POPULARITY
13 episodes with bay company
9 episodes with bay company
6 episodes with bay company
6 episodes with bay company
8 episodes with bay company
4 episodes with bay company
2 episodes with bay company
2 episodes with bay company
2 episodes with bay company
This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed!This week we're taking a good look at some of the biggest companies ever to grace the planet; expect to hear from The Hudson's Bay Company, the greatest (and most pungent) fish sauce company you never heard of and how about we discover the golden age of the American Motors Corporation?And have you ever been uninvited from a Christmas party? Ever been banned from one? Ever put your festive foot in it? You know what to do: hello@ohwhatatime.comALSO! The comedy history podcast that has spent as much time talking about the invention of custard as it has the industrial revolution is here with its first ever live show! Thursday 15th January at the Underbelly Boulevard in London's Soho.
This week we're taking a good look at some of the biggest companies ever to grace the planet; expect to hear from The Hudson's Bay Company, the greatest (and most pungent) fish sauce company you never heard of and how about we discover the golden age of the American Motors Corporation?And have you ever been uninvited from a Christmas party? Ever been banned from one? Ever put your festive foot in it? You know what to do: hello@ohwhatatime.comALSO! The comedy history podcast that has spent as much time talking about the invention of custard as it has the industrial revolution is here with its first ever live show! Thursday 15th January at the Underbelly Boulevard in London's Soho.
Happy Thanksgiving you turkeys! Enjoy an interview with the gin-u-wine heirs to the Blackball Ferry legacy, brought to you by Friends Of The Boaty Show. Skip to that at around 26:00, or dig in for your dose of BS silly with an epic Old Boat Ad and Steph's stories from the largest outdoor hot tub park in North America... Spa Nordique! Boaty Show hats are now available at www.theboatyshow.com/merch. We love you and are thankful for you, thanks for listening! Jeff: Hi. If you enjoy the Boaty Show, you may enjoy my new audiobook. It's about AI and how we can live with it. You Teach The Machines: AI on Your Terms. Out wherever you get your audiobooks. By me, Jeff Pennington. [Music] Jeff: Welcome back listeners. I'm Jeff Pennington. I'm joined by my co-host... Steph: Stephanie Weiss. Jeff: Sipping on her coffee. It is Sunday, still morning. We, uh, we both have fires going. Mine's downstairs, Steph's is right in front of her in her living room. We're remote, and it's been a minute. We're not gonna talk about that. We're just gonna jump right back in. Right? Steph: Yeah, let's jump right in. Jeff: Jump right in. Like it's summer and we're going swimming again. Steph: Exactly. Exactly. Jeff: We have, uh, we have a show today. We're gonna do a segment on the Puget Sound ferry system—the history of. And we're gonna do, uh... what do we got? We got a "Old Boat Ad" from Jay. He was touring down in, uh, Whatchamacallit, Florida? Sarasota. He sent a picture of an alligator, which I will contend is Boaty. Steph: You want my opinion on that? Jeff: I want your opinion on that. Steph: I mean, it does... it does get from one place to the other. I don't know if they do that without getting wet, but yeah. I admit, boat adjacent. If you've seen an alligator, you wish you were in a boat. I mean, I can think of many ways that alligator is Boaty. Yes. Jeff: That was... that was excellent commentary. Thank you very much. Steph: You're welcome. Jeff: Wait, when you were down there last winter for the fundraising visit and you found that waterfront, that waterfront bar that served like drinks in buckets or something? Were there any alligators around then? Steph: Yeah. Well, yes. We were told there were alligators around, but I didn't see an alligator. But I did see lots and lots of signs about the alligators. Remember the signs? Jeff: In particular that it was alligator mating season. Steph: That's what it was! Yes. "Do not approach the mating alligator" or something super weird like that. Like... yes. That's right. Jeff: And then we did a whole... we did a whole, I mean we might have had a series of bits on alligator mating. And why you weren't supposed to go in the water when they were mating? Was it because it was gross? Because it's like, you know, it's the water that they're mating in and what's all that about? Or because you don't want like the throes of alligator mating ecstasy to like, end up with you getting like, you know, I don't know. Maybe they like bite each other in the midst of all that and you don't want to get confused... like get a body part confused. Steph: Right. Is there more traditional aggression? Right. Are they more aggressive when they're mating? These are questions. And then we had—I think we ended up really wondering whether that was a deep water thing or just a shoreline thing. Like if you're out in the middle, do you have to worry about that? Remember? We had this... this was a whole conversation. Jeff: I think... but I do think that it's ridiculous because... because like, if you see alligators whether they're mating or not, could we all just assume you don't go in the water? I just seems unnecessary, but... Jeff: And we'll count that as the only answer worth taking away because I only recall the questions we had at the time. Uh, and I don't recall any resolution of any of this. So, um, interesting though that Jay... winter-ish, maybe mating season or not. It looked like the picture was a solo... solo alligator. It was just, just an alligator. Unless maybe it was an alligator couple and you couldn't see the other alligator because that alligator was underwater? Steph: Like... that just occurred to me when you said... great minds think alike. Jeff: Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Steph: We should ask Jay. Jeff: We should ask Jay what was going on. Steph: Or not so great minds think alike. Jeff: All right. All right. So I think we should lead off with, uh, since we're talking about Jay and his trip through Florida—he played at least one show down there, I saw a picture of a backyard concert, looked lovely. Or an outdoor concert I shouldn't say, I don't know if it was backyard or not, looked lovely. And, uh, he sent a boat ad. And since this is his favorite segment, we're gonna do it. Steph: Mmm. Do it. [Music: Old Boat Ad Jingle] Jeff: It's... I can't... It's been so long that we've done this that when we were in the middle of doing it all the time, it seemed completely normal. And now when we're like... we're like four months away from doing it regularly or whatever, and it's like holy [bleep]. What the hell is this? That was a song about old boat ad copy from Jay and that was like... like, you know, I don't know, six months ago I was like, "Well yeah, of course Jay's gonna make a song saying 'Come on Jeff read those vintage boaty advertisements, give us some of them old boat ads.'" And that was like in the midst of it, it was like "Yeah fine." And now it's like, what the [bleep] is this? Oh my god! Steph: And people want... people are like, "Hey man when are you gonna start making that show again?" 