Canada is Boring

In this episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys and Jesse dive into the life of David Thompson, the Welsh-born orphan who became one of the most important mapmakers in North American history. Along the way, they detour through tales of the Lake Louise Tea House, roast the bizarre social-media energy of Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry, and debate whether Thompson was more cat or rat on the Katy-cat/Katy-rat spectrum.You’ll hear how Thompson:Went from a charity school in Westminster to an apprentice with the Hudson’s Bay CompanyBroke his leg, wrecked his eyesight, and still became a master surveyorQuit HBC when they tried to pull him off mapping and walked 130 km through a snowstorm to join the North West CompanyHelped define key sections of the Canada–US border and mapped huge swaths of the West, including the Saskatchewan River system, the Rockies, and the Columbia RiverBuilt a long, complicated life with his Cree-Métis wife Charlotte, traveling and mapping as a teamPlus: a small-talk detour featuring awkward chats with other people’s kids, Kenny vs. Spenny live, and aging sketch comics still acting like teenagers.For premium content, socials, merch, to leave a voicemail or message us go to canadaisboring.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Canada Is Boring, we dive into the bizarre and morbidly iconic death of Toronto lawyer Gary Hoy, a man so confident in shatterproof glass that he used his own body to prove it. From Bay Street law culture and 1980s Toronto skyscrapers to engineering failures and internet legend, we unpack how a routine office “party trick” turned into one of Canada’s strangest urban myths and staple of “dumb ways to die” lists.Get early access and premium content.For premium content, socials, merch, to leave a voicemail or message us go to canadaisboring.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brian Spencer grew up in remote Fort St. James, pushed toward the NHL by a hard working, hyper-intense sports dad who saw hockey as a path to opportunity. On the night of Brian’s first nationally televised NHL game, his father drove to a CBC station armed and took staff hostage after the Leafs game wasn’t aired, a standoff that ended with his father shot dead as Brian was being interviewed on Hockey Night in Canada.Brian went on to play 10 NHL seasons, only see a tragic end of his own, proving once again that Canada’s relationship with hockey has always been… complicated.Get early access and premium content.For premium content, socials, merch, to leave a voicemail or message us go to canadaisboring.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1886, Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, finally set out to see the country he had helped stitch together by rail. The Canadian Pacific Railway had just been completed, and a grand cross-country tour was planned, complete with speeches, pomp, and a private rail car.What no one planned for was his wife.Lady Agnes Macdonald was bored.So bored, in fact, that she abandoned the Prime Minister’s private car, climbed into the locomotive cab, blasted the whistle at crossings, ignored orders from her husband, and eventually talked her way into riding on the cowcatcher at the very front of the train, from the Rocky Mountains all the way to the Pacific Ocean.Yes. The outside of the train.Sitting on a candle box.At speed.Through mountain descents, landslides, near derailments, forest fires, and even a full-on pig collision in the Fraser Valley.Joined reluctantly by a deeply stressed government superintendent whose job description rapidly shifted to “human seatbelt.”Along the way, Lady Agnes waved to crowds, dared her husband to join her (he did, briefly), and redefined Victorian ideas of decorum, safety, and common sense—while Sir John A. retreated back to the bar car.Based on “Fur and Gold” by John Pearson (Black Press Media)For premium content, socials, merch, to leave a voicemail or message us go to canadaisboring.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.