Canadian Crossing

Super Bowl LVII through the eyes of Canada

Thank you, Canada. Music such as Rush, Joni Mitchell, Oscar Peterson, and Celine (Dion). Inventions such as peanut butter and the paint roller. Comedy legends including Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, and Martin Short. Sports such as hockey, basketball, and yes, football. The Grey Cup is older than the NFL.

Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvava) is our guide through Canadian contributions in the Crown Royal ad during Super Bowl LVII. Thank you, Canada indeed.

We are used to seeing Canadians advertise American products to Americans during the final game of the NFL season. Crown Royal is Canadian as in whisky, not the American spelling of whiskey. Back when I was covering politics, I noted that Hillary Clinton drank Crown Royal in 2008 when running for president in Indiana.

Grohl was a good choice to talk through Canada's contributions. After all, Seattle can get CBC on cable.  

Super Bowl LVI through the eyes of Canada

Super Bowl LV through the eyes of Canada

Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada

Sarah McLachlan had some fun poking at her saving the animals image in a Busch Light commercial in the Super Bowl. McLachlan talks about finding shelter for animals, which is not the right kind of shelter intended in the commercial.

Pulling the American light beer out of the stream reminds us of a classic Canadian joke: Why is American beer like being in a canoe? Because it's close to f*cking water.

People are more likely to remember McLachlan than the product (sorry Anheuser-Busch).

Since there are few individual major beer companies anymore, the Blue Moon ad can be traced back to Molson Coors, which owns Molson, Carling, and Brasseur de Montréal in Canada.

Need a sufficiently older man who isn't threatening for a parody of an ED ad for an EV? Jason Jones to the rescue for the new RAM 1500 REV. Jones gets on-camera and off-camera time in the parody ad.

The dialogue is better suited in a crowd that isn't a bar but as we see this ad for many more weeks to come, the ad will grow in appreciation.

The ad is also good for the Jones-Bee household since Samantha Bee lost her TBS show last fall. Bee is going out on tour in the United States in 2023. 

CanadianCrossing.com NFL coverage

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Canadians are generally shut out from Super Bowl ads during the game. Hopefully they can catch up today.

photo and video credits: the individual companies

Canadian ads from fall 2022 NHL Center Ice free preview

In my fast food days, I wanted French fries and onion rings. Most places didn't have onion rings. If they did, the fries were often better.

Harvey's allows you to have both French fries and onion rings aka frings. Both look good, based on the ad that ran during the NHL Center Ice free preview of Canadian NHL teams feeds to start the 2022-2023 NHL season.

The preview was not long: 4 days.

Your humble narrator hasn't spent much time in Canada, because, pandemic. Haven't been to a Harvey's in a lot longer period of time. Poutine. Deep fried pickles. Fries with rings. This is not the Harvey's I remember.

Canadian ads from fall 2021 NHL Center Ice free preview

Canadian ads from spring 2021 NHL Center Ice free preview

This Rogers Communications ad came on the heels of the huge outage in July of this year. A outage so huge that Wikipedia literally has a page devoted to the impact of that outage.

The only thing Canadians can agree on is that the large telecoms (Rogers and Bell) suck at what they do.

Does this ad convince you Rogers (or anyone else) will do better in customer service? No. Do the people in these boardrooms think these ads are great? Do workers fear telling their bosses that the ads aren't that great? Absolutely.

Bad apologies are often better than no apologies, up to a point.

Your humble narrator has severely cut down on French fries consumption during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has been especially true at home. The idea of having a bad day and making it a McCain's "fry-day" is cute. Each member of the family has their terrible moment of the day and feels better with frozen French fries baked in the oven. This ad ties in emotions well.

One can celebrate with carbohydrates but do so responsibly.

CanadianCrossing.com territories coverage

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We are a sucker for Canadian tourism ads because the toughest audience of those to see parts of Canada is, well, other Canadians. Some of the Northwest Territories are south of the North of 60. This refers to 60° latitude, ⅔ the way to the North Pole from the equator. 

