After spending over 4 months traveling throughout the US, we can't help but miss our beloved Canada and all the amazing things it has to offer. We often take for granted our country and this trip has more than anything made us love our country even more if that's possible! To celebrate Canada's 150th birthday, Wendy and I decided to make a list of all the things that we love about our beautiful country. I'm sure you all can relate to some of these yourselves. 10. Friendly Folk Yes its true. We say 'sorry' a lot. We're all very polite and that's a good thing! Nuff said. 9. Hockey No Canadian list is complete without hockey on it. Seriously, there's nothing more exciting than the Stanley Cup Playoffs or watching Team Canada. And now that the Leafs finally have some promise again I think its time for a parade down Yonge Street in the near future LOL. 8. Sparsely Populated For some, they may prefer densely populated places. For us, however, we absolutely love the fact that Canada is the second largest country by area on the planet and it has almost 10 times less people than the US. It means that we're never too far from the wilderness and open spaces. The wilderness here truly is 'wild' and we absolutely love it! 7. Affordability (relative to the rest of the globe) Ok ok. I know we will get some of our friends saying that we're wrong on this one, but seriously, for anyone that has traveled extensively I think you'll agree that Canada still has a very high quality of life and affordability when compared to other western nations. When you look at places like London, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, San Fran or NYC I think you'll see that Toronto, Montreal and Calgary are all way cheaper! Vancouver may be the one exception, but when you factor in food and other living expenses its probably still way cheaper than most other major global cities. 6. Delicious Seafood! From the West Coast's incredible sushi, scallops, crabs and clams to our East Coasts amazing lobster you just can't go wrong. How lucky are we that the rest of the country gets to benefit from all this amazing seafood and all the great fresh fish in between. Wendy has had some dietary restrictions recently that has prevented her from eating seafood and I know she's dying to get back to tasting our amazing seafood! 5. Its Natural Beauty This goes hand in hand with being so sparsely populated. There is still so many places in Canada that feel 'untouched' and when you combine this with all the natural elements that have carved this land over the last million years and you get one incredible landscape coast-to-coast! 4. Free Healthcare Ok. So I'll be the first person to say I wish our healthcare was faster and more efficient, but can any of you imagine life in a world where healthcare wasn't a public right for all of us? A world where unless you have a good paying corporate job you don't receive the healthcare you deserve? Me neither. Sure there are ways to improve our healthcare (a dual system or similar), but when I got sick in the US during our travels I can't tell you how lucky I was to have insurance. The first thing I was met with at the emergency room in Texas was 'how will you be paying for this?'. After filling out an abundance of forms they finally decided to treat me. When we get ill in Canada I can't tell you how important it is to NOT have to think about money and insurance in a time of need. So this one goes on our list for sure! 3. The Amazing Wildlife Whales, moose and bears oh my! Ok so its not the Serengheti, but wow, how lucky are we that we have such incredible wildlife in our backyard? From humpback whales and orcas to wolverines, bobcats and the mighty Grizzly...we are so unbelievably lucky to have such a diverse wildlife. 2. Overall Safety Yes I think this is something we absolutely take for granted as Canadians. Even our largest cities have for the most part very very safe streets. There is some truth to Michael Moore's documentary, that there are places in Canada still where residents don't even lock their doors! I'm not saying crime doesn't exist (because it certainly does), but relatively speaking we live in a very very safe country thanks to the 'friendly folk' here in Canada among other things. 1. Freedom to speak you mind I know this may sound cliche, but its absolutely true and its never been more important than right now. We should consider ourselves very lucky to be living in a country where having a differing opinion is simply that! With the rise of nationalism and polarizing politics around the world, I thank my blessings that we live in a place where differences in thought or opinion aren't met with violence and intolerance. Regardless of which political party is in power here in Canada these rights and freedoms are the same across each of them and our political platforms are never so polarizing that violence easily erupts. We love you Canada! Happy 150th Canada!!!
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