Canadian Crossing

Harper government's 10% budget cut pushes down an already weakened CBC

The Harper government underestimated buying a bunch of F-35 jets by $10 billion. While most of the budget cuts were around 4-5%, the CBC suffered a 10% cut, a savings of $115 million. That Harper, in the first budget with a majority government, put CBC in a deep financial bind came as no surprise. No government enjoys having the CBC snoop around its practices, but the Harper government has shown his disdain for the CBC for some time.

Harper infamously said he gets his news from American sources, not Canadian. No one thought he was talking about CTV or Global. Everyone knew he meant the CBC.

The CBC has been a target by conservatives for a long time. If Americans want to use the analogy of PBS and the United States, well, it's not that simple. Then again, outside of advertising, the CBC relies on the government for funding. While the 10% cut is bad enough, the CBC says the deficit is more like $200 million that includes upgrading costs).

The CBC has said it will run ads on CBC Radio 2 and its French equivalent, Espace Musique. The network, which has been justifiably criticized for running American game shows such as "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy," may have to cut back on episodes of its Canadian content or resort to similar showings of American/British programming. If you think things are bad enough now, the network uses profits from Hockey Night in Canada to fund other areas. If CBC loses those hockey rights in 2014, and those rights will likely be reduced or eliminated, the CBC money woes will get much worse.

Conservatives howl that the CBC doesn't spend its money well, and that its goal of running Canadian content isn't worth the money because Canadians watch films and TV from the States.

Criticizing or praising the CBC often gets caught up in only one slice of the CBC pie. Some hate what the TV service does, but love the radio part. Others can hate the radio, but love what the CBC does on TV. Or they love or hate both.

In visiting Canada, I used to be excited about seeing CBC Newsworld. Since the network has dumbed down the news channel to the CBC News Network, the programming isn't as noteworthy. Did they do that because of previous financial problems? Pressure to conform to lower standards for "audience"? As bad as things have been on CBC's news channel, closing foreign bureaus is a likely step with the budget cuts.

The channel does get revenue from two cable channels besides CBC News Network: CBC Bold and CBC Documentary.

CBC Television: The channel runs children's programming commercial-free during the morning. This isn't the best use of the channel financially, but the higher purpose (entertaining and educating children). The network was debating about expanding into a CBC Kids digital channel, but won't right now. Canadian families have to decide whether losing this programming, especially for those without cable is worth it to its society.

The network had cut back for a long time on improving local news, and has only recently put in resources to change that back. The loss of federal money will hurt this effort.

Game shows aren't the only concerns. CBC also runs episodes of "Coronation Street," a long-time British soap opera.

The CBC was already having trouble paying for digital converters for a number of markets in English and French. Again, this is an area where the network could save money long-term if it had the capital to make those moves.

The network has also come under criticism for delving into versions of reality shows: "Dragon's Den" leaps to mind.

The comedies and dramas are criticized for not being funny or entertaining enough. The most successful Canadian program in recent times is "Corner Gas," and that was one of the few Canadian shows on CTV.

Prime-time shows on CBC are at a disadvantage since their seasons end in April due to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

CBC Television is in an odd circumstance. In taking advertising, it competes with CTV, Global, and CityTV, yet unless hockey or the Junos are involved, CBC won't win the ratings race most nights. The commercial networks don't have the restrictions on non-Canadian content, and they air sim subs of U.S. daytime, prime time, and late-night programming.

Since most of the criticism against CBC is on the TV side (other than the conservatives who don't like CBC for a number of alleged bias reasons), let's looks at how we can fix the TV side.

I've never run a TV network, but some of CBC's costs have nothing to do with programming. When the U.S. stations upgraded to digital, some PBS stations struggled with the transition because they didn't the funds to do the digital upgrade. If the Canadian government felt that was important for the good of society (being able to sell off the analog spectrum to raise money), then the government — yes, the Harper government — should help with that project, freeing up money to go to programming.

