The Current - The Instagram account sharing quirky Canadiana

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

New Brunswicker John Batt is the brains behind popular Instagram account @Canada.gov.ca, sharing some wild stories of Canadiana. He shares some of those stories with us, from the band that got Neil Young signed to Motown to a strangely controversial, very delicious pickle known across the Maritimes.

This message comes from Viking, committed to exploring the world in comfort. Journey through the heart of Europe on a Viking longship with thoughtful service, destination-focused dining, and cultural enrichment on board and on shore. With a variety of voyages and sailing dates to choose from, now is the time to explore Europe's waterways. Learn more at Viking.com. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. If you open up a social media app these days, it's pretty easy to come across some pretty dark Gothic, MAGA content.

Guys with loud voices talking about taking over Canada, why we should be honored to have the United States as our rulers. Maybe that's why you listen to the CBC to remind you of the little things that make this country a nice place to live. Things like fries with gravy and cheese curds or spelling color with a U or playing football correctly with three downs, not four.

If you were looking for the surprising stories behind some of the things that bring us as Canadians together, you might want to follow my next guest on Instagram. John Batt is the brains behind the popular Instagram account, Canada.gov.ca. He's in our Montreal studio. John, good morning.

Good morning. When you started this Instagram account, what did you want to do? I wanted to waste time at work. Excellent. I actually kind of started backwards. The first thing I did was out of nowhere just sort of see if the handle was available, Canada.gov.ca, because I thought that was funny. And you would assume that it would be taken by the government. Yeah, that was sort of the assumption and when it wasn't

I was like well, I'm gonna I'm gonna grab it Then I really just started posting very arbitrary mundane photos of the Canadian countryside and started following my friends as a prank And then sort of by accident, you know followers started to trickle in thinking that, I assume, assuming that I was the government. And when an audience presented itself of maybe 500 or a thousand people, I thought, you know, I can write to these people. They have to read it because it's going to come across their phone. So I sort of hijacked an audience and 80,000 followers later. It's sort of taken over my life in the most wonderful way possible.

How would you describe what it is? Like, what are the stories that you're trying to tell? I'm trying to kind of focus on the insane and the mundane and Canadian history that you will not find in textbooks. You know, but I think that things like the PEI Pie Brigade or the Schoeningen Handshake are as important moments in Canadian history as anything else. So it's fun to sort of revisit some of those more nuts moments of our past. What is the PEI Pie Brigade? The PEI Pie Brigade was an organization

of people that in the 90s went around pying politicians. So, you know, you had people like Alan Rock or provincial ministers in Quebec or even Jean Chrétien was famously pied in a visit to Charlottetown. A cream pie square in the face of the Prime Minister of Canada. As Jean Chrétien was ushered away in one direction, a cream pie assailant was whisked away by police. What's my problem? I think just about everybody in this country has a problem. And you have developed a very funny way of serving pies these days. It was a protest movement against corrupt politicians and they called themselves the

PEI Pie Brigade. They were actually sort of inspired by a Quebec group called these Enteltistes, which is pretty funny using the tart pun there. So, yeah. I was gonna, I mean, I'm gonna run through a couple of the things just because I follow this account and love it. Things that I have noted over time that I was delighted that you told the story of, but how do you choose what to put the spotlight on? If it makes me laugh, if I'm amused in any kind of way, I'm not trying to tell stories just because it happened. I think people appreciate that it's sort of curated by someone, but people have really kind of caught wind of what catches my eye and what the whole aesthetic of the account

is. So I now get a ton of help from the followers. And I would say about half the stuff is things that I just sort of remember organically, but the other half has sort of become curating submissions. So it's turned into a hive mind situation, which is incredibly powerful. One of the things I remember that you showcased

was remember those little boxes at Halloween that we used to carry around to get donations for UNICEF? Yes, of course. Is there a story behind the UNICEF box or is it just an opportunity to remind me of what that little box looked like? I was looking forward to all the different comments of people complaining about their sore neck going around. Also the idea that we made children do this for,

I don't know, what was this responsibility we gave children? And then to manage what, a dollar each in pennies, I'm sure, was what we all came up with collectively. So yeah, I always just thought that was sort of a funny thing to revisit, but that was one of the less academic posts, I would say. There's a lot of Sue Johansson on there, Sex with Sue. Yeah, Sunday Night Sex Show. I mean, absolute legend.

