AWESOME THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW WERE MADE IN CANADA

 

                  

 

Forget  Labatt’s beer and maple syrup. Canadians have created plenty of awesome  and strange stuff, and here are 13 things you probably didn’t know were  proudly made in Canada. While  hockey players and great beer may be Canada’s favorite exports, there are  actually tons of great Canadian products used around the world every day.  And while everybody knows the telephone was invented in Canada, how many  people know that 95 per cent of the world’s Lentils come from  Saskatchewan, or that we make more submarines than most countries  combined? Check out this strange and surprising list of Canada’s most  fascinating exports.

1. Did You Know Most of the  World's French Fries Come from New Brunswick? New  Brunswick-based McCain Foods makes one-third of all the frozen French  fries produced in the world, and many come from a $65-million state-of-the  art potato processing plant that’s in Florenceville-Bristol<http://www.florencevillebristol.ca/> . The small  town in western New Brunswick has taken on the moniker ‘The French Fry  Capital of the World.’ Not surprisingly, this is the location of the  Potato World museum, and the heart of the mid-July National French Fry Day  celebrations.

 

2. Did You Know Carlton Place  Makes the World's Best Baseball Bats? In 2012,  more than 100 Major League Baseball players chose to swing Canadian maple  wood bats - better known as the "Sam Bat". Sam Holman, founder of the The Original Maple Bat  Corporation <http://sambat.com/> , invented the bat by choosing maple wood, a  harder wood than the traditionally used ash. So, if you see a professional  player with a little logo on their baseball bat, that’s one of the 18,000  sluggers produced each year in Carlton Place, a half-hour from  Ottawa.

 

3. Did You Know Saskatchewan  Makes Most of the World's Lentils? Mmmm,  Lentils! Whether home or travelling abroad, order some lentil <http://www.lentils.ca/>  soup  and odds are you’re getting a little taste of home. Canada is the largest  exporter of green lentils in the world - about 1.5 million metric tonnes  annually, with 95% of it coming from  Saskatchewan.

 

4. Did You Know Scarborough  Makes Most of the World's Halls? If you  pick up a pack of Halls <http://www.gethalls.com/>  you’ll  be getting another little taste of home since they are made in  Scarborough, Ontario. The plant at Bertrand produced more than 6 billion  pieces of “medicine” for the U.S. last year – enough that if you lined  them side-by-side they would circle the earth at the equator approximately  3.4 times.

 

5. Did You Know Winnipeg  Mints Coins for Over 60 Countries? Canada produces  currency for more countries than you can imagine! The Royal Winnipeg  Mint<http://www.mint.ca/>  produces coins for 60 different countries,  including Centavos for Cuba, kroner for Norway, and pesos for Colombia.  Currently the mint can produce over 20 million coins a  day.

 

6. Did You Know Hamilton  Makes the World's Swedish Fish? Those  chewy Swedish Fish <http://www.swedishfish.com/>   sure weren’t made in Sweden! More than 5 billion of the colourful little  candies are produced in Hamiltion, Ontario every year – that’s all of the  Swedish Fish consumed in North America. Every day about 13 million of the  little fish are produced at a factory in Hamilton, which also makes all  Maynards Candy for Canada, and key brands for the U.S., including Sour  Patch Kids.

 

7. Did You Know Toronto Makes  the World's Best Racing Bikes? Using the  same tools and techniques as Formula One teams, Toronto-basedCervélo <http://www.cervelo.com/>   builds what have been called the world’s fastest and lightest bikes. At  the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, athletes riding Cervélo bikes won 10 medals,  while in 2008 Carlos Sastre rode a Cervélo bike to win le Tour de  France.

 

8. Did you Know Winnipeg  Makes Most of the World's Scratch Cards? Walk into  almost any corner store in the world for an instant win lottery ticket,  and there’s a good chance your scratch card was printed by Winnipeg  company Pollard  Banknote <http://www.pollardbanknote.com/> . Founded in 1907, Pollard now has facilities  throughout North America, however a significant amount of its lottery  scratch cards are still made in Canada.

 

9. Did You Know the World's  Best Cymbals come from New Brunswick? Where do  the cymbals used by Rush, Keith Harris of the Black Eyed Peas, the  Philadelphia Orchestra and marching bands around the world come from? The  small village of Meductic (population 300), located along the Saint John  River in southern New Brunswick. SABIAN<http://www.sabian.com/> cymbals  are sold in 120 countries around the world.

 

10. Did You Know Trenton  Makes Tons of Dinos? No, they  don't make dinosaurs like in Jurassic Park, but close. Research Casting  International<http://www.rescast.com/> , the leading company for constructing  dinosaur remains (casting, restoring, mounting, repairing), is located in  a 45,000 sq.ft. airplane-hanger-sized building in Trenton, Ontario. The  company has created more than 750 of the mighty beasts for museums around  the world.

 

11. Did You Know Kelowna  Makes Most of the World's Water Slides? When you  slip down one of those clear tube water slides on a Disney Cruise, you’re  likely using Canadian design and technology. Canada’s Whitewater West Industries  Ltd.<http://www.formashape.com/products/waterslides.php>  is the largest water parks attraction company in  the world. Their Kelowna, B.C. facility, FormaShape, makes thousands of  water slides each year.

 

12. Did You Know Peterborough  is the Custom Aircraft Capital of Canada? Flying  Colours Corp. <http://www.flyingcolourscorp.com/>  of Peterborough, Ontario doesn’t make  airplanes, but they sure make them special. Entertainment systems,  corporate logos, iPad-holders, custom exterior paint, upholstery, and  they’ve even added a permanent bed in an aft cabin. Everything is custom  made in-house, from the leather seats and wood trim to the side walls –  for customers from across the globe, including much of Europe, the Middle  East, Russia, Asia, and India.

 

13. Did you know B.C. Makes  Tons of Submarines? Atlantis  Submarines <http://www.atlantissubmarines.com/> , of British Columbia, actually owns more  submarines than many countries – but these ones are used for tourism. The  Canadian company initiated the world’s first commercial tourist submarine  in the Cayman Islands in 1986. More than 10 million people have since  experienced underwater adventures in their 48 and 64 passenger submarines  in the Caribbean and Pacific. The subs they operate in Barbados, the  Cayman Islands, Aruba, St. Martin, Cozumel, Curacao & Guam were all  made in Canada.