Instead of installing a new Kids Digital Channel and having to deal with the CRTC, why not take a block out of CBC Dcumentary and run kids programming during the day. Yes, the CBC should have some children's programming on its schedule. But having a commercial-free block on the TV side may not be financially viable.

One solution that would strengthen Canadian content and help Canadians appreciate their culture is to go CBC Classic. Broadcast older episodes of shows that CBC viewers appreciate. The network has threatened to show more prime-time reruns, but why not show old show reruns during the day and to fill other time slots. True, some of those rights would have to be reacquired, but the prestige of the old-school CBC would get a wider audience.

CBC could also fill holes with Canadian movies that don't get much exposure otherwise. The drawback in running movies in prime time is interrupting them with commercials, which audiences are more reluctant to put up with. PBS stations run movies all the time, and while their financing structure is different, the CBC could get sponsorships to offset the cost.

CBC on the TV side lives in a quasi-world where its interests are to run Canadian programming that wouldn't get a shot otherwise while remaining commercially viable. So CBC has to step up and provide good Canadian content and not worry about ratings.

Since this has to be a two-way street, Canadian consumers should have higher standards for CBC and respond accordingly. Yes, it's popular to bash Canadian content, but culture and heritage is important. When PBS and CBC were more "boring," the quality was better. Compromise might work in some circles, but it doesn't work for CBC or PBS. This also means that the CBC News Network needs to return to its former glory.

Figure out a way to make money exporting programming to other countries who might appreciate a Canadian sense of things. CBC America, anyone?

Find a way to let CBC keep some (all?) of the Hockey Night in Canada package. Assuming the Harper government wants the CBC to survive on some level (some conservative MPs wanted way more and deeper cuts), the network needs good sources of revenue. Hockey is one of those sources.

This isn't just a struggle between Harper and the CBC, or conservatives and the CBC, but an ongoing struggle between having a channel that broadcasts the best of Canada without the ongoing pressure of thinking only profits. We've seen in the United States what happens when you weaken its "version" of the CBC. PBS isn't even close to what it was, and neither is the CBC.

Canada's culture — arts, music, film, TV, and so much more — is particularly vulnerable, more than England (BBC) or the United States (PBS). More care needs to be made to let Canadians see and hear the best of what Canada has to offer. If conservatives and others don't want government funding, where do they think the money can be found? Americans would love to have a CBC style of delivery for TV/radio, even the CBC of 2012; the PBS and NPR funding system isn't anything you would wish on your worst enemy.

The best scenario would be a CBC radio and television where quality programming was delivered with little to no waste, a steady stream of reasonable money from the federal government, and a government that gets the hell out of the way. What we have in Canada is a CBC that doesn't know which master to serve, a bit of tunnel vision, and enough consumers who either hate the politics or lack of quality programming. Canadians have to decide if they want a CBC that is ideal or one that sinks further into oblivion. If you lose the CBC, you lose a way to express who you are as Canadians, and a convenient border-crossing friendly extension, showing the United States and elsewhere what Canada is all about (a-boot?).

photo credit: CBC

Day 4 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Ben Mulroney, torchlight skiing, and Canadian cuisine

Canadian word of the day: Ogopogo

The Calgary Stampede Show Band opened and closed the final chapter of Kelly Ripa's adventures in Banff. Ripa's co-host on Thursday was Ben Mulroney, an actual Canadian. Mulroney works for CTV as host of ETalk and "Canadian Idol." (CTV airs Live with Kelly.)

Mulroney was born in Montréal and grew up in Ottawa. Ben was 8 when his dad became prime minister. Tying in the show band, the hosts talked about this summer's 100th Calgary Stampede. Mulroney noted that Canada is a young country, having been created in 1867, so 100 years make it a nationwide cultural icon. Calgary is about 145 km (90 miles) from Banff.

Mulroney did a really nice job as co-host. I argued that Ripa needed Canadian presence in the chair. And it showed well on Thursday.

Theresa Montague of Banff introduced the Canadian Word of the Day; an ogopogo is a mythical creature that lives at the bottom of the lake. Montague said the creature is green and 50 ft. long. I confess I didn't know that word either.

