Canadian Crossing

'Colbert Report' riffs on Canadian currency

Iceland isn't going to switch to the Canadian loonie as its currency, but that didn't stop Stephen Colbert from going off on the idea on the "Colbert Report."

This time, Canadians are "poutine-sucking, health care addicted, nemesis to the North." Colbert notes that Canada is just jealous as they need their own version of Canadian bacon, Canadian beer, and Canadian baseball (hockey; go figure).

Colbert also talked about the new Canadian quarter with a dinosaur skeleton that glows in the dark. The creature is based on the first dinosaur fossil found in the Peace Country in northwestern Alberta.

He imagines himself as a child hoping to get his friends, Chip and Scott, and get their moms to drive them to Ontario this summer to get the quarters.

Colbert worries about losing the youth of the United States to the "scourge of Canadian politeness and fiscal sanity." Not too bad stereotypes, if you have to have stereotypes.

Colbert ties the dinosaur theme, noting that Canadians should keep their dinosaurs "liquified in your tar sands and pumped directly into our gas tanks."

The "Colbert Report" airs Monday-Thursday on the Comedy Channel and CTV in Canada and Comedy Central in the United States.

James Cameron admits he's Canadian on 'Colbert Report'

Stephen Colbert occasionally interviews Canadians for his show "Colbert Report." And usually, the guests don't admit their Canadian stature.

Colbert brought it up when former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm was on his show, but not when David Frum was on the next night.

Colbert triggered Cameron's admittance, but didn't realize Cameron was Canadian.

Cameron shared his journey to going to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. He referred to the depths as being 7 miles, "36,000 feet or 11,000 meters."

Colbert pleads with Cameron to not go metric, "Please, no meters. We don't broadcast in Europe."

Cameron explained to Colbert that he's Canadian. "You're Canadian."

"I'm Canadian, m-----f-----."

"That might be the least polite thing I've ever heard a Canadian say."

Point of reference: Stephen used that same 12-letter expletive on Cameron earlier. Colbert enjoyed being the recipient of the return verbal volley.

"Colbert Report" doesn't go to Europe, but Canadians can watch the show on the Comedy Channel and CTV.

Colbert Report spotlights Canadians Jennifer Granholm and David Frum

The Colbert Report loves Canada, beyond the mocking. As we should know, the Colbert Report airs in Canada on CTV and the Comedy Channel. So having back-to-back Canadians on the Colbert Report this week might have been a coincidence, but a happy one it was.

The two Canadians are political, one from "each side." Tuesday started off with former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who has a new book out — A Governor's Story: The Fight for Jobs and America's Economic Future — and will start soon on her own nightly series, "The War Room," on Current TV. Granholm has contributed to coverage of debates, the Iowa caucus, and primaries on the cable channel.

Colbert sneaked up on Granholm, trying to get her to admit the deep dark secret about why she can't run for president. Colbert wanted her to say because she was born in Canada. Granholm threw him off by mentioning she was on "The Dating Game."

Eventually, Granholm admitted she was born in Canada and moved to the United States at the age of 4.

When Colbert mentioned Canada, someone from the audience shrieked in delight. Granholm said, "Oh, you got a Canadian up here."

"Or a wayward moose that just got goosed by a loon," Colbert replied.

Later, Colbert called Granholm a "maple syrup back." Colbert asked her whether she had a green card at the age of 4. Granholm said she did.

Colbert went to the other side of the aisle with his interview with David Frum. Unlike Granholm, Frum previously has been a guest on the Colbert Report.

Since Frum has been on the show, Colbert didn't point out Frum's Canadianness. Frum is definitely more Canadian than Granholm, having grown up in Canada and only becoming a U.S. citizen in 2007. Colbert and Frum argued Republican philosophies and the two Mitt Romneys from different vantage points.

'Colbert Report' sheds light on Keystone XL pipeline

The decision by the Obama Administration to delay the decision on the Keystone XL pipeline brought the issue quite a bit of attention, even getting notice on the "Colbert Report."

Stephen Colbert has no problem taking an opportunity to mention Canada, and used the Keystone XL pipeline story to make a bigger story on the environment.

Funniest line: once the oil is out of the sands, then Alberta will be left with just sand, which is good because global warming will make Alberta beachfront property. Well, it was funnier when Colbert said it.