Like, the kinds of things that people learned from her. So what you do, you start off with kissing, licking, and sucking. And I think it's sort of a distinctly Canadian thing. I'm trying to imagine a similar celebrity in American culture and I'm not sure that's something that could have happened south of the border in that era. Where there would be a call-in show and people would ask their deeply uncomfortable questions about sex.

And the way that she dealt with the people who were clearly calling in to pull her leg, she thought, well, you know, there might be someone with this question, seriously. So she would answer them. And I always thought she handled those situations with grace. What a legend. I was pleased, speaking of legends, I was always pleased to see a little profile of our friend, Patty Schmidt, one of the hosts of the legendary CBC radio program, Brave New Wings.

Yeah. So that's kind of what I think has informed the account in a lot of ways. Like, I grew up absolutely loving watching late-night CBC television and seeing those little vignettes from NFB, from the National Film Board. You know, these very trippy, insane little two-minute clips of God knows what. And it just blew my mind as a kid. But then later as a teenager, driving around in my 98 black Dodge Neon with friends at two in the morning and listening to Brave New Waves. My name is Patti Schmidt. And tonight a conversation with futuristic vaudevillian, Momus.

And just hearing stuff that we otherwise would not have heard from these obscure, you know, Danish labels or something. And just her voice, you know, Danish labels or something. And just her voice, you know, you're listening to Brave New Wave with Patti Schmidt. She was just, she was an absolute celebrity to us, a legend. That was my favorite radio program to this day, still is. that you have done the post about these chairs that we all tried to squeeze ourselves into in class? Matthew 20 It has certainly become the perfect post, I would say, because what it does is...

Pete Slauson These are these like plastic type, if you sit on it and if you see it, you know what it is. Matthew 20 Yeah, the brand is Venrez and they're made in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. And it was these two brothers that came back from World War II, and they worked on Spitfires. And they noticed that these planes were fairly indestructible. They were made with veneer and resin, hence the name Van Rez for these chairs. And these planes would be shot down, then they would be fixed and put back up into the

sky. And these, actually, I believe they were cousins. These two cousins from Shelburne, Nova Scotia realized, you know, if we were to make school furniture using these materials and make them indestructible the same way these planes were, we could probably get a pretty big contract from the government. And that's exactly what happened. And the reason why I think it's like a perfect post is because we saw those chairs every day growing up.

Like I sat in one for 12 years straight, elementary, junior high, and high school. And we never thought to ask, like what's the story behind those? Why are they everywhere? And so I think my account tries to explore those questions. And now it lives well beyond the internet. You have this live stage show as well. Yeah, that's right.

What is that like? It's, you know, it's a live delivery of the account. I like to say what it's not. It's not stand up and it's not a podcast. It's Canada.gov.ca live. It's also a 75 minute PowerPoint presentation. And yeah, I think people want to see who I am. I'm sort of anonymous on the account.

So I think people kind of want to see who the guy is running the account that they've been following for a number of years. But yeah, it's an unserious kind of romp into Canadian history and it's tailored for the city that I'm doing the show in. So it's full of local content depending on where I am. Matthew Feeney When you were in Fredericton, you got the new premier of New Brunswick to come out? David Kroemer Yeah, that's right. Susan Holt was at my show and that was great. I think we were... I mean, a lot of us were rooting for her over the last guy. And so, yeah, it was an honor to have Susan Holt there for sure.

Can we talk about pickles? Yeah, certainly can. Okay, so explain... One of the most popular posts that you have done is about a condiment. And it's a condiment that if you're in the Maritimes, you know all about this. And if you visit, as I do, maybe you grab a jar here or there. But for people who don't live there

or don't know what I'm talking about, explain this pickle and why this post was so popular. Yeah, so they're called Lady Ashburn and Pickles. And anybody in the Maritimes knows about them. It's sort of like a mustard relish, but it's different. So they're called Lady Ashburn and Pickles and anybody in the Maritimes knows about them. It's sort of like a mustard relish, but it's different. A lot of people in the Maritimes would be like, no, that's not the same. What's interesting about them is that they're not available in stores.