We mentioned yesterday the oddity of promoting trips with the trivia game while promoting Banff and Alberta. Well, sure enough, the trip up for grabs on Thursday was for the Fairmont Banff Springs.

David Torres of Fairhaven, MA was the player. Torres had heard of Calgary and Alberta but not Lake Louise. Not too bad. Then Torres blurted out his critique of Alberta beef "not the best looking, but it is the best tasting steak."

Torres won the trip to the Fairmont in Banff Springs because he knew the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City the same year as Banff National Park. You got the impression that the show would have been more pissed than the contestat if he didn't get the question correct.

David James Elliott was the primary guest. Elliott is a native of the Toronto area, but had never been to Banff. He teasingly went after Mulroney for his father being in charge. Ben said "Take a number." Elliott was known for being on "JAG" but is now on "GCB." At the end, Ripa noted that GCB aired on ABC; Mulroney sneaked in that the show also airs on CTV. (That is too many initials in one paragraph.)

One of the issues with the coverage in Banff was that we only saw winter shots, forgetting how pretty the area is when the snow isn't on the ground. We got a shot of Horse Thief Canyon, a lovely shot of the area without snow.

Kelly never did see a moose, even if Mulroney wore a moose hat for her. And Ripa snapped her 2-day string of mentioning poutine.

Speaking of food, Kelly and Ben were treated to Rocky Mountain cuisine courtesy of the executive chef of the Fairmont Banff Springs.

The difficulty of defining Canadian cuisine is that this depends on the region of the country. Poutine travels well beyond Quebec. But it is easier to get elk and bison in the Rocky Mountain region. We also got trout, salmon bouillabaisse, beef tenderloin carpaccio, cheese fondue with truffle, and poached pears with maple mousse.

Mulroney said, "nothing says Canada like maple, huh." Ripa dipped the poached pears with maple mousse in the cheese fondue.

Ripa reacted fondly to the food by kissing the executive chef and the sous chefs. This is about local cuisine, but it's also about food for people who can afford the luxury of such a trip.

Kelly was aggressive in selling Banff, Alberta, and Canada. Unlike Monday, it came across better and reflecting the time that she has had in that area. When people think of Canada, Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver leap to mind. Full credit where credit is due: the show went to two places that are very little known in the States and showcased them on U.S. television in ways that even the best of commercials couldn't do.

As much as we have teased about watching the show, I haven't been to Prince Edward Island or Alberta. And I want to see both provinces.

Previous: Day 3 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Snow shoeing, Melanie Fiona, and a beaver hat

Previous: Day 2 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Poutine, Calgary Fiddlers, and Caroline Rhea

Previous: Day 1 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Dog sledding, ice carving, and Regina jokes

Day 3 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Snow shoeing, Melanie Fiona, and a beaver hat

Canadian word of the day: Ginch

According to Wikitionary, ginch is from Alberta and British Columbia and refers to briefs, as opposed to boxers. For the record, ginch is not in the Canadian-English dictionary I own. Bunny hug, Tuesday’s word, isn’t in the dictionary, but I knew what that was.

Episode 3 started out with the Alberta Caledonia Pipe Band playing the bagpipes and drums. Ryan from Toronto gave the Canadian Word of the Day. But he clearly knew of ginch, so perhaps the word has drifted throughout the country.

Kelly's co-host was Peter Facinelli. Facinelli was a guest on the Prince Edward Island episodes, and had shot a movie in Banff. Kelly touched briefly on the fact that Facinelli is coming off of a divorce. He allegedly was having an affair with a Canadian woman. When Kelly brought up the divorce, one audience member clapped. Kelly said. “So kind of you. You must be American.”

The opening banter lasted quite long since there was only one non-musical guest. At one point, they mentioned that the mayor of Banff was in the audience. The conversation shifted to various mayors, so Kelly used it as an opportunity to make another Regina joke. Facinelli replied, “That’s not a real place, is it? It’s a real place?”

