'RAAF' stands for 'Royal Australian Air Force,' the RAAF is the airforce of The Commonwealth Of Australia, the RAAF was the second airforce in the world to be formed, behind the RAF. The current main fighter for the RAAF is the F/A-18 Hornet; this will be surpassed by the F-35 Lightning. The RAAF use the C-17 Globemaster and the slightly outdated C-130 Hercules aswell as the DHC-4 Caribou for transport; whilst still using the F-111 for bombing. VIP transports include 737 BBJs, and CL-604s. For the role of Maritime patrol the AP-3C orion is used.

Female equivalent of the King. The current Queen rules over The Commonwealth Realms (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, about half of the Caribbean, the Solomon islands and Tuvalu) With varying Levels of powers in each country. Many people do not appreciate the effort that the Queen puts into her duties, and indeed would only realise how important she is to the realms if she were to disappear.

The powers of the monarch have steadily been removed to serve the purposes of her governments, for example did you know that Tony Blair had to change the laws surrounding royal authority for Britain to declare war, because the Queen said no to invading Iraq Iraq war.

Twice.

Fun fact: The armed services of the UK swear loyalty to the crown, not the government, this has been kept in place by the monarchy to prevent extremist governments (British National Party or Google 'Nazis in Britain') allowing the Queen to get rid of crazy politicians with her army.

A dear old lady in a big hat. Despite there being a large number of female monarchs, 'The Queen' is most familiar to most of us as 'Her Majesty by the Grace of God of Australia, her other Realms and Territories, Queen, Head of the Commonwealth etc.' She is also Queen of Canada, New Zealand and Great Britain.

An Australian Financial Institution. HQ in Melbourne. The largest bank by market capitalisation on the Australian Stock Exchange as of March 2006. Well known for its "Homicide" and trading scandals.

What, Canada actually has armed forces now?

Now that I never knew...

What do they use them for, like keeping maple leafs safe or something?

And by the way- Canada NEVER invaded America and burnt the White House. That was the British forces advancing through their territory of Canada, you fuckup. So don't go thinking you've got one up on anyone because really, both America and Canada were Brittannia's bitches at one point. Canada still is, however. You're not out of the Commonwealth yet. That goes for you too, Australia. And you India. And New Zealand. And.......... etc

Well, after being buzzed on my extra-large Tim Horton's coffee and not being able to sleep, I read the entry for "Canada" on UD. From what I can see here, it looks like the Canadians on here got bored around post 175... Because from there on, its just Canada-bashers repeating the exact same thing that the people before posted. Wow - the intelligence never ceases to amaze. Just as well, there are a few issues I'd like to clear up:

1) Canadians are not under-educated. Thankfully, our colleges and universities (which, by the way, are completely different things) are publicly-funded, with generally fixed tuition fees (in Ontario, around $4500 a year). This allows post-secondary education to be much more accessible here than in America. Compare this with getting a comparable education at an American university (lets say... Cornell, where my dad went.). Tuition at Cornell is $18,000/year at a public-college and $32,000/year at a private-college. In addition, our secondary school system is built on a common ground - so that it doesn't matter what high school you go to, you will be just as well prepared for university (hence us not needing to take an admission test, such as the SATs, in order to gain entrance into university).

2) Yes, it is true. Our health-care system is not perfect. Nor are we claiming that it is perfectly "free". Believe me, we are well aware that we are taxed for our health-care. However, it is universal. By this, I mean that every citizen h...

Well, after being buzzed on my extra-large Tim Horton's coffee and not being able to sleep, I read the entry for "Canada" on UD. From what I can see here, it looks like the Canadians on here got bored around post 175... Because from there on, its just Canada-bashers repeating the exact same thing that the people before posted. Wow - the intelligence never ceases to amaze. Just as well, there are a few issues I'd like to clear up:

1) Canadians are not under-educated. Thankfully, our colleges and universities (which, by the way, are completely different things) are publicly-funded, with generally fixed tuition fees (in Ontario, around $4500 a year). This allows post-secondary education to be much more accessible here than in America. Compare this with getting a comparable education at an American university (lets say... Cornell, where my dad went.). Tuition at Cornell is $18,000/year at a public-college and $32,000/year at a private-college. In addition, our secondary school system is built on a common ground - so that it doesn't matter what high school you go to, you will be just as well prepared for university (hence us not needing to take an admission test, such as the SATs, in order to gain entrance into university).

2) Yes, it is true. Our health-care system is not perfect. Nor are we claiming that it is perfectly "free". Believe me, we are well aware that we are taxed for our health-care. However, it is universal. By this, I mean that every citizen has equal acce...