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  • 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.

  • 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 center 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.

Hi, Bob the Canadian here.

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