Hockey Day in Canada in the winter of 2020 was based in Yellowknife, a rare look into the territories. They had a contest to win a trip to the north to Whitehorse (Yukon), Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), or Iqaluit (Nunavut).

You can still find trees in Yellowknife at 62° latitude but the treeline is not far away where trees do not grow. The area is beautiful and quite remote.

Love the cleverness of the campaign to tie in stories with the experience of traveling there.

Canadian government promos in the COVID-19 era

Canadian ads from winter 2021 NHL Center Ice free preview

Sidney Crosby and Nathan McKinnon are excellently talented Canadian NHL players who play for American teams. They have become the spokespeople for Tim Hortons trading cards. 

They don't speak much. Crosby offers to trade his card of himself to a kid. A guy yells out from his truck once the players are outside. "Hey, McKinnon. Where's the Cup?" McKinnon holds up a Tim Hortons cup. The guy in the truck was asking about the Stanley Cup, which McKinnon finally won over the early summer.

I saw a Joe Fresh ad with mindless models wearing okay clothes. I know Joe Fresh sells clothes but I automatically assume Joe Fresh is a grocery store. Even when I know, I still make that assumption.

We hate gambling ads because they are geared toward an audience that knows about same game parlays. Gambling ads are not trying to get the casual person involved. If you know the world, you are invited.

The idea of a guy sitting in a bathroom at a party, obsessing over how to bet. The bathroom is larger than almost any bathroom you have seen. Suddenly, American actor Jon Lovitz pops into the bathroom. Lovitz is louder than the guy wants him to be. Lovitz points to a bet on the guy's phone and tells him to pick that bet.

We don't normally post ads that are terrible but this one needed attention. Most gambling type people likely don't know who Lovitz is. I do know who Lovitz is (he is very talented) and I knew that was a problem for this ad.

Made me miss Jon Hamm doing ads for Skip the Dishes.

Citytv, a Rogers property, is generally fourth among the 4 major Canadian networks. The network produces fewer Canadian TV shows of note and doesn't offer a national newscast.

Citytv+ allows customers to stream content from Citytv, FX, FXX, as well as Omni. All of this is available for $4.99/month through Prime Video.

Canadians can stream Citytv programming for free, just like Americans can do for its over-the-air networks. Then again, most Canadians can't get Citytv with an antenna.

KFC was advertising its Bacon Lovers Sandwich. I loved what KFC was doing a few decades back. While we are not a fan of the Baconator at Wendy's, that was a sandwich that celebrated bacon. A huge, likely tasteless piece of fried chicken with the orange sauce would take away from the presence of the bacon.

Real bacon lovers will stay at home and make a great BLT to appreciate the bacon.

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Thanks for checking out our collection of Canadian advertising.

photo and video credits: the companies

Super Bowl LVI through the eyes of Canada

Canada didn't have as huge a presence in Super Bowl LVI as we saw the previous 2 years. Still, there were plenty of Canadians in this year's Super Bowl ads.

Toyota ran a beautiful ad that featured celebrated Paralympics athlete Brian McKeever and his brother Robin, who served as his guide.

U.S. viewers are used to seeing jingoistic stories about winter and summer athletes that having actual Canadians was a pleasant surprise. Brian McKeever won 17 medals, 13 of them being gold medals, at Winter Paralympics.

Eugene Levy is the star of the fictional film Thrill Driver featuring the all-new 2023 Nissan Z. Catherine O'Hara has a brief moment in the ad. They starred together in Canadian classic TV shows Schitt's Creek and SCTV. A special mention for Brie Larson, who is also in the ad. Larson won a Canadian Screen Award in 2016 for her performance in the Canadian film Room.

Eugene Levy had a much smaller role in a Snickers Super Bowl ad in 2016. This marks the 3rd straight Super Bowl that featured at least one Schitt's Creek actor in a Super Bowl ad. Dan Levy (M&Ms) was featured in 2021 and Emily Hampshire (Tide) in 2020.

NBC, home of Super Bowl LVI, ran a promo for Season 2 of Young Rock, the story of Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock. He introduced the teams in the game in an on-field appearance.