Canada has responded in recent days by inferring that the country might sell its oil to China if the U.S. keeps delaying the pipeline. The infrastructure issues of getting the oil to China (actually to Canada's West Coast, and then to China) make it a somewhat hollow threat. Needless to say, Canada is not happy with the delay.

Harper pointed out that the U.S. problems are due to this being the "political season." The U.S. is getting to the point where every day is part of the "political season."

Some analysts are saying 2012 may bring the highest gas prices in U.S. history, and America needs to get the oil from somewhere.

Canada and the United States are each other's largest trading partner. Oil is something Canada wants to export and the U.S. wants to import. If finding a new path for the pipeline will help the U.S. decision, the Harper government will be happy. But the Harper folks would rather have that sooner rather than later.

The "Colbert Report" airs Monday-Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States and the Comedy Channel and CTV in Canada.

Colbert showcases smooth end to Harper government

Stephen Colbert displayed several Canadian stereotypes in noting that Canada has dissolved its government in preparation for an election.

Maple syrup, beavers, Alex Trebek — all played a part.

What was really funny was playing the BBC report of the no-confidence vote that brought down the Harper government.

Perhaps some Colbert viewers found out this way that Canada will have an election. Hopefully, they read about it first at CanadianCrossing.com.

We hope Jon Stewart will also take his look into Canada sometime this week.

The Colbert Report, along with the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, airs on CTV and the Comedy Channel. The programs start at 11p Eastern on the Comedy Channel and midnight local time on CTV.

Canadians on the Colbert Report on Election Day

UPDATE: Turns out one of the two Canadians scheduled for last night did not appear. The key word was "scheduled." Chrystia Freeland was replaced by Katrina vanden Heuvel, who as far as we know isn't Canadian. But Frum was on the program.

The "Colbert Report" will unite with the "Daily Show" for Election Day coverage, but the shows will have guests as well.

But what is interesting is who will be on the "Colbert Report" on the night of the U.S. election midterms: Canadians.

The two scheduled guests are Chrystia Freeland and David Frum.

Freeland is the Global Editor-at-Large of Reuters. She is from Alberta. Frum is probably more familiar to U.S. viewers; he is a right-wing op-ed writer and a former speechwriter for George W. Bush. Frum is from Toronto.

Canada's election cycle is not as regular as the one in the United States. A federal election has to be called once every five years unless there is a vote of no confidence.

Earthquake hits near Ottawa, affects Ontario and Quebec

UPDATE: There wasn't any significant damage — great news. One funny aside came from Stephen Colbert: "A 5.5 magnitude earthquake hits Canada. Even their earthquakes are bland."

An 5.5 magnitude earthquake hit Eastern Canada this afternoon. The epicenter of the quake was in the province of Quebec, 36 miles north of Ottawa, and struck at 1:41 pm EDT.

There were earthquake reports stretching as far south as Windsor, ON, on the U.S. border with Detroit and as far east as Montréal.

There don't appear to be significant injuries so far, so that is hopefully a good sign. If there is more on this story, we will bring it to you on CanadianCrossing.com.

Searching for the red Olympic mittens shouldn't be this difficult

One souvenir, besides a lot of amazing memories, from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics is a pair of red mittens. The official Vancouver Olympics mittens are quite a nice item. I personally have seen two different pairs of mittens in person.

The Olympic red mittens were promoted to help fund the Own the Podium program. The Vancouver Olympic Committee received at least $12 million, and $4 million went to Own the Podium.

So if you are inspired to buy a pair of these mittens, you would think it would be pretty easy to get a pair. But apparently, having the Olympics to inspire you to get a pair means it's just about too late. Well, at least to get them at $10.

If you were smart enough to buy them before hand, you could have bought a bunch of them, again for $10. Now, well, that is a different story.

This link is from the official site where you can buy the mittens. Except that you can't buy them anymore.

People who have been watching the Olympics, who would grab the opportunity to get them, are out of luck.

This Google search for shopping for the red mittens shows a number of them available on eBay. You can even buy used mittens for $15 or $25.

Still, it would have been nice to have them legitimately available through the whole Olympic Games.

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A few people have asked me which country I was rooting for in the men's hockey gold medal game — Canada or the United States.

Nobody asked me about the countless other sports in the Olympics, not even women's hockey where the U.S. team was expected to be in the gold medal game. Only men's hockey counted in their minds.