Kelly assured Peter that Regina was a real place. “Speaking of Regina, I got you a beaver hat.”

Melanie Fiona performed, just as she did in Prince Edward Island. Fiona is from Toronto and had not been to this part (Banff) of Canada. Fiona flew in from Ottawa where the Junos were.

The outdoor activity was Kelly going snow shoeing. The views were quite impressive. This showed off the park much better than Gelman’s skiing. Still, the lake where Kelly ended up on Wednesday (Lake Louise?) would have been amazing without all that snow.

Other highlights included:

-- They played the phone trivia game. The woman was from Babylon, NY (New York City area). Kelly asked her, "Joanne, have you ever been to Banff?” “No, I never even heard of it before you went.” The crowd booed that.

She won the trip to St. Lucia. Giving away a trip to somewhere else while enticing people to come to Banff seems odd, but they did this during the Prince Edward Island trip. So maybe she'll go to Banff after her St. Lucia trip.

-- Before they introduced Johnny Galecki, Kelly noted that this was “Day 2 of my poutine addiction.” Kelly had to explain that it was not a dirty word, but Canadian French fries.

-- They are shooting the episodes at the Banff Centre. Kelly noted that prominent alumni include Kim Cattrall and Eric McCormack.

-- They mentioned Balkin, a Greek restaurant in Banff, a couple of times.

-- Don’t know if you noticed this, and our Canadian friends didn’t see this, but I saw a Travel Alberta ad in the first break of the show.

Previous: Day 2 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Poutine, Calgary Fiddlers, and Caroline Rhea

Previous: Day 1 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Dog sledding, ice carving, and Regina jokes

Day 2 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Poutine, Calgary Fiddlers, and Caroline Rhea

Canadian word of the day: Bunny Hug

"I am in love with poutine" — Jayma Mays

Kelly starts out by noting her producer says Jayma Mays had fallen in love with Canadian French fries. Ripa, co-host Chris Harrison, and Mays eat from a large bowl of poutine. "It is heaven on a plate," said Mays. "It's heaven in a bowl."

"That is incredible," Ripa said after she tried it.

Mays had not been to Banff, but her husband has gone swimming. The couple had worked together in Vancouver.

Caroline Rhea was introduced as "Canadian royalty." Now you had a segment earlier in the show on poutine. You have a guest from Montréal, home of poutine. And they don't ask Rhea about poutine.

Rhea noted that she flew in from Vancouver where she was filming a movie with David Hasselhoff. At the end of the segment, Rhea ended, "I want everyone in Canada to follow me on Twitter because they are coming for our oil and I want you to know."

The second show started out with the Calgary Fiddlers. Ripa and Harrison showed pictures of Marilyn Monroe in Banff in 1953.

Yasmine, Betty Jo, Colleen, and Cheryl introduced the Canadian word of the day: Bunny Hug. A bunny hug is a hooded sweatshirt. The lovely ladies were adorned in bunny hugs. As Kelly mentioned yesterday's word, toque, she mispronounced toque as "toke," as in "one toke over the line."

The outdoor adventure was Live's producer Michael Gelman doing cat skiing. Everyone had fun with the idea of cats skiing. Unfortunately for the segment, cats skiing would have been more interesting.

The terrain is clearly pretty, but with a lot of it covered by snow, they could have been anywhere. Early in the segment, they did note that they were going from 8,000 ft. to 9,000 ft. The significant altitude is the one element that has been missing from the coverage.

Previous: Day 1 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Dog sledding, ice carving, and Regina jokes

photo credit: WABC-TV New York

Day 1 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Dog sledding, ice carving, and Regina jokes

Canadian word of the day: Toque

See there was some Canadian content on Day 1 of the Live with Kelly experience in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Well, that and Regina vagina jokes.

Okay, this was the first episode I have seen of this show without Regis. Kelly Ripa tried too hard to give Travel Alberta its moneys worth, pounding home the point of coming to Alberta. You can be smoother about the idea.

