Sure, Canada was built on dreams and hard work, but it was also built on failure - mix-ups, mistakes, screw-ups, and boondoggles. Failing at things, and laughing about them, has long been a characteristic of our citizens.

Where else but in Canada would governments send farmers to land that couldn’t be farmed? Where else would an argument over the metric system almost result in the death of hundreds? Who else but Canadians would march against non-existent enemies? Where else would lumberjacks be used to defend the borders?

Are there politicians better than ours at spending millions, against all odds and good advice, on things that just won’t work? Is there any nation better at re-electing those politicians no matter what they do? What other country should adopt as its national slogan "If we don’t laugh, we’ll cry"?

Here are more of the things that seemed like a good idea at the time.

Randy Richmond is an award-winning journalist living in London, Ontario. He is the former editor of The Packet & Times in Orillia, where he wrote the first Orillia Spirit, married, and had three children. He is the coauthor of Colossal Canadian Failures 1 and 2, also published by Dundurn Press.

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Tom Villemaire is a newspaper reporter and editor and a freelance writer. He lives alone in Balaclava, Ontario, and, at times when she permits, with his girlfriend in Toronto. A failed astronaut and garbage man, Villemaire lowered his sights and settled upon writing as a career.

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