The Current - Three more Canadians share their favourite vacation spots

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

Three listeners make the case for their favourite vacation spots, hoping to win a spot on The Current’s list of great Canadian travel destinations. Amber Jenkins tells us why she loves St. Andrews by-the-Sea, N.B.; Deborah Nixon explains what’s so special about Churchill, Man.; and Rita Komendant shares fond memories of canoeing along Bow River, Alta. with her family. You can see the full shortlist and vote for your favorite on cbc.ca/thecurrent.

When they predict we'll fall, we rise to the challenge. When they say we're not a country, we stand on guard. This land taught us to be brave and caring, to protect our values, to leave no one behind. Canada is on the line, and it's time to vote as though our country depends on it, because like never before, it does. I'm Jonathan Pedneau, co-leader of the Green Party of Canada.

This election, each vote makes a difference. Authorized by the Registeredleader of the Green Party of Canada, this election, each vote makes a difference. Authorized by the Registered Agent of the Green Party of Canada. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. Our quest to create the ultimate Canadian travel guide is underway. Last week, Mr. Rick Mercer was here with me and he made a very strong case for spending your time and your money traveling here at home. Canadians always had a desire to travel in Canada. There is no such thing as a

family in Halifax that wouldn't want their kids to see the Rockies. There's no such thing as an Albertan that wouldn't want their kids to see Niagara Falls. That just doesn't exist. It was just always easier to go to the states. The good news is Canada is an incredible country. It's well worth traveling. It's huge. You could spend five lifetimes exploring Canada. There's just so much to see and there's a trip for everyone, for everyone and every budget. So of the thousands, and I mean thousands of submissions that we received, we have narrowed this list down to 20 finalists. Over the next few weeks we will continue speaking with listeners who are championing their favorite destinations, that we received. We have narrowed this list down to 20 finalists. Over the next few weeks,

we will continue speaking with listeners who are championing their favourite destinations, places like Bonavista, Newfoundland, Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan, and Lake Labarge in the Yukon. You can vote for your favourites online. Go to cbc.ca slash The Current. This morning, three more champions for Canadian travel. Amber Jenkins is in our Charlottetown studio on Prince Edward Island. Rita Comandant is in Thunder Bay, Ontario and Deborah Nixon is with me here in Toronto. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Hi there.

Hello there. Deborah, let's start with you. What location are you championing? Churchill, Manitoba. You're very quick off the mark in saying that. Tell me why, make your case to the nation, why is Churchill, Manitoba the place that every Canadian should visit? Churchill, you know, if you want to know what Canada is really all about, you know, we know the South, but Canada is a remote country and when you go to Churchill, you really get that sense of the vastness, Hudson's Bay, the tundra, it is so magnificent. There are

no roads going in or out of Churchill, so it's isolated. And then you get the magnificent polar bears. Pete Slauson Let's just say you didn't mention the polar bears. Marybeth P. Henson The polar bears, yeah. I mean, they're the reason anybody goes to Churchill. Pete Slauson So, what was it like seeing polar bears up close? Marybeth P. Henson Ah, you know, what can I say? You can see them in the zoo, but there's nothing like seeing them

with their little ones when they're fully standing straight up. They are so amazing. You can see them playing with each other. They're down by the water. The best part for me though, was being in the truck with Stanley. Who's Stanley? So Stanley is a Cree hunter trapper and he works for Subarctic Tours. So Leroy owned Subarctic Tours. And when I went there, I made a point of finding an indigenous, small company owned by Leroy and Stanley was my guide and Stanley had lived there all his life.

He took us to his favorite little spots. It was Stanley, my friend and I in the truck. And we just drove all over and he would find these prints. So the big polar bear prints, he would find fox and Wolverine prints and we would track them. And so I was looking for that really authentic experience. And I that from Stanley. We were hunting polar bears through the tundra in the truck. That sounds really fun.

It was. I mean, as long as you're between the truck and the polar bear. Yeah. There's some separation between you and the polar bear. Yeah. So Stanley was there to, you know, show us the bears,

but also to take care of us. So if you, you know, went out the truck, Stanley would watch, but he would let me go out and, you know, show us the bears, but also to take care of us. So if you, you know, went out the truck, Stanley would watch. Um, but he would let me go out and look for tracks and take me to places. They have the tundra buggies, but Stanley, because he's a Cree hunter and trapper, he knew

the other places. And so he found unique things for us. That's a great pitch. I mean, I've always wanted to see the polar bears, but to your point, and this is something we talked to Rick about and we've heard about already as well, we're a Northern country. And the North is really important.

