Jocelyn and I have revamped the Main Street Canada site to make it much easier to find small Canadian businesses you can support.

You can now make your own shortlist, send to a friend, download a PDF guide, search, use in French or Inuktitut, and more!
❌ No tracking ❌ No affiliate links ❌ No account needed

✅ Check it out: https://mainstreet.todmaffin.com

I haven't found Primo Ketchup in the Calgary area but SaveOn Foods carry Western Family ketchup made in Canada from Canadians tomatoes and it's way better than Heinz!

… excited about the blue tsunami but I just can’t. I keep thinking about the 1960’s and 70’s. I was in my late teens watching the news with my mother. I remember clearly this woman talking smugly about the black people being like apes with no intelligence. I was horrified by her! As time went by I forgot about it because the US seemed to have addressed the hate and prejudice. Then I saw it creeping back in. I’m still shocked at how quickly it was back! Watching the riots, the police brutality, and the groups of white people looking for trouble and carrying guns which they were planning to use. This was a throw back to that time, again when it was okay to kill and/or beat up black people because they were getting “uppity”! All I could think was that it’s never left, it just went underground! I used to take my kids to Washington and Portland because that’s what I could afford for their birthdays. That stopped in 2016 when the orange dufus first got elected. I had taken my son to Portland for his birthday. We went shopping and were headed back to our car when I saw a BC car that had been spray painted with “go home foreigner”! That woke me up to the idea that their hate had only been hidden. I’ve gone back once to watch a baseball game. It didn’t feel as friendly and I haven’t gone back since.

I see people talking about how they miss Canadians and it reminds me of the people in Bellingham complaining about Canadians taking their parking spots at Costco and how they had to line up to go in. The chamber of commerce tried to explain that, the Canadians were paying for their emergency services, transit and other things. This started again just before your orange Mussolini was re-elected. I will never go back to the states because of this. I simply don’t trust the people and I’m not going to take a chance on being harmed there because I’m Canadian.

I’m also disappointed with the Canadians that have rushed back. I saw the waiting times at the Sumas border the day after your elections and they were around 45 minutes, previously they had been 5 minutes. It reminds me of an abused partner that wants to be loved so desperately that they are willing to do anything for that person(s). SMH. I simply don’t know who can be trusted with my safety both physically and mentally.

I spent a couple of months going across Canada and met some seemingly nice people from the states but I was in a safe place. I don’t know if I can say the same thing about the states.

It proves that America is fed up with the current federal administration and is ready to embrace the world again. My Forward thinking American friends hope the world is ready to embrace them as well. I hope so too..

Hi! I just read the "terms" for joining the group and was a bit put off that the host platform beehiiv is American and when joining I'm bound by the "laws of the State of New York". Just wondering if there's an alternative Canadian platform?

Will Canadians return to America in friendship? I think that what we are experiencing today will travel forward with us and shape our attitude for years to come but will not necessarily be experienced by those alive today but too young to understand our feelings or those who will be born each coming year after this inflection point. We must remember that while we remember the “before” those younger generations will only really know the “what is” when they meet it. Also while we are not buying US wine and spirits because we are buying our own or European products - American wine makers will also eventually find new markets and may not be readily available to us when and if we decide to “return”. I think it highly possible that within a decade (I’ll be 83) younger Canadians may return and I expect they will be friendly but I think it will very likely take a long time if ever for Canadians to look at America as our friend. Indeed we would be wise to be friendly with all but not necessarily depend on friendship, at least the enduring kind, with any country. Everything changes all the time and the only way to respond and adapt is to remain flexible and avoid relying on sentimentality.

I certainly could be wrong but l think most Blue Wave Americans don't think Canada will be coming back. We don't blame you either.

Just watched the Josh Johnson article and video. Thanks! But I am made to wonder why Canada and Europe differ so much our attitude toward companion animals in public spaces.

In Italy, there are shopping carts with special spaces for your dog, not your child! Animals are treated like the companions that they are, not a “public health hazard”. Who actually decided that they were? Yea, people might have allergies, but that is nearly always to the dander. So if they don’t touch them, no problem.

I think most people are with me on this. Like Josh said, who cares if there is a cat hair on the banana?