'Cause they want this nonsense! Jeff: Oh god. That makes me so happy. It's good to be weird. Steph: It's good to be weird. Jeff: Okay. All that aside, notwithstanding. Let's do it. Okay. Jay found this ad in the wild. I don't know where it was. Um, I'm looking at the picture. It looks like it's in a frame. Maybe it was in like... I'm gonna say it was in a bathroom at a bar that he was at, or a restaurant perhaps, and it was above the urinal and he saw this. It was right in front of his face. "You can't blame a guy for boasting about his new Mercury. Not only pride of possession, but downright satisfaction comes with the ownership of a new Mercury Outboard Motor. When you put a Mercury on a boat, you are completely confident of quick, easy starting and effortless 'hold the course' steering. You know that there will be instant response to every touch of the throttle. Whether you want a burst of flashing speed or just a ripple of hushed power for the slowest possible trolling. The new Mercury with 'Full Jeweled Powerhead'—bears repeating—Full Jeweled, yes like bling bling jewels, Full Jeweled Powerhead gives you greater all-around mechanical efficiency and endurance never before known in an outboard motor. Yes, with your Mercury, you'll experience that pride of possession realized only by those who own the finest." Scrolling down through the ad... that was the main copy presented next to uh, a lovely couple in a, looks like a Penn Yan outboard skiff uh, with an outboard obviously on the back. Um, she of course is reclining. He of course is driving. Um, and he's holding his hand out like, "Ah! Oh my god this is great!" Like out to the side like, "Can you believe it?" "Of course, of course this is great." Um, he doesn't look so polished, he's kind of look got... he's got some bedhead and a t-shirt on. She looks put together. Um, so he must have a great personality. Steph: [Laughs] Jeff: So scrolling down there's like more details. Um, mostly for him because there's like cutaway diagrams and whatnot. So: "The Rocket. A six horsepower precision-built alternate firing twin with sparkling power that will plane a boat beautifully. Yet throttle down for... oh, yet throttle down to a hush for continuous trolling. Another exclusive Mercury first." This is more on the Full Jeweled Powerhead. "Mercury's Full Jeweled Powerhead. Mercury engineers have developed a method of using roller bearings on wrist pins, crank pins, and crank shaft. It results in reduction of mechanical friction, new power and smoothness, readier response to the throttle, many more months of service-free operation than any outboard with conventional plain bearings." "The Comet. A smooth running 3.2 horsepower single. The ideal family outboard. Just right for your car-top boat or the average rental boat. Mercury. Own a Mercury. Matchless and outboard excellence. Kiekhaefer Corporation, Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Outboard Motors. Portable Industrial Engines." There you go. Old Boat Ad. Steph: I have a lot of questions. And an observation. Jeff: Go. Steph: I love how the masthead of this ad if you will—I don't know if that's the right word for it—but it's a... it's a bubble, it's a like a word bubble coming from the guy in the boat, right? "You can't blame a guy for boasting about his new Mercury." I love like the... I love all of the like the um... how proud you should be. Like there's a lot of like, you know, you just... you're just going to boast and it's going to be like everyone's going to be impressed with you. There's going to be "Pride of Possession." Which I think is very interesting. And then what is going on with the jewels? I don't understand the jewels and why are we talking about jewels? There's no jewels in this. Jeff: There's roller bearings. Steph: What is that? And how is it like a jewel? Is it a ruby? Jeff: Well, my guess is given that this is setting the guy up to boast, if it was made out of ruby it would have said that, right? But I can say... Steph: I agree. Jeff: I can say that I don't know whether it's jeweled or made out of a jewel or not. But uh, different... there's different kinds of bearings. I know a little bit about bearings. Not a lot. Steph: Didn't we talk about bearings once before? Jeff: I'm sure we did. I'm sure we did. Steph: I like this sentence... I like this sentence a lot. "The Mercury engineers have developed a method of using roller bearings on wrist pins, crank pins, and crank shaft." What? Jeff: Uh, I don't know what a wrist pin is. I don't know what a crank... was it a wrist pin and a crank pin? Steph: Wrist pins and crank pins. Yeah. Things I didn't know about. But I love... I also love that they're getting into this level of detail right in the ad. This is the good old days. You know what I mean? Like this is... this is the least reductive ad I've ever seen. They're really... they're just... they hit you a little bit with the ego in the top and then they get right into the deep, deep details. I think this is lovely. It was... it was lovely to listen to. Jeff: So you got... I don't know what those pins are. The crank... I don't know. Let's not talk about why you've got bearings or what they're on, but ball bearings are balls. And... Steph: [Laughs silently] Jeff: ...you're laughing silently with our... Steph: Wrist bearings are wrists? Crank pins are cranks? I don't know. Jeff: No. We're not gonna talk about that stuff. We're just gonna talk about the bearings. So you got ball bearings which are spherical, okay? And then you've got roller bearings which are like a... in my mind it's a bearing that's made of a... it looks like a rolling pin, okay? And a ball bearing can... can bear weight while moving in all directions because it's a sphere. Steph: 360. Jeff: Yup. 360 times 360, right? In any direction. And then