Company lets U.S. travelers 'Go Canadian'

Jolie Rouge

Tuesday, December 7, 2004 Posted: 6:09 AM EST



The "Go Canadian" package from T-shirtKing.com

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) -- An American T-shirt company has a solution for their fellow citizens who want to vacation in Europe without having to answer questions about U.S. politics -- pose as Canadians.

For $24.95, T-shirtKing.com offers the "Go Canadian" package, full of just the kind of things an American traveler needs to leave their country and its politics behind.

There's a Canadian flag T-shirt, a Canadian flag lapel pin and a Canadian patch for luggage or a backpack. There's also a quick reference guide -- "How to Speak Canadian, Eh?" -- on answering questions about Canada.

It's the brainchild of employees at the Mountainair, New Mexico-based company known for novelty T-shirts it sells worldwide on the Internet. "It's not meant as a slight against the United States or Canada," explained T-shirtKing.com President Bill Broadbent. "It was meant as something Republicans could give their Democrat friends to say 'C'est la vie.' ... But maybe not c'est la vie because that's a French word."

The "Go Canadian" idea sprouted after one of Broadbent's colleagues heard of someone being harassed about U.S. politics during a recent overseas trip.

Some people might not mind, but others "just want to be on vacation," Broadbent said. "So we were joking that they could just go as Canadians, and that just kind of evolved."

The package went up on T-shirtKing.com's Web site November 12 and the company had sold a couple hundred in the first two weeks or so. Many of the out-of-state buyers were in Michigan, Illinois, and the Seattle area, Broadbent said.

When lifelong Democrat Dani Delaney saw the package, she was immediately sold. After the general election, she said, "if I could move to Canada, I would."

"I admire their liberal, progressive stand on things," said the 57-year-old, part-time writing instructor at the University of New Mexico. "And I thought, 'Well, that's a good way to peacefully protest.'"

Sylvia Dawson's boyfriend has been joking that she needed to find him a Canadian flag for an upcoming trip to Spain. That's after his daughter, who is studying there, warned that he might be questioned about politics when he comes to visit. So she bought a package.

"I said, 'What are you going to do if someone asks you about the prime minister of Canada?' And he said, 'I'll study up,"' Dawson said.

Such questions are the reason for the package's quick reference guide, which offers tips in case an American in disguise gets quizzed on Canada.

When it comes to sports, the guide suggests: "This is easy to remember. There is only one real sport in Canada and it is called hockey. Regardless of any trivia question, the answer is 'Wayne Gretzky."'

If a Canadian says he had to "deke out of a meeting," it means he avoided the meeting. If someone is headed to "Hogtown," that's Canadian for Toronto. A trip to "Cowtown" means the person is going to Calgary.

And in all cases, the guide advises: "If your vacation is to be stress free, leave those heavy politics behind and travel with a light heart and quick wit, Canadian style."


http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americ....ap/index.html

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

delSol

why would someody want to "pose" as a canadian?? If your heart is not in America then just go already!!

YNKYH8R

Because- The "Go Canadian" idea sprouted after one of Broadbent's colleagues heard of someone being harassed about U.S. politics during a recent overseas trip.

I don't have this problem, since I've only left the country twice. Sounds like it could come in handy. I think it spares people embarassment.

__________________
"The world will look up and shout save us; and I'll whisper no." R U WE TAH DID?

Jolie Rouge

Canadian Clinic to Try Prescribing Heroin[i]
By JEREMY HAINSWORTH [/ii]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - A clinic providing free heroin to Vancouver addicts is to open later this month to see if prescribing the drug can help addicts who have failed in other treatment programs.

Similar projects have been scorned in the United States, seen as unethical or dangerous. There have been such studies in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Spain.

The 12-15 month trial is to determine if prescribed, pharmaceutical-grade heroin - in conjunction with methadone treatment - is more effective than methadone alone in treating certain opiate-addicted people.

``We're trying to figure out whether we can reach out to those people with medically prescribed heroin,'' said Dr. Martin Schechter, principal investigator for The North American Opiate Medication Initiative.


The project also will be conducted in Toronto and Montreal, but is set to get under way in Vancouver first, following government approval - expected in about two weeks.


More than 4,000 drug addicts live near the clinic in Vancouver's impoverished Downtown Eastside, an area known for its street drug deals.


Schechter said the trial will not attract addicts from other areas because the 157 people selected to take part must have been addicted for at least five years.


Those in the project will go to the clinic three times a day. Nurses will supervise the injections. Seventy people will receive methadone; the rest will get heroin and methadone.


Some in the latter group will be given the heroin substitute hydromorphone. It is distinguishable from heroin so researchers can determine through urine analysis what percentage of participants are cheating by also using illegal heroin and thus skewing the results.


Participants will be monitored for a year after the trial to see if they relapse.


The project has scientific approval - and $6.4 million - from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a government agency, and the support of the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto and the Universite de Montreal.


Several American cities had been considered for the project, but the idea was abandoned, Schechter said.


The U.S. government would not back a similar program, said David Murray of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington, D.C. He said addiction should be treated as a disease to be cured.


``We do not acquiesce in cancer; we fight it,'' he said. ``To acquiesce in various addictions seems to be a deeply troubling, ethical and governmental hazard.''


Benedikt Fischer, an associate professor at the University of Toronto and a member of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, disagreed.


``I know that from the United States, this often looks like a form of surrendering to addiction,'' said Fischer, who is also working on the Vancouver heroin project. ``But quite the contrary, we see this as a potential way of bringing people'' into treatment.


Very little heroin will be at the Vancouver site, and stringent security measures will be taken, Schechter said.


Part of the project is to attract users to a clinical setting where they can get other help to kick their habits and stabilize their lives.



02/08/05 22:44

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...98.htm&sc=1500

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Jolie Rouge

What's the definition of a Canadian?

A disarmed American with health care...

--

When a Canadian thinks of Hades ...
he wonders what the heating bill must be.

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

excuseme

What is the purpose of Canadian bashing on this forum? Extremely juvenile. Fact is you will get treated much better if they think you are Canadian. It's not my fault, it's George Bush's.

JCshopper

I understand exactly what you're saying! I agree!

JCshopper

They are just jokes! Imagine how "extremely juvenile" any comedian must be for making one. This is an open forum, and that is her view of funny. Why are you attacking? And come on now, can we really blame everything on George Bush? The fact of the matter is, for years and years, most of Europe would treat a convicted murderer better than the average American citizen! Don't believe everything you read... after all they re-elected Tony Blair and most of Europe had us convinced there was no way that could ever happen.

Oh and if you have a problem while in France with people asking about American politics, just ask them about Rwanda and then Oil for Food!
And that is no joke.

schsa

Considering how some Europeans feel about American politics it mught just be easier to travel and go Canadian rather than having to be confronted about what Bush has done or should have done.

It goes both ways but honestly if you feel that you are going to be harrassed when you travel, go Canadian. You may end up having a better trip because of it.

__________________
I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.

Jolie Rouge

The situation has existed long before Bush Sr or W ever took office. Stop playing the blame game, that *is* "Extremely Juvenile"


The joke presented cast the Canadians in a positive light and would more likely be considered "American Bashing" if you happened to forget that it is Just A Joke ....

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?