few weeks in the spring and so has been dubbed “The April Ghost.” However, she’s also known as British Columbia’s most famous ghost. Since she died in 1936, Doris’s image, wearing a number of different outfits, is seen on the fairways of the golf course located in Victoria, B.C. Every spring ghost-hunters gather there in hopes of catching a glimpse of her.

10. The ghost town of Barkerville, British Columbia: Even though many of the buildings currently standing are modern-day re-constructions, ghosts continue to be both seen and felt there. The most poignant of the resident spectres is the ghost of an unidentified woman seen at a second-floor window of Madame Fannie Ben-dixon’s Saloon.

Trivia BITE!

Margarine has had a tough time establishing itself in canada. Lobbying by dairy farmers led to margarine being banned by an act of Parliament from 1866 to 1917. butter shortages during the first World War led to margarine being legalized, but it was banned again in 1923. Margarine became permanently legal in 1948.

Spring, summer, winter, and fall, homeowners across the land are in house-cleaning mode in an effort to keep their residences clean and tidy. But to fight filth, they need to know the enemy. To help out, we’re here to dish the dirt on, well, dirt.

So, while the year-round cleaning crusade defies dust bunnies, grapples with grime, and conquers cobwebs, here are 10 fabulous facts worth considering for Canadians who plan to attack household dust and dirt.

1. The Dirt on Dust: One kilogram of fine dust — the dirt we breathe in but can’t see — accumulates in the average home every year, says J. David Miller, a chemistry professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. It consists mostly of human skin scales, pollen, fungi from leaves, grass, and pine needles, dust mite feces, and carbon from car exhaust. If sucking this into your lungs isn’t disgusting enough, consider that the surface area of these tiny particles is more than 10 times the floor area of the average house.

2. Dirty Laundry: More than 60 percent of the laundry generated at home is soiled by the human body, says Procter and Gamble, maker of household cleaning products. Each day a person sheds more than a billion skin flakes, generates more than a litre-sized wine bottle of sweat, and produces tens of grams of “sebum,” a mixture of triglycerides, fatty acids, wax esters, and cholesterol, most of which ends up on clothing. An average wash load contains 40 grams of dirt, or three large spoonfuls, while a heavily soiled load may contain more than 120 grams.

3. Molly’s a Canuck: Household cleaning company Molly Maid’s first customer was a home in Mississauga, Ontario, that was cleaned in 1979, with founders Adrienne and Chris Stringer pushing the mops and brooms. Over the past 30 years, the Stringers have expanded across Canada and into the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Portugal. In 2009, Molly Maid expects to perform nearly two million home cleanings across Canada.

4. You Dirty Duct: A typical duct cleaning removes up to five pounds of dirt, equivalent to a good-sized bag of potatoes, from a home’s air ducts. The crud consists of pet and human hair, pet droppings, toys, marbles, food, construction materials, and drink containers, among other things, says Direct Energy, a full services energy company. Although your ducts will be more pristine, experts say cleaning, in most cases, does little to improve energy usage and indoor air quality.

5. Suck It Up: He didn’t invent the vacuum cleaner but W.H. Hoover’s name is synonymous with the time-saving household device. The Hoover legacy began in 1907 when Murray Spangler of Canton, Ohio, developed a contraption that used a tin soapbox, a fan, a pillowcase, and a broom handle to pull dust away from air. His family friend, Susan Hoover, was so impressed she showed it to her husband, W.H., who bought the patent and began building the machines. He offered 10 days’ free use of his machine to anyone who wrote and requested it and eventually established a business venture that definitely did not suck.

6. Sleep on This … or Not: A University of Manchester study says a typical pillow contains more than a million fungal spores, and the most common fungi, Apergillus fumigatus, is the likeliest to cause disease. And if that doesn’t give you nightmares, other research suggests this fungus is having sex. To remove that image from your dreams, scientists suggest putting allergen-impermeable covers on your pillow and washing bedding at least weekly in hot water.

7. Vacuuming 101: Heavy traffic areas in your home should be vacuumed daily, with seven strokes of the machine over all surfaces for thorough cleaning, says the Hoover Company. Areas less travelled on can be vacuumed once a week or every three or four days and three or four strokes should do the trick.

