FIRST READING: What Canada did right

National Post

4 hours ago

First Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post's own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here.
Article content
MAIN STORY
Article content
Canada is not doing particularly well at the moment — on everything from per-capita GDP to crime rates to basic affordability we're in a bit of a decline. In fact, the author of this piece wrote a whole book about it: Don't Be Canada.
Article content
But that isn't to say there isn't still much to be proud of with Canada. While invocations of Canadian greatness usually stick to a few clichéd tropes about snowmobiles, the Canadarm and medicare, Canada's contribution to human progress goes far beyond that.
Article content
Article content
There isn't a lot of glamour in Canadian food production. Prestige produce like avocados or exotic fruits generally come from other places. But it's a different story when it comes to churning out gargantuan quantities of cheap calories. Millions of people around the world will have their stomachs filled today thanks to Canada, and that's been the case for more than a century.
Article content
Canada is the primary supplier to India of peas of lentils; two of the country's most critical food staples. Canola, one of the world's most ubiquitous cooking oils, has Canada right in the name (it stands for 'Canadian oil low acid').
Article content
Article content
Canada is now the world's third largest exporter of wheat (behind only Russia and the European Union), and it got that way thanks in part to a Canadian-invented strain of wheat, Marquis, that's been called 'one of the greatest triumphs in Canadian agriculture.'
Article content
Article content
The Royal Canadian Mint will routinely churn out special-edition coins that are unlike anything else on earth. There was that black toonie issued to mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Canada was the first country in the world to have coloured coins in general circulation, and also the first glow-in-the-dark coins.
Article content
Canada has such a good coin-making reputation, in fact, that the Mint has coin contracts with 80 other countries. If you're travelling in Australia, Argentina or the Philippines, among others, you're likely handling currency that originated in Winnipeg.
Article content