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The annual Canada d'eh quiz

Test your knowledge of the Great White North — Just in time for Canada Day

Whistler

  1. 2013 was the inaugural year of the Ironman Canada triathlon in Whistler. How much local economic activity did the resort see from Ironman?
    1. $8.4 million
    2. $6.8 million
    3. $10.9 million
    4. $17.3 million
  2. What was the name of the legendary spring race resurrected this year for the May long weekend GO Festival in an effort to change the culture of the weekend?
    1. The Great GO race
    2. The Legendary Earth-Wind-Fire race
    3. The Super Ski-Bike-Boat race
    4. The Great Snow-Earth-Water race
  3. The municipality is developing a coat of arms that it hopes to have in place in time for what milestone event in September 2015?
    1. Fifty years since the opening of Whistler Mountain
    2. The 40th anniversary of the incorporation of the Resort Municipality of Whistler
    3. The opening of the first municipal park
  4. In which order did these iconic Whistler establishments close, starting with the most recent?
    1. The Boot
    2. Citta'
    3. La Rua
    4. The original Dusty's
  5. Match the letters with the correct answer:
    1. 16,000
    2. .172
    3. .40
    4. 32.4
    5. 12,000
    6. 25
    7. 840
    1. kilometres of Valley Trail
    2. visitors to the library
    3. median age of the population
    4. dog licenses
    5. skaters at Whistler Olympic Plaza
    6. marriage licenses
    7. kilometres of Lost Lake cross country ski trails
  6. The new Audain Art Museum will be home to more than 20 Emily Carr paintings when it opens in 2015, including The Crazy Stair. What record did that painting set at auction in November when philanthropist/developer Michael Audain bought it for $3.393 million?
    1. The most paid for an Emily Carr
    2. The highest for a work by a Canadian artist
    3. The fourth most expensive piece at an art auction in Canada
    4. All of the above.
  7. Which of these Whistler companies has appeared on the CBC show Dragon's Den?
    1. Nonna Pia's
    2. Love Child Organics
    3. Sno-Limo
    4. All of the above
  8. What's the name of the Whistler Blackcomb glacier opened for summer skiing?
    1. Blackcomb Glacier
    2. Whistler Glacier
    3. Horstman Glacier
  9. What are the names of the two neighbouring First Nations?
  10. __________and___________

  11. There are roughly 10,000 residents and more than two million tourists who visit Whistler annually. How many black bears call Whistler their home?
    1. 100
    2. 300
    3. 50
    4. 75

 

ANSWERS
1. A ($8.4 million in Whistler; there was $17.3 million in economic activity in the province). 2. D (The Great Snow-Earth-Water race was one of the cornerstones of the inaugural GO Fest, revived after a 20-year hiatus). 3. B (The RMOW was incorporated on Sept. 6, 1975 – 40 years ago.) 4. BCAD (Citta', La Rua, The Boot, the original Dusty's) 5. (16,000 skaters, 172 marriage licenses, 40 kms of Valley Trail, 32.4 median age, 12,000 visitors to library, 25 kms of Lost Lake ski rails, 840 dog licenses) 6. D 7. D (Interestingly, Love Child Organics secured the biggest deal in the history of the show when Dragons Arlene Dickinson and David Chilton teamed up to invest $750,000 into Love Child after the company struck a distribution deal with Wal-Mart in the U.S.) 8. C 9. (Squamish and Lil'wat) 10. A (According to the Bear Smart Society, roughly 100 black bears live in Whistler)

 

 

Canadiana Trivia

  1. What's the official name of the Canada/U.S. Border?
    1. The North American Boundary
    2. The Intersectional Borderline
    3. The International Boundary
    4. The Great White Divide
  2. Which of these everyday items is tax deductible in Canada?
    1. Haircuts
    2. Dog Food
    3. Flannel
    4. Gravy
  3. Who once claimed they "don't even know what street Canada is on?"
    1. George W. Bush
    2. Al Capone
    3. Rob Ford
    4. Winston Churchill
  4. What is Canada's official motto, once translated from French?
    1. The Great White North
    2. For All to Own
    3. From Sea to Sea
    4. Don't Come Round
  5. Which of these is not an actual Canadian law?
    1. In B.C., it is illegal to kill a Sasquatch.
    2. In Alberta, it is illegal to set fire to the wooden leg of a wooden-legged man.
    3. In Toronto, you're not allowed to release 10 or more helium balloons within 24 hours.
    4. In Regina, it is a fineable offense to actively cheer against the Roughriders.
  6. What was Canada's first newspaper?
    1. The Halifax Gazette
    2. The Ottawa Citizen
    3. The Vancouver Peeping-Tom
    4. The Whistler Question
  7. According to a popularity study conducted by MTI, which of these Canadians didn't crack the all-time Canadian top 10?
    1. Leonard Cohen
    2. Marshall McLuhan
    3. Justin Bieber
    4. Saul Bellow
  8. Who referred to Canada as "the linchpin of the English-speaking world?"
    1. George W. Bush
    2. Al Capone
    3. Rob Ford
    4. Winston Churchill
  9. Which of these is not an obscure Canadian festival?
    1. Windscape Kite Festival, Swift Current, Sask.
    2. Elvis Festival, Collingwood, ON.
    3. Accordion Extravaganza!, Edmonton, Alta.
    4. The Bearhug Festival, Antigonish, N.S.
  10. According to Reader's Digest Canada, about how much beer do B.C. residents buy from government liquor stores over the Canada Day long weekend?
    1. 560,000 litres
    2. 823,000 litres
    3. 410,000 litres
    4. 1.2 million litres

