( CNN ) -- Who would n't expect great things from the world 's second largest land mass ? This is a nation hoarding enough prosperity , natural beauty and curling talent to serve a population a hundred times its size . But Canada is more than elbow room , good roads , respected banks , promo posters of Mounties on horseback , sweet views of Niagara Falls and tired media frenzies about the odd crack-smoking mayor . This country could really brag about all the stuff that truly sets it apart . Not that it ever would . Self-effacing modesty is one the more endearing Canadian virtues -- along with these 10 national assets that really put the `` O '' in Canada . 1 . Apologizing . It 's not so easy to get a simple apology in most of the world . Being jostled in India . Getting your foot stepped on in Greece . Not having the door held open for you in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky . That 's just all part of unrepentant life . In Canada , apologies happen constantly -- `` sorries '' flying in from all sides like swarms of affable killer bees . Apologies are issued not just for some negligible mishap , but for actually having the gall to be on the receiving end of one . A Queen 's University poll titled `` Sorry ... I 'm Canadian , '' found that 90 % of Canadians aged 18-25 will immediately apologize if a stranger bumps into them . But while it may be true that some of the ugliest brawls in Canada have been waged over who 's sorrier , travelers should be wary of such niceties , notes another Canadian apologist : `` Sometimes we 're actually expressing our sympathy for your shortcomings . '' 2 . Lakes and `` Cottage Country '' Canada has more lakes than any other country -- about 3 million . The province of Ontario alone contains about a third of the world 's freshwater , spread over 250,000 lakes . No surprise that `` heading up to the lake '' is more than just a favorite national phrase . It 's Canada 's sacred version of lighting out for the territory -- but with cottages furnished with Muskoka chairs , Kevlar canoes and competing Gordon Lightfoot and loon mating call soundtracks . Recently , Ontario 's prime lake district , Muskoka , got the nod from National Geographic Traveler as the top summer destination -- in the world . Well , yeah , eh ? It 's beauty up there . 3 . Stand-in movie locations . Even if you 've never set foot in Vancouver , Halifax or those handful of cities in between , you 've frequently been staring right at them without knowing it . Why ? Because Hollywood loves making movies in Canada -- big movies -- while passing the settings off as New York City , Wyoming , ancient Persia , the bow of history 's most ill-fated oceanliner ... Basically anywhere else but Canada . If you 've sat through `` The Incredible Hulk , '' you 've visited Toronto 's Yonge Street -- at least via celluloid . `` Brokeback Mountain '' ? That ai n't the American West , pardner . It 's Southern Alberta 's Rocky Mountain country . `` Capote '' ? You 're not in Kansas , Dorothy . But Winnipeg . `` Twilight '' ? Vancouver . `` Blades of Glory '' ? Montreal . `` Titanic '' ? Much of it filmed off the coast of Halifax . And where in the world was Morgan Freeman 's shack in `` Unforgiven '' ? Just up the road from Calgary in the Drumheller Valley -- a moonscape-ish backcountry that 's also passed for Egypt , Persia , Armenia and East Africa in several film and TV productions . 4 . Air . In a recent national air quality study by the World Health Organization , Canada placed third for the cleanest air on the planet . Until the first and second placers ( Estonia and Mauritius ) are covered in CNN Travel 's `` better than anywhere else '' series , we direct your breath to Canadian cities -- which average a relatively pristine 13 micrograms of PM10 particles per cubic meter . 5 . Humor . Canadians are hilarious -- sometimes even intentionally -- as a disproportionate number of comic heavyweights like Jim Carrey , John Candy , Eugene Levy , Catherine O'Hara , Dan Aykroyd , Seth Rogen , Mike Myers , Phil Hartman , Michael Cera , Leslie Nielsen and so many others have repeatedly confirmed over the years . What makes Canadians so crazy funny ? The subject has launched sociological studies , none of which are funny at all . But even if you 've never watched SCTV , ca n't name a single member of `` The Kids in the Hall '' and were n't aware that SNL was created and produced by a Torontonian , or that Montreal 's Just for Laughs Festival is the world 's biggest comedy festival , or that the most deadly funny movie sequence ever filmed ( the `` Serpentine ! '' scene from 1979 's `` The In-Laws '' ) was directed by a dude from Edmonton -- know this : . If there 's one thing Canada barrels superbly at home or abroad , for whatever boring reason , it 's laughs . 