a roller bearing can bear... bear weight while moving just in like one direction back and forth. One plane I guess. And uh, I know roller bearings because there are conical roller bearings on boat trailers in the hubs of the boat trailer. Um, because the... and they're almost like a rolling pin shape except they're flared a little bit at, you know, toward one end so it's like a slight cone shape. And that's because the axle on your boat trailer has a slight taper to it. And so the wheel spinning on those bearings on that slightly tapered axle shaft has to be slightly... has to match that taper as it spins around and around and around. Um, now, that being said, going from, you know, roller bearings to "jeweled"? That's... that's what I'm talking about right there. Yup. Steph: Full Jeweled. Yeah. I mean I don't know. I guess... you know how I feel about this stuff. I kind of love things that I don't understand and there's a lot here I don't understand. And I think this is a lovely... so we've got two en... Is the Rocket one and the Comet is the other? They have space names. Amazing. Jeff: Yeah. And this was before... this might have been early space era. Yeah. Steph: Yeah. Early space race. Jeff: It look... I like that it's like, it's just a little boat. Nothing fancy. It's just a little tin can. Steph: Yeah. Rockin' out. Or having a great time. They're all proud... proud of themselves. Jeff: They mentioned "Car Top Boats" which was a... that was a big deal in the expansion of boating into the middle class. And... yeah. So Penn Yan, the boat manufacturer, my understanding is they hit it big for the first time with car-top boats. So Penn Yan Car Toppers, you'll still see those around sometimes. And that was like what pontoon boats and jet skis are doing... they did for boating then what pontoon boats and jet skis are doing now. Which is just making it way more accessible. Steph: I hear you. Jeff: Yeah. Steph: I hear you. "There it is. Just right for your car-top boat or the average rental boat." Got it. Yeah. Jeff: Yeah. Give me... give me more opportunity to get in the water without having to be a rich guy with my own dock or a yacht or anything like that. Steph: Mm-hm. Equal opportunity boating. Jeff: E... E... E-O-B. E-O-B-B. Equal Opportunity Boating Board. Okay. Enough of that. Steph: Yes. That's a... that's a worthy goal. Jeff: All right. We're gonna move on to our... our next topic. Which, you know what? Let's... let's step back. What have you been doing lately? Steph: Mmm. That's a great question. Um... Jeff: Have you gone anywhere? Have you gone anywhere fun? Steph: I did. I went to the... I went to the Spa Nordique in... in Chelsea, Quebec. Yes. I did do that. I was... show before the show we were chatting about this. Yes. I did go there with my friend Julie, my personal historian. And we had a wonderful time. Jeff: What is the Spa Nordique? Tell us... You walk up to the Spa Nordique. What's the experience? Steph: Okay. So real... so real quick. It's like... it's not like a spa like people usually think of a spa. It's a "thermal experience." It's got this whole Nordic vibe to it. Everything's made of wood. And it's a very large... it's many acres. And it has tons of different ways to get warm and cold in water. And also not in water. So, for example, there's like ten different outdoor hot tubs scattered all over the place. And there's like fifteen different kinds of saunas. There's like a earth sauna and a barrel sauna and a Russian sauna and a whatever. There's like... And then there's um, also like steam rooms. And there's cold plunges, which is not for me, but for other people. And there's places to eat and drink. And that's it. And you put on a robe, you leave your phone and all your [bleep] behind and you just wander around in this environment for the day. It's very affordable. Like sixty bucks for the whole day, like US. And it is very beautiful and it's very calming. And very relaxing. And it's delightful. And I would recommend it to everybody. So I've been there probably four or five times. And um, it's close, you know it's like two hours away from here. It's not far. And I think it's the largest spa in North America. But it's not like busy feeling. It's very calming and relaxing. Jeff: We're gonna... we're gonna back up to the very... one of the first two... two of the first words you said which was "thermal experience." Steph: Yeah. That's what they call it. Um... yeah, I don't know. I guess you're just getting in warm water. And then you're supposed to get in cold water cause it's good for you, but like I said, that's just not for me. But um... but you know like, it's like good for you. I don't know. You're supposed to like steam yourself and then get... We were... it was like snowing when we were there. There was actually a hail storm that happened. Like a full-on hail storm um, when we were sitting in one of the hot... my favorite hot tub which is like a hot spring kind of a thing. It's up at the top. And um, they totally just started hailing. And it looks like... like accumulating in our hair. It was very exciting. Jeff: Thankfully... thankfully accumulating in your hair and not like... they were baseball sized and like braining you and knocking you out. Steph: Right. No, they were not baseball sized. Which is good news. They were small and they were accumulating and it was very snow monkey. The whole experience is like just being a snow monkey for the day. That's it. That's how... Jeff: Can you make this up? Thermal experience. Be a snow mon... have a... have a thermal expe... we're gonna have to write an ad for this. Have a thermal experience as a... be a snow monkey for the day. Steph: I don't know why that's not their tagline. For... I don't know why not. It makes no sense. Jeff: So the other thing that grabbed me about... about this is you said you leave your phone behind. Which I think is probably healthy because that means that um, people aren't like nervous about somebody taking a picture of them when they, you know, take their robe off and get in the... in the tub or whatever. But also, dude, anything that people do where they leave their phones behind... those are becoming more and more valuable experiences as people just come to the conclusion that their phone makes them sick. And I had this experience recently... did... did an um... one of my book events at uh, the Poor Sethi headquarters in Brooklyn. In Gowanus. Uh, the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. And afterward, my... my daughter Mary Jane was there