8. Where Dirt is King: Think the toilet bowl is the dirtiest spot in your home? Guess again. In reality, the cloth or sponge used to wipe your kitchen counter contains the most bacteria, says Reckitt Benckiser Inc., the manufacturer of Lysol products. Number two on the list is your kitchen sink drain, followed by your bathtub and a distant fourth is the area beneath the rim of your toilet bowl. Wiping countertops with paper towels that can be tossed after use is the best way to avoid spreading bacteria, say the experts.

9. And You Thought Rabbits Multiplied Quickly: The bacteria found in kitchens, bathrooms, and other areas of a home can grow and divide every 20 minutes. A single bacteria cell can become more than eight million cells in less than 24 hours, says the maker of Lysol products.

10. Mould Ain’t Gold: More than 270 species of mould have been identified as living in Canadian homes. Left unchecked, mould can result in wood rot and structural damage and can threaten the health of people prone to allergies and respiratory problems, says the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Fall is a favourite season for many, highlighted by gorgeous leaf colours, crisp temperatures, and long walks. Unfortunately for many, though, it’s followed by winter, which is enough to put many Canadians down in the dumps.

Fortunately we have a remedy to see you through the latter stages of fall: the following fascinating facts are sure to dazzle your friends and colleagues, and brighten up even the gloomiest of days.

First, allow us to put a little colour in your life. In fall, the leaves change from green to gold, red, and orange, but do you know why that happens? Leaf it to us to explain. Trees prepare for winter by reducing the moisture and nutrient supply that keeps their leaves green and they store it in more permanent parts of the plant. The green chlorophyll starts to break down and leaves begin to turn yellow.

With autumn’s cool nights and clear sunny days, some trees also produce anthocyanin, a red chemical that mixes with the yellow of the leaves to create other colours. On the sugar maple, for example, a variety of colour can be found on a single tree as reds mix with yellow and orange leaves.

Of course, autumn for many sports fans means football. Speaking of football, do you remember the time the Hamilton Tiger-Cats beat the Buffalo Bills in a game? In 1961, during the pre-season, the Ti-Cats tangled with the Bills, of the old American Football League, in Hamilton, using Canadian rules. The Ti-Cats won 38–21, and after that game the AFL refused any more cross-border matches.

Canadian football teams had been playing their American counterparts from at least the 1930s. Several exhibition games between NFL and CFL teams took place in the 1950s, and one on record had the New York Giants defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders 27–6.

Football games aren’t the only popular shows on the tube every fall. Fans usually settle in to watch their favourite shows when the new television season launches every autumn. They may also have their favourite stars, but did you know that a Canadian from Nelson, British Columbia, was the first professional television star? And that she made her debut back on November 2, 1936?

Joan Miller was a young actress who had achieved success in Canada and then went to Britain where she found work in radio. The BBC’s first television producer liked what he saw and signed her on for his show Picture Page. Miller was the Picture Page Girl and was paid £12.10 per week for appearing on the show, making her the world’s first professional TV performer. The show ran until the Second World War broke out, but Miller continued her career in Britain as a well-respected stage actress. She died in 1988.

If you’re reading this in late fall, there’s no getting around the fact that winter is just around the corner. With that in mind, consider this: As cold as the weather may get here in the “Great White North,” it is never too cold to snow.

They Said It!

“i fear that i have not got much to say about canada, not having seen much; what i got by going to canada was a cold.”

— American author Henry David Thoreau, 1866, about a visit to Quebec.

To produce the white stuff , the air must hold at least some moisture in gaseous form, says Environment Canada. The water vapour must be cooled beyond the freezing point at which snow crystals form. Because warmer air holds more moisture than colder air, the heaviest snowfalls and large flakes occur at temperatures close to freezing. As the air becomes colder the flakes become finer and finer. It is never too cold to snow, but the amount of snowfall is usually less the colder it is.

Anyone who has lined up for a double-double at a favourite coffee shop, languished over a latte, or perked up to the aroma of a fresh-brewed pot on a Saturday morning, knows Canada has a love affair with coffee.

