Are nations shaped by their natural environment? Why I’m looking forward to hearing about the resilience and inventiveness of Canadians

Next week I will be returning to one of my favourite countries.

Whether it’s waterfalls, mountains, rain forests, lakes or prairies, as the world’s second largest country, Canada is home to some of the most beautiful nature and varied landscapes in the world.

From the Rocky Mountains to the Canadian Badlands, from the Gros Morne National Parks in Newfoundland to the beaches of Vancouver Island, Canada is home to plenty of natural wonders and more than 22 UNESCO World Heritage sites.

For me Canada is like a home away from home.

While we’re continents apart when it comes to geography, and worlds apart when it comes to the geographic size of our nations, of all the countries I visit I notice the most similarities between Britain and Canada.

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has written about this previously and noted that the cultural, administrative, and economic proximity between the UK?and Canada should be healthy for trade between our nations.

The UK and Canada are the only two countries in the world that are members of the OECD, OSCE, NATO, the G7, the G20, and the Commonwealth.

For me, my affinity for Canada is something more than the similarities between our economies and our political and legal systems.

Of the three factors highlighted by the LSE for me the cultural links we share are more important.

This is heightened by the many people with shared Canadian and British heritage who’ve shaped our culture in modern times.

Whether it be Mike Myers, Lennox Lewis, Kim Cattrall, or the Canadian bear who inspired Winnie the Pooh, both our countries are enriched by the people of shared heritage who have helped build cultural bridges between our nations.

My list could have included many other people and should definitely have included Alexander Graham Bell, the Scottish-born Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who patented the first practical telephone.

I read an interesting piece by Emily Badger many years back about how people’s lives and cultures are shaped by the places they have lived.

While Emily is now best known for writing about urban policy in this piece, she touches on research about the cultures of people who live in Boston and San Francisco.

Emily said that the culture of the cities of Boston and San Francisco – one bound by tradition (Boston), the other free from it (San Francisco) are reflected in their city’s newspaper headlines, and on the websites of city hospitals and venture capital firms.

When I think of Canadians the two attributes that I most think of are resilience and inventiveness.

If I follow Emily Badger’s logic is this resilience and inventiveness a product of Canada’s amazing wilderness? Or due to the things Canadians have created during their long, cold winters? Here I’m thinking about the tire chains, big jackets and snow boots that are needed and the fact that Trivial Pursuit was invented by Canadians Chris Haney and Scott Abbott.

And when I think of the resilience of Canadians I think of people like Terry Fox and Rick Hansen.

For those who don’t know him Terry lost his leg to an osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) aged just 18 and endured 16 months of treatment.

Deciding he could not ignore the suffering he saw on cancer wards in hospital. Terry, then aged 21 and fitted with one artificial leg, began to run the 5,000-mile (8,000km) distance across Canada to raise money for cancer research in a?Marathon of Hope.

Starting in St John’s on the Atlantic coast, Terry ran through New Foundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and most of Ontario before he was forced to stop running after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles).

Terry’s run ended in Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981, at the age 22.

To date, more than $900 million has been raised for cancer research in Terry's name through the annual?Terry Fox Run.

Terry Fox went on to inspire another incredible feat of endurance by Canadian Rick Hansen.

Rick was injured in a car accident while on the way home from a fishing trip and became paralysed from the waist down.

To this day, Rick, who was born in Port Alberni in British Columbia, still holds the Guinness World Record for the longest wheelchair marathon for his 40,075.16 km (24,901.55 miles) journey around the world by wheelchair.

His Man in Motion World Tour (MIMWT) took place over more than two years and saw him wheel across 34 countries in four continents and raise $26 million for spinal cord injury research and rehabilitation.

And Rick’s gargantuan journey led another moment of shared culture by inspiring English musician John Parr to put Rick at the heart of the lyrics he was writing for a song for a Hollywood film.

That song entitled St Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) became a number one on the Billboard 100 in the U.S. and no doubt inspired more than a few mullet haircuts.

These individuals are inspirational. Committed. Passionate for Change. Resilient. Much like Canada’s awe-inspiring infrastructure.

With the nation currently embarking on major infrastructure investment across the nation, the need for innovation and reform in project delivery has never been more important.

I’m therefore looking forward to hearing more stories of Canadian resilience and inventiveness when Bentley Systems hosts our Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in Toronto on Thursday, October 3rd.

The event will feature many esteemed speakers including Hon. Kinga Surma, MPP , Ontario Minister for Infrastructure; Councillor Jennifer McKelvie , the Deputy Mayor of Toronto; Michael Lindsay , President and CEO of Infrastructure Ontario; @Baxter Hunt, U.S. Consul General in Toronto; and Lisa Mitchell , CEO, of the Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships; among others.

I’m particularly interested in hearing more about how Canada unlocks public private partnerships.

However, I know I will hear at least one story featuring inventiveness and resilience having read about Infrastructure Ontario’s Accelerated Build Pilot Program.

Infrastructure Ontario and their partners delivered a six-storey, 320-bed long-term care home in Ajax, Ontario in just 13 months through the Accelerated Build Pilot Program.

I’m really looking forward to hearing more about this and other Canadian infrastructure initiatives next week.

And I’m particularly excited about returning to Canada to be surrounded by its natural beauty and to taste more of its craft brewing scene – having enjoyed a few samples from the Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery on my last visit.

To quote John Parr I can still feel Flying Monkeys’ 11.6% Space Age Sunshine quadruple IPA “burning in me.”

If any of my readers have any suggestions of inventive Canadian drinks I should test on my visit next week, do let me know and I will report back.

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