uh, and it was the first time she'd come to see one of these... these talks. The book talks. And uh, she brought a few of her friends who had moved to New York after graduating... they all graduated last spring. And they were so psyched. They're like, "Oh my god. Why does it feel so... so like novel to get together in person in a room and talk about something and talk to... with each other?" Because it was a... it ended up being a really interactive session. People were going back and forth to each other. And I started to fade a bit into the background which is what I go for with these... these events. They're kind of like group therapy community workshops about, you know, AI in your life. Not so much what AI is, but like how AI merges into your life. Anyway, at Spa Nordique, it's a thermal experience minus your phone. And you're there for the day or most of the day because you want to get... you want to get as much thermal experience as you can for your sixty dollars. So that's a day without your phone. That's freaking awesome. Steph: Yeah. And when I fir... when we first started going a few years ago, it was pretty much like "Don't bring your phone in here." Like it was like a kind of a rule. Now it's like um, you're allowed to bring your phone, but most people don't. So every now and then there'll be somebody with a phone. But the other funny thing is that... that you know, it's an adjustment going... like you said, you go for the whole day because it's... it's big, there's you know places to stop in and have a bite to eat or get a beverage or whatever. So you really do stay there for a while and you do really disengage from the sense of time. And it's funny how many times you're like, you know, think of things that normally you'd be looking up to your phone but you just don't do it cause you can't. But my... but one funny... one funny thing that happened when we got there was... um... when you first walk in on the left there's this very cool like... like experience. Like it's like a... like they do a Boreal Forest experience and they like um, they like wave branches around and like whatever. So that happens at certain times. So do we really want to do it? Because afterwards you were like rub salts all over your body and then there's like a flash dance bucket that you dump on yourself... you really... you have to be... obviously you need to get involved in something like that. So we were looking at the times. And then we were like... and like Julie and I together are like we're always like a little on the spazzy side anyway. Like it's always... things are always just awkward and weird and great. And like... so we were like, "Okay. So we can come back at one at eleven? Or maybe..." And then it's in like... it's like Canadian time so it's like 1300 and 1500 and we don't know what that means. It's complicated. So it's just... it was so hard. We were like talking about it and... and then this... and we were like, "How are we gonna come back? How are we gonna know when to come back because we don't have phones?" And then um, so then a nice young man who worked at the spa went by and we asked him... The other thing is just constant like language situation going on about wheth... you know we don't speak French. Everybody else does. So you know... and they're very sweet about it. But you know you always have to navigate the fact that you're speaking English. And so we in English ask this nice young man what time it is. And he paused. And I thought maybe it was just because he had to switch into English in his brain. I don't know why. But and he looked at us. And he was like, "Well, right now it's blah blah blah o'clock," and he like explained what time it was and um, the fact that it would be this time in an hour and a half we could come back and the thing would do it again. And then he kind of like looked at us and we were like, "Okay great thank you." And we left. But then later when we came back to actually do the experience, I... we were sitting in the sauna and I looked out and there is a clock so big. Like so big. It's hu... it's huge. It's like... it's like seven feet across. And it was right behind... right behind us when we had asked the guy what time it was! And we realized that like the long pause was like, "Should I just tell them that there's a clock right there? Or should I just be really nice about this and just answer the question and not point out the clock?" Like for sure he was like... are these people being... is this wrong? Are these people... Jeff: Are they... are they messing with me? Steph: ...messing with me? And and he's... he's Canadian but he's also French Canadian so like he he also like... because if you're not French Canadian and you're Canadian the stereotype is like you're just super nice and you're just gonna be super nice and... "Oh of course I'll just tell you what time it is." If you're French Canadian you might be like, "You freaking idiot. Like... I'm glad that you're up here... I'm glad that you're up here you know spending your money even though we can't freaking stand you because you're from America, but..." Steph: It was a lot... there were a lot... yes, there were a lot of components. I love the fact that I think a little bit he was just like, it seemed like if he was like, "Dude, literally a clock right there," then it just would have felt a little less polite. So he didn't say that. And then we had to discover the clock on our own. And um, it was amazing and hilarious. So that was, again back to the time thing. Jeff: I have more soapbox about about that. Um, I'll... I'll do it... I'll do it briefly and try not to go on um, and make it annoying. But uh, when you... you treat your watch as your... as your timepiece... I'm sorry. When you treat your phone as your timepiece, and then you don't have your phone, you end up lost. And you can't conceive that there might be a giant clock on the wall. Although maybe you can conceive of it and you just because you're having a nice day with some beverages and with Julie you don't con... conceive of it. But anyway, this is why I'm always on Instagram, I'm always posting uh, these Sheffield watches. Because if you put on a watch that's just a watch on your wrist and it's not an Apple Watch like all of a sudden you've got the ability to tell time without necessarily getting hit by a bunch of distractions which an Apple Watch is gonna do to you, which pulling... pulling out your phone is gonna do to you. And I'm... I'm huge on this for my kids. I'm like, "Hey like... if you're looking at your