Whether we sip it slowly on a lazy afternoon, or gulp it on our way to work, that daily jolt of java is an integral party of everyday life in this country. But what do we know about the cup of joe at the centre of Canada’s coffee culture? The next time you enjoy a mug of your favourite blend, consider these 10 facts you may not know about one of Canada’s most popular beverages.

1. Coffee a fruit? You bet. Coffee beans are the pits at the centre of bright red coffee cherries, which grow on trees. The average coffee tree bears enough cherries each season to produce between one and one and a half pounds of roasted coffee.

2. Canada’s coffee culture: Sixty-six percent of coffee is consumed at home, 12 percent is consumed at work, 16 percent is consumed or purchased at eating places and 5 percent is consumed in other places such as hospitals, schools, hockey rinks and other institutions. Drinking coffee in-transit has increased from 2 percent in 1999 to 7 percent in 2003.

3. Coffee’s roots: Originally, the coffee plant grew naturally in Ethiopia, but once transplanted in Arabia, that country monopolized it. The Turks were the first country to adopt it as a drink, often adding spices such as cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and anise to the brew. Today, coffee grows in more than 60 countries, says the Coffee Association of Canada.

4. Special species: There are two key commercially important coffee species, Arabica, which accounts for about 75 percent of world production and Robusta. Arabica grows best at high altitudes, has a much more refined flavour, and contains about 1 percent caffeine by weight. Robusta coffee is a more robust species with a higher resistance to disease, and a higher yield per plant. It flourishes at lower elevations and produces coffee with harsher flavour characteristics.

5. Coffee Queen: American coffee heiress Abigail Folger made headlines in 1969, but her appearance on front pages had nothing to do with coffee. Folger, whose father, Peter, was president of the Folger Coffee Company, was murdered on August 9, 1969, by the Manson Family at Roman Polanski’s Beverly Hills, California, home. Her friend Sharon Tate, a young Hollywood actress, was among the four others slain.

6. A real bargoon: When Tim Hortons opened its first outlet in Hamilton, Ontario in 1964, a cup of coffee cost just 10 cents. A dozen doughnuts set customers back 69 cents. Today, depending on where you live, coffee prices at Tim’s range from $1.13 for a small to $1.65 for an extra large, and 12 doughnuts can cost as much as $5.75.

7. Cut the caffeine: Health experts warn that caffeine found in coffee, tea, and other products could cause insomnia, headaches, irritability, and nervousness. To avoid these side effects, Health Canada recommends that the general population of healthy adults should drink no more than three eight-ounce (237- millilitre) cups of brewed coffee per day. Three cups contain a total of 400 to 450 milligrams of caffeine.

8. Will that be Double-Double? Forty percent of Canadian coffee drinkers drink their coffee with cream or milk and sugar. Thirty-three percent prefer cream or milk only, 20 percent drink it black, and 7 percent add nothing more than sugar, according to the Coffee Association of Canada.

9. Bean battles: Who drinks more coffee, Canadians or Americans? Canadians win by a fair margin. Sixty-three percent of Canadians over the age of 18 drink coffee on a daily basis compared to 49 percent of Americans.

10. Roll it up: Ron Buist of Oakville, Ontario, invented Tim Hortons’ popular Roll Up the Rim to Win promotion. While working in marketing for the company, Buist, who is now retired, helped introduce the promotion on a trial basis in 1986. It eventually became an annual event that rewards coffee drinkers with prizes ranging from free doughnuts and coffee to vehicles and home entertainment systems.

For many Canadians life revolves around their home and yard. But how many are familiar with the housing essentials that keep them comfortable and content, such as the roofing that keeps out the rain, the bulbs that light their rooms, and the birds that make their gardens a haven to appreciate?

Here are 10 things you may not know that just might make you appreciate your home even more as you embark on your spring or fall cleaning or spend long hours in the garden.