I mean, it's expensive and it's complicated to get to, but it's really important to see the North, to truly understand this country. I think before people go to Iceland, they need to go to Canada's North. You know, I've been to Nunavut, I've been to the Northwest Territories and I can't even put it into words. I love Canada's North.

It is so beautiful. Amber Jenkins, follow that up. What is your pick for the place that every Canadian needs to go to? My submission was St. Andrews by the sea in New Brunswick. So I am a maritime or I grew up, I was born and raised in Windsor Island but we started staycationing in Atlantic Canada in 2020. So we went to St. Andrews in October 2022. So the fall and we got to drive there, you

know, it's about a six hour drive and from where we are. And so the landscape was beautiful, the trees were changing color. And I really didn't know that I was going to love St. Andrews as much as I, like I fell in love with the place because it is so much like a fairy tale. Pete So, tell me more about this. I mean, there are glorious spots, as you would well know in the Maritimes and I mean plenty on PEI. Why St. Andrews by the Sea? It was full of so many unique different types of architecture.

The Fairmount Algonquin is there and it's breathtaking just to see it from the street. They have a cute little water street that butts up right against the harbour. So tourists just walk along and pick out all these shops and they have their own local Maguire Chocolate Company. So it was this really cute little cafe where you could go in and grab something to eat. But then they were making their own chocolate bars there and you can find them all over Atlanta, Canada and I would never have known unless I went there. And they're fantastic. Yes, delicious.

What was, you said you fell in love with the place. What was the place that you fell in love with the most in St. Andrews? There was, it's a toss up, the Airbnb that we stayed at in Oak Bay, it was a hobby firm. So there was two miniature donkeys and one pony, and we had our daughter with us. So just to be able to stay in Airbnb on the outskirts of East St. Andrews with animals like that, it was so cute. I just found their names this morning.

It's Toto, Rosie and Duke is the name of the animals there. The Bay of Fundy is there, So the Airbnb that we had actually, it was cliffside. We watched the tide rise and fall. It was breathtaking. There's a little bonfire pit. And then because we stayed three days, in the middle of the journey, we decided that we were gonna go to Minister's Island

because this is kind of like their claim to fame. And for people who don't know, what is Minister's Island? It's this island that you can only get to if you travel by the flats. So you have to get in your car and wait for the tide to follow enough so that everybody waiting can drive across the sand to get to the island.

And when you get there, what do you see? It's just unbelievable. From the other side, you can see the castle that was up on top of the island. But then when you get on the island, it's just, it feels so magical magical like there's a booth that people work at so they can give you a map and tell you what you're in for and you're driving your car so like and you could park your car right there and you could

walk on foot or you could take your car right to the the mansion so yeah you drive up in this huge mansion and you think that that's it and they get out and they give you the best tour. They tell you why it's there and who owned it and when the government of Canada took it over and all those details. And then they just let you explore. They let you explore the entire mansion. And there's server's quarters and everything's just the way it was left. And it's very like, it's historic and fireplaces and there's a stone bath house

down by the water that's like part of the mansion. And you jump back in your car and they take you to the horse stables. It's unbelievable. I could just, I mean, I can hear you the way that you're describing it. It's like you're remembering exactly where you were when you were there. Yeah, it was so cool. It was, you know, we're hiking a little bit with an eight-month-old and not missing a beat. Like this place was a place where you could go and you could explore as a couple, you could be elderly, you could

be young or you could have your children. And that was Ministers Island, but St. Andrew's all the same was so welcoming for the family and stroller. There was places to take your stroller and go for a nice little walk. There was beaches where you go looking for sea glass. It was unbelievable. And I'm reliably told some of the best chowder in this country. Now, I'm saying this to somebody from PEI, so I might get in trouble, but apparently there's great chowder.

