Canadian Crossing

Prince Charles, Camilla to spend Victoria Day in Canada

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will be in three Canadian provinces in a 4-day trip, around Victoria Day weekend. The royal couple are in Canada as part of the Diamond Julibee celebration, marking 60 years on the throne for his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

The festivities begin in Saint John, New Brunswick, where they will visit a Canadian base. In Toronto, the couple will view Victoria Day fireworks. Prince Charles will present Diamond Jubilee medals. The visit will wrap up in Regina, Saskatchewan, where Charles and Camilla will meet up with Prime Minister Stephen Harper (just back from G8 and NATO) and Governor General David Johnston.

The low-key highlights prove a stark contrast to the more exciting itinerary for Will and Kate during their trip to Canada last summer.

For Charles, this is his 16th trip to the Great White North. He brought Camilla for her Canadian debut in 2009.

Previous coverage:
Prince William and Kate arrive in Canada tomorrow
Royal couple protesters in Quebec stem from long-standing English-French battle

U.S. embassy issues Montreal travel warning due to student protests

The U.S. government has issued a warning to Montréal tourists about the student protests that have now gone on for more than 2 months. American tourists are advised about possible "unforeseen violence," "vandalism," and "arrests."

This story in itself is worthy of CanadianCrossing.com, but there is an added wrinkle. I am headed soon to Montréal on vacation.

I booked the trip before the protests started, and once the Canadiens didn't make the playoffs, I thought protests would be a non-issue.

Interestingly, the warning came out before the smoke bombs last week in the Metro.

One doesn't usually book a vacation in the hopes of seeing protests, unless one is protesting. This doesn't fall into a tourist must-see when traveling. Plenty of visitors are coming to Chicago this week for NATO and what would have been G8.

The good news is that these protests aren't directed at tourists, and we haven't seen stories of tourists being affected by the protests so far.

My advice, which I will literally take to heart, is this:

-- Know a second way to get where you are going. If you are going by train, know how to get around by bus.
-- Be patient and flexible. If you are staying for awhile, adjust your itinerary whenever possible if protests might interfere.
-- If you aren't going to be where the protests are (near the universities and downtown), take advantage of those opportunities.
-- Ask your concierge or hosts if they know more about where the protests might be.
-- Look like a local person. Wear a hat from a local sports team (Habs? Expos?). Okay, you might seem like a tourist wearing a local hat. So be ready to know something about the team or sport you are wearing.

Montréal also has to be concerned about visitors to the upcoming Grand Prix weekend of June 8-10, and summer festivals, especially comedy and jazz.

Should you not go to Montréal during this uncertain time? Well, I'm going. I will be smart about where I am going and keep my eyes and ears open. If nothing else, vacations are full of things and moments you can't see at home, and protests fit into that category.

Traveling is full of surprises: good and bad. Be flexible and enjoy what you can. Montréal has a lot to offer — even with a protest or two.

photo credit

'iCarly' hits Canada in search of Canadian Fat Cakes

No matter what you've heard on "iCarly," you can bring processed baked goods from Canada into the United States.

Then again, even if you are a part of the "iCarly" demographic, hopefully you know that the Canadian Fat Cakes episode was just a spoof.

The popular Nickelodeon TV show took Fat Cakes, one of their running jokes, and adapted an episode where Sam, who is obsessed about Fat Cakes and has never had a Canadian fat cake, gets a chance to tour a plant in Canada where they make Canadian fat cakes. Fat cakes in Canada taste better because they are made with "cane fat" while American Fat Cakes are made with "corn fat."

Processed baked goods are well within the rules of what you can bring back from Canada into the United States. Trust me, I've brought back Canadian versions of Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and Cup Cakes. The customs officers think they're more funny than dangerous.

Since the show mentions Seattle, the inference is that the cast went to Vancouver or somewhere nearby in southwestern Britian Columbia.

Besides the actual ability to bring back processed baked goods, one other glaring misstep in the script was that Sam didn't have her passport when she tries to go back across the border to the United States. Sam would have needed a passport to get into Canada. She seems surprised about this when she gets to the border. Especially since this was a day trip, Sam would have had this issue come up earlier in the day.

For more from the food perspective, check out this edition of "Temptation of the Week" from our sister blog, BalanceofFood.com.

photo credit: iCarly

Windsor Hum is a real issue on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border

While the Windsor Hum is louder on the Canadian side of the border, the noise about the noise is getting louder in American media circles.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the phenomena. This take from ABC News portrays Canadians as hearing things.

The Windsor Hum has been going on from some time. The likely source is on the American side at Zug Island. The problem is that those on the Canadian side can't get those on the American side to investigate.

Reports have ranged from a low murmur to rattling and shaking.

In my trips to Windsor, I personally have not experienced this occurrence. However, with the number of complaints, you have to realize something is going on.