phone to tell the time you're like, I don't know, half the time you get pulled in because you see a notification. And now you're looking at your phone more. And now you're more te..." Oh wait, I said I wasn't gonna keep going on and get on my soapbox but... Steph: No, but I hear what you're saying. And at first I was kind of like... you know, I have a thing about Apple Watches because they were like they're meant to be like they don't want to make you... to help people avoid pulling out their phone all the time. But they actually just make people look super rude because you look like you're literally just like, "Um, I don't have ti... like every single time something goes off you're like, 'Uh, is this over? Is it time...?'" You know what I mean? So um, but I hadn't thought about that cause you're right. Whenever you look at your phone, of course there's gonna be notifications and all that's gonna pull you in. And that's... it's a very good point. So yes to watches. Agreed. Jeff: Yep. And I'm gonna I'm gonna bring this all home and make it all Boaty. Ready? All right. Spa Nordique is... Spa Nordique is Boaty because in Iceland outdoor hot spring fed pools and indoor became about because the rate of death by drowning amongst Icelandic fishermen was so high because it's the freaking North Sea. And the last thing you want to do there and there aren't any lakes, right? But the last thing you want to do there is learn how to swim in the ocean. But so that meant the entire population of Iceland whose entire existence was supported by fishing... nobody knew how to swim! And it became a... a public safety, public health, community health like anti-drowning initiative to start... to create public outdoor hot springs... public outdoor hot tubs so that people could learn to swim. Uh, and they sprang up all around the country and it became like part of the culture that you go there to learn to swim but then you also go there to hang out with each other. And um, that's all so that people in Iceland can go fishing, if they go in the drink uh, survive... have a great chance of survival. Boaty. Right? Um, also the... the watch thing. If you have to pull your phone out to tell what time it is while you're out in a boat, you might drop your phone on the deck. You might drop your phone in the drink or off the dock. You also might get distracted by your phone and you're... when you're driving a boat or you're out there in a boat, you probably shouldn't be distracted because A, that means it's taking away from the enjoyment and B, because you might run into something. So... Boaty. Boom. Done. Okay. Steph: So... so learn to swim in a hot spring and buy a watch. Boom. Jeff: And have thermal experiences. Steph: Oh. Jeff: Um... Missy just texted me and called. Um... they just got hit from behind on 76. They're all okay. The cops are there now. Uh oh. Steph: Whoa. Jeff: Hold on a sec. Let me... let me communicate. Steph: Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. Jeff: Everybody's okay. They don't need me to call or come pick them up. All right. Good. Well how about that? Steph: Do we have to move on? Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. Steph: I have... I have a th... I have a... one of my... I'll just tell you and you can always like edit this out later if it's boring. But one of the things that's funny about it is when you're at the spa you can tell which are the hot pools and which are the cold pools because there's nobody in the cold ones, right? Um, but there was this one that Julie and I found and they had... they tell you like the temperatures and um, it was empty and we were walking around and it is... I think they said it was like 69 degrees or something like that? But there's nobody in it and it feels cold but then we realized, wait, that's like the river temperature. That's like the temperature of the river, right? In the summer. And then we got in this cold-ish thing and then it was... and that but we got used to it really quickly and it was really delightful and lovely. So we think of it as like that's like the river temperature pool and we... that's the only cold-ish pool that I get in. But it's very nice. Jeff: That... that's awesome because if the river temperature hits 69 degrees we're probably bitching about it cause it's too warm. Steph: Exactly. Exactly right. Jeff: That's awesome. All right. All right we're gonna move on. Uh, next segment. Um, we're gonna play an interview which was uh, listener submitted. So Rob uh, shared this. Some friends of his recorded an interview with the heirs, the descendants of the founder of the Black Ball Ferry Fleet in Puget Sound, Seattle. So we're gonna play that and then uh, I did a bunch of research on all this that we'll talk about after the interview. So here it is. [Interview Segment] I am standing here with the heirs of the Black Ball Line. Yeah. A couple of them. Was that heir or errors? Errors. Probably errors. Doug and Chris McMahon are standing here with you. Doug and Chris McMahon. And our great grandfather was Charles Peabody who came out west in 1885 and started the Alaska Steamship Company and then the Puget Sound Navigation. They were flying the Black Ball flag, which his family owned on the East Coast from 1803 forward. The Black Ball flag's been flying... Nice. ...and uh, his son... I have one on my travel trailer and every time I go camping we post our big full-size flag. Just... it still flies around the region. Yes. She's... she's still flying. And flies in Portland too. So... So and then the state bought it... the ferries in the 50s. And turns out they stopped making money. Started running in the red. Yeah. So. Yeah. So can you give me a brief history of why it's a Black Ball and with a white circle and red in the middle? Well so that's from the Coho. Right. And so the Coho was the last Black Ball ship that's flying. And so they licensed the flag but they added the white circle. And why did they choose that? Well because it was part of the whole ferry system. Okay. And when the Coho started, the Coho started right after... But the original Black Ball flag, which was a red flag with a black ball only, no white circle, was also researched as um, like some kind of a maritime victory award for ships. You know when they when they won a battle or did something good like cannon-neering or something, you know grenade throwing, they would be awarded the flags and they would fly the flag. So it's one of them. I don't recall exactly which one. And the original Black Ball ships that sailed from