🗣 Canadian English: poppy

🧣 In Canada, "a poppy" in November usually means the small red lapel pin worn to remember those who died in war. Millions of Canadians wear one from late October until Remembrance Day, November 11.

🔊 Say it: PAH-pee (rhymes with "floppy")
🔜 "I picked up a poppy at the mall and pinned it on my left side, over my heart."

🌎 Same thing, different English:
🇨🇦 Remembrance Day 🇺🇸 Veterans Day 🇬🇧 Remembrance Sunday

📜 Remembrance Day is also called Poppy Day. The symbol comes from "In Flanders Fields," written in 1915 by Canadian Lt.-Col. John McCrae.

💡 Careful: In the U.S., poppies are mostly worn on Memorial Day in May, not on Veterans Day.

🇨🇦 @canada

🌭 Where to eat in Vancouver: Japadog on Robson Street

Vancouver's most famous street snack: hot dogs with Japanese toppings. It began in 2005 as one cart at Burrard and Smithe, when city rules let street vendors sell little more than hot dogs.

🔹 Order the Kurobuta Terimayo: pork sausage, teriyaki sauce, Japanese mayo, fried onions and seaweed (about $11–12 plus tax on delivery apps)
🔹 Sides: "shaked" fries in butter and shoyu or seaweed flavour, takoyaki, matcha desserts
🔹 Hours (official site): Mon–Sat 10am–10pm, Sun 10am–6pm
🔹 530 Robson St, downtown, a short walk from Vancouver City Centre station (Canada Line)

💡 Tip: The Robson store has the fullest menu and a roof over your head, handy on a rainy November day. The original cart is still at 899 Burrard St.

📍 Google Maps: Japadog Robson St

🇨🇦 @canada

🍁 Where to go in Manitoba: The Forks, Winnipeg

Where the Red and Assiniboine rivers meet, people have gathered for over 6,000 years — Indigenous traders first, then fur traders, settlers and newcomers. Today it is a national historic site with riverside paths, a busy indoor market and a food hall, right in downtown Winnipeg.

🔹 Free to walk around, open year-round · Market building 7am–10pm daily · Shops Sun–Thu 10am–6pm, Fri–Sat to 7pm · Food hall Sun–Thu 11am–9pm, Fri–Sat to 10pm · 1 Forks Market Rd
💡 Tip: Come back in deep winter, when the frozen Nestaweya River Trail can stretch up to 10 km for skating — check trail conditions first.
📍 Google Maps: The Forks

🇨🇦 @canada

🗳 JUST IN: Carney calls 6 federal byelections for Dec. 7

🔹 Three seats are in Quebec, two in Ontario (Scarborough North, Brantford-Brant South) and one in Saskatchewan (Yorkton-Melville).
🔹 The Liberals hold a thin 173-seat majority. The results won't change who governs, but wins would add to it.

🇨🇦 @canada

🧬 JUST IN: A DNA test bought on sale showed a Toronto performer he has 35+ half-siblings

🔹 Noam Tomaschoff learned at 31 he was donor-conceived, he told CTV's Your Morning
🔹 He turned it into "Our Little Secret: A True New Musical," at Mirvish in Toronto Nov. 3–22

🇨🇦 @canada

🗣 Canadian English: riding

🧣 In Canada, a riding is an electoral district: the area whose voters elect one member, like an MP in Ottawa or an MPP/MLA in a province. You'll see it all over the news ahead of the Dec. 7 byelections in six ridings.

🔊 Say it: RYE-ding (rhymes with "hiding")
🔜 "Who's the MP for your riding?"

🌎 Same thing, different English:
🇨🇦 riding 🇺🇸 district 🇬🇧 constituency

💡 Careful: It has nothing to do with horses here. The word comes from an old word meaning "a third," from the old Ridings of Yorkshire in England. Officially, Canada also says "electoral district," and in French it's "circonscription."