Oh, and Regina is in Saskatchewan.

Kelly and her co-host husband Mark Consuelos entered the theatre with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Kelly and Regis were accompanied by the RCMP in Prince Edward Island. Still, Ripa acted surprised.

Ruth from Calgary introduced the Canadian Word of the Day, a cute feature.

One major Canadian highlight was when Mark went dog sledding and passed the Great Divide Arch, marking the Alberta-British Columbia border. A nice moment to show how large the park is. They did talk about how Banff National Park is the third oldest national park, and pictures of Banff then and now.

The major reason to tune in was gorgeous scenery of the area, and they had plenty of shots. A beautiful moment to be captured in HD.

This isn't to ignore ice carver Scott Harrison, or the fact that Ripa was white-hatted, or the couple telling the story of their son, Joaquin, being conceived in Montréal.

Oooohh, Jason Biggs had an elk burger in Banff. That was the singular highlight of the guests from Day 1.

Perhaps this isn't fair to compare what happened in Banff vs. Prince Edward Island. Being indoors and surrounded by snow makes telling the story more difficult.

'Live with Kelly' Alberta schedule light on Canadian artists

That Alberta scenery better be really beautiful.

If you are tuning in to see Canadian stars on "Live with Kelly" this week, you will wait for most of that Canadian content until Thursday. If you're looking for Canadian stars that weren't also in Prince Edward Island with the show in 2010, blink and you could miss it.

Kelly Ripa's husband is co-hosting on Monday. Thursday's co-host isn't well-known to Americans, but Ben Mulroney is a CTV host, also host of "Canadian Idol," and son of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Peter Facinelli is the co-host on Wednesday; Facinelli was also a guest on the PEI episodes. while Facinelli is not Canadian, he reportedly had an affair with a Canadian woman that ended his marriage to Jennie Garth. Not sure if Kelly will bring that up in Alberta.

Caroline Rhea (Tuesday) and R&B singer Melanie Fiona (Thursday) are repeat guests from the PEI episodes. The lone newcomer is David James Elliott, who will also be on Thursday's episode. The guest list for Monday and Wednesday has no Canadians; Thursday is all-Canadian.

We also have no guests with Alberta connections, unless one of them has summers or winters in Alberta, so we may find an ulterior motive for why they are on the shows in Alberta.

So, Johnny Olsen, tell them what else will happen in Alberta:

"During the show's visit to Canada, "LIVE" also will showcase the abundant outdoor activities that Alberta has to offer. From snowshoeing and dog sledding, to torchlight skiing and cat skiing, "LIVE" is taking advantage of it all in the midst of the breathtaking majesty of Banff National Park. Each "LIVE" broadcast will originate from the Eric Harvie Theatre at The Banff Centre, a national arts training center located in the heart of the Canadian Rockies in Banff."

By being indoors, this reduces the chances of Kelly's skirt flying up like it did at Prince Edward Island. We'll have to see how much of the outside beauty we will see if they are in a theatre.

"Live with Kelly" airs in syndication out of WABC-TV in New York City and on CTV across Canada.

'Live! with Kelly' to tape four April episodes in Banff National Park

Once again, I must brave the elements, make the sacrifice for my readers. I must watch 4 straight days of Live!.

This time, Kelly Ripa (minus Regis Philbin) will tape four episodes from Banff National Park in beautiful Alberta. You will be able to capture the early spring time wonder of Alberta on the syndicated daytime talk show from April 2-5.

In July 2010, I hunkered down for four episodes (taped over two days) from Charlottetown, PEI. Kelly Ripa did an reenactment of Anne of Green Gables, Regis whined about being offering beautiful seafood that wasn't fried, the beautiful scenery was on display, and we saw lots of cool Canadian celebrities.

Early April in Banff is a little chilly, most of the time. The average high for April in nearby Calgary is 52.3°F. The show is taping in early April and 9 am live in New York means 7 am live in Alberta. By contrast, PEI was live at 10 am local time.