Audio scientists could explain why those on the Canadian side are hearing the noise, but not on the American side. Despite the snide take by the U.S. media outlets, Canadians don't hear any better than Americans and their ears work the same way. This could be as simple as the dynamics of where the sound comes from, or that more Canadians live near the source of the sound than Americans do.

Chances are that Barack Obama and Stephen Harper haven't discussed the Windsor Hum. The Windsor area already feels ignored by Queen's Park (provincial capital in Toronto) and Ottawa (national capital). And Detroit, outside the auto industry, is ignored on the U.S. side. Still, someone should step in and find out the source of the noise, and if that can't be adjusted to give Americans and Canadians more peace of mind.

ESPN rediscovers MLB in Toronto

"You always hope to have one Blue Jays game a year."

In Chris Berman's "Ode to Codeine," he notes that you should take advantage if you draw a Blue Jays assignment. Well, ESPN rarely makes the trip up north, much less show the Toronto Blue Jays these days. Monday night proved to be an exception, and the U.S. cable sports channel's trip to Toronto had nothing to do with the Blue Jays, Toronto, or codeine.

ESPN wanted a chance to showcase long-time Japanese hurler Yu Darvish, and this was its best shot so far. While the focus and coverage was on Darvish, Canada and Toronto were not ignored.

In the graphic for the Blue Jays fielding alignment, defense was spelled with a c — defence — and play-by-play guy Sean McDonough pointed that out. McDonough, along with Aaron Boone and Rick Sutcliffe, also teased on-field reporter Tim Kurkjian for almost not getting into Canada because of an expired passport. McDonough made a joke on how U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton helped Kurkjian with his passport.

Kurkjian, in his first report, said "Darvish has fit in beautifully here in the United States" though McDonough later made the distinction between the U.S. and Canada in a similar context.

The Blue Jays didn't impress in the U.S. national appearance. A rally without a hit in the second inning ended without a run. The only Toronto run came on a solo home run by Edwin Encarnacion in the fourth inning. Encarnacion is one of the few Jays sluggers hitting the ball well, hitting a home run in each of the last four games.

The game drew a relatively quiet crowd of 21,945 fans. Walkup wasn't much of a factor; while the roof was closed, the weather outside was rainy. The announcers thought there would be more fans because of Darvish. Boone pointed out the number of people of Japanese descent in Toronto, but the extra crowd for Jeremy Lin (Chinese descent, NBA) proved to be more of an impact at Air Canada Centre.

The announcers also had fun showing Sunday Night Baseball play-by-play guy Dan Shulman in the Rogers Centre crowd with his sons. Shulman is Canadian and from Toronto; you had to think he knew he might be on camera at some point. Sutcliffe mentioned that he had never met Shulman's sons before. Well, this is because ESPN rarely gets to Toronto.

Then again, ESPN ranked Toronto as the worst city for professional sports teams in North America last summer. The poll was based on fans voting online, so science certainly wasn't a factor. The playoff futility of the Blue Jays and Maple Leafs plus the overall futility of the Raptors played a lot into that take. They didn't take into account the CFL Argonauts or the score might have been lower.

McDonough referred to the long-suffering Toronto sports fans as having "not a lot to cheer about in this beautiful city." He pointed out the woes of the Blue Jays, Raptors, and Maple Leafs, and even the Argonauts though McDonough doesn't follow the CFL.

Toronto's past glory came up as well. McDonough relived his CBS-TV call of Joe Carter's World Series winning home run. They also paid tribute to the late Tom Cheek's call of Carter's home run.

Referring to 1994, Mc Donough noted that "the work stoppage that followed really killed baseball in Montreal and Toronto."

The city of Toronto was on great display in the bumpers coming out of the break. One particularly beautiful shot had the skyline of downtown Toronto lit up looking west as McDonough said, "one of the great cities in the world, Toronto, Ontario."

ESPN portrays itself as the Worldwide Leader. Canada is part of that world, especially when Toronto has teams in sports that the network cares about (MLB, NBA). Since ESPN doesn't carry hockey, the NHL gets very little coverage on the Worldwide Leader. At least ESPN made it up to Rogers Centre; Fox will show every MLB team this year except for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays get another U.S. national appearance as the matinee series conclusion airs this afternoon on the MLB Network at 12:30 pm Eastern. The U.S. cable channel will take a local feed for the coverage.

Quebec students fighting for access to education, not just tuition hikes

If you think Canadians are peace-loving people who don't protest — unless it's about hockey — you haven't been paying attention to Montréal for the last couple of months.

A core of students are protesting over upcoming tuition hike increases. Only recently have the protests become violent, and that has been the missing angle for those outside Canada to pay attention.

Quebec has the lowest tuition levels in Canada, and Canadians pay a lot less than Americans for college tuition.