1. Up on the roof: The asphalt shingles on an average size home with 2,000 square feet of roof area weigh 2,106 kilograms, or about the same as two Honda Civic sedans. The tiny granules that coat the shingles weigh about 792 kilograms and the asphalt base contributes the remaining 1,314 kilograms. The granules, which number up to 1.3 billion on the average roof, are made from gravel that is ground into tiny pieces, then pigmented into hundreds of colours and cooked to achieve a ceramic finish. The granules protect asphalt shingles from ultra-violet rays, says shingle manufacturer Emco Building Products.

2. You know the drill: Ever wondered how the Black & Decker name found its way onto the power tools in your home workshop? The company began in the United States in 1910 when S. Duncan Black and his friend Alonzo Decker powered up a business that produced industrial machines and tools. They diversified the company toolbox with power drills, sanders, and saws after learning during the Second World War that a significant number of workers were stealing power tools from United States defence plants. Seeing a market ripe for the picking, they launched their own line of household power tools in 1946. The rest is home do-it-your-selfers history.

3. Down, down, down: The Canada thistle commonly found in many lawns and gardens can in a single growing season produce 500 metres of root, which is equivalent to the length of three-and-a-half Canadian Football League playing fields. Most of the roots grow laterally but some have been known to drill 4.5 metres into the soil. You’ll need a backhoe to pull out one of those!

4. Ghosts use electricity, too! Some appliances consume power even when they’re turned off, a phenomenon known as “ghost” or “phantom” loads. A remote controlled 27-inch colour TV can use 115 kilowatt hours (kWh) of power per year when not in use and a remote controlled VCR 123 kWh per year. That’s because the standby mode in some devices means some lights and displays stay on, infrared detectors stay alert for signals from your remote control, and some internal components keep running to stay ready for action. In addition, 120-volt AC transformers, the heavy black plugs that go into a wall outlet, consume power even if the device they’re powering is off. Combined, the standby modes of all such devices can consume 5 percent of the average home’s electricity, or approximately $54 per year for the average homeowner.

Trivia BITE!

We say zed, they say zee, but another difference between Canadians and Americans is that more than 80 percent of freezers sold in Canada are chest style, while in the U.S., where warmer weather means fewer homes have basements, upright style freezers claim nearly 50 percent of the market.

5. Lives lived: If your refrigerator’s still running after more than 20 years, consider yourself lucky, even though it’s eating up more power than today’s energy efficient models. Data from the U.S. Department of Energy says home appliances have life expectancies just like humans. The average life of a refrigerator is 14 to 19 years; dishwashers should last 11 to 13 years; ditto for clothes washers and dryers and microwaves for an average of nine years while most stoves head to the great kitchen in the sky after 11 to 18 years of service.

6. It’s cold down there: They may be mostly below ground, but basements can account for up to 35 percent of a home’s total heat loss, according to Natural Resources Canada. Here’s the dirt: earth turns out to be a poor insulator and when you add to that all the air that can leak through basement windows and cracks you can be in for some serious chilling. Experts recommend insulating the walls of your basement to R-12 to keep it warm and cozy. Your wallet will appreciate it too.

7. It wasn’t Tom’s bright idea: Thomas Edison is often credited with the invention of the light bulb but Torontonians Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans beat him to the switch when they patented a bulb in 1875. When the two couldn’t raise enough cash to make their product commercially viable, Edison, who like many others at the time had been working on a similar idea, bought the rights to their patent. Using different techniques and improvements, Edison’s bulb was ready for patenting in 1879 and has remained in the spotlight ever since.

8. Birdbrains they’re not: It’s no fluke that birds keep returning to your backyard feeder; having a strong memory is a feather in these creatures’ caps. Studies have shown relocating food, even to unfamiliar places, is a piece of cake (or suet) for many birds that may be using landscape features, memory, stars, and even the Earth’s magnetism to find things to eat. The memory whiz king of the bird world could be the Clark’s nutcracker, which can bury 22,000 to 33,000 seeds in up to 2,500 locations. Studies have shown the nutcracker finds two-thirds of its tasty treasures more than a year later.

9. Down the drain: Canadian homes occupied by four people send an average of 1,300 litres of sewage per day to municipal wastewater treatment facilities, which over the course of a year would fill more than seven 16 x 32-foot in-ground swimming pools. The sewage is 90 percent water; the remainder consists of fecal matter, urine, and tissue flushed down toilets, as well as grime and soap that exits the home via sinks, dishwashers, and clothes washers, says the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association.

