Random Canadian Facts: For Naynay
This edition of Random Canadian Facts takes a look at how Ottawa became the capital of Canada.
Canada has seen a few different capitals—Kingston, York, Montreal—but decided on Ottawa in 1857. Who did we leave this decision up to? None other than Queen Victoria herself. Even though her busy schedule was filled with the arduous task of becoming India’s head of state, she still managed to find the time to choose between the following cities:
Quebec City
Montreal
Toronto
Kingston
Ottawa
Canada had yet to become a country in 1857, but confederation was not far away and the city chosen now would probably be the one used for many years to come.
Queen Victoria, in all her wisdom, chose Ottawa, a small town of 18,000. Parliamentary buildings were soon constructed, and by the time of confederation (1867), Ottawa was christened the capital of the newly formed country of Canada.
I’m just glad it wasn’t Toronto.
(information provided by Michael Provost & Julie Teskey)
posted by kent @ 9:36 a.m.
5
comments
5 Comments:
Hey, I didn't know that! (For shame, my father is a History teacher)
And isn't it the coldest or second coldest capital in the world?
Decided to look up the answer myself (at geography.about.com). Matt Rosenberg says "Using the annual mean of the daily (24 hour) temperature for each capital city to compare coldest capital cities:
Ulaan-Baatar (Mongolia) 29.7°F/-1.3°C
Astana (Kazakhstan) unavailable
Moscow (Russia) 39.4°F/4.1°C
Helsinki (Finland) 40.1°F/4.5°C
Reykjavik (Iceland) 40.3°F/4.6°C
Tallin (Estonia) 40.6°F/4.8°C
Ottawa (Canada) 41.9°F/5.5°C"
So no more bragging rights for us.
I think if you take average winter temperature, ottawa is 1st or 2nd.
Tallin only ranks high because it's temperature range is relatively small...same with helsinki and rekjavik.
Hey there's nothing wrong with Toronto... Gotta defend my new town abit but actually I'm glad it's not the capital too. Makes it more of a test for people to remember. How many times have we all heard the capital of Canada is Toronto? It hurts a little in my heart every time.
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