SORRY ABOUT THAT!
On behalf of all of those who work in travel, on behalf of all of the readers of this publication, and on behalf of the citizens of the United States, I feel compelled to say, Canada, I’m sorry we’ve been ignoring you. It’s just been an oversight.
It won’t take me long to prove how little we know about Canada. Just stop at the first big box store near your home and ask the first three shoppers you encounter to name the current Canadian Prime Minister. I promise you, no one will know Stephen Harper’s name, much less anything about his party affiliation or beliefs.
But go to a store in any Canadian city and you will find a high awareness level of our own nation’s politics and predicaments.
Americans live in an ether cloud of ignorance about foreign lands. The cloud is, I believe, circular, its epicenter being North America. It spreads in a circular pattern. As the circle expands, the ignorance becomes flawed and starts to dissipate so we actually have an interest in and know things about China and Australia. At least we know which of their animals we want to see on our next zoo visit.
But closer to home, the average American traveler shares the view, expressed by the humorist, P.J. O’Rourke, that “very little is known of the Canadian country since it is rarely visited by anyone but the Queen and illiterate sports fisherman.”
Al Capone was not a humorist, but even he once remarked that “I don’t even know what street Canada is on”.
Canadians find our attitude perturbing which is why the wife of the Canadian ambassador to the United States, Sandra Gottlieb, got so frustrated by the “glaze that passes over people’s faces when you say “Canada” that she suggested it might be a good idea to invade South Dakota.
And so, it has fallen to me to formally apologize to Canada. You have put up with our ignorance of your wealth, multi-culturism, and achievements with style and grace, And, from the perspective of the travel industry, we need to pay you back.
Why don’t we send more of our clients to this really important, beautiful, and, yes, kind place?
This is, after all, a nation that shares the world’s longest common border with us. It is the fourth largest land mass on earth. Santa Claus calls Canada home.
I suspect that one reason Canada does not immediately pop up as our favorite vacation destination is the feeling that we are just not bright enough to go there. Many Canadians are bi-lingual, they actually speak a kind of English and fluent French. Canada has the highest tertiary education enrollment in the world. The residents of Toronto hold more university degrees, by proportion, then any other big city in the world.
A famous American once said that “when I’m in Canada, I feel this is what the world should be like.”
Unfortunately, the American was the actress, Jane Fonda, so the Canadian Tourist Board couldn’t do much with the quote.
But you know what? I think that maybe Jane Fonda was right. I think that Canada may be about as good as it gets as a nation. It is, as one writer described it, “America without the guns.”
It is time to repay Canada for its patience. It just isn’t right that we send our clients out to Europe, flying a bit over Canadian airspace, without making them aware that much of what they may be seeking in a destination, is just 33,000 feet below their wings.
Ms. Fonda’s opinion, by the way, is supported by the United Nations Human Development Index which scored Canada with the highest quality of life in the world.
It seems to me that a close, convenient, affordable, English-speaking land that has good coffee and truly beautiful mountain ranges, a land that includes North America’s most beautiful city, a few cities that incorporate the very best of Paris, without, pardon me, the attitude, and a city filled with ethnic neighborhoods and sophistication, ought to be worth a visit. But when the inhabitants of that land, by at least one measure, live the best quality of life on the planet, it would seem that, on the basis of curiosity alone, we ought to go up to our geographical attic from time to time to see what’s up there.
I have my own personal memories of Canada. My favorite travel moment was driving down Rue Ste. Catherine in Montreal, one summer night, at the wheel of a gold Mustang convertible listening to Charles Aznavour. I also remember going out for Chinese food in Vancouver after touring the neighboring islands by helicopter in the morning.
I’ve been reading Canadian blogs to try to find out what the locals think is wonderful about their country. Here is a brief sample of what I found:
- “The best is Lake of the Woods with 65,000 miles of coastline and 14,542 islands
- “Tim Hortons, for coffee that is pronounceable and tastes good and chocolate sour cream Timbits.”
- “if someone knocks on our door at 3:00 am. we don’t shoot them – we ask them what they want and if they need help.”
- “Canadians, for the most part, don’t litter.”
- “We have the world’s highest per-capita Facebook usage. We’re friendly and multicultural or cold, isolated, and lonely.”
- “I can only think of tars, Saskatoon pie, Roger’s corn syrup, Hawkins Cheezies, and hockey. In Saskatchewan we have cradle to grave free medical care, very little crime, it doesn’t take hours to get to work, and we have as much big sky as Montana.”
- “We don’t ever have to pay for drinking water.”
- “Cars actually stop for pedestrians at crosswalks, and other, rather random locations.”
- “Despite the fact that about half of us were born in other places, we seem to all get along and there are still only three of us per square kilometer.”
- “We actually smell nice. I mean, our country doesn’t have an odor. Our national perfume is fresh air, mountains, lakes, and flowers that bloom during the 50% of the time we have lots of extra sunlight.”
Now that we have officially apologized, I hope that the travel trade will start to understand that the “where should I go” question might best be answered by suggesting to clients that they just “look up”. Canada is the next “hot” spot for some serious reasons. I hope the Canadians will forgive us for ignoring them. It was just an oversight. It is just too easy to forget what treasures are up in the attic.