The NBC promo shows Johnson in training camp with the "legendary Calgary Stampeders." The scene shows a coach yelling at him that he is offsides. The implication is that Johnson was in the middle of the 1-yard distance between offence and defence, an element in the CFL that does not exist in the NFL or in U.S. college football.

Young Rock runs on NBC in the United States and Citytv in Canada.

Super Bowl LV through the eyes of Canada

Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada

Seth Rogen teamed up with Paul Rudd for the Lay's Golden Memories ad. The chips ended up in past memories the two friends had before the wedding for Rogen's character.

The characterization made Lay's chips seem cooler than the brand's usual image. Basic chips are now not so basic.

Rogen appeared in a Bud Light Super Bowl ad in 2018 with Amy Schumer.

Mike Myers returned as Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers world for General Motors. The premise was that Dr. Evil had to save the world so he could rule the world. This was one of quite a few electric vehicles ads during the game, battling the existential threat of climate change.

This is the 3rd year in a row where Myers has appeared in a Super Bowl ad. Myers revived the Wayne character from Wayne's World for Uber Eats in 2020 and was in a Discover credit card ad (as Dr. Evil) in 2019.

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Honourable mentions go to Canadian actors Ryan Reynolds, shown in scenes from The Adam Project coming to Netflix, and Sandra Oh, for the final season of Killing Eve on AMC+.

CanadianCrossing.com NFL coverage

This marks the 3rd year in a row where the winning team had Canadians on the roster. The latest Canadians to play in the Super Bowl (and be on the winning side were defensive lineman Michael Hoecht and offensive lineman Alaric Jackson of the Los Angeles Rams.

video credits: the companies in the ads
photo credit: Young Rock/NBC

Canadian ads from fall 2021 NHL Center Ice free preview

Welcome to the world of Canadian ads from the fall 2021 NHL Center Ice free preview. This was a breakthrough in that the NHL hadn't started in the fall since 2019 thanks to COVID-19.

The preview only lasted 6 days and the ads aren't as exciting as some great ones in the past. Still, we found a few good ads and are glad to showcase them.

If you want the best in hockey or other sports or any group, you need to be open to all individuals, regardless of boxes to check off on a sheet. Open for inclusion, treating people that you don't know like people that you know.

Scotiabank introduces voices of doubt or uncertainty followed by the certainty of those people on the ice.

P.K. Subban has won gold for Canada in the Olympics, excelled for the Montréal Canadiens, and have truly given back to his community. "This is where we belong." Exactly.

Low-priced Canadian supermarkets is truly a thing, given the high food prices in Canada, even before a pandemic. No Frills is truly no frills. Boring as the colour yellow that dominates the company's marketing.

The Haulerverse transforms that mundane shopping experience. The anime is beautiful and you will love this commercial, even if you couldn't tell us 10 minutes later what No Frills is and what they sell.

Saving money is exciting but not this exciting in real life.

Canadian ads from spring 2021 NHL Center Ice free preview

Canadian government promos in the COVID-19 era

Canadian ads from winter 2021 NHL Center Ice free preview

I know Lynn Crawford is Canadian from cooking shows. Crawford is listed as an innovation kitchen chef for Tim Hortons. "For me, the only way to cook chicken is to slow cook it." We do love low and slow in the food part of the brain, but hadn't considered low and slow for chicken.

We know Tim Hortons gets dogged for quality but the company tries harder in non-donut related enterprises. The company should be under Canadian control and have top people concentrating on overall food quality.

Connor McDavid comes across pretty easily in this Rogers 5G ad. The technology is used in a practical sports element. The idea that McDavid or anyone else will get 5G in that spot in a relatively remote part of Edmonton feels like a pipe dream. Possible but not what anyone would get now, even a NHL superstar.

The exchange between McDavid and coach Sylvie Tetrault in Toronto felt real and not contrived. Often, you just hope the commercial isn't lame on the small details.

We should note that Rogers is on the nameplate of the new Edmonton NHL arena downtown.

This feels more like an ad for grass-fed beef and grass-finished beef than for A&W burgers. Fast food burgers in the U.S. and Canada are overcooked anyway so part of the joy of a grass fed and finished burger is lost in cooking past medium.