 

ANSWERS
1. C 2. B (for service dogs or dogs that protect crops or herds) 3. B 4. C 5. D 6. A 7. C 8. D 9. D 10. D

 

 

Canadian politics

  1. Which is the next election to hit Whistler and the Sea to Sky region?
    1. The federal election
    2. The provincial election for British Columbia
    3. Municipal elections for Whistler, Squamish, Pemberton
    4. The Squamish Lillooet Regional District elections
    5. C and D
  2. What percentage of British Columbians voted in the 2013 provincial election, bringing the BC Liberal Party of Christy Clark back to power? Fun fact: it was the lowest-ever turnout and one per cent less than in the 2009 election, the previous lowest turnout.
    1. 52%
    2. 61%
    3. 36%
    4. 69%
  3. What was the main reason Canadians said they didn't vote in the 2011 federal election?
    1. They were too busy
    2. They forgot
    3. Not interested
    4. Out of town
  4. What percentage of Canadians think they are living in a recession, according to an Ekos Poll taken last October?
    1. 20%
    2. 36%
    3. 53%
    4. 69%
  5. What is the top personal federal income tax rate for anyone earning $136,270 or more?
    1. 43%
    2. 30%
    3. 19%
    4. 29%
  6. Prime Minister Stephen Harper got into an unprecedented public spat with Chief Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court Beverley McLachlin. What was it about?
    1. Harper believed McLachlin had slighted his wife Laureen during the Remembrance Day ceremony on Parliament Hill.
    2. He believed she offered unwarranted advice on replacing Quebec Justice Louis LeBel, while she says she was asked to provide input following the ineligibility of Harper nominee Marc Nadon.
    3. She called for an independent inquiry into the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women following criticism from the United Nations.
    4. McLachlin had said privately at a party that Harper "was toast" following a series of scandals. Harper responded by seeking her removal.
  7. During his visit to Canada in May 2014, the Prince of Wales made an off-the-cuff remark in Halifax that made international political waves. What was it?
    1. He said his mother, the Queen, was planning to abdicate in August.
    2. He compared Russian president Vladimir Putin to Hitler.
    3. He said he planned to step down from being heir to the British throne in order to make climate change documentaries.
    4. He compared U.S. president Barack Obama to a "chap who waits tables" at his favourite restaurant in London.
  8. What is the percentage of Canadians who self-identify as middle class?
    1. 47
    2. 59
    3. 67
    4. 33
  9. Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau publicly supported the legalization of marijuana after what happened?
    1. After pro-pot advocate Marc Emery requested to be transferred to a Canadian prison from the U.S.
    2. After the attempt to hold a referendum on legalizing marijuana in British Columbia failed.
    3. After Colorado and Washington states legalized marijuana.
    4. After a conference on the problems caused by Health Canada's changes to medical marijuana growing in Canada.
  10. Who said the following after Prime Minister Harper prorogued parliament for an unprecedented fourth time since 2008 in September 2013?: "The people who have been elected and put there to ask questions on your behalf and on behalf of all Canadians won't be able to do it because Mr. Harper has gone into hiding."
    1. Federal Opposition leader Thomas Mulcair of the NDP
    2. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau
    3. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May
    4. Dr. David Suzuki

 

ANSWERS
1. E (Nov. 15, 2014. Mark your calendars!) 2. A 3. C (27.7 per cent of potential voters felt this way, according to Stats Can) 4. C 5. D (in 1981 the top personal tax rate was 43 per cent) 6. B 7. B 8. A (which is down from almost 70 per cent in 2002) 9. C 10. A

 

 

