Tracing the roots of a Canadian icon

Wendy’s International Inc. is expected to spin -off a 15-per-cent stake in Tim Hortons this week, and curious observers are watching to see how many of the shares will land in Canadian hands.

The stock will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange, but the vast bulk of Tim Hortons’s coffee sales still occur north of the border, where the chain has strong roots.
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Tim Hortons now has about 2,597 outlets north of the border and 288 in the U.S.

Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan cheered when they learned that Tim Hortons is opening an outlet in Kandahar.

Hmm. Eating Timbits in Afghanistan? A new book idea!

One of my favorite things to track down, foodwise, on a return trip to Canada, are milk drinks that are flavored like chocolate bars. They are amazing; they capture the exact taste of a specific chocolate bar in a completely different form factor. From a solid to a liquid, with the same mix of tastes. Last trip we tried the Rolo version.

It was as incredible as every other one I’ve tried. It tasted like a Rolo, but it was a liquid. I can’t stop repeating the superlatives and proclaiming the sensorial wonder of it all, sorry.

So it was cool to see that here in the US we’ve got a similar product available now.

Milky Way and Three Musketeers. We bought both but have only tried the Milky Way. It’s good, but not stunning. It has the flavor components of Milky Way, but they don’t replicate the bar experience.

I am hopeful to see this category of product here in the US, though. Maybe we’ll get more of ’em, especially if they can figure out how to get it right.

According to a study of national personalities

which found that this time-honoured perception of our oh-so-unique Canadian psyche — and other cultures’ stereotypes of themselves — are in fact just so much hooey.

‘These stereotypes are as Canadians see themselves and Americans as they see themselves,’ said Robert McCrae of the U.S. National Institute on Aging, a principal investigator of the study on national personalities around the world.

‘Canadians think they’re extremely agreeable; the Americans think they’re very disagreeable,’ he said. ‘Canadians believe that they’re very calm and not irritable, very even-tempered, whereas Americans think they’re more anxious and hostile.

‘The fact is Canadians and Americans have almost identical average personality traits.’

In a measure of five main areas of personality, covering a total of 30 traits, Canadians and their U.S. cousins fell roughly in the middle. Not only that, but they weren’t all that different from other cultures around the globe, researchers found.

The study, published in the latest issue of Science, collected data through personality questionnaires given to thousands of people living in 49 countries.

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A disc jockey at a top Ottawa rock station has been booted off the air for playing Stompin’ Tom Connors — and nothing but Stompin’ Tom — to protest the singer’s exclusion from the Live 8 concert lineup.

But what remains unclear today is whether Jeff Brown, who says he has not been fired from his job at CHEZ 106.1, has his tongue tucked firmly in his cheek.

Mr. Brown, program director at the station, began playing Stompin’ Tom tunes Tuesday afternoon during his drive-home show, which airs from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

After hearing the lineup of Canada’s version of Live 8, Mr. Brown said, he ‘went on a rant about how we have Celine Dion representing Canada via satellite from Las Vegas, and how true Canadian icons were being overlooked, namely Stompin’ Tom,’ Mr. Brown explained yesterday in an e-mail to a Citizen reporter.

‘At this point I vowed to play nothing but Stompin’ Tom on my show until (Live 8 organizers) Bob Geldof and Michael Cohl recognized the influence that this true icon has in this country and add him to the bill.’

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While Stompin’ Tom has a devoted following in Canada, it is unlikely Bob Geldof has ever heard Bud The Spud or other Stompin’ Tom-penned tunes about everyday life in Canada’s small towns and cities.

On Tuesday’s show, Mr. Brown played Stompin’ Tom’s Big Joe Mufferaw continuously for about a half an hour.

Mr. Brown said reaction to his Stompin’ Tom binge was immediate.

‘The moment we started playing Stompin’ Tom, the phones went insane (like I have never seen in 15 years of radio) … 99 per cent of people were in support that we needed to get Stompin Tom on the Live 8 bill.

‘It just shows you how like no other artist this man transcends all boundaries and truly speaks for the country.”

SF Chron review of Mount Appetite, a new book by Bill Gaston

What’s with the Canadians these days? It seems to have started a few years ago when Michael Moore turned a spotlight on our northern neighbors in ‘Bowling for Columbine,’ proving that they love their guns but don’t shoot people (nor do they lock their doors). Then during the past year or two amazing Canadian bands, the likes of Broken Social Scene and the Arcade Fire, have been showing up in music stores. And now, all of this great Canadian literature keeps landing here, from Derek McCormack to Michael Turner, and most recently, Bill Gaston’s latest collection of short stories, ‘Mount Appetite.’

Yes, just when some of us Americans had settled into the idea that Canadian cultural exports are only good for a laugh (Second City, ‘Kids in the Hall,’ Celine Dion, Bryan Adams), we are forced to think again.

I find this annoying, yes, but also somewhat offensive. Where has the article’s author been? Never heard of Margaret Atwood, to pick one very obvious example?

Via Stay Free! Daily comes EVOLUTION BY MARGARITA a new bra that is “designed to create a natural cosmetically enhanced look.”

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This is an email from USAirways with my monthly mileage balance. Nice. The link they tell me click in order to stop receiving this email (which I never opted-in to receive) isn’t really a link, it’s just static text. Lame!

On West Wing they are trying to create an international coalition of peacekeepers to send to the middle east. CJ says something to the effect of “Canada? What kind of military do they have, anyway? Are they going to throw bottles of maple syrup?”

Very lame, for a few reasons. Wouldn’t CJ be a bit more informed, or is the fact that it’s Canada actually excuse an American official from having to be informed – when slagging off Canada will suffice? And of course, extra ironically lame because Canada has made an enormous contribution to peacekeeping, perhaps even larger in scale given the small military capability that Canada has.

And really, it was just offensive, and unnecessary.