Dan Carkner, executive chef in Kelowna, BC, said grass-fed beef burgers are more delicious. We concur. Applying quality to fast food burgers feels unusual but nice. No U.S. major fast food company would promote the quality of the meat in their burgers.

An university education is still important in the economy. Promoting one still feels surprising. The mom asks about college and her son talks about learning "real time, video compression algorithms." Clearly, something his mother didn't learn in university.

Ontario colleges are recruiting those interested in learning more about smartphones, smart homes, and smart watches to do so at a college in Ontario.

CanadianCrossing.com advertising coverage

Thanks for checking out our collection of Canadian advertising.

photo and video credits: the companies themselves

Canadian ads from spring 2021 NHL Center Ice free preview

We unveiled the collection of Canadian ads from various NHL telecasts a bit differently in 2021. Grouping ads into Canadian government promos and highlighting less expensive pizza made for stories of their own. There is also the oddity of a mid-April free preview but not one at the end of the season. 2021 changes a lot in our world.

We did run a collection in early February from the beginning of the season, which was in mid-January and not because of a NHL lockout. Spoiler alert: the reason was due to COVID-19.

I haven't had a Harvey's burger in decades, not on accident or purpose. I do love the consistent message of the ways to top the burgers. Canadian fast food burgers tend to be dry since the law requires them to be overcooked. Toppings can't save a burger but they do help. Their ads are also funny and that doesn't hurt. Will think toppings next time I'm there.

I live near a 7-11. The 7-11 near me does not make food that looks this good. Especially during a pandemic, food that looks halfway decent and doesn't cost too much is more attractive than ever. This sandwich looks good enough to eat.

Growing up on a dairy farm in Canada has to be tough. This is a dairy ad but feels like more of an ad to encourage more people to be dairy farmers. That is a noble enough cause for an ad. The fact that the intended point of an ad — dairy — is interesting to watch.

Roll Up and Win is a very Tim Horton's and Canadian thing. The idea of doing so virtually isn't as much fun but is more practical. The idea of winning a car would help you get over the difference.

Canadian government promos in the COVID-19 era

Cheap pizza is now a thing in Canada

Most fast food lettuce is an afterthought. The lettuce goes into a salad or onto a sandwich. Wendy's Canada is excited because the lettuce is Canadian, grown in greenhouses with very little water and no pesticides. The lettuce being Canadian is significant due to the food safety recalls of lettuce grown in certain areas of the United States. Being grown in greenhouses will lead away from the issues affecting that U.S.-based lettuce, like not being grown near factory farm runoff.

This might seem a bit cheesy to promote national lettuce, but I would feel better about this lettuce. Safer lettuce also helps keep the product going during food recalls.

The bagels are baked fresh daily. The freshly cracked eggs are a different story. Tim Horton's changed the recipe for its plain and everything bagels to be more flavourful. Sounds good but why were they that bad before now.

Given that the donuts reportedly are not baked fresh daily, maybe we should skip the donuts and go straight to the bagel sandwiches with the freshly cracked eggs.

We love Tim's but making a fast food breakfast sandwich sounds like a foodie's dream is comical. Make fresh donuts and we can talk.

Canadian ads from winter 2021 NHL Center Ice free preview

CanadianCrossing.com advertising coverage

This isn't the first time we have noted the campaign for eggs for dinner not being weird. We aren't wild about using such words as "weird." Eggs for dinner can be relatively normal. The idea of getting people to think out the breakfast box expands the use of eggs, a reason why advertising exists.

For those who might be fearful of going out and eating inside for dinner, this ad strikes a balance in doing so safely and still having fun. This might feel like fantasy for some.

video and photo credits: individual companies

Canadian government promos in the COVID-19 era

The government of Canada promos aren't really ads. They aren't trying to sell you a product. They are reminders of what the Canadian government does for its constituents. In the COVID-19 time, those promos have a new reflection: encouraging behaviour to help reduce the impact of the pandemic.