Sports

  1. Erik Guay earned three podium finishes on the World Cup circuit this year, surpassing Steve Podborski for the most top-three results by a Canadian male skier. Guay now holds the record at 22 podiums, compared to Podborski's 20. However, the Crazy Canuck and chef de mission of Canada's team in Sochi still holds the record for most wins. How many did Podborski collect in his career?
    1. 6
    2. 8
    3. 9
    4. 11
  2. Squamish's Joe Eppele won a Grey Cup title in 2012 with the Toronto Argonauts, the same team that selected him second overall during the 2010 CFL draft. But Eppele is suiting up for a new team this season for the first time. Which one?
    1. Montreal Alouettes
    2. Winnipeg Blue Bombers
    3. Ottawa RedBlacks
    4. Edmonton Eskimos
  3. Sticking with the CFL, let's go back to that dark period of Canadian football in the mid-'90s, when expanding to the U.S. was thought to be a good idea, for some reason. Which American city did NOT have a CFL franchise during this period?
    1. Nashville, Tennessee
    2. Shreveport, Louisiana
    3. Birmingham, Alabama
    4. San Antonio, Texas
  4. With Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard both making the French Open quarter-finals this year, Canadian tennis looks stronger than ever. Raonic became the first Canuck to reach the top eight of a men's major since Mike Belkin at the Australian Open. Which year did Belkin get there?
    1. 1961
    2. 1968
    3. 1972
    4. 1978
  5. Roberto Luongo has been on the roster for Canada's last three men's Olympic hockey teams, a feat matched by just one other skater. Who is that player?
    1. Martin St. Louis
    2. Patrick Marleau
    3. Jay Bouwmeester
    4. Rick Nash
  6. Mike Weir has been enjoying a nice resurgence to his career lately, reclaiming a spot in the top 250 of the World Golf Ranking after a runner-up finish at the HP Byron Nelson Classic in May. What is the highest rank he has ever achieved in those standings?
    1. No. 2
    2. No. 3
    3. No. 6
    4. No. 10
  7. If Steve Nash's storied NBA career doesn't continue beyond this season, he'll end his playing days as the highest-scoring Canadian in the association all-time with 17,387 points. Who is second to Nash on that list?
    1. Jamaal Magloire
    2. Leo Rautins
    3. Rick Fox
    4. Bill Wennington
  8. The Lou Marsh Award, given to Canada's top athlete as selected by journalists each year, was given to Wayne Gretzky a record four times. Only one other athlete has been chosen for the honour three times. Who is it?
    1. Barbara Ann Scott
    2. Nancy Greene
    3. Jacques Villeneuve
    4. Sidney Crosby
  9. Three Canadian baseball players have won MVP titles in Major League Baseball, two in the National League and one in the American League. Which one of these players hasn't won one?
    1. Jason Bay
    2. Larry Walker
    3. Joey Votto
    4. Justin Morneau
  10. Toronto will be the host of the Pan-American Games and the Parapan American Games in 2015. When was the last time Canada hosted that event?
    1. 1991
    2. 1995
    3. 1999
    4. 2003

 

ANSWERS
1. B 2. C 3. A 4. B 5. D 6. B 7. C 8. A 9. A 10. C

 

 

Arts and Music

  1. Which Canadian film won the Borsos Competition at the 2013 Whistler Film Festival?
    1. Cas & Dylan by Jason Priestly
    2. The Husband by Bruce McDonald
    3. The Animal Project by Ingrid Veringer
    4. Maps to the Stars by David Cronenberg
  2. Local gallery, The Mountain Galleries at the Fairmont, had a bit of a coup with three paintings for sale by which famous artist(s)?
    1. Henri Matisse
    2. Emily Carr and Tom Thomson
    3. Group of Seven's Arthur Lismer and Lawren Harris
    4. Group of Seven's A.Y. Jackson and Frank Johnston
  3. Which Giller Prize-winning author came to Whistler this spring for a reading as part of the Points of Departure series, a collaboration between the Whistler Writers Festival and The Point Artist-Run Centre?
    1. Joseph Boyden
    2. Lynn Coady
    3. Michael Ondaatje
    4. Vincent Lam
  4. The Pemberton Festival is back! Renewed and ready to rock the valley from July 16 to 20 with acts like Nine Inch Nails, Outcast, Deadmau5, Frank Ocean, Kendrick and Soundgarden. But who headlined at the first Pemby Fest in 2008?
    1. Nine Inch Nails
    2. Jay Z
    3. Coldplay
    4. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
    5. All of the above
  5. Which local talents won the Whistler Music Search in 2013?
    1. Wolf Party
    2. The Maynilla Boys
    3. The Jim Webb Experience
    4. The McQuaids
  6. Which Canadian woman won her first Grammy in 2014?
    1. Jane Sibery
    2. Serena Ryder
    3. Amy Anderson
    4. Jennifer Gasoi
  7. Which Canadian fiction writer brought home our first-ever Nobel Prize for Literature in the past year?
    1. Margaret Atwood
    2. Robert Lepage
    3. Yann Martel
    4. Alice Munro
  8. Which major Whistler venue got a $700,000-plus overhaul this year — its first in 30 years — with new seats, acoustic panels, paint, a digital system and more?
    1. The Rainbow Theatre
    2. Millennium Place
    3. Whistler Olympic Plaza
    4. Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre
  9. Which smooth-voiced national treasure hosted panels at the Whistler Readers & Writers Festival last September?
    1. Ian Hanomansing
    2. Don Cherry
    3. Jian Ghomeshi
    4. Tamara Taggart
  10. What new Whistler arts venue project started construction in July 2013?
    1. The Audain Art Museum
    2. The Rainbow Theatre
    3. Millennium Place
    4. The Roundhouse