🇨🇦 @canada

🥪 Where to eat in Montréal: Schwartz's Deli

Montreal smoked meat is the city's signature sandwich, and Schwartz's has been making it on St-Laurent since 1928, in its original spot. The brisket is marinated for 10 days, smoked overnight, steamed all day and sliced by hand, then piled on rye bread.

🔹 Smoked meat sandwich $17.25, poutine $15.95, fries $4.95 (CAD, taxes extra)
🔹 Open daily: Sun–Thu 10 a.m.–11 p.m., Fri–Sat 10 a.m.–midnight
🔹 3895 Boul. Saint-Laurent, in the Plateau

💡 Tip: There are no reservations, so try to go outside the lunch and dinner rush. Add a pickle and a black cherry soda on the side.

📍 Google Maps: Schwartz's Deli

🇨🇦 @canada

🏛 Where to go in Alberta: Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton

The largest museum in western Canada, right in downtown Edmonton. It moved into its new 419,000 sq. ft. home in 2018 and covers Alberta from the Ice Age to today, a perfect warm stop as the cold sets in.

🔹 Natural History and Human History halls, plus a Bug Gallery with live critters and a Children's Gallery
🔹 Adult $25, senior $16, youth (7–17) $12, family $55, kids 6 and under free
🔹 Wed and Fri–Sun 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Thu 10 a.m.–8 p.m.; closed Mon and Tue (except holiday Mondays)
🔹 9810 103a Avenue NW, near Churchill LRT station
🔹 New exhibition "Hockey: Faster Than Ever" opens Nov. 26

💡 Tip: Go on a Thursday evening for longer hours, and check the museum's Getting Here page, since nearby construction affects some streets and a pedway section until Nov. 30.

📍 Google Maps: Royal Alberta Museum

🇨🇦 @canada

🛢 JUST IN: B.C. First Nations take Ottawa to court over the Pacific Link oil pipeline

🔹 Nine nations filed eight Federal Court challenges to its "national interest" designation, saying Canada failed its duty to consult.
🔹 The line would carry 1 million barrels of oil a day from Alberta to a port near Delta, B.C.

🇨🇦 @canada

🎬 JUST IN: Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams calls co-star Connor Storrie his "platonic soulmate"

🔹 On Season 2 of CBC's The Assembly, he took questions from autistic and neurodivergent interviewers and said their bond will never turn romantic.
🔹 He also opened up about his ADHD. The episode is on CBC Gem.

🇨🇦 @canada

🗣 Canadian English: snowbird

🧣 A snowbird is a person, often retired, who leaves the Canadian winter behind to spend a few months somewhere warm, like Florida or Arizona, and comes home in the spring.

🔊 Say it: just "snow" + "bird", stress on SNOW
🔜 "My grandparents are snowbirds. They drive to Florida every November and come back to Ontario in April."

🌎 Where you'll hear it:
🇨🇦 snowbird 🇺🇸 snowbird 🇬🇧 rarely used (dictionaries mark it North American)

💡 Careful: With a capital S, the Snowbirds are the Royal Canadian Air Force's aerobatic jet team, based in Moose Jaw, Sask. To birdwatchers, a snowbird can also be the dark-eyed junco.

🇨🇦 @canada

🫖 Where to eat in Victoria: Murchie's Tea & Coffee

A proper tea break in B.C.'s capital. John Murchie founded the company in 1894, and the Government Street store and café sits steps from the Inner Harbour. You order at the counter from a wall of 130+ teas and 25 coffee roasts, then pick a scone, square or cake from the bakery case.

🔹 Café: Mon–Sat 7:30 a.m.–6 p.m., Sun 8 a.m.–6 p.m. (shop daily 9–6)
🔹 Price: budget-friendly café menu; whole cakes to order from $37.95 (6"), 24 hours' notice
🔹 Address: 1110 Government St, downtown Victoria

💡 Tip: Order a pot of tea with a warm scone, then pick up some loose tea from the shop side as a souvenir.

