Discover more of Canada, one great find at a time.
Potatoes in your soap dish. Hockey sticks in your bathroom. Canada, you’ve got our attention. 🇨🇦 This week, we’ve found four Canadian businesses putting their own spin on everyday things, from puzzles featuring Canadian artists to chips with deep family-farming roots. We’re also asking: what’s the hardest part of shopping Canadian? Tell us in this week’s Great Canadian Debate.
What’s the hardest part of shopping Canadian?
LAST WEEK’S VERDICT
Which unofficial Canadian rule deserves to be official?
A total of 3,156 votes:
🥇 37% — Measure a road trip in hours, not kilometres
🥈 28.3% — Say sorry when it wasn’t your fault
🥉 20.2% — Hold the door for someone 20 feet away
🌦️ 14.5% — Talk about the weather like it’s breaking news
THIS WEEK’S CANADIAN FINDS
Products, businesses, people and places that deserve a little more attention.
AN UNEXPECTED INGREDIENT · PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Welcome to Natural
PEI potatoes have found their way into the soap dish.
You expect potatoes on your plate. Husband-and-wife team Pieter and Geraldine found another use for them.
In 2016, they developed a process for making soap and skin cream using potatoes. Today, their Island Potato Soap is made in PEI with juice from locally grown potatoes.
Their Welcome to Natural collection includes scents such as Lavender, Orange Ginger and Coconut Cream, plus an Anne of Green Gables soap collection.
A familiar Island crop, with a rather unexpected second career.
PIECE BY PIECE · BRITISH COLUMBIA
Puzzle Lab
Look closely. Even the puzzle pieces are part of the art.
In Victoria, BC, Puzzle Lab turns Canadian artists’ work into wooden jigsaw puzzles with intricate curves, unusual shapes and cuts that make you rethink where the next piece belongs.
Founded by two former architecture students, the company makes its puzzles in its Victoria studio. Each collaborating artist receives a royalty on every puzzle sold.
The collection ranges from small puzzles to more ambitious challenges, with difficulty rated in chili peppers. Choose your level of heat.
FOUNDING PARTNER · SPONSORED
The Richmond Popcorn Co.
Isaac has movie night covered. Sharing is still under discussion.
Picking just one flavour is the hard part. Finding room on the couch might be a close second.
The Richmond Popcorn Co. is a family-owned Canadian business, making sweet and savoury popcorn and shipping across the country. Start with Homemade Caramel Corn, Chicago Mix, Oreo or Movie Time, then see what else catches your eye.
Grab a few favourites for your next movie night. Whether you share them is entirely up to you.
A SECOND SHOT · ONTARIO
Harmsen’s Hockey
A broken hockey stick’s career isn’t over. Sometimes, it just ends up in the bathroom.
Ontario’s John Harmsen turns broken hockey sticks into barbecue tools, bottle openers, snow brushes and, yes, toilet plungers.
What started with bottle openers and grill scrapers in his basement grew into a business giving discarded sticks another shot. The plungers? Those came after a request from the Los Angeles Kings.
His repurposed creations are handmade in Canada using imported parts, with the sticks’ scuffs adding a little character.
You probably know someone who needs one.
GROWN INTO SOMETHING GOOD · NEW BRUNSWICK
Covered Bridge Potato Chips
These potato farmers took snacking into their own hands.
Behind Covered Bridge is a New Brunswick family with generations of potato-farming history. Brothers Matt and Ryan Albright started a potato distribution company in 2004, with chip production following in 2009.
Today, their lineup stretches from Sea Salt & Vinegar and Creamy Dill to seasonal creations like Atlantic Lobster. Their dark russet potatoes give the chips their distinctive golden-brown colour.
And for anyone who struggles to choose, their seasonal Storm Chips mix four different flavours in one bag.
KNOW A CANADIAN ARTIST WE SHOULD DISCOVER?
We want to shine a little more light on Canada’s creative talent, and we could use your help.
Do you know a Canadian musician, painter, photographer, illustrator, writer, performer or other artist who deserves a bigger audience?
Maybe they’re already well known in your hometown. Maybe they’re just getting started. Either way, send them our way. We’ll be featuring some of your recommendations in future issues of More Canada Please.
KNOW A CANADIAN BUSINESS WE SHOULD DISCOVER?
Is there a Canadian business, product, founder or place that more people should know about? Send us your recommendation and tell us what makes it worth discovering.
Your suggestion could be featured in an upcoming edition of More Canada Please.
HOW DID WE DO?!
Supporting Canadian starts with knowing what’s out there. I hope this week introduced you to a business you’ll remember, try or tell someone about.
Next week, we’re giving Canadian creativity a little more room with the launch of our Featured Artist section. Know an artist, musician or creator who deserves a wider audience? Send them our way →
Thanks for discovering Canada with me. If someone came to mind while you were reading, forward this issue their way. You might introduce them to their next favourite Canadian business.
Until next week,
Dan
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