The Canadian Kraut and the Cross-Border Shop

Carnival of the Canucks is at Ghost of a Flea this week. Check it out on Tuesday to see what True Northy goodness ensues.


I'm going to write about that quintessential Canadian passtime: the Cross Border Shop! Today, my target is a satellite radio system from Circuit City in Amherst, U. S. of A. The experience was quite positive: the border crossing at Queenston was empty, the US customs officer (now with prominently-displayed sidearm!) was pleasingly intimidating, and the choice of electronic superstores was thrilling.

So, you're asking. Everything went smoothly- no hiccups, no stories of stripsearches at the border, no nightsticks to the genitals by burly female American G.I.'s (darn!) Why the hell are you wasting our time with this boring entry?

Well, this trip does illustrate a point. My whole goal was to purchase a satellite radio system for our Honda Odyssey. I can't do this in Canada yet. We don't have satellite radio, even though the signal for the U.S. market reaches quite a ways into our vast great land...

I live in, what, the fifth or sixth largest metropolitan area on the continent, and I have to go to frickin' Niagara Falls, New York to get it. Why? Well when satellite radio comes to Canada, it'll be the same CRTC-mandated Canadian-Content crap that's been forced down our throats for a generation. The fact that the CBC is so prominently involved leads me to believe that Canadian satellite radio will be more of the same.

I resent that I have to wait for the best toys to come to Canada a year or so after every last small market town in the States is bored with them. Why no TIVO in Canada? Oh sure, the Rogers version is good; it has changed our viewing habits and times considerably, but it has limits and is the only game in town, unless you want to get a satellite dish...

But the whole Canadian content thing is what's sticking in my craw. What are we so afraid of? Look at Hollywood. Can you say that Canadians are under-represented there? Setting quotas and limits allows crappy artists to flourish and take over the local airwaves.

Remember some of the lousiest music of the 80's were due to Canadian content, and yet our government is terribly afraid of letting all of these losers get real jobs and sparing our ears.

Hopefully all of these crappy artists are confined to one unused channel that I can safely ignore with my new toy...