Calgary's weather can fluctuate considerably, so we will have to see what kind of backdrop. If nothing else, snow will still be in the Canadian Rockies.

Still to come are the guest list as well as who will be Kelly's co-host. More well-known Canadian males who fit the Live! demographic include Michael Bublé (from Vancouver) and cable news anchor John Roberts. I will nominate actor Paul Gross (above) as a very logical choice to be the co-host.

Gross is reportedly good looking, according to women (the key Live! demographic). He is a Canadian actor, producer, director, singer and writer who played a mountie in "Due South." And Gross is from Calgary, Alberta.

Previous coverage:

Regis and Kelly Day 1: Seafood galore in Prince Edward Island

Regis and Kelly Day 2: Kelly goes Anne of Green Gables

Regis and Kelly Day 3: Kelly rides a horse, Regis 'hunts' for seafood

Regis and Kelly Day 4: Regis hosts a clambake with no clams

This will be the show's third visit to the Great White North, having previously been in Niagara Falls, Canada. The program airs on some ABC stations, so check your local listings in the United States. Live! with Kelly airs nationally in Canada on CTV. And yes, we will have extensive coverage when Kelly Ripa is in Banff.

As we get more info, we will update you. The best way to check for that is to follow CanadianCrossing.com on Twitter #canadian_xing. If you aren't on Twitter, you can read the feed on http://twitter.com/canadian_xing.

Photo credit: Photo by C.J. LaFrance/Getty Images North America

Christopher Plummer (finally) wins his first Oscar

Christopher Plummer, who was born in Toronto and grew up outside Montréal in Senneville, Quebec, has finally won his first Oscar — Best Supporting Actor for "Beginners."

Plummer made it a clean sweep for the year, winning a Golden Globe and the Independent Spirit Award for the role. He has won two Emmys, two Tonys, and a Genie.

"You're only two years older than me darling, where have you been all of my life?" Plummer asked.

At 82, Plummer became the oldest person to ever win an Oscar. His film career started in 1957. He has had a number of distinguished roles, including "The Sound of Music" and "The Insider."

Plummer had been nominated in all three categories in 2009 for his role as Leo Tolstoy in "The Last Station."

His speech was short and gracious, similar in fact to the speech at the Independent Spirit Awards. Plummer spoke a little French, emphasizing his bilingual Canadianness.

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While Canadians have won relatively minor Oscar awards over the years, the last Canadian to win a major acting award was Anna Paquin. While Paquin grew up in New Zealand, she was born in Winnipeg. Paquin won the Best Supporting Actress award in 1993 for "The Piano."

James Cameron won the Best Director award for Titanic in 1997.

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"Monsieur Lazhar" and "In Darkness" were long shots to win Best Foreign Language Film, as "A Separation" from Iran was the heavy favorite. "A Separation" turned out to be the winner.

"Monsieur Lazhar" was Canada's official nomination; "In Darkness" was Poland's nominee, but was a Canadian-German-Polish co-production. The story, in case you don't know this, is that Telefilm, Canada's film agency, took back its more than $1 million because the film wasn't made in English or French, according to the Telefilm mandate. The Canadian producers scrambled and came up with replacement funding.

"Barbarian Invasions" is still the only Canadian winner in this category from Denys Arcand in 2003.

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Other nominees in "lesser" categories that did not win included "Dimanche/Sunday" and "Wild Life" for Animated Short Film, and Howard Shore "Hugo" for original score finalist.

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Other Canadian highlights included an appearance by Justin Bieber in the beginning as a way to bring in younger demos, and Cirque de Soleil.

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Michele Williams was nominated for Best Actress for "My Week With Marilyn" but did not win. Williams won the Independent Spirit Award for the role. We generously hope that Williams is nominated next year for "Take This Waltz" by Sarah Polley. I honestly think this is Williams' best work, and that is saying something. We will see as the film gets to some American theatres in 2012.