The ads were a huge contrast to the insanity of the reaction of the U.S. federal government in the beginning of the pandemic. None of the Canadian messages involved drinking bleach.

These promos are courtesy of the NHL Center Ice free preview on local and national NHL telecasts.

Canada surpasses 1 million COVID-19 cases

Remembering the COVID-19 'anniversary' in Canada

This promo shows a few halfway actions. The look of confusion on the young girl with the uncooked spaghetti is hilarious. The punchline is the guy wearing the mask over his mouth but not his nose.

The young woman giving a non-verbal clue to the incompletely masked man and having that work is more fantasy than reality. Still, a good visual to encourage people to be compliant with wearing the mask properly.

Governments provide services. They don't help as much if people can't or don't take advantage. There are several programs in the promos, though the job training credit is tied to the pandemic. A lot of people lost their jobs when COVID-19 kicked into Canadian society. Going through training for a new career can bring inspiration for a good economic future once the pandemic subsidies in intensity.

Canadian ads from winter 2021 NHL Center Ice free preview

CanadianCrossing.com advertising coverage

We noted a couple of promos from the government of Canada back in February. The U.S. may be in better shape on vaccines but skipped past the COVID-19 alert app. The second promo is about keeping the pace to get back to a relatively normal world.

We have been tooting the horn of Canada government promos under the previous prime minister and the current prime minister. All prime ministers run these promos. We think this is a great non-partisan idea.

Some Americans get confused sometimes with bipartisan vs. non-partisan. Having covered American politics, be suspicious of bipartisan and always ask for non-partisan. We consider Canada government promos to be a great non-partisan idea and should not be used in a partisan fashion.

Our friends in Ontario will be surprised that there is a vaccine plan for the residents of the province. The vaccine rollout has been very slow in Ontario. "Your turn is coming soon" only works if indeed the turns are coming … soon. Good luck to those in Ontario.

video and photo credits: government of Canada; government of Ontario

Cheap pizza is now a thing in Canada

Pizza is considered a cheap food … in the United States. Pizza in Canada may be relatively cheap but expensive compared to the United States.

Over the many years we have tracked Canadian ads through MLB Extra Innings or NHL Center Ice, we have noticed the shockingly high prices of pizza in Canada. The pizzas in the ads didn't look that great and the prices were through the roof.

You would see side deals involving soft drink bottles and movie tickets to make the pizza seem not as expensive.

The usual explanation for why pizza in Canada is more expensive is the cost of high-quality Canadian cheese. This explains stories every few years about pizza cheese shenanigans in Canada.

There are conditions to get a pizza in Canada for $7.99 or a similar low price. You have to buy multiple pizzas or provide a code or know the sale is for a very limited time.

Little Caesar's is offering a classic with Crazy Bread for $7.99. Pizza Hut is offering a buy one, get one free pizza. Domino's is offering unlimited, 2-topping pizzas for $7.99. Greco is offering the $7.99 12" mediums when you buy 2 or more pizzas with regular toppings.

Farmers benefit more than consumers with Canada supply management

CUSMA | USMCA aka NAFTA 2.0 allowed cheaper, lesser quality American-based cheese to come into Canada. We don't know for certain, but that is the most logical reasoning behind the sudden arrival of cheaper pizza in Canada.

Domino's mentions Canadian cheese. Are the pizza companies using a mix of Canadian and American-based cheese? Are they using Canadian cheese only but desperate to lure customers over to pizza?

There is (sadly) the possibility that some Canadians don't care that their pizza cheese is American. They may think a cheaper price on a pizza in Canada is worth eating inferior cheese. They may like Canadian cheese but not at the prices they were paying.

Normally, your humble narrator would weigh in on the experience of eating pizza in Canada and compare this to the American standards. Unfortunately, due to an intolerance to mozzarella cheese, I am sadly not the expert. I can vouch for the Crazy Bread since there is no mozzarella.

Pandemic pizza is not a thing but can imagine that pizzas are more popular in a pandemic since you don't have to cook and pizzas come pretty quickly to your home. Having cheaper pizza is an advantage if you lost your job and/or CERB (and similar programs) not stretching far enough.

