The province of Alberta is the largest rat-free populated area in the world. But it’s not by accident! Back in 1951, the province began an aggressive rat control program that involved gassing, poisoning, and shooting rats as well as blowing up rat-infested buildings.
About a dozen or so rats enter Alberta every year, but they are very careful to keep the numbers down by employing rat control specialists before they can reproduce.
In Soviet Canada, You Order Queen
Seeing as the late Queen had a unique relationship with Canada, entirely separate from her role as the firmer Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada still features the Queen of England on their money.
Did you know that anyone can send in an order for a portrait of the former Queen from Canada's Government's official website, and it will be shipped to them in Canada free of charge?
Lakes and Their Names
Canada has established a policy by which it has named thousands of its titleless lakes after fallen soldiers from the Canadian armed forces. This has been in place since the end of World War II.
The province of Manitoba, which has many unnamed lakes, has enthusiastically adopted this policy.
The Iron Ring
All Canadian engineers receive an iron ring when they graduate from engineering programs throughout the country. They get this ring to memorialize a bridge that collapsed as a result of the error in the judgment of Canadian engineers, which killed 75 people.
The weight of the ring, which serves to rub against the paper as they write or draw, acts as a reminder to always have humility and consider their fallibility as professionals.
Welcome to Bob
There is a territory in Canada's arctic that almost ended up being called Bob. In 1996, the Northwest Territories in Canada's freezing Arctic held a naming contest for when the territory was to be split into two. The top vote for new names was the name "Bob," ranking way ahead of the other competitors.
A website was created to campaign for the name Bob, much to the dismay of some leaders. Because of all the buffoonery, it was decided to just keep the old name of Northwest Territories.