I AM Canadian….eh

Happy Canada Day eh!

July 1st is Canada Day. I know everyone is proud to be from the country of their birth and I’m no exception. I’m very proud to be from Canada and was surprised last year to learn about things that were “Canadian” – discovered or invented by Canadians or in Canada. Everyone in Canada should know that Insulin was discovered at the University of Toronto in the 1920’s by Banting and Best and that the Canadarm for the Space Shuttle is…you guessed it…Canadian. Here’s a list of the top 50 inventions (hey, we are a little country of 30 million) from our country voted on by …who else…Canadians. Oh yea…if you’re reading this on your Blackberry…it’s Canadian too.

1. Insulin, Treatment for Diabetes [1921, Frederick Banting, Charles Best]
2. Telephone [1876, Alexander Graham Bell]
3. Light Bulb [1874, Henry Woodward, Mathew Evans]
4. Five Pin Bowling [1908, Thomas F. Ryan]
5. Wonderbra [1964, Louise Poirier]
6. Pacemaker [1950, John Hopps, Wilfred Bigelow, John Callaghan]
7. Robertson Screw, 1908 [Peter Robertson]
8. Zipper [1913, Gideon Sundback]
9. Electric Wheelchair [1952, George Klein]
10. Poutine [1957, Fernand Lachance]
11. Cobalt-60 “Bomb” Cancer Treatment [1951, Harold Johns]
12. Java Programming Language [1994, James Arthur Gosling]
13. Bloody Caesar [1969, Walter Chell]
14. Canadarm [1975, Spar Aerospace/NRC]
15. Standard time [1878, Sir Sandford Fleming]
16. Electron Microscope [1939, James Hillier, Albert Prebus]
17. Ski-Doo [1922, Armand Bombardier]
18. BlackBerry [1999, Mike Lazaridis]
19. Radio Voice Transmission [1900, Reginald Fessenden]
20. Birchbark Canoe [First Peoples]
21. Basketball [1892, James Naismith]
22. Retractable Beer Carton Handle [1957, Steve Pasjack]
23. UV Degradable Plastics [1971, James Guillet]
24. Instant Replay [1955, CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada]
25. Goalie Mask [1959, Jacques Plante]
26. Marquis Wheat [1908, Sir Charles Saunders]
27. Pablum [1930, Alan Brown, Theodore Drake, Frederick Tisdall]
28. Lacrosse [First Peoples]
29. Electric Oven [1892, Thomas Ahearn]
30. Steam Fog Horn [1853, Robert Foulis]
31. Walkie-Talkie [1942, Donald L. Hings]
32. Alkaline Long-Lasting Battery [1959, Lewis Urry]
33. Paint roller [1940, Norman Breakey]
34. Electronic Music Synthesizer [1945, Hugh Le Caine]
35. WeeVac 6 [1990, Wendy Murphy]
36. Green Garbage Bag [1950, Harry Wasylyk, Larry Hansen, Frank Plomp]
37. Snowblower [1925, Arthur Sicard]
38. Self-propelled Combine Harvester [1937, Thomas Carroll]
39. Instant Mashed Potatoes [1962, Edward Asselbergs]
40. Explosives Vapour Detector [1985, Lorne Elias]
41. Marine Screw Propeller [1833, John Patch]
42. Plexiglas [1931, William Chalmers]
43. Key Frame Animation [1969, Nestor Burtnyk, Marcelli Wein]
44. CPR Mannequin: “ACTAR 911” [1989, Dianne Croteau, Richard Brault]
45. G-Suit [1941, Wilbur Rounding Franks]
46. Ardox Spiral Nail [1954, Allan Dove]
47. Automatic Lubricating Cup [1872, Elijah McCoy]
48. Crash-Position Indicator-CPI [1957, Harry Stevinson]
49. Caulking Gun [1894, Theodore Witte]
50. Separable Baggage Check [1882, John Mitchell Lyons]

 Some that didn’t make the list but should have….washing machine, IMAX and Superman,

A few years back we were asked to rank people in order of importance to our country – the list included politicians like Pierre Elliott Trudeau, sports heros like Wayne Gretsky, inspirational people like Terry Fox and many others. Who came out on top? Tommy Douglas, the former Premier of Saskatchewan and Member of Parliament who introduced Universal Health Care to Canada which we still enjoy today..oh yea….he was also Keifer Sutherland’s Maternal Grandfather.  LOL

Happy Canada Day – enjoy the fireworks everyone!

Alison