Canadian cities: fun facts

3,000 tonnes of maple syrup worth $18m were stolen from a storage unit in this Quebec city in 2011/12.

Troy Hurtubise, from this Lake Ontario city, invented odd contraptions including a bear-proof metal suit.

In 2006, a man from this bilingual city began with a paper clip which he traded for more and more valuable items and ended up with a house,

A man from this Albertan city opened an Arab theme park on a tiny island. He later seized the Canadian embassy in Beirut, taking 34 hostages.

The Circus Riot took place in this metropolis, sparked by a brawl between clowns and firemen at a Victorian brothel.

In 1970 in this B.C. town, the father of a Maple Leafs player held up a TV studio - who had cut from an ice hockey game to the news - and forced them to put the game back on.

Every April in this English-sounding town, bagpipers play to accompany the local swans back to their lake.

In 1985, a man began a 40,000 km global wheelchair odyssey in this British Columbian city.

A 1983 flight to Edmonton ran out of fuel and had to emergency land here, on an airstrip where a dragster race was taking place.

Thieves stole 30,000 litres of iceberg water from a vodka maker in this old Newfoundland port.

This Saskatchewan city has the country's only synchrotron (a particle accelerator).

Police raiding a marijuana farm, near this lakeside B.C. town, found it to be guarded by ten black bears.

An outlaw being pursued by fighter jets landed his plane, carrying 4 tonnes of cocaine, near this remote outpost in 1992.

In 2012, a drunk from this Alberta municipality was out cold on railroad tracks. A long train ran right over him but left him unscathed.