I found this link online that listed some of the top Canadian startups. It’s always good to see some risk-taking entrepreneurs out there. The blog has the details but check each one yourself:

1. ThoughtFarmer
2. Status.net
3. Shopify
4. Geotoko
5. HootSuite
6. Well.ca
7. Freshbooks
8. CommunityLend
9. Mobio
10. Mobify

With the Canadian dollar trading at par for the foreseeable future, its always odd to see Canadian products cheaper in the USA than here. Obvious examples are cars (civic, rdx, rx350, etc.) and books.

Canada Goose jackets have maintained par pricing this season. With their jackets selling dollar-for-dollar between USA and Canadian retainers.

Their men’s jackets are available at Harry Rosen, Sporting Life, Holts and Uncle Otis.

A Canadian advertising firm (DDB Canada) was responsible for some pretty innovative shooting for this Subaru commercial. Watch the commercial below, but don’t miss the “making of” video below it too.

The commercial (you can click to navigate to full HD version)

The making of the commercial

Williams Sonoma represents probably the worst retailing pricing policies in Canada. The same products north of the border have ridiculous markups. Here’s two examples:

All-Clad Stainless Steel Multipot with Mesh Inserts, 12-Qt.

USA Price: $129.95 on sale

CDN Price: $199.95 on sale

Markup: 53%

All-Clad Stainless Steel Multipot with Mesh Inserts, 8-Qt.

USA Price: $99.95 on sale

CDN Price: $149.95 on sale

Markup: 50%

It’s important to note that unlike all the other d5 cookware, these multipots are made in China, not the USA. This probably explains why they are always “on sale”. I’ve never seen them priced at their normal price. However, the normal prices also exhibit the same pricing disparity, $200 USD for the 8-Qt, vs. $300 CAD. The 12-Qt is $235 USD vs. $350 CAD.

The AJAC awards are complete and the winners announced in each category. All of these entries will be eligible to win Car of the Year and Truck of the Year to be revealed at the Toronto Auto Show.

• Best New Small Car Under $21,000: Ford Fiesta
• Best New Small Car Over $21,000: Chevrolet Cruze
• Best New Family Car Under $30,000: Volkswagen Jetta TDI
• Best New Family Car Over $30,000: Buick Regal
• Best New Luxury Car Over $50,000: BMW 5 Series Sedan
• Best New Prestige Car Over $75,000: Porsche 911 Turbo S
• Best New Sports/Performance Car: Cadillac CTS-V Coupe
• Best New Minivan: Toyota Sienna
• Best New SUV/CUV Under $35,000: Hyundai Tucson
• Best New SUV/CUV $35,000 to $50,000: Ford Edge
• Best New SUV/CUV Over $50,000: Volkswagen Touareg

Yes, the Kindle is now available to Canadians. This e-ink reader is the darling of the US for a while, and is now available here, albeit with a few caveats:

• customers will have to order it from Amazon USA. This is a potential disaster because this adds additional shipping costs ($21) and import fees ($31). I’m a little worried that Amazon has rushed this and not thought about the duty and PST/GST consequences – the government is going to add duty and GST and PST on top of when you import. What’s worse, the courier is probably going to be UPS, so customers will also be billed a brokerage fee on top of this. One might hope the “import fee deposit” of $31 will cover these costs, clearly all these charges are more than $31.
• Only the Kindle is available, the Kindle DX is not. That means you do not get the larger 10″ screen, increased storage and rotating display.
• Browsing is turned off. You will not be able to use the Kindle as a web browser. This makes no sense because it’s obvious they have a roaming agreement with a Canadian wireless carrier since you can purchase books wirelessly using 3G. I assume they did this in order to not incur data fees from the carrier. No doubt because our Canadian carriers are probably charging a lot more for data than the American carriers.
• This is unconfirmed but Canadian authors are not available to be purchased via Amazon for the Kindle. I have to look into this more but the licensing isn’t setup for Canadian publishers.
• If the Kindle is here, BRING THE KINDLE IPHONE APP TO US!! No, it’s still not available through App Store.

Update 11/20: CanoeTech believes that the Kindle is using the Rogers network for it’s 3G data.

The Canadian Tourism Commission posted a whole bunch of Youtube videos about Toronto recently. They’re quite good and worth having a look – discover a new area of Toronto. All of them have pretty good production value and are in HD.

The winners in each division of the Car of the Year awards were announced today. Out of this list, the overall Car and Truck of the Year will be announced at the Toronto Auto Show.

The Ford Taurus is the only domestic nameplate that won a category. The VW group owns VW, Audi and Porsche and took six categories including both performance car categories. Interesting to note that all six VW winners feature engines with direct injection and forced induction.

• Small Car Under $21,000: Mazda3
• Small Car Over $21,000: Mazda3 Sport
• Family Car Under $30,000: Volkswagen Golf Wagon TDI
• Family Car Over $30,000: Ford Taurus
• Luxury Car Over $50,000: BMW 335d Sedan
• Prestige Over $75,000: Porsche Panamera Turbo
• Sport/Performance Under $50,000: Volkswagen Golf GTI
• Sport/Performance Over $50,000: Audi S4
• Convertible: Audi A5 Cabriolet
• SUV/CUV Under $35,000: Subaru Outback
• SUV/CUV $35,000 to $60,000: Volkswagen Touareg TDI Clean Diesel
• SUV/CUV Over $60,000: Lexus RX450h

I picked this up from the Globe: The US Ambassador to Canada is a blogger. He fills his official blog with posts about his introduction to Canada and moving into his new home in Ottawa. While I’m sure it won’t contain anything controversial, it’s pretty cool to see some inner workings of diplomats.

I’m hoping he keeps up the blog, as sometimes blogs are started and abandoned fairly quickly.

The Federation government is seeking submissions and input into the country’s copyright legislation. I think it’s important that everyone put in submissions so that the voice of the average Canadian can be heard, and not end up with an ill-serving piece of legislation like the DMCA in the States.

Online submissions are being accepted on their website. Things you should consider are:

• Your rights to copy media that you have purchased to different formats and devices. Should you be allowed to copy a song purchased on iTunes onto a CD for a CD player?
• Is file-sharing legal? What are the consequences for sharing files that you do not own? What about consequences if you do own it? What burden of proof is required before a copyright holder can prove that an individual was file sharing?
• The DCMA in the USA makes it illegal to circumvent DRM or other copyright protection techniques, is this a path that Canada should go down?
• What privacy rights do you have when copyright investigations are happening? Are ISP’s allowed to disclose your file sharing history?