They do it different in Canada, eh?

Walking down a street in Canada seems no different than being in the United States.  At least most of the time.  Canada is a two-language country, with all signs and food labels being in both English and French.  But, in Ontario Province, the province in which most of our boating travels have been, everyone speaks English.  Dress is the same as in the states.  Architecture is similar.  Cars are the same.  In fact, many American cars are assembled in Canada.  Every once in a while, though, a difference is noted.

You can really drive fast in Canada.  The Last Dance crew borrowed a car from the marina in Britt to drive to a grocery for reprovisioning.  The route included a portion of the Trans Canada Highway, a major road which runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. The speed in the photo was not the highest reached.  When we were traveling 120, Jill did not want the driver taking photos.  The speed is not as high as it seems to Americans.  Canada, like the rest of the world, uses the metric system.  Well, there are two other countries other than the US that do not use metric measurements - Myanmar and Liberia.

Canada uses the dollar in money exchange.  But, it is the Canada dollar . . . and it has the Queen of England on the front.  There are no dollar bills.  The coin on the right, which has the Queen on the front and a Loon on the reverse, is a Canadian dollar coin.  It is called a Loonie for the bird.  The coin on the left, copper with a ring of aluminum, is the two dollar coin, called the Toonie, since it is worth two Loonies.  The Toonie has the Queen on the front and a bear on the reverse.  The folding money is also quite different.  The American term, paper money, would seem quite inappropriate since the bills feel like plastic.  The brown areas around the Parliament Building (lower right) and around the maple leaf (on the left) are not brown - they are clear.  The brown is the table showing through the bill.  There are no pennies.  Prices are still made to the 100th of a dollar, but when making a purchase using cash, the total is rounded to the nearest 5 cents.  It all seems so sensible.

The Killarney LCBO - Liquor Control Board of Ontario.  In Canada, alcohol is sold by the provincial governments, in this case, the Providence of Ontario. Prices are a bit higher than in the US, but the profits go to help support the universal health insurance for every citizen.  You don't have to worry about being far from a liquor store, every town, no matter how small, has an LCBO.  The village of Killarney cannot have more than 100 people living within 10 miles of town.  Not only is it located right in the middle of town, within walking distance of everything in town, it has a dock so you can stop and tie your boat to their dock while shopping - a nice new dock.  Oh, so convenient.  But, wait, there's more. During the summer of 2016, the LCBO added to their services by going online.  Canadians can now go to the web and order from a list of over 5,000 products and have it shipped right to their home.