You can't go to Sobeys or the Co-op or whatever, the superstore and pick up Lady Ashburn and Pickles. You need to have a guy, which I find very funny. And usually someone's guy is their nana or their Grammy. So yeah, they're served with like a tiny spoon. They're at every kind of family dinner because they're good with like ham or turkey. But yeah, there's been like some controversy. You know, in 2018, they were pulled from shelves in little markets in the Maritimes. And there was a really great CBC article that said, it's a real pickle for fans of New Brunswick's signature homemade pickles out there.

And the comments were incredible. Some of the quotes in the piece, people saying like, we don't live in Toronto. This is a rural place. I think we should be allowed to eat these pickles. But it's funny because the story, like Lady Ashburnham was this woman from Fredericton, from my hometown, and she got involved, she worked as a telephone operator. And there was this British army officer named Thomas Ashburnham. His father was the fourth Earl of Ashburnham, and this guy was the fifth of seven sons.

He was a drinker. He would spend his nights drinking and gambling at a downtown hotel in Fredericton. And instead of trying to stumble his way home, he would call the operator and ask for a horse and carriage to take him home. And it was always the same woman that answered when he would phone. And over the year or years, he fell in love with this woman's voice, which I find very romantic. And it's interesting, too, to think from her perspective. Every now and then, a man would call and need a ride home.

And maybe he just sounded rich or handsome or both. But he said he had to meet her one day. He was like, I must meet you, the sound of your voice. And so they met and they fell in love and they got married. And he ends up needing to go back to Britain to assume his role as Lord Ashburnham. But she doesn't fit in very well with the whole English nobility thing. She is a maritime after all. And so it doesn't work out.

And so they come back to Frederickton to sort of resume their role as socialites. And that's the woman that came up with these pickles. However, it's been kind of unearthed that she was famously not that handy in the kitchen. And the real genius behind the recipe was in fact her younger sister Lucy, who she hired to run the kitchen at her house on Brunswick Street. The house is still there. If you ever are in downtown Frederickton, you can check it out. I just love that story.

I find it so romantic that he fell in love with the sound of her voice. I love that they go to England and that it doesn't work out because she is a little too rough around the edges. I think any maritime can kind of relate to that problem. And yeah, I just think it's really neat that this is a story from like 1858 and we're still eating those pickles today with the same recipe. So pretty neat. It is fantastic.

Tell me about the UFO. They're delicious as well, by the way. Tell me about the UFO. They're delicious as well by the way. Tell me about the UFO in Montreal. Yeah, so the Hotel Bonaventure is this hotel downtown. It has one of those incredible tunnels to a rooftop pool, you know, for when it's cold out because the pools open like 12 months out of the year. So you swim into the pool from from inside the hotel into the outbecause it's an outdoor rooftop pool. So a woman was doing this in November of 1990, and she's doing the backstroke, and she looks

up and she sees a giant floating object, you know, yellow, green, amber lights, and it stopped and it hovered there for three hours. The lifeguard at the pool calls hotel security. Guests then run to the pool and nobody could believe what they're seeing. Then the police come. They estimated it was the size of five football fields, if you can imagine that. By 9 p.m. journalists are there. The UFO is still there.

And then at 10 o'clock, it slowly leaves and is never seen again. One of those journalists was Gilles Bellevaux of La Presse. Have a listen to this. He told the CBC about taking the elevator up to the rooftop with a Montreal police officer. Have a listen. We were going up, you see. He asked, may I use my gun? You see. It was just a joke and the people were laughing. I was laughing. When we arrived together on the roof, he looked in the sky and he said, Sacrament. He was Astonished like I was. Sacrament. Did anybody figure out what this thing actually was?