📍 Google Maps: Murchie's Tea & Coffee

🇨🇦 @canada

🦕 Where to go in Ontario: Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa

Canada's national natural history museum fills a heritage "castle", the Victoria Memorial Museum Building, opened to the public in 1912. Inside: dinosaurs in the Fossil Gallery, an Arctic gallery with 200+ specimens, live insects and spiders, plus mammal and bird dioramas. A cosy pick as Ottawa turns cold.

🔹 Adult $26, seniors, students and kids 3–12 $19, under 3 free (plus tax; 10% off online)
🔹 Free for everyone on Thursdays, 5–8 p.m.
🔹 Open 9:30 a.m.–4 p.m., Thursdays to 8 p.m.; closed Tuesdays
🔹 240 McLeod St., at Metcalfe St., Centretown
🔹 Wild Colour special exhibition runs to Jan. 10, 2027

💡 Tip: Every visitor needs a ticket, even on free Thursday evenings, so book ahead online.

📍 Google Maps: Canadian Museum of Nature

🇨🇦 @canada

🤝 JUST IN: Carney says the U.S. is "asking less and offering more" in trade talks

🔹 Speaking in Antigua, he said U.S. demands on French-language rules, culture and Canada's freedom to sign other trade deals are now off the table.
🔹 "We're not quite there," he said, adding he'll meet Trump at APEC in China later this month.

🇨🇦 @canada

👑 JUST IN: bbno$, Josh Ramsay and Slayyyter will guest judge Canada's Drag Race Season 7

🔹 The Vancouver rapper and the Marianas Trench frontman join a panel that also includes Sasha Colby and Aurora James.
🔹 12 queens compete for $100,000 from Nov. 19 on Crave, and Season 8 is already confirmed.

🇨🇦 @canada

🗣 Canadian English: Toronto (how locals say it)

🧣 Canada's biggest city is spelled with two t's, but in everyday speech many Torontonians barely say the second one. "Toronto" often comes out as "Toronno," "Tronno" or even "Trawna." It isn't slang, just relaxed North American speech: a t after an n gets softened or dropped.

🔊 Say it: careful: tuh-RON-toh / casual: TRON-oh
🔜 "I'm flying into Tronno on Friday, then taking the train to Ottawa."

📜 Fun fact: The name comes from the Mohawk word tkaronto, meaning "where there are trees standing in the water."

💡 Careful: Both ways are correct. Plenty of locals say every letter, especially when speaking carefully, so if you're not sure, saying it in full is perfectly fine. Dropping the t just sounds more local.

🇨🇦 @canada

🍦 Where to eat in Charlottetown: COWS Queen St

COWS started making ice cream in Prince Edward Island in 1983 with an old family recipe, and it's now an Island symbol. The ice cream uses only PEI milk, is churned slowly for a dense, creamy scoop, and the waffle cones are made fresh in the shop every day.

🔹 Try: Wowie Cowie (vanilla, English toffee marble, chocolate flakes), or Cownadian Maple. A single scoop runs about $6–7 before tax; there's no official price list and scoops are weighed.
🔹 Hours: Mon–Thu 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Fri–Sun 10 a.m.–8 p.m. It stays open after the seasonal Cavendish and waterfront shops close for winter.
🔹 Address: 150 Queen St, downtown Charlottetown.

💡 Tip: Can't decide? Ask for a sample. The flavour names are mostly cow puns, so a taste helps.

📍 Google Maps: COWS Queen St

🇨🇦 @canada

🦖 Where to go in Saskatchewan: Royal Saskatchewan Museum, Regina

Founded in 1906, Saskatchewan's first museum is home to Scotty, a T. rex found in the province in 1991 and billed as the world's largest. Add Earth Sciences, Life Sciences and Indigenous galleries, and you have a warm, easy stop on a cold Prairie day.

🔹 Admission by donation, suggested $5–$10 per visitor
🔹 Open daily 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m., holidays included
🔹 2445 Albert St., in Wascana Centre; free parking on the west and south sides
🔹 Some exhibit panels in French and Cree

💡 Tip: Pair it with a stroll around Wascana Lake and the Legislative Building next door.

📍 Google Maps: Royal Saskatchewan Museum

🇨🇦 @canada