There is great chowder and there's a beautiful dining room at the Fairmont that they, you know, we went there and we were kind of leery about having a baby with us, but they had a high chair for us and we were inside this beautiful ballroom for lunch. It's gorgeous. Lovely. Rita, your turn. Tell us about your pick. I mean, you've got to follow the chowder and the chocolate and the Bay of Fundy, but tell us about your pick for a top Canadian travel destination. Well, it's the Bull River, but it's anonymous with the Rocky Mountains. And this is the punchline. You power up your soul in the Rocky Mountains and you discover the metal you are made of. It's poetic.

It is. It's time spent in the mountains, never deducted from your life. And I must say, those were the best years of my life in Alberta in the mountains and paddling all the rivers that are available to you. Now, tell me if I'm wrong on this. But is there not a love story at the heart of your affection

for paddling in Alberta? Well, there is, because it started in public school. We had to choose a province and I chose the one with the Rockies and we had to make a model. So that stuck and it affected me and it's in my imagination and always will be. When you think of paddling in this country, why Alberta? I mean, there are great and glorious rivers from coast to coast to coast, but why Alberta? Well, they're shallow. They're shallow and they're moving.

The bow itself in flood is going seven kilometres an hour. Seven kilometres an hour. So you just sit in your canoe, it should be a canoe, and you steer, you make sure you don't smash into anything. You said that this is in your submission that you wrote first, you said it's the postcard river, the tourists glimpse from the highway. Yes, it tumbles beside you all the time. It's omnipresent as it makes its way. So you see it and it's inviting and it's beautiful.

And the railway men who built the transcontinental railway, they knew it and it was an invitation right away to the rest of the world, come to the Rockies. So take me onto the river. And one of the things that you will never forget, an experience that you will never forget paddling along and camping alongside the river. Well, you can put in anywhere you want because there's lots of room and if you go at a distance, you can always hitchhike back to where you started, where your car is. The kids found it wonderful because

there's always water splashing into the boat and every now and then the highway, you glimpse the highway. So if they weren't piling, they did to put on the show for people watching us. How experienced do you need to be to get out on the water there? There might be people who are listening who've never, and you're very insistent saying it needs to be a canoe. There might be people who have never sat down on the canoe before. Well, the canoe is perhaps a little bit more dangerous because the water can come in, but you can get more people in it and more stuff and your dog and make a canoe.

You don't need to be too experienced? No, you have a PFD on and it's shallow. It's never deep because it's summertime, it's hot. It is very cold. It's icy cold. It's bracing. Your legs are red. They sting, but it's shallow and you can jump out. And in July, because it divides, sometimes it turns into a braided stream, you have to pick the right channel and you might get hung up on a gravel bar where you just hop out. You can't in a boat where your feet are below decks, it becomes a clumsy event to get out. But that's why the canoe's good, because you can hop out right away and deal with your obstacles. I think people who've been fighting through winter for the last several months, you've put the seed into their mind of being out on the water. Yeah, you have to love the water. You can't be afraid of it. When they predict we'll fall,

we rise to the challenge. When they say we're fall, we rise to the challenge. When they say we're not a country, we stand on guard. This land taught us to be brave and caring, to protect our values, to leave no one behind. Canada is on the line, and it's time to vote as though our country depends on it, because like never before, it does. I'm Jonathan Pednaud, co-leader of the Green Party of Canada. This election, each vote makes a difference. Authorized by the Registered Agent of the Green Party of Canada.

In the fall of 2001, while Americans were still grappling with the horror of September 11th, envelopes started showing up at media outlets and government buildings, filled with a white lethal powder, anthrax. But what's strange is if you ask people now what happened with that story, almost no one knows. It's like the whole thing just disappeared. Who mailed those letters? Do you know?

From Wolf Entertainment, USG Audio, and CBC podcasts, this is Aftermath, the hunt for the anthrax killer, available now. What do you love, Deborah, about travelling in this country? One of the things that we have learned, and it's not just from the thousands of submissions and the many thousands of people who have voted for this list, but it's just in talking to people about being in this country. There's something that's happening where people are rediscovering their country in some ways. What do you love about discovering things here, as opposed to perhaps traveling abroad? I've been traveling Canada this year, so for the first time in September, I did the

