Our 150th birthday party is almost over. But there’s still a lot to celebrate when you live in a country as great as ours. Here’s one traveller’s take on great places to visit in Canada in our 151st year. St. John’s This has always been one of my favourite cities in Canada. It’s gotten even better lately with the addition of great restaurants such as The Merchant Tavern, a hip and happening spot run by the folks behind the very successful Raymonds. A new Alt Hotel recently opened in town, part of the marvellous, Montreal-based Groupe Germain that also operate Read more
Edmonton
I was in Edmonton earlier this year and wrote about the great food scene for the Postmedia chain of newspapers. In case you missed it, I was raving about great food and drinks at places like Bar Clementine, Baijiu, Rge Rd and Rostizado. The headline on the story? “Why your next foodie trip should be Edmonton.” That was back on June 20. Here we are four months later and the folks at Air Canada seem to agree. The 2017 Air Canada listing of the top new restaurants in Canada names three Edmonton places: Bar Clementine fifth, Café Linnea in sixth Read more
The presidential election polls in the U.S. are getting closer. Which means that maybe those folks who vowed to move to Canada if Donald Trump wins the race should be checking their Canadian maps and real estate listings. With that in mind, the folks at Hotels.com have prepared a list of 10 American cities with their Canadian counterparts, giving Hillary Clinton supporters something to work with and a better idea about what opportunities lie north of the border, where our Prime Minister garners headlines for building his body instead of building walls. Here are the Hotels.com suggestions on what Canadian Read more
Starwood several years ago came up with Aloft Hotels, aimed at millenials with casual, colourful lobbies, snack stations, tons of solid and free Wi-Fi and more. They’re nice properties. I stayed at one in Orlando on Thursday night last week and loved the lobby area (great drinks at the bar and local art work) and the overall feel of the place. So that’s fine. Then today I read that Hilton is developing the “Tru by Hilton” brand, also aimed at millenials. Good idea, and I’m sure Aloft is flattered. But check out the photo I saw on a press release Read more
From a new centre celebrating Stompin’ Tom Connors (“The Good Old Hockey Game”) to the NBA All-Star Game in Toronto and on to a fab new gallery in Whistler, there’s no shortage of excellent events, happenings and openings across Canada in 2016, our nation’s 149th birthday. Here are some things you might want to catch in the New Year. ALBERTA Things are booming in Calgary’s East Village, where the new national music centre is set to open next year. It’s a booming area already just east of downtown, with cool restaurants like Charbar. Calgary’s Pigeonhole (http://pigeonholeyyc.ca/#modal) was named the country’s Read more
