Canada’s Greatest Tech Hits + Remembering The Hip

**Amber Mac** (0:00)
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These updates reflect Uber's ongoing commitment to build a safer, fairer, and more transparent platform, informed by feedback and focused on what matters most to people like me who use Uber every day.
For more information, visit Uber Rider Verification Online, and thanks to Uber for supporting The Amber Mac Show.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:02)
The Amber Mac Show on Canada Talks, SiriusXM 167

**Amber Mac** (1:12)
Welcome to The Amber Mac Show's Canada Day special. Canada seems to be finally starting to move faster these days with new technology leaders like Cohere, Canada's very own large language model, and Montreal's Miele AI Research Institute. Plus, quantum companies like Xanadu and Photonic, autonomous vehicle successes like Waabi, and so many more hurtling along at the speed of tech.

**Jeff MacArthur** (1:36)
And with the Canadian government finally delivering on its national AI strategy plus a spate of legislation, including Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, the still flawed Bill C-22, or Lawful Access Act, and more, you have to admit that at the very least it's an exciting time to be a Canadian as we try to find our way in a quickly changing world.

**Amber Mac** (1:56)
Jeff and I are both proud Prince Edward Islanders from the east coast of this great country. We've both lived in Charlottetown, Halifax and Ottawa before I eventually settled in Toronto.

**Jeff MacArthur** (2:08)
And I've lived coast to coast with many years in Montreal and Vancouver before finally making Halifax my home. And we know how much there is to love about this country.

**Amber Mac** (2:16)
So we're celebrating this Canada Day with a look at some great Canadian tech inventions.

**Jeff MacArthur** (2:21)
And not-so-tech inventions.

**Amber Mac** (2:22)
And an encore presentation of one of our early interviews with the manager of the most Canadian of bands, The Tragically Hip.

**Jeff MacArthur** (2:30)
Last year, Amber and I shared some of what we thought were the coolest and most interesting historic Canadian tech inventions. And there are some great entries on this list that you might not have realized have very important Canadian connections. So without further ado, here are our top 10 Canadian technology inventions.

**Amber Mac** (2:50)
Canada is a great country to live in and we have so much to celebrate, including a very impressive history of technological invention. Jeff and I have put together a list of Canadian tech inventions that we think every Canadian should know about. Some of these we didn't even know about before we started researching this segment. Now keep in mind that it's sometimes difficult to say that something is strictly 100 percent a Canadian invention versus the inventor being Canadian or the idea being developed in Canada. But all of the following technologies have important Canadian connections. So Jeff, in no particular order, here are 10 or so inventions in Canadian tech that I think we know our listeners are going to be interested in learning about.

**Jeff MacArthur** (3:33)
Absolutely. Let's start off with maybe the first Canadian technology that I had any awareness of being Canadian tech as a kid and that's the Canadarm.
This robotic arm was created in 1981 to deploy satellites and cargo in space. It also helped on spacewalks for the astronauts and other tasks like that. It was used by NASA for 30 years, including to help build the International Space Station and to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, which are two of the most important scientific instruments in all of history. So not too shabby, Canada.

**Amber Mac** (4:07)
Incredible. And I think that's kind of the perfect one to kick off our list. Well, the patent for the telephone may have been filed in the United States. Its inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, himself, said that he invented the telephone in Brantford, Ontario, which is also where the world's first long-distance phone call was made, way back in 1876

**Jeff MacArthur** (4:28)
Yes, and that call was to Paris, Ontario. I thought it was overseas when I was researching this, but Paris, Ontario. So not quite as exciting, but still pretty cool. And there are a couple of these that I didn't realize were Canadian at all. One was the invention of the alkaline batteries in 1959 by the Canadian inventor Louis Urey.