Canada milk producers threatened with invasion of cheaper American milk

BalanceofFood.com Canada coverage

As our sibling blog — BalanceofFood.com — would note, quality food does cost more. The question for Canadian dairy is whether the quality is worth the higher prices.

If our American readers crossed over to Canada to eat better quality cheese on Canadian pizzas, we wish you much luck in finding that once the border has reopened. Perhaps a local pizza chain might do better than a national chain.

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The quality of food in North America is not as easy to find as opposed to Europe. You search more and you definitely pay more. Wages haven't kept up in North America so the pressure of cheap food is a reality for most people on the continent. Would be a shame to lose something that is of quality and distinctly Canadian thanks to a lame trade deal that dumped cheap cheese in Canada.

photo credit: Greco pizza
video credits: individual pizza companies

Super Bowl LV through the eyes of Canada

Dan Levy completed an amazing Super Bowl weekend with the M&Ms commercial during Super Bowl LV. Levy is the last in a series of people apologizing and offering the candy as compensation. Levy promises not to eat any more of the candy but reneges on that promise.

Levy hosted Saturday Night Live over the weekend so M&Ms got their money's worth. Well, given the cost of a Super Bowl ad, maybe as much value as you can get.

As we noted yesterday, this is the second year in a row where a Schitt's Creek actor ended up in a Super Bowl ad. Emily Hampshire in the Tide ad was much more elaborate. Eugene Levy made it into a Snickers Super Bowl ad in 2016. Not sure if any other father-son combo have done Super Bowl ads.

Mike Myers and Dana Carvey got back together as Wayne's World for Uber Eats. Cardi B joined in to Eat Local as in local restaurants and Support Local. The Uber Eats message of eating and supporting local restaurants would be more germane if the national company took a reasonable percentage of the local restaurants delivery charge. If you really want to support local restaurants in a pandemic, pick up the food yourself or have them do the delivery.

Myers and Carvey still have what it takes to be Wayne and Garth even at their advanced age.

The State Farm Super Bowl ad is all about stand-ins for Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes (regular contributors in the ads), and Jake from State Farm. The stand-ins for the quarterbacks are not close (Paul Rudd for Mahomes) until we see the stand-in for Jake: Drake. Drake runs through the lines except Jake tells Drake that stand-ins don't have lines.

Drake also did a Super Bowl ad for T-Mobile in 2016.

The Weeknd was the largest Canadian presence on the telecast with the halftime show. The Weeknd is the first Canadian artist to perform at halftime during a Super Bowl since Shania Twain sang Man, I Feel Like a Woman and Up in 2003.

The Weeknd set list included Call Out My Name; Starboy; The Hills; Can't Feel My Face; I Feel It Coming; Save Your Tears; Earned It; House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls; and Blinding Lights.

The halftime show came 2 days after The Weeknd released The Highlights, a greatest hits collection. The album quickly became the most streamed album of all time on Spotify.

Dan Levy joins the list of Canadians who have hosted Saturday Night Live

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif chooses health care over the NFL

Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada

Canadians won't be able to watch Super Bowl LIV ads

CanadianCrossing.com NFL coverage

CanadianCrossing.com advertising coverage

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif was not on the Kansas City sideline. Tampa Bay backup tight end Antony Auclair became the 17th Canadian to appear in a Super Bowl. Auclair is from Notre-Dame-des-Pins, Quebec in the Beauce region. Auclair's younger brother Adam is a defensive back for the CFL Ottawa RedBlacks.

Duvernay-Tardif got a Super Bowl ring in 2020. Auclair will get a Super Bowl ring in 2021.

Super Bowl LV aired on CBS in the United States and CTV in Canada.

video credits: individual companies
photo credit: NFL/CBS

Canadian ads from winter 2021 NHL Center Ice free preview

This look at the Canadian ads in the slightly smaller window of the NHL Center Ice free preview in early 2021 is a snapshot of a snapshot.

Coffee was a dominant force. We got a return visit from Jon Hamm and Skip the Dishes. COVID-19 is a force in the ads, thanks to the government of Canada.