Well, the files were classified 24 hours later. So all we have are those... So nobody knows officially? That's correct. But it's considered, you know, amongst the people that are sort of in this space to be the most important UFO sighting in Canadian history. It was just seen by so many people for so long. And the credibility of the witnesses is so important

You know you have the chief of police there Witnessing it so that's not just some guys stumbling out of a bar on Crescent Street You know so I It's my favorite hotel in in Montreal when I have friends come to visit and and ask for a recommendation I always suggest they they stay there, and then I grab my my trunks and I run down and I sneak in a little swim. And perhaps hope that maybe a UFO reappears. Yeah, exactly. I was actually, every time I'm down there, I'm like, you guys should put up a plaque or something like that, you know, this is the site of, because it's just

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In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together to listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Couples. Okay, let me play one more thing. And this is, you wanna talk about great stories. This begins with a bit of music. Have a listen to this and let's see

whether listeners can figure out who this is. ["Money for Couples"] I really, really love you, darling, with a love that's so strong and so fine. Nothing in this whole wide world could ever make me change my mind. It's my time. I said that it's my time, baby. Don't care what you say. I really don't care what you say. John Baff, who is that? That's a band called the Minerbirds out of Yorkville. It's crazy because two members of that band, you would never associate with each other. Two members of the Minor Birds included Neil Young and Rick James, if you can believe it or not.

The Neil Young and the super freak himself, Rick James. That's right. And Rick James was in Canada as a deserter. He was fleeing being conscripted into the Vietnam War and So he joins this band in Yorkville, you know that scene happening in Toronto during that time is just so electric You know Neil Young's in the band they signed to Motown But then they accused their manager of stealing all these funds from them, which he had in fact done But then they accused their manager of stealing all these funds from them, which he had in fact done. But in retaliation, he goes to Motown and says, you know, the lead singer of that band you just signed is AWOL. And so he's then arrested.

And Rick James goes to jail. And so the Minor Birds are forced to disband. That song you just played, It's My Time, never comes out, is never released. And from there, Neil Young buys a hearse and drives it down to LA and starts Buffalo Springfield. I mean the music world could be completely different had they stuck together. I know. I think it's one of those insane butterfly effect moments, you know. Does anything else ever really happen down in LA if that manager doesn't steal from them and then all that happens. So, absolutely insane story with Rick James

and Neil Young. What is it that you love about little stories like this? I mean, these could be footnotes to Canadian history or not. I mean, maybe they should be those heritage moments that we used to run on television. What is it that you love about these little things? Matthew Feeney Not to correct you, but heritage minute. That's what they were called. Alan Ross Heritage minute, moments, not a minute. Matthew Feeney I think that the heritage minutes were great, and they still are.

They're still making great ones. They might be a little whitewashing at times. And I think that people are coming to my account to sort of get a more like a fuller story told of Canada I love to talk about negative elements of our of our past because I think it's as important as as all the things that we Celebrate I think that it's fun to sort of dig something up I think that you know without being too obscure I think is important to you because you want people to sort of bond over a cute little interesting story as well. Yeah, I think that we're more than maple syrup

and mousse and Mounties. I think that was sort of a version of Canada that was pre-packaged almost for Americans in the 90s as a means of sort of selling some kind of Canadian identity. And I think Canadians are done with it. I think we're much more interested in some deeper stuff now and I think I'm just sort of trying to reflect that. And the audience, I mean the reaction from the audience would suggest that yes people are looking for that, that they want to

know the fuller picture if I can put it that way of who we are as Canadians. Yeah there's you know there's some like wonderful stuff that unites us but there's some there's some funny and pathetic stuff that unites are as Canadians. Yeah, there's some wonderful stuff that unites us, but there's some funny and pathetic stuff that unites us as well. And I think it's fun to explore those things just as much as it is the more known things. John, I love it. Congratulations and keep going. All right, thank you very much.

John Batt is the creator of the very popular and excellent Instagram account, Canada.gov.ca. His live show is coming up next week in Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg. Is there a piece of Canadiana that you've always wanted to know the backstory for? Is there an underappreciated part of our history that you would like to share? One of the neat stories, we didn't get to talk about it, one of the neat stories he tells on

that site is of a member of Blue Rodeo, who was a goalie, who once faced shots from Bobby Orr before the 1972 Summit Series. Tell us about a bit of Canadian history that we don't know about that we would be better knowing about. You can email us, thecurrent at cbc.ca. And again, that account on Instagram is Canada.gov.ca. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.