I noted the classic sports phrase, "There's no cheering in the press box."

You could argue that journalists root for a good story, and a 14th gold medal for Canada, and a win on its home soil in the most important sport in the country is a good story.

But figure it this way: if the United States had won, sure there would have been a celebration of some merit. The celebration might have even lasted a few days, but shortly after the winning goal was scored, most Americans would have forgotten there even was a gold medal game until 2014, and hardly even then.

As Canada won, the celebration was visible in Vancouver and not as visible across the country. This is a victory that will be remembered by most Canadians until they die.

No matter which country anyone rooted for, the game was still decided on the ice. And Sidney Crosby, who hadn't scored a point for Canada since the Germany game, had the only shootout goal against Switzerland, and the game winner in the gold medal game against the United States.

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Vancouver celebrated the end of the Olympics, and of course, the gold medal men's hockey win for Canada. But in true Canadian fashion, they handled it well. They were out en masse in the crowd, but they were reasonably well-behaved.

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There were a lot of eyeballs tuning into the men's hockey gold medal game. In the United States, the game was the most watched hockey game in 30 years, drawing 27.6 million viewers. In Canada, with 1/10th the population of the U.S., the TV audience averaged 16.6 million viewers, 26.5 million Canadians watched at least part of the game.

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NBC took a lot of criticism for its decision to dump out of the Closing Ceremony to show a new program and the local news. Paying for the right to carry the Olympics allows for certain privileges, but there should be certain responsibilities. NBC wouldn't dump out of a NFL game with a hour to go, and say we'll carry the rest of it later.

The criticism would have been lighter if the network made it clear what it was doing. All you saw were updates on the screen that a show was coming up. No major announcement, and no expectation that they were going to leave before the show was over.

My beef was that they should have covered the entire ceremony (including the Martin Short part), and not talked over parts of it, (like the Alanis Morissette song). If you have to run the whole thing in the middle of the night, so be it. If NBC can't cover the whole ceremony, then let someone do so.

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Stephen Colbert took one more look at Canada, Vancouver, and the Winter Olympics on Monday. Colbert had a brief interview with his Quebecois persona Stephane Colbert, mocked the Closing Ceremony part where they reinforced the stereotypes the world knows of Canada, e.g., giant inflatable beavers.

Then, we literally went back out to Vancouver where Colbert interviewed Vancouver native Michael Bublé. In the interview, Colbert asked Bublé about why Canada is significant.

Bublé got in some good digs defending his native country: "We're a wonderful distinct nation of people from all different cultures. We're humble, we have a great self-depreciating sense of humor, and we're sexy, as you can see (playing to the crowd)."

Colbert wanted to know why Americans need Canada. "You need our flag to tape on your suitcase when you travel."

Colbert mocked Canadian contribution to music as Men without Hats and Corey Hart, who sang "Sunglasses at Night."

Colbert and Bublé finished with a singing duet of the words to O Canada to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner.

Jon Stewart made a final joke on "The Daily Show" relating to the bets between politicians. Stewart joked that he had made a bet with Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson over the men's hockey gold medal game. The joke was that if the U.S. won, Robertson would ship a case of maple syrup to Stewart. If Canada won, Stewart would send Robertson "a hundred million dollars." But as Stewart joked, the joke was on Robertson because that would be American dollars.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart airs in Canada on the Comedy Channel at 11 pm Eastern and CTV at midnight. Colbert Report airs 30 minutes later on both outlets.

Canada leads all countries in gold medals; men's hockey to play U.S. for gold

Only one country has 10 gold medals in these 2010 Winter Olympics — and that is the home country of Canada.

Canada added four new medals, two of them gold. Charles Hamelin won the 500 meters Short Track Speed Skating. That race was significant to the Americans because Apolo Ohno was disqualified for his role in a chain-reaction collision. Hamelin's time was 40.770 seconds, .051 seconds ahead of the silver medalist.

In that race, Francois-Louis Tremblay finished third with a time of 41.326to win the bronze medal.

Hameli, his brother Francois, along with Olivier Jean and Francois-Louis Tremblay won gold in the 5000 meters race with a time of 6:44.224, just .222 seconds ahead of South Korea's silver medal performance.

