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Great Canadian Products

So many great Canadian products. The few that come to mind at the moment:

  • Soak - laundry products for washing sweaters and the like - nice smelling, and very effective at getting out the occasional stains (for me, mostly small spills of coffee down the front of the sweater). Made in the GTA. Don't be a fool using Woolite.
  • BioVert - made outside Montreal, remains the best of the so-called natural laundry detergents. Free of crap like optical brighteners, etc., BioVert is actually also an effective laundry detergent (can't say the same about many of its peers). They sell a whole range of cleaning products (all the ones I've tried have been good), but it's the laundry detergent that keeps me coming back. When Adria Vasil used to do her Ecoholic column, she twice tested natural laundry detergents (with Tide or Sunlight as a comparison), and BioVert came up on top both times.
  • Crawford Street Skin Care - quite literally made on Crawford Street here in Toronto. I have only tried the deodorant, and it really works (so many natural deodorants are ineffective), so I am a convert. But they have other products, which I have not used yet (but likely will).
  • Stolen Riches - I bought their shoe laces, and my shoes have never looked so good. Based here in Toronto, with their "Global Head Office" (that's what their website says) located in Little Portugal.
  • Pomp and Ceremony - I love Liberty fabrics (give me a classic floral print any time), and Andrea makes the best ties and bow-ties with Liberty fabrics, here in Toronto. The fabric might be from the coolest department store in London, but the ties, bowties and pocket squares are pure TO. I always get compliments when I wear a PC tie.
  • Stanfields - I don't understand why men would wear underwear that isn't from the pride and joy of Truro, Nova Scotia. Stanfields look good, last long, and you know the wearer is a good, solid mensch. Anything else is just trendy crap, likely made in a Bangladeshi sweatshop.
 
someMidTowner said:
Good. More Kozlik's for me then.
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Suit yourself. I checked their website and all the translations are laughably bad. This is quite interesting from a company that makes a traditionally French product.

Ironically, the best translations I have ever seen on consumer products were on Martha Stewart merchandise. I found it funny to be respected more by an American company than by most Canadian manufacturers.
 
Bayer said:
Suit yourself. I checked their website and all the translations are laughably bad. This is quite interesting from a company that makes a traditionally French product.
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I don't think most Torontonians are buying mustard based on labels, branding, or poor translation. Anyone that buys Kozlik's knows that it's better than any of the imported supermarket brands of Dijon, and as a very small local operation, they likely just use Google Translate to meet language laws, rather than hiring someone fluent in French to appeal to the 1.5% of locals that would be offended by such errors.
 
someMidTowner said:
I don't think most Torontonians are buying mustard based on labels, branding, or poor translation. Anyone that buys Kozlik's knows that it's better than any of the imported supermarket brands of Dijon, and as a very small local operation, they likely just use Google Translate to meet language laws, rather than hiring someone fluent in French to appeal to the 1.5% of locals that would be offended by such errors.
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I estimate the cost of correcting the problem at a couple of hundred dollars. But indeed, respect is so overrated.

Edit: I recall, a long time ago, laughing my head off at Loblaws when I saw that their "Sticky Pudding" had become in French a "Slimy Pudding". Needless to say, they had to change course very quickly when they got in the Québec market.
 
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Skeezix said:
  • Stanfields - I don't understand why men would wear underwear that isn't from the pride and joy of Truro, Nova Scotia. Stanfields look good, last long, and you know the wearer is a good, solid mensch. Anything else is just trendy crap, likely made in a Bangladeshi sweatshop.
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True word! I work outdoors and I only wear Stanfields. Well, I mean, I wear other layers as well in winter, but....you know what I meant. :p
 
Since I'm here listing things that will kill you, here are two more bosses in their respective categories, both from our neighbour:

Chic Choc Rum.....trust me.....camping feels a lot better with Chic Choc in your tea.

and

Ungava Gin....rather unique gin taste, I find....though, Dillon's Rose Gin is also great.
 
Bayer said:
But indeed, respect is so overrated.
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Respect like to the Anglo-Jewish community in MTL when the language police fined Schwartz's for having an apostrophe? Disrespect requires intent. These mistranslations weren't intentional like Loi 101.
200 languages are spoken in Toronto and only 2 end up on the label. That's respect, even if the translations are messy.
 
someMidTowner said:
Respect like to the Anglo-Jewish community in MTL when the language police fined Schwartz's for having an apostrophe? Disrespect requires intent. These mistranslations weren't intentional like Loi 101.
200 languages are spoken in Toronto and only 2 end up on the label. That's respect, even if the translations are messy.
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Québec's constant paranoia is annoying, but including French on the label is a federal requirement, and as long as you have to do it, why not do it properly, for a minimal amount of money and effort? Anyway, I read that it is available in several Québec locations, so I am confident the situation will change eventually.
 
The website well.ca sells many different products, and it is possible to search for Canadian ones. Armed with this information, you can then try to buy the products you are interested in elsewhere, because this Guelph company now belongs to McKesson, an American corporation that also operates Rexall pharmacies.
 
Bayer said:
The Rose is very tasty, but it is sweet and can't really be used in the same way.
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True word. The Rose is a straight sipper only, in my books. I ain't making no Tom Collins, Grin and Chronic, Dirty Martini, nor my fav, a Negroni with it.
 
MTown said:
True word! I work outdoors and I only wear Stanfields. Well, I mean, I wear other layers as well in winter, but....you know what I meant. :p
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I made a stop at the factory on our trip last year through the Maritime Provinces. They have a great outlet store.

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