As an expert on advertising, never a big fan of telling your customers that you screwed up. Domino's pizza had to do that because its product was so terrible. Customers may say ads are fake because they make a product to be better than it is but the truth sets no one free.

Tim Hortons tell us that the dark roast coffee is now good because for so long, the dark roast coffee was terrible. While I am an expert on advertising, the same can't be said for coffee. So maybe Tim Hortons is finally right. Or not.

A&W is so proud of its coffee that the restaurant chain was offering the coffee for free. The coffee could be a factor since people are still going to these places to get a quick coffee safely from the drive-thru window. A good time to promote the coffee as opposed to burgers and fries.

Calling things "fake" while may be true is a bit overdone. Then again, using the "fake" element to show how real your product is, well, that can work. Haven't had Pinty's bacon but the product looks a lot better than bacon that is technically real bacon. If nothing else, Pinty's would get a second glance in the bacon section.

We have loved the Jon Hamm Skip the Dishes ads. Silly with moments of clever. Then the newest ads came out. Sounds like someone said, "Keep the actors but make the spots not clever."

This newest ad shows Hamm getting a cake burger. Hamm and his assistant go through a philosophical extension on whether the cake is made of burgers or cake to look like a burger. You could argue "too clever" or "too boring." Bring back the old team.

Didn't want to put in a Zoom ad or bring back the annoying white guy who says a Big Mac with bacon isn't a Big Mac. Changed my mind because these guys work well with Zoom and a reminder that the United States claims to love its bacon but doesn't have a Big Mac with bacon. McDonald's Canada is more creative than the U.S. version.

Canadian ads from fall 2019 NHL Center Ice free preview

Canadian political ads from fall 2019 NHL Center Ice free preview

CanadianCrossing.com advertising coverage

The final ads come from the government of Canada. The first is about the COVID-19 alert app. The app helps inform people who might be at risk, a concept the United States is woefully behind on having. The second ad is a nice visual that if we are patient and follow the guidelines, we can return to a relatively normal world.

video credits: the advertisers themselves

Valentines Day 2020: Things we love about Canada

Valentines Day is usually about love, love of people with each other. We have had a bit of fun over the years on that topic.

This year, we want to celebrate our love for Canada that doesn't involve celebrities. We still love Canadian celebrities. Anna Maria Tremonti's new More podcast celebrates an internal push from Canadian celebrities. Our focus is on things we appreciate about Canada that are distinctly Canadian.

Newfoundland in the snow

Newfoundland has its share of storms: last month's snowscape was intense even for Newfoundland. Getting ¾ of a metre (2 ½ feet) of snow is incredible enough. The howling 150+ km winds brought a force to the island.

Stumbled across an impromptu Georgetown block party with bonfire in the middle of what should be a street. Beer and comraderie freely shared with all #nlwx #NLStorm2020 #blizzard2020 pic.twitter.com/QxUlea6rti

— Peter Cowan (@PeterCBC) January 19, 2020

How the people of Newfoundland celebrated the snow from snowboarding down the steep roads that are a part of downtown St. John's to building bonfires in the street to hang out with neighbours. Most of what we saw was from St. John's due to the limitations of covering the rest of the province during a horrible storm. You showed Canada and the world that no matter how intense the blizzard was, you would still have fun.

CBC The National

CBC The National slightly skews its numerous hosts lineup

Canada PM Stephen Harper says he prefers watching U.S. news

CanadianCrossing.com journalism coverage

Then Prime Minister Stephen Harper once bragged that he watched American news instead of Canadian news. Most Canadian TV news isn't that meaningful. CTV and Global aren't bad; they just aren't good for a country of 36 million. The National is a nightly newscast that is meaningful to Canada and the world.

You can make fun of the 4 anchor setup. You can poke fun at the ratings compared to CTV and Global (which have American TV shows as their lead-in). Night after night, the best TV newscast in Canada and the United States is The National.

Americans should appreciate that while the newscast has disappeared from cable boxes outside those areas that get the CBC, you can watch the newscast on Facebook and YouTube.

