🦕 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

🌾 JUST IN: China extends tariff relief on Canadian canola meal, peas, lobster and crab to the end of 2028

🔹 The pause on 100% tariffs (canola meal, peas) and 25% tariffs (lobster, crab) was due to end Dec. 31.
🔹 In return, Canada extends relief for some Chinese steel and aluminum not made here.

🇨🇦 @canada

🤸 JUST IN: Doug Ford says he did "cartwheels" over the U.S. midterm results

🔹 Ontario's premier cheered the Democrats taking the House and Senate, but warned the trade war is "not even close to being done."
🔹 He plans to send ministers to Washington once the new members are sworn in.

🇨🇦 @canada

🗣 Canadian English: centre

🧣 Canada spells it the British way: centre, not "center". You'll see it everywhere: community centre, shopping centre, health centre, downtown centre.

🔊 Say it: SEN-ter. It sounds exactly like "center", only the spelling changes.
🔜 "The community centre has free public skating on Sunday."

🌎 Same thing, different English:
🇨🇦 centre 🇺🇸 center 🇬🇧 centre

✏️ Canadian spelling: the same -re family includes theatre, fibre and litre.

💡 Careful: a metre is a length, but a parking meter is a device. And American names keep their own spelling, like Rockefeller Center in New York.

🇨🇦 @canada

🍫 Where to eat in Nanaimo: Hearthstone Artisan Bakery

Nanaimo gave Canada its famous three-layer bar — coconut-graham base, custard middle, chocolate top — and Hearthstone in Southgate is a standout on the city's Nanaimo Bar Trail. Their bars have been on Food Network and YTV, always in Classic, Peanut Butter Crunch, and a monthly flavour.

🔹 Try: Classic or Peanut Butter Crunch Nanaimo bar (about $6 each from recent receipts; tax may apply). Scratch baking with Island ingredients; take-away only.
🔹 Hours: Tue–Sat 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; closed Sun, Mon and holidays.
🔹 Address: 50 Tenth St #115a, Southgate Shopping Centre, Nanaimo (south end).

💡 Tip: Ask which monthly flavour is on — pumpkin spice, Irish cream and candy cane have all rotated. Grab a box if you're ferrying to the mainland.

📍 Google Maps: Hearthstone Artisan Bakery

🇨🇦 @canada

🏛 Where to go in Québec: Musée de la civilisation, Québec City

On the Old Port waterfront, Québec's Musée de la civilisation mixes First Nations and Québec stories with rotating shows. A bright indoor stop when the city turns cold — permanent halls include This Is Our Story and In Other Words, Québec.

🔹 Adults 35–64 $27, ages 18–34 $22, 65+ $26, 12–17 $10, 6–11 $6; 5 and under free (as listed on mcq.org)
🔹 Open Tue–Sun 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; closed Mondays in the fall/winter season
🔹 85 Rue Dalhousie, Old Port (Vieux-Port)
🔹 Boutique open 11 a.m.–5 p.m.; free lockers and Wi‑Fi

💡 Tip: Pair it with a stroll along the Old Port, then walk up into the walled Old City.

📍 Google Maps: Musée de la civilisation

🇨🇦 @canada

🚨 JUST IN: Ottawa tables Budget 2026

🔹 Deficit projected at $62.3 billion for 2026-27, with about $22 billion in new affordability measures
🔹 Includes a productivity mega-deduction for business investment and an enhanced groceries benefit

🇨🇦 @canada

🚨 JUST IN: The Weeknd wraps tour as highest-grossing solo male act ever

🔹 After Hours Til Dawn ends in Kuala Lumpur: 176 shows, over 9 million tickets, more than $1.3 billion (Live Nation)
🔹 The Toronto star also set a Rogers Centre venue record on the four-year stadium run

🇨🇦 @canada

🗣 Canadian English: pencil crayon

🧣 In Canada, a coloured pencil is usually called a pencil crayon — a school-supply word you hear from kindergarten through high school. It means a pencil with a coloured core, not a wax crayon.

🔊 Say it: PEN-sill CRAY-on (same as "pencil" + "crayon")
💬 "Can you pass me the red pencil crayon? I need to colour the maple leaf."

🌎 Same thing, different English:
🇨🇦 pencil crayon 🇺🇸 colored pencil 🇬🇧 colouring pencil / coloured pencil

✏️ Canadian spelling: colour, coloured (like British) — but the school word itself is pencil crayon

💡 Careful: A crayon on its own is usually the soft wax stick. A pencil crayon is the wooden pencil with colour inside. Some parts of the UK also say pencil crayon, but in North America it is strongly Canadian.

🇨🇦 @canada

🐟 Where to eat in Yellowknife: Bullocks Bistro

For three decades this log cabin on Great Slave Lake has served wild-caught northern fish — Whitefish, Lake Trout, Inconnu and Arctic Char — cooked from scratch in front of you. It is Yellowknife's classic fish-and-chips stop.

🔹 Try: Arctic Char fish & chips about $49, or Whitefish from about $32 (with home-cut fries and house salad; tax may apply). Pan-fried, grilled or deep-fried.
🔹 Hours: Mon–Sat 11:30 a.m.–8 p.m.; closed Sunday.
🔹 Address: 3534 Weaver Dr, Yellowknife, NT (Old Town, on Great Slave Lake).

💡 Tip: Call ahead for a table — the room is small and fills fast. Ask which fish came in from the lake that day.

📍 Google Maps: Bullocks Bistro

🇨🇦 @canada

🗺 Where to go in Alberta: Banff Upper Hot Springs

Soak outdoors at Canada's highest mineral pool — a Banff tradition since 1886 — with views of Rundle and Cascade Mountains. The water is kept between 37 and 40 °C, and the springs reopened on Nov. 3 after fall maintenance.

🔹 Pool: adult $19.75, senior/youth (3–17) $17.25, under 3 free, family $64.25 (locker token included); Banff park pass also required (adult day $12.25)
🔹 Open daily 10 a.m.–10 p.m.; last entry 9:30 p.m.; first-come, first-served — buy tickets in person only
🔹 1 Mountain Ave, Banff; Roam Route 1 “Sulphur Mountain” from downtown every ~20 min

💡 Tip: Arrive earlier on weekends — wait times stretch, and you still need a park pass before you stop at the springs.

📍 Google Maps: Banff Upper Hot Springs

🇨🇦 @canada

🚨 JUST IN: Ottawa sets 2027–29 immigration targets at 380,000 permanent residents a year

🔹 Temporary residents stay at 370,000 a year; a one-time measure aims to grant permanent residency to up to 200,000 people already in Canada
🔹 Carney calls it sustainable; Conservatives say Canada can't absorb the numbers

🇨🇦 @canada

🚨 JUST IN: McDavid hits 17-game point streak

🔹 The Oilers captain had a goal and 3 assists in a 5-4 loss to Anaheim, reaching 44 points (10 goals, 34 assists) to open the season
🔹 He briefly left after a hard hit into the post, then returned and scored short-handed

🇨🇦 @canada