Circle Tour of Lake Superior and hiked for 10 days and had always thought about it and I thought, why haven't I done this? So I did it in September, I'm going to Newfoundland, I'm going to hike there. I don't know, these are things that we all think about and I don't know why, why do we go elsewhere? But this country is, it's got everything. And so I'm really excited about hiking Newfoundland in September and that Lake Superior trip was magnificent. It was more than I even, I didn't know this was here. I didn't know how fantastic the area around Thunder Bay is. I didn't know about Sleeping Giant Provincial Park and it was amazing. And in your own backyard. Like it's right there. Like drivable, like six hours away to

Sault Ste. Marie or seven hours, like who knew?ir, that's the same thing for you, right? You said that from where you are in PEI to get to St. Andrews by the sea is what, five, six hours drive? That's right. So, as a mom with a couple of young kids, why do you want to explore this country with them? We were just, we couldn't believe when we went to St. Andrews, just like, it really is in our backyard as well, I agree with Deborah. We don't have to go far to find beauty in Atlanta, Canada. I was just thinking about all the places in Canada that I've been. I've never been to the territories. I've

been to every province in Canada. I've been to Newfoundland twice. It was beautiful. And when the bucket list came out, I looked to see what was on there that I had already kind of said to myself, where am I going to go? And Manitoulin Island was on there. And I met someone when I was in grade eight from there and I always thought about it because I'm an islander and I want to check out other islands, I guess. But like I don't – even going to Ontario from Prince Edward Island, that's not a stretch in the world of vacationing and keeping it in Canada has served us really well in terms of staying in Atlanta, Canada very close You don't necessarily have to take a week off. You could take really a long weekend

You know a lot of you know a lot of people from the rest of the country are gonna be heading I mean there's people who are rethinking their travel plans and Atlanta, Canada is gonna be heaving this summer, right? Well, it should be because you can see so much, you know? You can see so much. The Maritimes specifically. Yeah. If you get into a trip to Newfoundland and I'm not saying don't go to Newfoundland, it can be time consuming and maybe you don't see as much.

There's a lot to see there on its own, yeah. Yeah. Halifax, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, I will always say that Prince Edward Island is the cutest province in Canada. But New Brunswick has surprised me in the last couple of years when we did these staycations. Alma by the Sea or Alma National Park and we did Tadamagush which is Nova Scotia which is so close to us, less than two hours and we're in a vineyard, uh, in this beautiful Airbnb, really feeling like we're far away from home, but so close at the same time. Rita, you submitted what, six destinations

for our list? Oh, I like, I like moving around this country. As we just heard, there is so much to see. You could live 10 lifetimes and not, and also to live in other places in Canada. That is, that's something else. Tell me more about that. I mean, again, just before I let you go, there's this moment now where, for a bunch of reasons, people don't feel comfortable perhaps, or maybe they don't want to travel to the United States. They want to rally around the flag and spend their money and

their time here. Why for you, Rita, is that important to travel in this country? and their time here. Why for you, Rita, is that important, to travel in this country? Well, to get a sense of this land, it makes you a better person. This understanding, Simon Schama's book, Landscape,

it's about where you come from. And so you don't necessarily come from one place, you've seen all the places and they all have a different vibe. I wrote in about the North Shore of Lake Superior and looking at other people's selections. We like desolation to get in tune with ourselves. So other people like the hubbub of Quebec City and Stratford, but really we do crave that edge condition of nothingness. Fogo Island is like that. It's the North Atlantic.

If people just want to zone out there and look at the horizon of this ocean, that's the craze, the grasslands, how eloquently that person spoke about them. I feel it the same way. You need this to have an interesting life. You've made the country more interesting, all three of you, and I think it's going to be a busy summer as people try to figure out where to go. You have offered some great suggestions. Rita, thank you very much. You're welcome.

Amber, thanks so much. Thank you. And Deborah, thank you very much. You're welcome. Amber, thanks so much. Thank you. And Deborah, thank you. Thank you. Rita Comandante is championing the Bow River in Alberta, as you heard, great place to get out on the water. Amber Jenkins championing St. Andrews-by-the-Sea

in New Brunswick and Deborah Nixon championing Churchill, Manitoba. Which locations need to be on our final list of places that every Canadian needs to go to? You can cast your vote at cbc.ca slash the current. You can vote once a day for the next month and we'll announce the top 10, the ultimate Canadian travel destinations. The website again, cbc.ca slash the current. Voting runs through the 30th of April. Go and do that right now. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.