Brooklyn to uh, England and mainland Europe and back, um, had a Black Ball flag that was a swallowtail flag. So it wasn't a rectangle, it was swallowtail and a giant black ball on the main sail. And they were the first company... Rad. Like pirates. It does look like the hurricane warning flags too. People often catch us about that which is typically a square black in the center of the red. But in some regions it's a round circle just like Puget Sound Navigation's Black Ball flag. Just a couple specific places. They were the first shipping company to leave on a scheduled date. So they were... in the mid 1800s a ship would leave when it was full. Ass in seat. We're leaving at this time. That's right. And the Black Ball said "We're leaving on this date, empty or full." So they changed the industry then. Yeah. So when we were kids we used to get to ride in the wheelhouse every once in a while. Oh yeah. Or if we were with our Grandpa downtown and you'd see all these, you know, basically old men at the time in the 60s, right? On the... on the waterfront. He'd walk up to half of them because they all knew who each were. You know, they worked in shipping or the shipyards together. Yeah. Did he know Iver Haglund? Yes. They lived near one another up in West... up in West Seattle at Alki. Yeah so he absolutely knew Iver Haglund. We also have a relative who was a bank robber. So you know, they... they ran... Keep clam. Keep clam. One of his brothers... One of his brothers was a bank robber. Spent his lifetime in prison. Was on Alcatraz. That's awesome. Twice. So you know... Captains of Industry and... not. Yeah. Pioneers. Pioneers. Please introduce yourself again. My name's Doug McMahon. I'm from Portland, Oregon. And I'm Chris McMahon, Doug's brother. And where do you live? Uh, Des Moines, Washington. Right up here just across the way. Originally from Portland though. We're both from Portland. So nice to meet you. Thank you so much. [End of Interview Segment] Steph: Yeah. But that is... that is... that is very cool. And I think like the... the boat itself is really cool too, right? I remember we talked about the boat once a while ago. Jeff: Yeah. Well there's the... there's the Kalakala and then there's the Coho. The Kalakala is like this really wild uh, streamlined early streamlining Art Deco looking um... I don't know why I say Art Deco I don't really know what that means. Uh, ferry. And then um, and that's that thing's like I think it's just sitting there... maybe it already got broken up. Uh, but it was derelict for a long time. And then the Coho is still operating, which we'll get to. I'm gonna talk this through in a little bit. All right so. Steph: Okay. Jeff: Puget Sound Ferries. So Puget Sound is surrounds Seattle. It's like between Seattle and Victoria British Columbia and there's island after island after island. It's probably my second favorite watery place that I've been to um, after the St. Lawrence River because there's just so much going on. Um, I like islands and inlets and... Steph: It is beautiful. Jeff: Yep. So uh, this presented a big challenge for getting around back in the day. Uh, because if you wanted to get out to one of these islands cause there's timber out there or other resources or because you wanted to live out there, um, yeah you had to take a boat. And the shortest distance between two points on land on the quote mainland was sometimes a boat, not or by water, not necessarily over land. So uh, there were ferries that that got established. And the... there's like three big eras of ferries um, in in the Puget Sound. The first is the "Mosquito Fleet" era which was like 1850s to the 1920s. And it's when people really nailed down and commercialized the... the ferry as transportation infrastructure and the waterways are now how people get around, right? Um, and it helped develop the region. So um, like before the 1880s or so uh, it was all about steamboats. And the... the first steamships that got there cause you had to go basically either come from Asia or go around uh, the tip of South America back in the day before the Panama Canal to get to this place. So the Hudson Bay Company sent the SS Beaver in the 1830s which showed how uh, steam power... Steph: Beaver... Jeff: Yeah yeah... Steph: [Laughs] Thank god for the Canadians. All right. Jeff: The Hudson's Bay Company sent the SS Beaver like around the horn uh, even better... Steph: [Laughs] Jeff: In the 1830s. So uh, all of a sudden like you've got a steamboat that's like cruising around Puget Sound and it works out. Um, and the... the Americans, I think the Canadian... I don't know a lot about the Canadian history of the West Coast but the American history of the West Coast uh, was like, you know okay... 1849, 49ers... uh, the West like opened up in a... the West Coast opened up in a big way because of the Gold Rush. Um, but then timber became a huge deal. Probably more money made in timber than in uh, gold at that point. But the first American steamboat was the SS Fairy. Okay? Begins scheduled service in the 1850s and it linked uh, Olympia and Seattle. And roads were hammered. It was just mud, you know, nothing was paved. Uh, you definitely wanted to be on a... on a steamer. Maybe a sidewheeler like, you know, old-timey sidewheelers on the... on the Mississippi. Um, but it was really the only way that mail and your goods and s... goods and people got from town to town on the Puget Sound. So that was like early steamboats pre-1880s. And then in the 1880s uh, it really started to take off. So as the area developed, the... the something happened called the Mos... the Swarm, right? So the swarm of the Mosquito Fleet. Hundreds of small um, independent privately owned steamships pl... basically started creating a dense network and they were all competing with each other. Cause like all you needed was a boat with a steam engine and you could get going. Um, and there were some some famous boats during this time. Fleet... Mosquito Fleet boats. And this was not like, you know, so-and-so owned the Mosquito Fleet, it was just like "Hey there's a swarm of boats out there we're gonna call them and they're all small so we're gonna call them the Mosquito Fleet." Uh, and this is where the names get names get more lame. The SS Flyer, the SS Bailey Gatzert. Steph: Okay. I like SS Fairy. Direct. Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and and then there's this huge opportunity and this dude named Charles Peabody who we heard about. We heard from his descendants uh, and we heard about the Black Ball uh, right? From his descendants just a minute ago. Charles Peabody. He shows up with this... this family history of the uh, Transatlantic Fleet where they innovated and um... this is something you're pretty psyched about which is like "Oh okay we're gonna have scheduled service instead of just waiting until we've got a full load and then we'll go. We're gonna leave at noon." Steph: Mm-hm. Yeah. Well I just think it's interesting like I... I remember we talked about this pr... I guess you said maybe with Rob a while ago. I find it fascinating the idea that you would get on a boat and then just wait for enough people to get on the boat to have to leave. That's... I could see how that would be disruptive to your day. Jeff: Yeah. Steph: Maybe hopefully those peop... they didn't have watches. But um, but they uh... but then yeah I guess I would appreciate the fact that you had some general idea of when it might leave. But I can see how the risk would be uh, you had to travel empty some so maybe you just had to... more reliable. It was a leap of faith, right? They were like, "If we make it more reliable then people will use it more." Right? Jeff: Yeah. And scheduled service for trains was probably a thing but, you know, when you've got this big boat you definitely don't want to... you don't want to go empty. And so I can see the commercial interest in like a full boat being there but also like then you're leaving out a lot of people who were like "I don't want to sit around and wait for this." Um, anyway. I don't know. Charles Peabody. Uh, so he... he's a descendant of the people that started the Black Ball Fleet way back in the early early 1800s. He shows up out there and starts buying up the swarm. Um, he creates the Puget Sound Navigation Company, PSNC, in 1898. And then just starts buying up competing Mosquito Fleet companies. Like he bought up the White Collar Line. Steph: Mmm. Jeff: Don't know why it's called White Collar Line. Um, going to guess it was fancy. Uh, and eventually becomes the... the biggest operator. Steph: You said fancy? Jeff: Fancy. Steph: Okay. Jeff: And then what Peabody did, based... based on this research is he figured out that the automobile was gonna be a threat, okay? To... to the ferry fleet because now you've got cars. People buy cars, they want the roads to get better so that they can drive their cars. The roads do get better so more people get cars to drive on those roads. So then he figures out that this is a threat and starts converting his ferries to carry cars. And the rest of the Mosquito Fleet, many of whom he'd bought up in the first place, but the rest of the Mosquito Fleet that hadn't been acquired by the Puget Sound Navigation Company... they're not... they're not as like strategic as he is. They don't start converting their boats to carry cars... he does. So they die off. No more. Right? So now he's got a monopoly. And uh, he officially at... at this point adopts the Black Ball Line as its name. Um, and the flag that we heard about, the red and black ball uh, flag in the in the late 20s. Um, coincidentally also around the time of Prohibition and tons and tons of smuggling of da booze from Canada into the US. I am not... I'm not accusing the Black Ball Line of being involved in smuggling um, but it was going on. And uh, there was succession also in the family. Alexander takes over um, from his dad uh, and uh, they really nail down... And then ah this is where... so then they launch the Kalakala. K-A-L-A-K-A-L-A. Kalakala in 1935. This is the streamlined Art Deco ferry that uh, that we we talked about last time and our friends Rob and Jen and Byron uh, actually went out and checked out um, while it was still floating. And it's just like really cool. Looks like um, you know uh, like early streamlined locomotives and trains. That kind of thing with like really neat windows and and that sort of thing. Um, but that becomes the international symbol of the fleet. Everybody's super psyched about it. Um, so that was like 20s, 30s. And then World War II hits. And um, labor organizing really took off around World War II. Uh, and the ferry workers started unionizing and uh, probably pushing back on on pay and working conditions and hours and stuff. And this monopoly uh, had, you know... being a monopoly is great unless there's a strike. And then your... you know your workers strike and your boats aren't running and people are like "Well [bleep], I gotta get around." So now maybe they figure out that they don't have to take the ferry. Take their car on the ferry, take their truck on the ferry and they um... they go elsewhere and that starts to... to put pressure on the ferry. But also like if you've got to raise wages, um, now your... your margins are lower. Blah blah blah. So um, ultimately uh, the... you know the... there was a... a wartime um, freeze in wages and operations but the... the unions um, really pushed for better wages which put a bunch of strain on the... on the company. And the... the only way that... that the Peabodys could make this all work was uh, with a big fare increase. So they um... pushed for a 30% fare increase to cover their costs. Um, and the... they had... it had gotten to the point where they were being regulated at this point because it was, you know, privately operated transportation infrastructure that everybody relied on. Um, so they were regulated and the state said "Nope." So like, you know, a public utility commission has to negotiate rate increases with their state regulator. So same thing happened here. Um, and Peabody says "Give us 30% more." State says "Nope." And Peabody says "All right, F you." They shut it all down. They shut it all down. And that stranded uh, like all the commuters. And people were super pissed at them for shutting it down. Um, which then turned it into a political moment. And uh, the... you know people, businesses said "Take over this... this as an essential utility." And that's when uh, Washington State purchased all this stuff from... all the ferries and the whole system from the uh, the Peabodys. From the Black Ball Line. And that created the Washington State Ferry System. And as you heard in the... in the um, interview, uh, was running... ended up running at a loss. I don't know if it still does, it may as... as a lot of public transit infrastructure does. Um, but the state bought out the Black Ball Line in... in 51. And um, they bought it out for 4.9 million dollars which in like "today dollars" is still not even that much I don't think for, you know, 16 ships, 20 terminals