Not to take anything away from Canada, but hasn't it actually shrunk since being awarded independence? That wouldn't be synonymous with being expansionistic.
It's bordering with the USA, so it would naturally have more trade with that nation. Being a bridge, the UK may have a trade advantage - especially when taking population into account.
There have been scientific developments in every corner of the globe and I wouldn't consider Canada as being a bigger contributor than it's peers.
But still in science, Canada does host the
Commonwealth of Learning, so I would be inclined to give the nation a pat on the back for this
Also, it has developed unique military units like the
Avro Arrow Cold War interceptor - although it didn't go into mass production you can be sure it would have had there been a war. There is some belief the USA paid to keep it from being massed produced because it was capable of intercepting their fabled Blackbird (?) and because the team moved to work for NASA.
One of Canada's strengths is it's membership to multiple international associations like the Francophile, Commonwealth of Nations, United Nations (and others?) which
might give it a slight edge over the UK and puts it way ahead of the USA in terms of international influence on politics.
Another of Canada's strengths is it's very high culture, which was originally inherited but is now a prominent source in it's own right.
So... and although these traits aren't available... how about
Cultural & Political 