What may surprise most Americans and even some Canadians is that the protests are over a hike that calls for an increase of $325 per year for five years. That's $1,625 — over 5 years. Quebec Premier Jean Charest has offered a concession to stretch the increase over 7 years — $232/year. Premier Charest has also offered more money for loans and similar programs. Those concessions haven't gone over terribly well.

Over a (now) 7-year period, Quebec tuition will go from $2,890 to $4,700 per year.

If you are an American college student, or has sent one through school lately, those numbers seem frighteningly small. Quebecers do pay more in taxes. After all, U.S. college students should be protesting tuition hikes and ROI.

The protest spirit and the philosophy toward government, education, and society is very different in Quebec than in the rest of Canada. The spirit ties more toward Europe, which is celebrating May Day today, a more elaborate variation of North America's Labo(u)r Day. Whereas Americans might think that paying a ton of money is what you need to do for a college education, Quebecers might think, "Why can't university education be free, covered by the tax system?"

Students are also protesting because of concerns that fewer people can afford a college education under the tuition hikes. And as a percentage of the total, we are talking about a 75% tuition increase. Compared to Americans, Quebecers appear to have a good deal, but if you are a Quebecer, that argument doesn't really work with your reality.

In the 21st century, education is the key to better jobs, more money, and a chance to improve the world around you. In the United States, we don't understand this idea enough. You might think those in Quebec understand it too much. The students in Quebec are standing up for a higher principle, and that is something we don't see enough of … on either side of the border.

'Monsieur Lazhar,' 'Keyhole': Canadian films hitting American cities

Whetting an appetite for an Oscar-nominated foreign language film is only helpful if you get a chance to see the movie. "Monsieur Lazhar" has been making its way through the United States this month. True, the itinerary is major U.S. cities, but the fact that this tour includes quite a few American cities is a better sign that eventually you would be able to see it.

For those who may not recall the film, the story is of a man of Algerian descent who comes into a Quebec classroom after the previous teacher has committed suicide.

Previous:

'Monsieur Lazhar' makes up for Oscar loss with 6 Genies

'Monsieur Lazhar' and Christopher Plummer get Oscar nominations

This fall's Canadian film crop: will they come to the United States?

A more obscure film that I spotlighted last fall was the latest from Guy Madden entitled "Keyhole." The film is coming to Chicago next week, but I'm not sure of where else the film might play.

If you've never seen a Guy Madden film, the experience isn't easy to follow. But you will be entertained.

Finally, an even more unusual film came through a couple of weeks back as part of a festival devoted to music in films. "Roller Town" is set in the late 1970s and follows the cliche pattern of trying to save a roller disco from the forces that hate things that young people like. The plot sounds slightly better than "Xanadu" from that same era, but the people who created this throw in some pretty funny jokes. Hokey, true, but if you are going to see a film of this genre, this is the film to see.

If nothing else, you get to see cool shots of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

'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.

Canada weakens food safety as part of Harper budget cuts

Especially with NAFTA, when a NAFTA member country cuts back on food safety, good results never come as a result.

In the Harper budget cuts, food safety takes a much sharper cut than other federal agencies. The memory of the listeriosis outbreak in 2008 is still fresh, even if the deli meat wasn't. 22 deaths and 35 serious illnesses resulted from the outbreak.

In the last Canadian federal election, the Conservatives promised $100 million more in spending over a 5-year period for food safety. Wonder how that will turn out.

How food safety became a political issue on both sides of the border is startling. Conservatives eat food just like liberals and others.

At least Canada has a federal agency — Canadian Food Inspection Agency — devoted to food safety. The U.S. can't even spare that as a concept, real or weak.

For more on this story, check out our perspective from our sister blog, BalanceofFood.com.

Travelers to Canada could experience longer customs waits thanks to Harper budget cuts

Americans might wonder how the Harper government budget cuts will affect them personally. Well, one area travelers will notice is having fewer customs officials. While that might sound awesome, the move will likely lead to longer lines and more waiting to get cleared.

The Customs and Immigration Union, whose workers man the customs booths, have a different approach, worrying about guns and child pornography flowing across the border.

Not to rain on their concerns, but nobody thinks diligence will be sacrificed. The plan isn't to ease the minds of travelers into Canada by promising them quick service. The same diligence will be practiced … by fewer people.

Still, the fact that the intelligence unit will be cut in half is a legitimate concern to Canadians.

Canada has been under tremendous pressure from the United States to have stronger border protection. We don't know if Obama and Harper discussed this topic at the recent Organization of American States conference. But you have to imagine that Harper won't set a lower standard than the United States wants.

With dwindling numbers, customs officials may be under more pressure, so being nicer to them might help things go smoother for all parties.

Like most changes in the federal budget, the differences won't be instantaneous, but in a couple of months, travelers could see significant differences. The differences will depend on whether you cross at a busy or not-so-busy crossing.