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Hrm.
James Naismith invented basketball.
Still the most effective bug repellant, Muskol with DEET is a Canadian invention.
Java, the programming language, (java.sun.com) was first written by Gosling, a Canadian.
Bell is credited with the telephone and was arguably Canadian. While Edison is credited with the lightbulb, it was invented by a Canadian working for him, Henry Woodward, and was patented first by Woodward.
The zipper was invented by a Canadian.
The electron microscope certainly helped further science.
Lots of chemical engineering processes; I understand most plastics were developed in Canada. I don't have a source for this, but have been told so by my uncle-in-law who is fairly high up in DOW. It has been echoed by Engineering profs. Other refinery processes too, like kerosene.
Insulin is pretty popular these day. Pacemakers are handy as well.
I know I should be able to put more names on these inventions. I'm certain I could at one point. All said, I understand that Canada is very well represented, inventions per capita. (At least 1/10 as many inventions as the US, consistantly about 1/10 the population)
As far as other Canadian or Austrailian inventors, many were actually British and didn't recieve credit under the commonwealth. Before the Burne(sp?) agreement which made patent protection international it was rather difficult for a non-american, especially British Loyalist Canadians to get a patent, so they just went back to England and were duly credited there. I can't speak for Mexican or Irish, but neither were very high on the econimic scale from 1750 untill recently, when inventions were booming during the industrial revoltion and following.
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