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photo credit: Getty Images

Super Bowl ad notebook: Actual Canadian Super Bowl ads

Your TV choice this past weekend: 4 CBC games and no Super Bowl ads OR no CBC games and all the Super Bowl ads you can muster.

The best scenario is to live along the border on the U.S. side, get the CBC feed and still watch the Super Bowl ads. Canadians get the hockey, but they are primarily shut out of Super Bowl ads.

The CRTC makes Canadian cable systems cover U.S. ads and Canadian ads are run in their place. So if you are on cable or satellite in Canada, whether you tune in NBC or CTV, you get the Canadian feed. Yes, many Canadians and Americans can go on YouTube and elsewhere and see some of the Super Bowl ads. (Full disclosure: My day job is running an ad in the Super Bowl.)

The best way for Canadian viewers to see the Super Bowl ads is to access a NBC over-the-air (OTA) signal. The CRTC can't do anything about OTA signals, though the digital conversion reduces the range of OTA signals. While Canadians receive the U.S. networks via cable, very few of them can get that OTA signal. In the major cities, Toronto has a pretty good shot at WGRZ/Buffalo Channel 2 and Windsor, Ontario is ideal to get WDIV/Detroit Channel 4.

In past years, Canadians might get the ads depending on their location, cable or satellite outlet, and whether all the network feeds were covered. This is a hit-and-miss, and we hope you found success.

Now, many companies run their Super Bowl ads well after the game. Though if it's a sim sub, the U.S. commercials are blocked. And the really cool ads — think Seinfeld and the Soup Nazi one — don't run that much after the Big Game.

This year, Labatt's, which distributes Budweiser beer in Canada, created a Super Bowl ad that was only shown in Canada, not in the United States. As a public service, you can see it in the video above.

For last year's Super Bowl, Hyundai Elantra paid extra to air the U.S. ad in Canada. This year, Hyundai created a separate Canadian ad for the Super Bowl.

Samsung aired its U.S. Super Bowl commercial in the Canadian telecast, continuing its quest to mock Apple customers. (Full disclosure: I just bought a Samsung phone.)

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You can't mention Super Bowl ads without noting that Canadian acting legend William Shatner's Priceline character was killed off by Priceline. While Shatner may be replaced as the company's spokesperson, you have to imagine that at some point, perhaps a future Super Bowl ad, Shatner's character will reappear, just like characters do in many soap operas.

Shatner's character goes out in a blaze of glory as he saves a bus teetering on the edge of a bridge, and then falls off that bridge.

Canada's best-known NBA basketball player Steve Nash appeared in a Bridgestone Tires ad. And Montréal's Moment Factory and Cirque du Soleil worked on the multimedia production of Madonna's halftime show.

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Being Super Bowl week, the Globe and Mail had some nice Canadian tie-ins to the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is quite popular in Canada from a fan's perspective — third-highest TV audience in 2011 — even with very little actual connection.

New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes was in his 2nd Super Bowl, and had also played in the CFL with the Ottawa Renegades in 2002-2003.

The newspaper also had a bit of fun with what would have happened if New England Patriots QB Tom Brady went with baseball as he was drafted by the Montréal Expos.

The Expos drafted him in the 18th round in 1995, a pick so late because the assumption was that Brady would pick football and go to the University of Michigan.

The Expos were snake-bit in a lot of ways, so you would like to think that a few of these moments would have made a difference.

Buffalo Bills win first game ever in Toronto, shutout Washington 23-0

Maybe Buffalo Bills fans will finally show a little love for Toronto.

The Bills won for the first time in the regular season in Toronto, posting a 23-0 shutout of the Washington D.C. team at Rogers Centre.

Buffalo is now in a first-place tie with the New England Patriots at 5-2. The Bills are now 4-0 at home, 3 in Buffalo and 1 in Toronto.

This is the 4th year of the 5-year contract, so 2012 will have the last regular-season game (and pre-season game) under the deal. Even though Buffalo won in Toronto, its fans might want teams to rotate playing in Canada's largest city.