10. Put a lock on it: On average, thieves break into a home or apartment every three minutes in Canada. The most sought-after goods are audio/video equipment, followed by jewellery, cash, and cheques or bonds. Nine out of every 10 break-in artists are male and perpetrators that are nailed and jailed are usually back on the streets in six months. The good news is that Statistics Canada’s most recent stats showed residential break-and-enters have decreased by about 30 percent in the past decade.

Q: Why do Canadians pronounce the last letter of the alphabet as “zed” while Americans say “zee”?

A: The last letter of our alphabet is derived from the Greek zeta, which was later adopted by the French who pronounced it as zed. This pronunciation was also used in Britain where it remains the standard way of saying the letter.

In parts of Britain, however, such as Suffolk and Norfolk, the letter was further abbreviated in pronunciation to zee. It was from those regions of Britain that many people immigrated to the United States. In contrast, many settlers coming to Canada were Scots or Irish, or originated from English regions where the zed pronunciation was common.

In 1928, Noah Webster produced his famous American Dictionary of the English Language. Webster was very much in favour of making the American form of English distinct from British usage. He wrote “Our honor requires us to have a system of our own, in language as well as government.” Thus, he adopted the pronunciation zee which was common in the United States by then.

Webster also dropped the u from many words such as colour and honour, turned tyre into tire and theatre into theater. Canadians remained loyal to the British spelling and pronunciations. Although we have since adopted or come to accept some of the American spellings, we still hang on to zed.

They Said it!

“Eh”: An interjection or prompt spoken by Canadians. Equivalent to the American “huh?” or “right?” Usually used to prompt a person to respond to what was said or to indicate a lack of understanding.

— entry on Urban Dictionary
(www.urbandictionary.com)

Q: Is it true that the prisoner who spent the longest time on Alcatraz was a Canadian?

A: Yes, Alvin “Old Creepy” Karpis has the dubious honour of having spent the most time in prison on Alcatraz Island. Karpis, who was born Albin Karpowicz in Montreal in 1908, spent a record 26 years in the island prison situated in San Francisco Bay. The average prison stay there was about eight to 10 years.

Although born in Canada, Karpis grew up in Topeka, Kansas, where his family moved when he was young. Despite living most of his life in the United States, Karpis remained a Canadian citizen. For that reason, he was deported back to Canada upon his release from jail in 1969.

Karpis was one of a number of gangsters who captured the public’s imagination during the Depression. Karpis had first been arrested for burglary in 1926, but gained fame in the early thirties as a bank robber and kidnapper, often as henchman of the notorious Barker gang. To avoid detection for his crimes, Karpis had his fingerprints surgically removed. He was involved in the kidnappings of William Hamm Jr., president of the Hamm Brewing Company, and Edward Bremer, president of the Commercial State bank in St. Paul, Minnesota. Both kidnappings ended with the criminals getting their ransom money and returning the men unharmed.

By the mid-1930s, Karpis had become Public Enemy Number One; he was eventually arrested in New Orleans by the FBI in 1936. Although legend has it that J. Edgar Hoover personally arrested Karpis, the gangster mentions in his autobiography that several other officers were involved.

After spending time in Leavenworth prison, Karpis was sent to Alcatraz, where he was in the company of such notorious criminals as Al Capone, Robert Stroud (the Birdman of Alcatraz), and Baby Face Nelson. He left Alcatraz in 1962, shortly before the prison was shut down, and spent the rest of his time in a prison in Washington State. Karpis died in Spain in 1979.

1. Although contraceptives didn’t become legal in Canada until 1969, the first birth control clinic in the country opened in 1932. Where was it located?

3. In which war did the battle of Vimy Ridge take place: The First World War or the Second World War?

4. The February 1963 issue of Imperial Oil Review reported that a Canadian had invented a vehicle that was a “kind of scooter mounted on toy tracks and which growls like a runaway dishwasher.” What kind of vehicle was it?

5. Which province boasts Canada’s longest coastline: Newfoundland or British Columbia?