Canadian contributions, eh? Let's see - maple syrup, little Mountie dolls, stuffed mounted moose heads, Canadian Club, Canada Dry, lumberjack jokes, T-Mobile ads, boring films, pretentious 'arty' animations, Martha and The Muffins, Bachman Turner Overdrive. Still, the Canadians always seem to beat us Scots at curling (grrrrrrrrrrrrr!)
It provides the answer to the quiz question "which country has the longest coastline?".
It provides a standard of comparison for pompous narrow-minded Americans, so that they can look down on Canada in smug satisfaction, and reassure themselves of their normality and superiority compared with Canada.
Other worldly contributions to the world from Canada include the discovery of injectable insulin for diabetics, Superman and basketball.
Famous Canadians include Pamela Anderson, Dan Aykroyd, Martin Short, Mike Myers, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Tilly, Margot Kidder and Alex Trebek.
For the "Did you know" file...
During the Iran hostage crisis in Iran, Canada gave fake passports to Americans there so that they could escape being held as hostages.
Enlisted 595 000
Killed in Action 35 666
Died of wounds 12 420
Died of disease 5 405
Wounded 155 799
Prisoners of War 3 575
Presumed dead 4 671
Missing 425
Deaths in Canada 2 221
Total Dead 60 383
Won 63 Victoria Crosses