There easily could have been three gold for the day. The Canadian women's curling team had a 6-4 edge going into the 10th end against defending gold medal champion Sweden. And somehow gave up 2 points, forced an 11th end, and lost 7-6.

The Canadian women went 8-0 in the preliminaries.

Canada now has 21 medals (10-7-4) good for third in overall medals. The United States (34) and Germany (27) are ahead of Canada. And Canada will win at least two more medals.

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When the news came that the 2010 Winter Olympics hockey competition would be on NHL-sized ice and not the wider international ice surface, I instantly thought the Canada and United States squads would have a huge advantage as a result.

Despite this, little did anybody likely predict that the men's hockey final would be Canada and the United States. But here we are.

Canada squeaked out a victory 3-2 over Slovakia, while the United States pounded Finland with 6 first period goals to command a 6-1 win to advance to the gold medal game. Though the game is on Canadian soil, the United States will be the home team in Sunday's game.

Patrick Marleau (San Jose Sharks) redirected a shot from Shea Weber (Nashville Predators) to score the first goal. Marleau's goal had to be reviewed to make sure his stick wasn't higher than the crossbar (it wasn't).

Brenden Morrow (Dallas Stars) also tipped in a first period goal from Chris Pronger (Philadelphia Flyers).

Ryan Getzlaf added a power-play goal late in the second period to give Canada a 3-0 lead.

Canada outshot Slovakia 28-21. Roberto Luongo had 19 saves. Though Luongo had a rough third period at the end, Luongo and the Canadian defense played well when it counted.

Unlike the U.S. blowout, Canada's win was a nailbiter. Then again, if Sunday's game is close, think about this. The U.S. hasn't trailed in the tournament; Canada knows what to do if it's close, but the U.S. might be a bit rusty.

The two bordering countries play for gold on Sunday. CTV and NBC will have live coverage of the gold medal game; faceoff will start at 3:15 pm Eastern, 4:45 pm in Newfoundland and Labrador, 12:15 pm in Vancouver.

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While the women's curling team fell just short of gold, the Canadian men's curling team is in the gold medal match this evening against Norway.

The men went 9-0 in the preliminaries, including a 7-6 win over Norway.

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The Canadian women's hockey team apologized for its celebration on the ice after the crowds were gone. There was champagne, cigars, and beer.

One of the more amusing sidelines to the story was that Marie-Phillip Poulin, who scored both goals in the gold medal game, was photographed with a beer. Poulin, who is 18, is old enough to drink in her home province of Quebec, and in Alberta, where the team trained. But of course, Poulin was in British Columbia for the Olympics, and the drinking age in that province is 19. Poulin is a few weeks away from her 19th birthday.

You can't get around the fact that what Poulin did was technically illegal, though holding a beer isn't the same as drinking a beer. But instead of pointing out the irony of drinking laws being what they are, or noting that troops are old enough to die in Afghanistan for Canada and the United States, but aren't able to have a beer in most Canadian provinces and all of the United States, we get judgmental reporting.

Imagine if the U.S. women had won, celebrated with alcohol, and one of them was 19 years old. Not old enough to drink in the United States, but old enough for British Columbia. I guarantee you it would have been an issue in the United States, even if no laws would have been broken.

As this reporter notes, given that Poulin grew up in Quebec, chances are this isn't her first exposure to alcohol. Perhaps it's a difference between Quebec culture, Canadian culture, and the American mentality.

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One overlooked point from the NBC coverage of the women's hockey final. I thought it hilarious that Cammi Granato, in assessing the U.S. and Canadian squads before the game, actually gave the edge on defense to the U.S. team. Granato did a fine job in her commentary, and she is a 2-time Olympian. But the idea that the U.S. was the best defense team throughout the tournament wasn't true in reality. And the gold medal game only put an exclamation point on that notion.

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Though we had hoped for the best, one of the subplots when the world shined on Vancouver was that actor Andrew Koenig's body was found in Stanley Park in Vancouver. Koenig was 41.

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There were a lot of great signs among the crowd when Stephen Colbert shot some of his segments outside Science World. "Colbert for Prime MInister." "U-S-eh." "Colbert Nehtion." There were a number of Canadian flags.

There was even a sign pleading to "Bring back the Jets" as in the Winnipeg Jets to the NHL.

