After a week of voting, a handful of Canada’s largest and well-known cities are in danger of not even making it on the board in a new version of Monopoly Canada.

Hasbro, the company that makes the game, has opened a public vote to decide which cities will occupy the 22 spaces on the board that were originally named for streets and areas in Atlantic City, N.J. (a la, Boardwalk, Park Place, St. Charles Place, etc.).

With 65 cities in the running for 20 of the spaces, Winnipeg and Edmonton aren’t making the cut, and Toronto is barely hanging on in 20th place.

The final two spaces — the “low-rent” spots occupied by Mediterranean and Baltic avenues in the original game — will be decided by a separate wild-card vote based on nominations of any and all cities in Canada.

People can vote for three cities each day until the vote closes on Feb. 7, 2010. The city that receives the most votes will be placed on the highest rent property traditionally held by Boardwalk.

The wild card vote for the two low-rent spaces will take place from February 8, 2010 until February 21, 2010.

Canadian of the Week thinks that in addition to the great cities that will occupy the spaces on the board, some uniquely named bergs might qualify as game pieces to go along with what’s sure to include a hockey player, a maple leaf and a totem pole:

Medicine Hat
Red Deer
Wood Buffalo
Whitehorse
Yellowknife
Moose Jaw
White Rock

Here’s a look at the current leading cities and their percentages of the vote, as of midnight Wednesday:

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. 5.4

Calgary 4.7

Chatham-Kent, Ont. 3.7

Quebec City 3.4

Trois-Rivieres, Que. 2.9

St. John’s, N.L. 2,8

Kawartha Lakes, Ont. 2.7

Medicine Hat, Alta. 2.7

Montreal 2.6

Victoria 2.5

Windsor, Ont. 2.4

Shawinigan, Que. 2.3

Kelowna, B.C. 2.3

Sarnia, Ont. 2.3

North Bay, Ont. 2.1

Vancouver 2.1

Ottawa 2.1

Gastineau 2.0

London, Ont. 2.0

Toronto 2.0

Last week, we let you in on the little secret that Superman is actually half-Canadian, in a manner of speaking. Well, curl up with a bucket of honey for this sweet revelation.

This week’s Canadian Heritage Moment takes us across the pond to London in early World War I, where where a young Canadian soldier was heading home and having to leave his beloved black bear behind. Lt. Harry Colebourne had bought the bear in Ontario and named it Winnie, after his hometown of Winnipeg. He had to leave it behind, though, and the black bear made a new home at the London Zoo.

A few years later, A.A. Milne had a young son who took a liking to the bear, and Milne wrote some stories about a bear based on Winnie at the zoo. The bear in the stories would be named, “Winnie the Pooh.”

Heritage Minutes are 60-second short films that are shown in between some TV shows in Canada — and they’re amazing. We’re planning to bring you a “Heritage Minute” every Wednesday on COTW.

Enjoy.

In case you missed it, the Order of Canada honorees were announced this week and Governor General Michaelle Jean included NHL legend Mario Lemieux of Montreal, film director Ivan Reitman of Toronto, and folk rocker Neil Young of Winnipeg among the 57 honorees for the year,

All three men were given the honor of Officer of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors which recognizes “a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to community and service to the nation.”

We here at Canadian of the Week figure if they’re good enough for the Governor General, they’re good enough for us, and we’re therefore proud to bestow the additional honor of Canadian of the Week on all three of them.

Here are their citations from Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean:

Mario Lemieux
For his contributions as one of hockey’s most gifted players, as an inspirational role model and mentor, and for supporting charitable initiatives through the Mario Lemieux Foundation.

Ivan Reitman
For his contributions as a director and producer, and for his promotion of the Canadian film and television industries.

Neil Young
For his contributions as one of Canada’s greatest musical talents whose unique voice and iconic songs have influenced generations of musicians, and for his support of educational and charitable organizations.

See the full list of honorees here.

As the year winds to a close, Unicity Taxi in Winnipeg is going through its annual dumping of things people left behind in cabs, and CBC.ca has a fun little story about it.

Among the things people left behind were iPods, knives, cellphones, cameras, prescription medications, wallets, suitcases, groceries and a coffee maker.

“I’ve even had a bra returned,” dispatcher Bonnie Rohs told the CBC. “The girl was a little intoxicated and she, it was bothering her, so when she got in the cab, she took it off and left it.”

About 60 percent of things left behind are eventually returned to their owners, but some are lost for good, left unclaimed, or even taken by other passengers. Still, the drivers often get the blame.

Randy Bachman in 2009.

What is a Bachman and a Turner with no Overdrive?

Maybe just a couple of old dudes from Winnipeg, maybe the second coming of a once-great band. Soon enough, you might have to check out your local state or county fair to find out soon enough.

Randy Bachman and Fred Turner are gettin’ the band back together — well, half of it, anyway — for a new album and world tour, the CBC reports.

All the while, the other half of the band, which is made up of Bachman’s younger brother Robin and Blair Thornton (whose name, we’d presume, translates to “Overdrive” in Canadian), is suing over the use of the name Bachman-Turner.

Bachman and Turner, it should be noted, are generally credited for being the main force behind the band that churned out hits in the late ’70s and early ’80s, including “Taking Care of Business” and “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet.”

“Reunited, Randy Bachman and Fred Turner are offering their legion of fans something new and taking care of some ‘unfinished’ business,” Paquin Entertainment stated in a news release to the CBC.

Apologies to those offended by including Canadian national treasure Neil Young and child-star-turned-Oscar-nominee Ryan Gosling in the same post, and the same sentence, but it’s a multi-generational birthday celebration today.

Neil Percival Young was born 64 years ago today in Winnipeg, before moving to the Greater Toronto Area and eventually becoming one of the most influential rockers of the 20th Century. Some 35 years later, Ryan Gosling was born in London, Ontario, and went on to star in “The Mickey Mouse Club,” take the lead in one of the most popular recent romance movies, “The Notebook,” and earn serious actor cred with acclaimed roles in “Half Nelson” and “Lars and the Real Girl.” All before the age of 29, which he marks today.

To mark their combined 93 years on Earth, here are 10 fun facts* about today’s most famous Canadians…

1. Guitarist Randy Bachman, a founding member of The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive, suggested in the mid ’60s that Neil Young try another line of work because he couldn’t play along on guitar to the Top 40 songs of the day.

2. Ryan Gosling starred alongside Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Keri Russell on “The Mickey Mouse Club.”

3. In the ’60s, Neil was in a band with Rick James (yes, of “Super Freak” fame) called the Mynah Birds.

4. Ryan co-owns a Moroccan restaurant in Beverly Hills called Tagine.

5. Neil admitted he lived in the U.S. illegally for much of the second half of the ’60s until getting his green card in 1970.

6. Ryan played the title role in “Young Hercules,” in the early ’90s. It aired on the Fox Kids Network and was produced by the same folks who did “Xena: Warrior Princess.”

7. Neil has been named co-inventor on seven different patents related to model trains and once was part owner of a model train company.

8. Ryan has a dog named George, which he rescued from a shelter in L.A.

9. Neil has a species of trapdoor spider named after him after a fan and East Carolina University biologist discovered the new spider and named it Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi.

10. Ryan is in a band called Dead Man’s Bones. Check them out at MySpace.