I spent the second half of last week in first-best city in Canada (…did I just say that?). Winnipeg, Manitoba, is the birthplace of Randy Bachman, formative home of Neil Young, site of the massive 1919 General Strike, city of the once and future Jets, and final resting place of Louis Riel. Hail! Hail!

Land of living skies and utility box tributes to the father of medicare. Hail Saskatchewan!

I’m off to spend May Week and Beltane in Saskatoon and Winnipeg, the socialist hearts of Canada’s Prairie Provinces. More from the road if I can.

Now, at the end of an odyssey, is Toronto, Canada’s biggest city. It is this huge nation’s economic and perhaps cultural capital. Culturally, though, I’m amazed at how American it feels. No other major city in this country (and I’ve now been to nearly all of them) has felt so familiar to […]

Arrived in the nation’s capital about twenty-four hours ago. The national iglooo is located here, and I accidentally had the good sense to arrive cloddily in the thick of Winterlude. So, I get to eat beaver tails and ogle ice sculptures while dashing between meetings that seem slightly more important than usual because […]

I have spent the last couple days in Fredericton, capital city of the officially bilingual province of New Brunswick. My too-short stint (Wednesday evening through Saturday morning) in that picturesque city was frenetic and mostly internet-less. Hot and fresh donuts from the Boyce market, a specially arranged tour of the beautifully restored legislature […]

Yesterday I made my way from the Atlantic coast towards the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the birthplace of Canada—Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. This city, which is the provincial capital of Canada’s smallest province, is also notable for being outstandingly charming and home to a decidedly frozen harbor (a change from the ice-free ports […]

A day later than I’d planned, I’ve made it to Halifax, Nova Scotia, largest city (or something) in Atlantic Canada. Not only did I get here, I was able to buy groceries too—something I couldn’t have done just a few months ago. Despite Canada’s comparative irreligiosity, some provinces’ Sunday shopping prohibitions have only […]

I am in YYT, where incoming flights to St. John’s can’t land and outgoing flights (including my own) are cancelled. Winds in the area are incredible. Indeed, they are gales.
And that’s why what I did this morning is no doubt the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But I will […]

Early, early this Hockey Day morning I left Canada’s northernmost major city for its easternmost one. In fact, here in St. John’s, Newfoundland, I’m in both the easternmost city and the oldest European settlement (1540s?) in all of North America. This is also, according to official sources, the foggiest, snowiest, wettest, windiest, freezing-rainiest, […]