Standing on the ground in Vancouver, you’ll see something unique about the skies overhead. Seaplanes are everywhere. They’re easily identified by the heavy set of footwear they lug around that allows them to take off and land from the water.

Why are water-landing aircraft so big in Canada? It’s not because they’re the most efficient way to fly. They’re not. To ensure it can take off and land on water, the plane can’t be too large and it can’t move too fast. Most seaplanes can carry about a dozen people at the most. They tend to top out around 150 miles per hour, hardly comparable to a commercial jetliner’s 600 miles per hour.

The answer, instead, is Canada’s geography. More than