Okay, that headline is a bit dramatic. I mean, Canada has cities like Vancouver and mountains like the Rockies. Not to mention Quebec City. But I’ve felt for years that the people and culture of our Maritime provinces and Newfoundland (I think I’m supposed to call it Atlantic Canada) are perhaps the most unique part of this country, and an area we should be pushing much, much harder. I have ideas about a lot of things, as my family can attest. But one thing that’s often struck me is how different Atlantic Canada is from the USA’s New England. They’re Read more
A former snowboarding champion turned celebrity chef who wants to use a uniquely Canadian snack as part of his menu at a posh new downtown Toronto hotel. Akira Back is not your typical chef, and his restaurant at the coming Bisha Hotel Toronto promises to be just as fun and quirky. In a telephone chat on a day when he was getting ready to fly to Korea, Back told me he’d like to use ketchup-flavoured potato chips in one of the dishes at the Bisha Hotel Toronto, which is set to open sometime in October and will be home to Read more
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE – Alan Doyle is mugging for the audience at the Jackson-Triggs Ampitheatre on a warm summer night under a full moon. “I started playing this one when I was touring with Great Big Sea, back in 1951,” he says with a laugh. His new band, The Beautiful Gypsies, immediately launches into a frenzied, Newfoundland-meets-Nashville tune with powerful guitars, a splendid violin and a swirling accordion backed by drums and bass. Doyle has perfected the “aw shucks” Canadian approach, and it suits him well. Toss in a generous dash of Maritimes/Newfoundland music with lyrics about lost fishermen signing their goodbyes Read more
Banff is beautiful. Montreal is marvellous. And Whistler is wonderful. Everyone knows about those places. But what about the nitty gritty places, the out of the way towns and goofy sights that folks like to explore? I’ve been a full-time travel writer in Canada for nearly nine years, and in that time I’ve had the chance to check out more than a few out-of-the-way or lesser known spots. With that in mind, here’s a look at some Canadian alternative spots for great food or goofy Instagram photos or just plain good times. Because it’s our 150th birthday on Saturday, I’m Read more
Nice to see some love coming Canada’s way as we get ready for our 150th birthday party on the weekend. Just in time for Canada Day (July 1 for those of you keeping score at home), a number of travel companies are offering special deals for travel to and from Canada. One of the best is a Canada 150 deal from Regent Seven Seas Cruises, which is rolling back prices on 20 voyages to the year 2012, when the Canadian dollar and the U.S. greenback were at par. That’s a huge savings versus today, when the Canadian dollar is trading Read more
NORFOLK COUNTY, ONTARIO – “A lot of agriculture is dominated by men,” says Susan Judd, marketing manager at Burning Kiln Winery. “When it’s all women like we have here a kind of magic happens, and it’s a very special bond.” Farming in general, and growing grapes in particular, have traditionally been a male concern. But at Burning Kiln , which sits on a bluff high above Lake Erie, the six people at the top of the management ladder are all women. They didn’t plan it that way. But neither are they overly concerned at upsetting the gender balance cart. “It’s Read more
KINGSVILLE, ONTARIO – Henry Noestheden and Cor Boon had hoped to start things slow. Maybe ease into their chocolate-making business a little, as a pair of guys aged 68 and 75, respectively, might want to do. But on their second day of business at ODG Chocolates (it stands for Old Dutch Guys) they sold one of their bird-shaped chocolates to a journalist who was heading to nearby Pelee Island and wanted to give a gift to a bird-loving author who spends her summers there. Yeah, a certain Canadian writer named Margaret Atwood. “She loved the bird so much she put Read more
