swotc-bwc-leaderboard-728x90-3

Canada travel

A province for all seasons. And one that absolutely LOVES Ontario. The folks from Quebec Tourism threw a fabulous cocktail reception at a cool gallery in Toronto’s Distillery District on Tuesday, talking up the fabulous, year-round destinations they have to offer. It’s pretty remarkable when you think about it. They have awesome cities like Montreal with great festivals like Montreal en Lumiere, which started today and goes to March 2. They also have Carnival in Quebec City, which just wrapped up another fabulous season. They also have some of North America’s best skiing and snowboarding in places like Tremblant, Mont Read more

{ 0 comments }

At first I meant it as a bit of a joke. After watching Justine and Chloe (and Maxine) Dufour-Lapointe race in the freestyle skiing event at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday and seeing Justine win gold and Chloe silver, I mentioned on Twitter that the Canadian Tourism Commission should enlist them immediately as ambassadors for travel to Canada. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Lest we think these girls were only noticed north of the border, I can tell you that my Dad lives in California and read about the D-L girls and saw them Read more

{ 0 comments }

Mark my words; it’s only a matter of time until we start paying for our first bag on WestJet flights. WestJet yesterday upped prices by two per cent in response to the falling Canadian dollar. Air Canada did the same thing, as apparently did Air Transat. With the loonie down around 90 cents (it was up slightly yesterday), they probably have no choice. Some airlines, including Sunquest and Air Canada Vacations, already brought in special surcharges to make up for the falling dollar. Experts have said these moves have added seven to nine per cent in total costs to many Read more

{ 0 comments }

The air wars get more intense every week, it seems. And with it our choices for air travel increase. Calgary-based WestJet today announced “its most comprehensive schedule release since the airline took to the skies in 1996.” The airline said it’s adding five new routes, increasing frequency on 20 existing routes across the network, and moving five seasonal routes to year-round service. The biggest news for folks in the right-hand side of the country is that WestJet Encore is moving east (as expected) to start service between Toronto and Thunder Bay, as well as between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg. “The Read more

{ 0 comments }

BANFF, ALBERTA – It’s one of the great tourist attractions of Canada. And one of the top views in the world. I’ve been up the Sulphur Mountain Gondola in Banff several times. This year was the first time I’d done it in winter. And it was spectacular. I was out in the Rockies on a recent visit and had been hoping to do a helicopter tour near Kananaskis _ a gorgeous part of Alberta – and maybe some snowshoeing high in the mountains. But the winds were fierce and the chopper pilot said it wasn’t safe to fly. I always Read more

{ 0 comments }