Like the old Mad Magazine back page that could be folded to create a hilarious new image, we used to carefully fold the Eat-More wrapper to create Eat Me which never failed make us laugh hysterically. Now, as then, we were very mature.

I have never disliked people from the US. Even during the last DJT administration we travelled there all the time and NEVER had a bad experience. The latest rendition has of course been different. The 51st state rhetoric was the last straw and I joined the boycott full stop...but I know that the majority of people in the USA are good and only want what I want. We get many visitors from the US here in the summer and EVERY ONE of them I have met and talked to says they are sorry for the state of affairs as it now exists. In my mind the mid terms proved what I knew all along and that the majority of people of the USA are not represented by the government of the USA. I have always thought that not allowing myself to travel freely simply is a way of letting 47 win, so I will go back....maybe not this year but yes soon.

Jocelyn and I asked for postcards about Canada’s future. A lot of you skipped the future, and went straight to apologizing for the present.

We're working on a big web site that will let you see all the cards, select themes, see them on a map, and more.

My “Emotional Support Canadian” shirts are back, but only until November 30th.

Grab one before they’re gone at https://shop.todmaffin.con These are the softest shirts you have ever owned. 🇨🇦 100% made in Canada, by a small family-owned Vancouver Island apparel company.

No reason why this happened. Trump gave orders to ground all airplanes in the US. Interesting.

TODAY IN CANADA: In 1911, The Dominion Atlantic Railway in Nova Scotia was formally leased to Canadian Pacific Railway for 999 years. The agreement took effect January 1, 1912, expanding CPR's influence in Atlantic Canada and strengthening the region's railway connections.
🚂YOUR SAY: Would you take the train more often if Canada had faster, more affordable service?

Hang in there Tod and friends, the Blue Wave is just the beginning for the US as the rest of the world is figuring out how to cast off these Oligarchs that plague us all. That is job #1, otherwise we are just spinning our wheels and playing into their efforts to cause conflicts amongst us all.

One World!

I'm sure most here also follow Guardthe Leaf and I 100% agree with him that nothings going to change in the White House. Not even when the Dems are in power. We still have the memory of that Border Patrol Guard in the border branded truck racing past the car shouting "Never f-en come to America again!" or all the governors saying "But we're not part of that..."(referring to Trump) Yes you are! And you're not standing up to him! You don't even know why we're angry, you just miss our money! There's tons of countries to visit that are 10x the country they are. Che Guevara said "An uneducated nation is easy to deceive." And they are definitely the most uneducated nation in the world.

Kelley Armstrong, who relocated her sleuth couple – Duncan and Dalton – to rural Yukon.

Robert Rotenberg's Toronto cop Ari Greene.

Nita Prose, whose Molly Gray is head maid and special-events manager of the Regency Grand Hotel in a large city (psst: Toronto).

Nancy Taber, set in PEI.

Thomas King's Deep House.

Ausma Zehanat Khan's Blackwater Falls.

Don Gilmour's Cherry Beach.

New faces keep wandering into the Clubhouse, and the regulars kept the lights on. Here's what you were talking about this week:

What everyone's talking about

"I am an American." Paula Custis laid out what the U.S. Constitution says about acquiring another country: a two-thirds Senate vote for a treaty, and Congress for anything else. (Uh, and permission of the other country?!) Charmian Christie pushed back hard, pointing out that Trump hasn't let the Constitution slow him down much. Paula answered with a sharp breakdown of the new Congress. [Join the discussion]

A love letter to this place. Maya Andrea Massar says time spent here leaves her feeling better, the opposite of every other app on her phone. Her pitch: each of us invites five people. Catharine Gibson immediately sent it to seven. (Show-off 🤣). [Join the discussion]

Worth your time. Mary Katharine wrote about living with multiple myeloma. Her ask is simple: keep inviting people with chronic illness, and know a cancelled plan doesn't mean they've stopped caring. [Join the discussion]

The Sour Moose. P. D. Wensel flagged that this Swedish candy shop in Tofield, Alberta, may close its storefront and go online only. Rhonda Couchman's first reaction was to ask what they sell so she could buy something. [Join the discussion]

