How do Canadians prepare for bad weather?

I sent my friend Lucas an email asking if he would consider writing a guest post for the blog.  I asked him how rural Canadians prepare for bad weather.

This is what he sent back:

Canadians are just as dumb ass as the rest of the world on this. Me too, I guess. It is all over the news about getting ready for this one.

My brother, who prides himself on the handyman ​role let his pipes freeze and break this week. He has a heat exchang​er ​ and it tricks the thermostat into thinking it is warmer than it is. His wife told him so. The lesson is listen to the wife?

Sort of used to storms in town where we just clean up later. However, the Xmas wind storm knocked out the phone. I called Thurs and the guy only came today.

• What do you always have on hand?  Stupidity?
• What do you do in the two days before expected bad weather? Zip I guess. Brace the barn door.
• Do you have a generator? No
• Do you make any special foods ahead of time (brownies, pot of soup, bake bread)? No
• Do you inspect your foul-weather gear or is that something that you do continuously throughout the winter...starting in hunting season? No
• Do you have any neighbors or family who do anything noteworthy? No
• Do older, more fragile folks visit family in town? No

We maybe might go to the grocery store or get gas. I might get water from a spring which I drink year round anyway.

Wind worries me more than anything. I can't sleep thinking the old barn is going to go down.

Over north, where my trees are, and I hunt, I need to be on top of storm forecasts because I can be trapped a half mile in. I was last year.  I had to wait until the snow dropped. Trees were laying in power lines. I called the power company to remove them.  They left a big mess and dropped a 12-15 inch aspen in the road blocking it. Without a chain saw I would have been screwed. They did something similar this year. I need to cut a big stick to beat them with.  

Lucas then goes on to note that he lives in Canada's banana belt.  The lowest temperature ever recorded in his province was -41.  In compensation for the balmy winters his province does get the occasional hurricane.