Just Some Of The Reasons...

I Love Canada (adapted from The Vancouver Sun)

The toque. For inventing hat hair, Canuck-style.

Tim Hortons. For brewing coffee that tastes as good as it smells. And for chocolate sour cream Timbits.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Because he could do handsprings, and drove a gull-wing Mercedes roadster. Because he made us think about what our country means to us.

Polar bears. Big, white, beautiful.

The anti-gun rack. In which our pickup trucks carry umbrellas, not automatic weapons.

McIntosh apple. That sweet crunch was brought to you by Ontario's Johnny (Appleseed) McIntosh, in 1796.

Wayne Gretzky. You don't have to be a hockey fan to call the pride of Brantford a great athlete, and one classy guy.

Salmon. Our iconic survivor.

Greenpeace. For raising global environmental consciousness, and for saving whales.

Perogies. Smothered with butter, fried onions and sour cream. Thank you, old country.

Snow. Because we can't control it. And can't stop talking about it.

The Maple Leaf. Our flag, bold and graphically spare, makes the heart swell.

Beer. There are just some things we do better.

In Flanders Fields. The heartrending poppy poem was penned in 1915 by Ontario surgeon John McCrae, on the battlefield of Ypres.

Red serge. Our cops, from the musical ride to that sexy uniform, are standouts.

Narwhal. Think about it. A unicorn. In the ocean. Awesome.

Prairie wheat. The staff of life. Picturesque cash crop. For miles and miles.

Maple syrup. Without which pancakes would just be a stack of fried flour.

Rideau Canal. Ice, skates, twinkle lights, hot chocolate. Norman Rockwell lives.

Anne of Green Gables. A multimillion-dollar industry, but still our pig-tailed P.E.I. scamp.

Robert Munsch. We love him, and his children's books, forever.

Bushes and boulders. Deserts, glaciers, sea shores, tropical forests, rivers, mountains, lakes, plains. Talk about having it all under one roof.

Manners. Some call us conservative. We call us polite.

Terry Fox. For still giving cancer a run for the money, 25 years on.

Water. We have it. Crisp, clean, cold. Lots of it.

32 Million. Because we could all move to California, and there'd still be room to roam.

Niagara Falls. Spectacular doesn't begin to describe them.

Poutine. French junk food. The real reason we put up with Quebec's familial hissy fits.

Sandra Schmirler. Pride of Saskatchewan, she'll always be our curling Queen of Hearts.

Kurt Browning. Magic on ice, part two.

Trivial Pursuit. In which two Canadian journalists turn question-asking into early retirement.

Leonard Cohen. For having a way with words, and lyrics. For Suzanne.

Michael J. Fox. Dignity in the face of debilitation.

Lynn Johnston. For turning an ordinary Canadian family, for better or for worse, into a world-famous cartoon.

William Shatner. Earth to Captain Kirk: you rock our world.

Eh. Say it loud. Say it proud.

Pysanka. Vegreville's giant roadside Ukrainian Easter egg, proof positive that we have a sense of humour.

Toronto Blue Jays. For putting world in the World Series.

The border. An 8,891-kilometre room divider.

Lake of the Woods. 14,542 islands, 65,000 miles of shoreline. Now that's cottage country.

Mike Holmes: For those biceps and for teaching us the meaning of home renovation caveat emptor.

The Friendly Giant. Before Bert and Ernie, there was Jerome and Rusty and that little chair to rock in.

Grizzly bear. Big, brown and beautiful.

Farley Mowat. The Dog Who Wouldn't Be. Never Cry Wolf. The Boat Who Wouldn't Float. A Whale For The Killing. 'Nuff said.

The Rockies. Because every country needs a backbone.

Bob and Doug McKenzie. For making hosers, and the Great White North, totally hip.

Steve Nash. Here's to the little guy who made it in the basketball bigs.

David Foster. The master musician and pop producer is there for our sick kids.

Winnipeg. Mosquitoes, wind, sub-zero winters and pancake horizon, yet 700,000 of us seem to like it.

Barenaked Ladies. If we had a million dollars, we'd send them a thank-you note just for being sassy.

Shania Twain. Country siren in a leopard coat.

Canadian brain: From plastic garbage bags to goalie masks, from basketball to the Jolly Jumper, we have given the world more than one million inventions.

Blue $5, purple $10. No monochromatic greenbacks for us. Our money is funny.

Sturgeon. That last of the living dinosaurs.

Four Seasons. From sea to shining sea, a lovely ever-changing national mood swing.

Democracy. One free vote. Priceless.

Beaver. Because, as a national symbol, the eagle is just so obvious.

Canadarm. Twenty-five years ago, on the space shuttle, we reached out and touched the world.

Moose. Improbable forest titan. With quite the rack.

Zed. Because we're alphabet purists, and Zee just won't do.

Highway signs. Green and white and read all over. Easily.

Donovan Bailey. 1996 Olympics. 100 metres. 9.84 seconds. Faster than wind.

Alanis Morissette. Her 30 million Jagged Little Pills proved there's no fury like a pop singer scorned.

Louis Riel. Because every nation needs a rebel with a cause.

Roberta Bondar. For going where no Canadian girl had gone before -- into space.

Jim Carrey. Mike Myers. Must be something in the water, because we breed the funniest comedians. Ever.

Canada. It's easy to spell. It means village. What's not to like?

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Happy Canada Day to all my Canuck readers. Now, off to the fireworks!