6 . Chocolate bars . Just a few giant corporations pump out most of the world 's mass market candy bars -- but not always with the same goods under that familiar-looking wrapper . `` Canadian chocolate is higher in fat and it is a higher particle size , '' a Hershey 's senior chocolate expert recently noted in the National Post , adding that Hershey 's now offers a separate recipe for the more discriminating Canadian chocolate palate . `` Americans tend to gravitate toward a little more of a grittier or even cheesier flavor . '' That 's why eating any of those generic chocolate bars or local Canadian faves like Caramilk , Aero , Mr. Big , heck even Sweet Marie in Saskatoon , is a creamy , velvety experience . And why a KitKat somewhere else is a gritty , cheesy , polyglycerol polyricinoleate-y one . 7 . Ski country . Sitting across the border from Colorado , Utah , Wyoming and Vermont would be intimidating to most countries hawking their own powdery slopes . Not Canada , which boasts some of the best reasons to haul your skis or snowboard a little farther north . In the West , there 's Lake Louise , plunked right in gorgeous Banff National Park , and a ring of powder havens throughout eastern British Columbia . Whistler Blackcomb is one of the world 's leading ski resorts , getting a `` best in North America '' nod from SKI Magazine last year . In the East , there 's Quebec 's beer-commercial-fun Laurentians -- where après-ski needs no translation . Heli-skiing ? That all started in the Canadian Bugaboos , which remains one of the best places to do it . 8 . Nation branding . No national symbol is as ubiquitous as Canada 's maple leaf . From Newfoundland to Victoria , it 's everywhere you look -- a proud , unrelenting reminder of where you are . Not the United States . Not Australia . Not Nigeria . Canada . The most obsessive leaf activity occurs abroad , where generations of flag-bearing Canadian backpackers are famous for sewing maple leaf patches onto their bags just to make sure everyone 's clear at a glance who they are . Not American . Not German . Not Rarotongan . Canadian . See the leaf ? Canadian . `` No other country on earth seems to feel the same need to self-identify , '' posts one traveler from an undisclosed country . 9 . Highway grub . Road trips are all about the food . At least in places like Alberta or Manitoba , where nothing works up an appetite like hours of sedentary driving along some of the longest , straightest roads known to non-Australian mankind with nothing to do but count Petro-Canada stations -- and pull over for the best comfort food gracing any rest stop . Tim Hortons . Harvey 's . Swiss Chalet ... If you do n't know these names , it 's time to look beyond the Golden Arches . You can eat McNuggets wherever . Nothing says gustatory bliss on the Trans-Canada Highway like a peameal & natural smoked Bacon Bacon burger , or half-chicken plate with Chalet sauce , or a box of Timbits with a double-double coffee . Better grab a butter tart and Nanaimo bar , too . It 's a long way from Red Deer to Flin Flon . 10 . Adorable terms and phrases . While you 'll be hard-pressed to find a real-life , toque-wearin ' local who 's ever called someone a `` hoser '' or told them to `` take off , '' Canadians do call their two-dollar coins `` Toonies , '' cases of beer `` two-fours '' and napkins `` serviettes '' in polite company . Nowhere else will you be called a `` rink rat '' for loitering at ice arenas . Or be `` given the gears '' if you do something dumb . Or get asked , `` What do you pay for hydro ? '' Or alerted that `` your gitch is showing '' if your belt is too loose . Enough said . Jordan Rane is a Toronto native living without apologies ( most of the time ) in Los Angeles .
Poll titled `` Sorry ... I 'm Canadian , '' finds 90 % of Canadians aged the years apologize if a stranger bumps them . Even if you 've never visited Hollywood , chances are you 've been staring at it in Canada movies . `` Canadians chocolate is higher in fat and it is a higher particle size , '' says a Hershey 's expert .