Travel Like A Canadian

An Air Canada Boeing 777 taking off. 
Photograph courtesy of Air Canada

In 1975, my father took me to British Columbia. From there we went to Washington, Oregon, California and Colorado. He spent time in California and Colorado. He was a big fan of Canada. The trip covered many bases for him and it was a great time.

After the trip, I was filled with recollections. In British Columbia, near Victoria, we saw the power of the Pacific Ocean. All along the beaches were enormous logs. If they were trees, they would have been giants. But they were casually cast up on shore in the way that smaller pieces of driftwood litter Eastern beaches.

In northern California, the Pacific flexed it muscles again. While driving to the coast one afternoon, the Pacific was a fog machine and it forced us to turn back. We crossed the Straits of Juan de Fuca from Victoria to Port Angeles, Washington on a large ocean ferry. Despite the size of the ship, the water in the Straits so rocked the ship that I was seasick - - an unpleasant surprise after spending time afloat on the Atlantic.

Traveling south, we had an atypical two days in Seattle - - it was not raining. We saw Mount Rainier, Crater Lake National Park and Mount Hood. We probably saw Mt. St. Helens but didn’t know it at the time. On the way to Crater Lake, big chunks of pumice were by the road. It was weird to pick up a big rock that was featherweight.

The trees along the way, redwoods and firs, were enormous. Along one Oregon highway, the firs were routinely six feet in diameter. They brought a pleasing scent of pine to the air. The sound of the wind in the firs was appealing. It was a low, constant whistling.

A view of the northern California coast from a historic postcard

We saw a golden eagle in Colorado. We saw where the San Andreas Fault went out to sea at Point Reyes National Seashore and ate the most amazing food everywhere.

Air Canada flew us from JFK to Vancouver, on a DC-9 and Boeing 727. Flying over Canada took us across the vastness of Lake Superior. Canada is so large that the flight included intermediate stops in Winnipeg and Edmonton before we landed in VancouverEach time, we landed and returned to the air, we had a new air crew and another meal.

Because of this congenial trip, I have always been fond of Air Canada. When, a few weeks ago, a fleeting image of an Air Canada commercial flashed across the computer, I wanted to see the entire thing.

I found the commercial on YouTube and learned there were two bonuses.

The first is that Sandra Oh is in the commercial. She brings verve and wit to the enterprise. The second bonus is that Air Canada has two commercials.

Both are appealing and are based on the theme, “Travel Like a Candian.” They are around a minute long and can be found by searching YouTube for “Travel Like a Canadian.”

To learn more about the commercials, Jennifer Wasley, Vice President for Integrated Media at Weber Shandwick Advertising Agency in Toronto, put me in contact with Christa Poole, Senior Manager, Media and Public Relations at Air Canada. Ms. Poole said the videos are not on television but are available online in Canada, the U.S., the UK, Japan, France and Australia.

She went on to say the Travel Like a Canadian theme “is an opportunity to share on a global stage how values like multiculturalism, diversity, openness, compassion and equality make Canadians some of the most accepted and loved travellers in the world.” The videos, she continued, are “a tribute to those values, and central to the story we are telling to celebrate our love for Canada.”

While waiting at the baggage carousel, Judy, played by Sandy Sidhu, is
trying to decide whether to help a fellow traveler, played by Margo Kane, with her luggage.

Sandra Oh suddenly appears and inspires Judy to
"Do the Canadian thing." 
Keep scrolling to see what happens.

The commercials also offer a short course on Canadian life. Ms. Oh and a fellow Canadian discuss “loonies and toonies,” one- and two-dollar Canadian coins. When two kids are bickering, Ms. Oh smooths things over by offering them “poutine,” a Quebec delicacy with French Fries, cheese curds and gravy.

Sandra Oh sharing poutine with two bickering kids

There’s also mention of “bagged milk,” Canadians typically get milk in a one liter bag instead of a carton, and “ketchup chips,”potato chips flavoured with ketchup. Of the latter, Poole advises, “think BBQ chips but ketchup instead of barbeque sauce. Delicious!”

The commercials are set on an airplane and in an airport. Despite both locations being cramped, high security settings, Air Canada had a leg up during filming. The airline has its own hangar where it keeps aircraft between flights. “When we need a plane,” Poole observed, “we don’t necessarily need to be inside an airport.” “We also have,” she noted, “spaces like our Maple Leaf Lounges in airports where we can have more freedom than you might in the rest of the airport.”

For the two commercials, Air Canada had access to aircraft
and airport spaces that are not readily accessible to others.

After seeing these commercials and recalling our travel on Air Canada, I went to the airline’s website, to see if I could fly with them in the US, instead of one of the grim domestic carriers.

Americans can fly Air Canada to Canadian cities and abroad from those cities. However, the airline does not offer domestic service.

The ads, Poole observed, are “directed at international travellers to position Air Canada as the alternative of choice to domestic airlines.” They are, she continued, “part of a wider strategy to add travellers to our growing global network of nearly 220 airports on six continents.”

If the ads inspire you to fly Air Canada overseas, the airline flies you from an American city to Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal; the international flight departs from there. When my nephew Russ Bielawski was traveling to Ontario on business, he told us that Pearson Airport in Toronto was appealing. If Air Canada fares, schedules and travel times fit your itinerary, it might be more appealing to fly with them, instead of flying from one American airport to another which offers international service.

Margo Kane gave Judy her bag first and declares,
"I've been TLCing before TLC was a thing!"

The Air Canada website said it will air future commercials with other Canadian celebrities. Poole said there’s not a date for the next ads, “You’ll have to stay tuned!”