 

ANSWERS
1. B 2. D 3. B 4. E 5. C 6. D 7. D 8. A 9. C 10. A

 

 

Food For Thought

  1. Beloved Mediterranean restaurant Kypriaki Norte closed its doors in May after owners Kike and Norah Redondo announced their likely retirement. In what year did the Whistler Village eatery officially open?
    1. 1979
    2. 1984
    3. 1995
    4. 2002
  2. Which popular pizza variety is said to have been invented by Greek-Canadian cook Sam Panopoulos in Chatham, ON.?
    1. Beef and blue cheese
    2. Canadian (pepperoni, bacon and mushroom)
    3. Mexican (ground beef, onion, black olives, tomatoes)
    4. Hawaiian (ham and pineapple)
  3. Dating back to 2008, either Araxi or Bearfoot Bistro has been named as the best Whistler restaurant at the Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards. Only two other restaurants have cracked the top three more than once in that time. Name them.
    1. Alta Bistro, Hy's Steakhouse
    2. Fifty Two 80 Bistro, Sidecut
    3. Rimrock Café, Il Caminetto di Umberto
    4. Rimrock Café, Trattoria di Umberto
  4. In which country did Tim Horton's open its first full-serve location outside of North America?
    1. Ireland
    2. United Arab Emirates
    3. England
    4. Afghanistan
  5. No visit to Whistler is complete without trying one of Canada's most iconic treats, the BeaverTail, made from hand-stretched fried dough. Which U.S. president sampled the namesake pastry on his first official visit to Ottawa?
    1. Jimmy Carter
    2. Ronald Reagan
    3. Bill Clinton
    4. Barack Obama
  6. Which high-profile celebrity chef famously said Araxi was Canada's best restaurant in an interview with CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos?
    1. Anthony Bourdain
    2. Gordon Ramsay
    3. Giada De Laurentiis
    4. Tom Colicchio
  7. In a poll of over 400 professional chefs, Restaurants Canada named this as the hottest menu trend for 2014, the first time in the survey's five-years that locally sourced food wasn't at the top of the list.
    1. Gluten-free/food allergy conscious
    2. Craft beer/microbrews
    3. Food trucks
    4. Quinoa
  8. If you're looking for that spicy fix in Whistler, head to Dusty's Bar and BBQ for a plate of their scorching hot ghost wings, made from the Indian ghost pepper, considered the world's hottest until 2007. Which pepper now holds that exalted title?
    1. Trinidad moruga scorpion
    2. Red savina habanero
    3. Infinity chili pepper
    4. Carolina Reaper
  9. Purebread opened its second resort location in the village last year, only to see it closed months later after being damaged in a fire. As a result, the beloved bakery opened a pop-up location in the former site of what local restaurant?
    1. Gold Leaf Chinese Food
    2. Citta' Bistro
    3. Mexican Corner
    4. The Elephant & Castle
  10. The Old Country Market in Coombs, B.C. is famous for what particular oddity that sets it apart from your average restaurant?
    1. Nude servers
    2. Meals are served in complete darkness
    3. Goats graze on the roof
    4. Diners butcher their own meat

 

ANSWERS
1. C 2. D 3. B 4. B While Timmie's opened self-serve locations in Ireland and at a military base in Afghanistan, the first full-serve location outside North America opened in Dubai in 2011. Tim Horton's also now has locations in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. 5. D. Obama picked up a BeaverTail on his way to the airport following a visit to our nation's capitol in 2009. The Byward Market location even made a variety of the sweet treat in his honour, called an ObamaTail, topped with cinnamon, maple, chocolate sauce, and finished with a whipped cream "O." 6. B Ramsay's kind words might have had something to do with the 2009 season of his reality show, Hell's Kitchen, with the winning chef that year earning a stint in Araxi's kitchen during the 2010 Olympics. 7. A. 8. D The Carolina Reaper was named as the world's hottest pepper in 2013, averaging 1,569,300 on the Scoville scale, which is nearly as potent as most pepper sprays used by police. 9. C 10. C. The unique restaurant with a grass roof got some furry guests one weekend when an owner suggested bringing in some goats to help "mow" the lawn. They've been permanent tenants ever since.


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