The setting might have seen a bit unusual for the outdoor shots, but as it turns out, you couldn't get a prettier picture. They were by the water, you could see the SkyTrain in the background. And the mountains of North Vancouver rose behind Colbert in grand style.

The crowd was incredible to watch. They had to be out there for quite awhile, and they really seemed to enjoy themselves.

And the sunshine. Rain jokes aside, the Vancouver Chamber of Commerce should use that tape to show what Vancouver could look like.

Canada women's hockey wins 3rd straight gold, blanks U.S. 2-0

Joanie Rochette hung onto third place to take the bronze medal in figure skating. Rochette skated with a heavy heart after the loss of her mother. Would be beyond me to know what difference the off-ice events had on the on-ice impact.

Canada remains in fourth, now with 17 medals and 8 of them gold. Only three countries have 8 gold medals. And speaking of gold ...

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Congratulations to the Canadian women's hockey team, winning its third straight gold medal. The clincher was a 2-0 whitewash of the second-best team in the world, the United States.

The Canadian women didn't give up a single goal in the semifinals and finals. In the last two Olympics, the Canadian women's hockey team has given up 4 goals. And only one of those was a 5-on-5 goal — Switzerland in the third period this year. The Canadian women outscored their opponents in this tournament 48-2.

Marie-Philip Poulin, 18, scored both goals for Canada in the first period. Poulin went up high after the pass from Jennifer Botterill at 13:55 in the first. This came shortly after the Canadian defense stopped the U.S. on a 5-on-3 scenario.

A few minutes later, Poulin was on the face-off in the U.S. end just after Jinelle Zaugg-Siergiej got called for tripping in the other end of the ice. The face-off went off Meghan Agosta's stick back to Poulin, who fired a quick shot past U.S. goalie Jessie Vetter at 16:50 in the first period.

Meghan Agosta, who got an assist in Poulin's second goal, finished the tournament with 15 points, and was voted Most Valuable Player by journalists.

The Canadian defense was beyond spectacular. Besides the 5-on-3 they stopped in the first period, the U.S. had another 5-on-3 for 1:38 early in the second period.

And we have to mention the incredible performance by goalie Shannon Szabados, who stopped 28 shots and posted a 3-0 record in the tournament. Kim St. Pierre is the more experienced goalie, but Szabados had the hot hand and came up well when it counted.

This was a very even game: consider that Canada had 29 shots and the U.S. had 28 shots. The difference was Poulin, who may never have to buy a drink in her native Beauceville, Quebec — where the drinking age is 18.

The most memorable stat might be 16,805 — the attendance for the gold medal game. This was the biggest crowd yet in a tournament that drew a record 162,419. The five games at Canada Hockey Place drew over 16,000 fans each game. Most of the tournament was played at the much smaller UBC Thunderbird Arena, drawing crowds just under 5,500.

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The men's hockey team is suddenly the higher seed. The vision of the Canucks home ice featuring the Sedin twins shooting at Roberto Luongo in goal was crushed when Sweden lost to Slovakia 4-3 late on Wednesday.

Marian Hossa (Chicago Blackhawks) is one of the better known Slovak players, having played for Stanley Cup runners-up Pittsburgh and Detroit the last two years, along with last season's Norris Trophy winner 6'9" Zdeno Chara (Boston Bruins). Montréal goalie Jaroslav Halak may be the difference if Slovakia pulls off the upset. Slovakia upset Russia in the first round in a shootout win.

The U.S. plays Finland at 3 pm Eastern; Canada at Slovakia at 9:30 pm. CTV carries both games. NBC carries the U.S. game live coast-to-coast, and CNBC carries the nightcap game.

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Stephen Colbert finishes up his coverage in Vancouver. Colbert had a "Cheer Up Canada" video after deriding them for not owning the podium. After ending the video with the U.S. beating Canada, Colbert apologized again and took "Canadian Iceholes" off the On Notice board. Colbert had place them there when the Vancouver Olympic folks were accused of preventing the U.S. team from practicing in Olympic facilities.

To start the show, Stephen said, "I've got Olympic Fever. Either that, or I ate some really bad poutine."

Snowboarding gold medal winner Seth Wescott was interviewed in the outdoors setting. Colbert came out with a snowboard with his own likeness on it.

Wescott got a cheer from the Canadian crowd when he said he refused to meet with George W. Bush after winning gold in Torino in 2006.