How Cool is Canada? Here Are 20 Reasons We’re Totally Awesome

Bottled water? Ew. Not only is the bottle bad for the environment, the water isn't anything to write home about. But Canada's tap water is. Studies have shown that no North American bottled water is safer or better for your health than what comes from our taps. So drink up and enjoy.

Who? The Kenora Thistles, that's who! The Thistles were an amateur hockey team based in the small Northwestern Ontario town. They won the Stanley Cup in 1907 beating the Montreal Wanderers. They lost the cup two months later in a re-match. Kenora is the smallest town to have ever won a Stanley Cup. Go Thistles Go!

If you write to Santa Claus (Santa Claus, North Pole, H0H 0H0, Canada), he'll write you back. Volunteer elves at Canada Post make sure every letter to the jolly old elf is answered.

Need to reach the federal government? Just dial 1-800-O-Canada. That's 1-800-622-6232.

A Hawaiian pizza is topped with pineapple, ham and sometimes mushrooms. But it didn't originate in the Aloha State. It was actually created in 1962 by Sam Panopoulos in his pizza joint in Chatham, Ontario.

Kraft Dinner (or "macaroni and cheese"; in American) is Canada's bestselling grocery item. According to The Walrus, we eat 3.2 boxes each in an average year. That's 55 per cent more than Americans.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, the Halloween phrase "trick or treat"; was first used in the hamlet of Blackie, Alberta way back in 1927.

Without gravity, we'd all be floating around and bumping into each other. But with it, we stay anchored to the ground. However, parts of Canada have less gravity than anywhere else on the planet. The phenomenon is mostly found around Hudson Bay. That means if you went there, you'd actually weigh less. Talk about an easy diet!

If you live in Saskatchewan, it's not a hoodie, it's a bunny hug.

According to a Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) report on global education, Canada has the highest proportion of college grads (or those with tertiary education); 51 per cent. That makes us the most educated country in the world (or at least among those in the study). Gold star!

The University of Victoria offered a course called;The Science of Batman. Seriously. Here's the course description:"The extreme range of adaptability of the human body explored through the life of the Caped Crusader; examines human potential using Batman as a metaphor for the ultimate in human conditioning; evaluates the concepts of adaptation to exercise and injury from the perspective of science and exercise training; examines the multiple sciences behind exercise adaptation, musculoskeletal injury and concussion, and limitations of the human body and mind." Still don't believe it? Click here.

It's funny that one of the Canadian cities with such a cold winter is also the Slurpee Capital of the World. And that's no fluke. The city had claimed bragging rights for 15 straight years. The award was based on the number of Slurpees sold at 7-11s in a region. And year after year, Winnipeggers slurp down more Slurpees than anywhere else.

We all know there are polar bears around Churchill, Manitoba. But according to Outside Magazine, people leave their cars, and sometimes their houses, unlocked, in case they or a passerby need to make a quick escape from a hungry animal. Good to know.

For more than 60 years, Alberta has done everything it could to keep to keep rats out of the province. Their anti-rodent campaign has been very successful the province is pretty much free of the vermin. And to this day, Alberta's Rat Patrol remains on guard, watching for any potential four-legged invaders trying to sneak across the Saskatchewan border.

Tired of beef and chicken? How about a McLobster for dinner? If you're on the East Coast, you might find the lobster sandwich at the nearest McDonald's. Although it's usually a summer kind of thing.

There was a story circulating that the new plastic $100 dollar bill was made with maple syrup ; or at least scented with it. Nope. Not true. But we do treat the sweet golden nectar with great respect. The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers wants to make sure that Canadians are able to access it, regardless of nature's supply. More than 220,000 barrels of maple syrup are stored away in a warehouse... just in case.

There's the loonie. And there's the toonie. But did you know that there's a $1 million gold coin? It was introduced in 2007. The coin weighs 100 kg and is .99999 per cent pure. The face value is $1 million, but the street value of the jumbo coin is closer to $5 million these days.

Actor Kiefer Sutherland poses with a life-sized statue of his grandfather Tommy Douglas, in Weyburn, SK. Douglas was the premier of Saskatchewan and the founder of medicare in Canada.

We leave you with something that you might find, well, rather yucky: the rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank”>Narcisse Snake Dens in Narcisse, Manitoba. Every year tens of thousands of red-sided garter snakes emerge from their winter dens to get frisky in the warm spring sunshine.The males emerge first and wait for the females. When a female does come out, she is extremely popular. The dens have become a surprisingly big tourist attraction.