Prairie poutine. Robert Baxter married into a Mennonite family and got their version: potatoes fried in bacon fat, Bothwell squeaky cheese, schmonfat white gravy, fried onions and garlic, then crumbled bacon on top. His estimate is 1,000 calories per forkful. Budget 24 hours to digest. [Join the discussion]

Primo ketchup is real. Constance B thought Primo was trolling us. Then her son found a bottle at a FreshCo in Ottawa. [Join the discussion]

Books. Maya Andrea Massar has reread Ann-Marie MacDonald's Fall on Your Knees several times and is now into Fayne. Add yours to Elspeth's favourite Canadian book thread in Books and Reading. [Join the discussion]

Over in my corner

Don't Be Doug. Saturday's newsletter got people going. Lynn Tinker says she's moved on and it's about doing what's right for Canada. Terry Shepard, writing from Pennsylvania, thinks hoping for a saner border doesn't make you Doug. Nate Miller in Maryland says you can still order Canadian maple syrup direct from the producers. Cathy Waters wants to keep our foot on the Canada-first gas pedal. [Join the discussion]

A Debt Paid in Petals. (Wednesday's bonus issue for supporting members) Judith Halliday's dad was a dispatch rider in Holland and Belgium during the liberation, and he never forgot how grateful people were. Paul Payson shared his family's service in both world wars. [Join the discussion]

Dear Canada. Craig Jackman discovered the hardest part of the postcard project is finding a postcard. You came through. Shelley Hiebert has seen them at Canada Post outlets, Nancy Cole found hers at an antique store, and Gail Banks Banks suggests Walmart's souvenir section. Janis Reed has a stack of old travel postcards from her mother and grandmother and asked whether she should burn them or find willing writers. Janis, please don't burn them. [Join the discussion]

The CBC interview. My chat with Ian Hanomansing on The National is in Tod's Videos. Rhonda Couchman and Susan Ford were very kind about it. I handled the compliments the Canadian way, by looking at my shoes. [Join the discussion]

Mirror Falls. I floated releasing episode 1 of my podcast in a week or two, then the rest weekly starting around the new year. So far one vote: Maya Andrea Massar says either way, yay. I need more opinions than that. Weigh in on the post in the Mirror Falls channel. [Join the discussion]

Holiday gift guide. Skip the mall. Small Canadian businesses are at giftguide.todmaffin.com. [Join the discussion]

Say hi to a few new neighbours

Paul Payson joined from Edmonton. His profile says he wants a healthy world for our descendants, and he's already a Tod Squad member. He went straight to the comments on day one.

Carol Broadhurst has been breeding purebred dogs for 55 years. She's also a musher and a paediatric nurse. Her location reads "Outside Ottawa urgh!" I must hear the story behind the "urgh."

Amy Herskowitz in Toronto is an age-group triathlete, a marathon open-water swimmer and a health system worker.

Lloyd Adams is a retired clinical scientist and Navy veteran who lives north of Boston. Welcome, neighbour.

Dee Scrivner joined from Indiana. Her entire profile reads: "Don't like orange anymore." Dee, you're going to fit in just fine.

If you're new, put a line in your profile so we can say hi properly. And if you'd rather have a face than a coloured circle, you can add a photo here.

Thanks for making this the nicest corner of the internet. Jocelyn and I are glad you're here.

TODAY IN CANADA: In 1951, the National Ballet of Canada made its debut at Toronto's Eaton Auditorium, marking the beginning of what would become one of the country's most celebrated performing arts institutions.

🩰YOUR SAY: Have you ever attended a ballet performance, and which one would you recommend to others?

Your Thursday Cannections is here! Take a break from moose wrangling and see how many you can cannect. Share your scores in the comments.🍁

https://games.hey.cafe/cannections/thursday

I honestly thought Primo was trolling us

But Primo Ketchup is real

— (I think.. Different label than on their website, and other pics I've seen)

My son found it in a Freshco in Ottawa

#TryItTuesday

#ShopCanadian

Skip the mall and shop small Canadian businesses instead. Check it out at https://giftguide.todmaffin.com

I was thinking this also. He will ignore the rules. ONLY 75% voted against him. A full quarter of you people are still on his crazy side. Right?