Hi, Bob the Canadian here.
Welcome to this English lesson on the country of Canada.
Many of you have asked me to do an English lesson
on the country that I call home, so I thought
in this video, I would teach you 20 interesting facts
about the country that I know and love, called Canada.
(upbeat guitar music)
Canada has two official languages, English and French.
In fact, everything you buy in Canada
has an English side and a French side.
You can see on this Cheerio box
that it says Honey Nut Cheerios and then on the French side,
it says Cheerios au miel et aux noix
So in many provinces in Canada, milk comes in bags.
This is a bag of milk.
And inside, there are three smaller bags of milk.
If I was out here with another Canadian,
I would probably say things like,
"It's pretty bright out here, eh?"
Or "It's pretty cold out here, eh?"
Canadians tend to end their sentences,
once in a while, with the word eh.
One of the most popular coffee shops in Canada
is a place called Tim Horton's,
or as some Canadians sometimes say, Timmies.
Tim Horton's is a place where many Canadians go
every morning on their way to work to get a coffee
and something to eat for breakfast.
Canada is the second largest country in the world.
By the way, the largest country is Russia,
and I should say hi to all of my Russian viewers.
But Canada is the second largest.
And we have a population of 37 million people.
Actually, a little more than that.
About 37 and a half million people.
An interesting fact though, is 66% of Canadians
live within 100 kilometers of the southern border
that we share with the United States.
I think because Canada is such a cold country,
most of us live as far south as possible
so we can stay a little warmer
during our cold Canadian winters.
Money in Canada is very colorful and we also have a $1 coin
which we call a loonie, because if you look at a loonie,
you'll see that there is a loon on it,
which is a kind of bird that lives in northern Canada.
When the government decided that we needed a $2 coin,
we simply called it a toonie, because it rhymed with loonie
and it was worth $2.
It just seemed like a really good name for it.
By the way, did you know that Justin Bieber,
Celine Dion and Shawn Mendes are all Canadian?
I'm sure you've heard some of their songs before.
They are some of the greatest talent
that Canada has produced.
The leader of Canada is called the prime minister,
not the president, by the way.
Sometimes, people from other countries
mistakenly think that our leader is called the president.
But we call our leader the prime minister.
Our current prime minister is Justin Trudeau.
You might recognize him because he might
have visited your country in the past,
with a trade delegation so that we can keep relations
between our country and your country in good standing.
Canada is divided up into provinces.
Not states, like the United States.
And we have 10 provinces, stretching from the Pacific Ocean
in the west all the way to the Atlantic Ocean in the east.
I live in the province of Ontario,
which is almost right in the middle of Canada.
Provinces are quite large.
In fact, our provinces might be bigger than your country.
I'm not trying to brag, but provinces
are definitely really, really big in Canada.
The capital of Canada is a city called Ottawa.
And it is a beautiful city.
It is located pretty far north, in the province of Ontario
and it's usually quite cold there in the winter.
If you ever have a chance to visit our capital, Ottawa,
you should do it.
It is a beautiful city.
I do recommend, though, that if you don't like the cold,
that you visit it in the summer, although if you visit it
in the winter, you will have a true Canadian experience.
Canada is full of maple trees.
There are a lot of maple trees in Canada.
In fact, some of the trees behind me are maple trees.
And most of the trees that you see
in parks in Canada are maple trees.
It's the reason why we have the maple leaf
in the centre of our flag, because
there's just so many maple trees in Canada.
And one of the most popular exports
from our country is maple syrup.
That's when they take the sap from the maple tree
and they turn it into a really sweet and tasty syrup.
If you haven't tried maple syrup, you should try some.
And if you try some, make sure
it's authentic, Canadian maple syrup.
Oh, another famous Canadian is this guy
who teaches English on YouTube.
What's his name again?
I think it's Bob the Canadian.
Okay, I'm not really that famous.
But I just wanted to put this piece in here.
We actually have two official sports in Canada.
Our official winter sport
is a little game called hockey.
You may have seen the Canadian hockey teams
play at the Winter Olympics.
They usually do really well.
Probably because most of our rivers, lakes and streams
in the winter are frozen solid and young Canadians
have lots of opportunity to practice the game of hockey.
As well, most small towns have a hockey arena.
So the amount of time that you can spend skating
as a young Canadian is really, really high.
Our second official sport is a summer sport.
Our official summer sport is a game called lacrosse.
This is a little different than hockey.
If you want to see some lacrosse, just do a search
on YouTube for the game of lacrosse in Canada
and you will be able to find a game and watch a bit of it.
It's a very interesting game to watch
and it's a very interesting game to play as well.
Canada has a lot of fresh water lakes.
In fact, we have over two million
fresh water lakes in Canada.
And I think because there are so many lakes and streams
and rivers in Canada, and because there
is so much fresh water, we have animals
like the beaver that live here.
The beaver is our national animal.
I don't know if you've ever seen a beaver before.
They are really cool.
They tend to chop down trees and they build dams
in streams and creeks so that the water will flood
and then they can build a home in the flooded part
of the river or lake.
It's a very interesting animal
and it's our national animal of Canada.
So in Canada, taxes are high.
Canadians pay a lot of income tax.
We pay a lot of sales tax.
In general, if you live in Canada,
you will pay a lot of tax, but healthcare is free.
So if you break a bone or you need heart surgery
or you're having a baby, it is totally free in Canada.
Now, the dentist isn't free.
If you need work done on your teeth.
And the eye doctor isn't free, if you need glasses.
But everything else is covered.
Mostly because we pay really high taxes.
But, I will never complain about the fact
that healthcare is free.
I had heart surgery.
It cost me zero dollars.
Sometimes, people think that Canada's biggest export
is wood, but it's not.
Our biggest export is actually oil.
The province of Alberta actually has huge oil reserves.
Canada's largest trading partner
is about 100 kilometers straight that way.
I'm pointing south.
Can you guess what country is 100 kilometers south of here?
It is the United States of America.
Well, hey, that was 20 interesting facts
about the country of Canada.
The country that I know and love.
I'm Bob the Canadian and you
are learning English with me here on YouTube.
I hope this lesson helped you learn
just a little bit more English and a little bit more
about the country of Canada.
Remember, if you are new here, don't forget to click
that red subscribe button over there
and give me a thumbs up if this video helped you learn
just a little bit more English and while you're here,
why don't you stick around and watch another video.
(upbeat guitar music)