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Fox thought enough of the Toronto game to bring in its #1 crew. Thom Brennaman (filling in for Joe Buck), Troy Aikman, and Pam Oliver all made the trip to Canada.

Brennaman's last trip to Toronto might have been June 2004, if he wasn't working for Fox that weekend, as his former employer, the Arizona Diamondbacks, made its only visit to Toronto. Brennaman did make trips to Montréal for games with Arizona, the Chicago Cubs, and the Cincinnati Reds. Major network broadcasters don't normally make this kind of trip.

The #1 crew usually goes to a large segment of the audience. This game was 1 of 2 late games on Fox on a CBS doubleheader Sunday (meaning Fox stations only received 1 game), going to about 23% of the country, including Buffalo, Dallas, Houston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington.

Canadian TV viewers saw the game either on Citytv affiliates nationwide, Rogers Sportsnet East, or the Fox affiliate from Buffalo.

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Last year, Chicago Bears defensive end Israel Idonije was in the spotlight as the Canadian playing for the other team. Idonije was from Manitoba.

This year, Washington free safety Oshiomogho Atogwe got that spotlight. Atogwe was coming off a knee injury, but started for the D.C. team.

Atogwe is from Windsor, Ontario, barely in Canada, true, but a lot closer to Toronto than Manitoba.

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Fox again came prepared for ways to showcase Toronto. I didn't see all of the tidbits, and the sound wasn't on most of the game. But here is what I personally observed:

The opening shot looked like it came from the ferry coming back from the islands back to the mainline with the CN Tower in prominence. This was a view I have seen a few times in person.

Brennaman and Aikman talked about the great weather with Brennaman wondering why the roof wasn't open. Rogers Centre is very fussy about not opening the roof past a certain point in the fall, regardless of the weather. This was the earliest NFL game in the series. Rogers won't open the roof for the CFL Argonauts, but since the city is in a showcase with this game, an exception could have been made.

We saw several overhead shots of downtown and the CN Tower. Brennaman and Aikman had fun with Casa Loma. I didn't make out all of what they said, but it sounded like they were joking about staying there before the game. They showed off the ring of honorees that surrounds Rogers Centre.

Out of one break, we saw Wayne Gretzky's bar, just up the street from the Rogers Centre, and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Again, the sounds was off but Brennaman made some mention to Gretzky and Cincinnati. My hunch was that he mentioned that Cincinnati was the site of Gretzky's first hat trick when Gretzky was with Edmonton in the WHA.

We saw a kid riding a buffalo in some family-friendly setup near the stadium; more overhead downtown shots, and one great nighttime picture of the lit-up CN Tower that maybe was shot down Yonge Street.

They showed off a flashback of Mark Rypien winning the Super Bowl MVP crown in 1992. Rypien won the game for the Washington Redskins, Buffalo's 2011 opponent in Toronto. Rypien is the only Canadian to win the Super Bowl MVP trophy.

Rypien is the cousin of the late Rick Rypien, who died as a member of the Winnipeg Jets in August, but played in the NHL only for the Vancouver Canucks.

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I spent part of the game with rabid Buffalo Bills fans at a Chicago bar. I wanted to get a sense of true-blue Bills fans. They were unhappy with the lack of excitement from the crowd. They were unhappy that in the series, the fans aren't necessarily rooting for Buffalo, and didn't like going 0-3.

Here at CanadianCrossing.com, we remember back to the Expos playing in Puerto Rico and feeling horrible about that experience. So we do have sympathy. But we like the idea of having a NFL game in Canada each year.

Having a rotation of teams, and maybe a rotation of cities with cheaper tickets. One issue with the complaint of the lack of enthusiasm from the fans stems from the people who pay a lot of money for seats aren't as likely to get excited.

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For those looking for the obligatory "players had to get their passports at the last minute story, check out this gem from The Washington Post. Have to like the part where because of the NFL lockout, the team couldn't advise its draft picks to get passports. The draft picks knew that the D.C. team was playing in Canada, and weren't told by other adults that they needed a passport.