Politeness

Canada isn't always polite. Canada is often more polite, everything else being equal.

When you travel and deal with Canadians, they have a politeness that is refreshing when visiting the country. Canadians are reasonably friendly and helpful. They are polite. Do them a favour and learn a few things about Canada to show how polite you are when you visit them.

Alberta and Saskatchewan

The rhetoric of division in Canada reveals a lack of understanding

They were pretty angry during the election and didn't stop being angry after the election. There will be a Wexit party on future ballots.

These provinces have felt angst from many generations of feeling underrepresented in Parliament.

The Canadian Senate is unelected. Ontario and Quebec get 24 senators each while Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan combined have 24 senators. As we saw in the 2019 election, improving the vote total in Alberta and Saskatchewan doesn't get you that many more seats in the House of Commons.

The area produces some great Canadian resources from beef to potash. Oh, there is oil as well. There are a lot of great people in these provinces. A lot of them are conservative but not in a mean way. Most might be frustrated but they aren't as angry as their elected leaders.

Harry and Meghan

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle living in Canada will be easier by staying fewer than 6 months

I know we said no celebrities. This isn't really about them. Vancouver Island is a gorgeous place in Canada. Having the (former) royals stay there will draw attention to people who otherwise might not have considered the island as a travel destination.

Americans can fly to Seattle and sail from downtown Seattle to Victoria. You can take a bus to Nanaimo and Tofino. Renting a car? Gas is more expensive because, well, Canada and being on an island.

If you are trying to "accidentally" spot the royals (with respect, of course), they are reportedly in North Saanich. That community is south of Swartz Bay, the destination from the ferry from Tsawwassen, an hour by bus to Victoria. North Saanich is also just south of the Victoria International Airport. They will likely be in Victoria and Vancouver, the latter of which is not on Vancouver Island.

If you spend your time exploring the region and/or those two cities, you will have a lovely time, even if you don't spot anyone too famous.

Parlé Francaise

You can and should go to Montréal or elsewhere in Quebec to get a French language perspective on being Canadian. You can elsewhere within Canada to get that Francaise experience: St. Boniface in Winnipeg to Acadia in New Brunswick to numerous Franco-Ontarian cities to Edmonton's French Quarter.

Donut scandals

Justin Trudeau had a scandal (gasp) because the prime minister bought donuts from Oh Doughnuts during a Liberal Party gathering in Winnipeg. On the surface, the scenario is a boss buying donuts for his team. Employees usually want the boss to buy the good donuts for the meeting. Canadians and Americans can relate to this action.

The "scandal" was that Trudeau didn't buy donuts from Tim Hortons, majority-owned by a Brazilian investment firm. Tim Hortons is Canadians in the eyes of Canada. I haven't had Oh Doughnuts but feel comfortable in saying that fresh, local donuts from a locally owned company taste better than donuts that are reheated on site (as Tim Hortons donuts reportedly are).

The "scandal" is a reminder that in a world of Brexit and a highly angry toddler, donut scandals are not a bad speed to be traveling.

National Film Board and TIFF

We were down on them for layoffs late last year. Both organisations celebrate Canadian film. They have online resources to learn more about Canadian film. The NFB allows you to watch certain films within Canada and even outside Canada. The TIFF site has more about Canadian films shown in the festival, the list of Rising Stars, and so much more.

Coolness of Canadian celebrities

This story is about Ryan Reynolds and his generosity.

During the whole Peloton ad saga, Reynolds decided to "save" the Peloton wife (actor Monica Ruiz) and gave her a safe space in an ad for his Aviation American Gin brand.

You could cynically argue that Reynolds was trying to take advantage and increase awareness of his gin brand. Ruiz was concerned about being typecast. Reynolds tapped into the concerns people had over the Peloton ad and gave a break to a fellow actor who needed one.

2019 Valentines Day: Our love for Sandra Oh

CanadianCrossing.com travel coverage

If your Valentines Day is not going the way you want it to go, planning a trip to Canada can be a way to distract you.

video credit: CBC News
Twitter capture: @PeterCBC
photo credit: me; Aviation American Gin