uh, which is what it was at the time. Um, but anyway they buy it out and start operating on... in June of 51. And uh, the state said "Hey we're just gonna do this until we build all the bridges everywhere." Uh, which didn't really happen. Um, and the Washington State Ferry uh, system just change... they basically uh, did away with the Black Ball livery. Which is like the Boaty way of saying how you paint [bleep]. Um, what colors. Um, so they went from orange to green. Uh, but the... the company, Captain Peabody, Alexander, um, and his family retained the route... the international route between... between Seattle and Victoria. And that is the MV Coho which still runs uh, and it's still the Black Ball Ferry Line. And it um... basically gives you a through line from like the original Transatlantic Fleet that did scheduled service for the first time ever um, and, you know... you're on board or not we're leaving at noon. Through line from like the early early 1800s all the way through to today. The Black Ball line has been continuously running or the Black Ball uh... the... Black Ball family or I'm sorry the Black Ball line has been continuously running cause the Coho is still going. Was launched in 59 but it uh... it's still the um... it's still a major private auto ferry line in the region. And international. So goes back and forth to Canada. Which is what you did when you went to the Hot Springs as well. Steph: Um, yeah. I love that. I love that it's still running. I didn't realize that. Jeff: Yeah. The Coho. I... I was out there for work years ago and I thought about taking um, taking the ferry up to Victoria. There's a high speed... and I don't think it's the Coho. There's a high speed ferry that runs also. Um, it may even go further than Victoria but uh, cause I was like "Oh man it'd be pretty cool to do a day trip to just like take the ferry from Seattle up through the Sound to, you know, wherever. Like get off get a... get some poutine and then come back." Although it's the West Coast I don't know if poutine... I don't know if poutine made it out there or maybe they call it something else. I love ferries. Steph: I do too. And I... I've actually been to that part of the world only one time, but I was... I went to a wedding on Vashon Island. And then um, so yeah I was to... completely taken with how watery and boaty it was and we totally took a ferry there and it was amazing and I loved it. And yes, I agree. Ferries are fun and um, that's some... that's some very cool history. I like it. Jeff: Yeah. Well we're gonna... we're gonna wrap up now. Um, because uh... I just got a call and a text from my wife and she... Steph: Yeah. Jeff: She and Mary Jane... so Missy and Mary Jane got rear-ended. I think Toby too. Got rear-ended on the highway. And uh, they don't need a ride but just in case they do I want to wrap it up. Everybody's okay. Nobody got hurt. Steph: Yeah. Sounds good. Good. Good. Jeff: Yeah. Um, but couple things. One, I am currently wearing a Boaty Show hat. And uh, the hot admin, the lovely Melissa, set up a freaking e-commerce website so that you listeners if you would like can buy a Boaty Show hat and we will ship it to you. We don't really make any money on this. It's... it's all uh, basically break-even. Um, but that can be found at thebodyshow.com/merch. M-E-R-C-H. Merch. Thebodyshow.com/merch. They're... I'm very excited because I've got a big head and we have an extra large hat. Which means that if you usually put like the... the little snappy back thing on like the last two nubbins, the snap back on the last two nubbins... on the XL Boaty Show hat you get... you get to at least on my head you get five nubbins. You can snap five hat nubbins. And it... and it doesn't look like you're cramming a tiny hat on top of your big head. So that's exciting. Uh, there's... there's Heather Grey, Dark Grey, and Navy Blue. And uh, would love it if you guys ordered some um, because uh... it's... it's a cool hat. It's got the boat tractor on it. Steph: Mm-hm. It's the holiday season. Time to go buy some merch for your friends and families. Everybody needs a Boaty Show hat. Jeff: Yeah. Also these were made by Bolt Printing who who we talked uh, about on the show once upon a time. Uh, they're really cool people and... Steph: You love them. Jeff: I do. I do. And they made a video of the hats getting made that I'll I'll try and repost. Um, and the other thing is that my book is out. So is the audiobook. So You Teach The Machines: AI on Your Terms is available on everywhere you get your audiobooks. Uh, Audible, Amazon, Apple, and then like 35 others. So if you don't mind listening to my voice, uh, I read the book and people are finding it really helpful. And uh, you can support the show and us doing this silly stuff by buying hats and checking out the book. We are gonna wrap it up. Steph: And next time we get to do Photo of the Week. Jeff: Oh yes! Yes. We're bringing back Photo of the Week next time. Um, there have been a bunch of submissions while we've been on our hiatus and uh, we can't wait. So like next week will probably mostly be Photo of the Week discussions. Jeff & Steph: [Singing together] Yo ho ho, that's it for the Boaty Show. Pack the cooler, grab the lines, let's go go go. Yo ho ho... Jeff: That's it for the Boaty Show. Boom we are out. Say bye-bye Stephanie. Steph: Bye-bye Stephanie.
Carney Government seeks to retroactively change law, to potentially avoid paying veterans for federal error, lawyers say. United States and Russia reportedly draw up peace plan for Ukraine that would require Kyiv to surrender territory, halve its military. US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee denounces recent settler violence as terrorism. The clock is ticking down on the 30-day deadline for the U.S. Justice Department to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. 27 pieces of Hudson's Bay Company art sell for well above estimated prices, in white glove auction. Frida Kahlo's self-portrait 'El sueño (La cama)' could become the most expensive work by a female artist ever auctioned.
R. M. Ballantyne (April 24, 1825 – February 8, 1894) was a Scottish juvenile fiction writer. Born Robert Michael Ballantyne in Edinburgh, he was part of a famous family of printers and publishers. At the age of 16 he went to Canada and was six years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. He returned to Scotland in 1847, and published his first book the following year, Hudson's Bay: or, Life in the Wilds of North America. For some time he was employed by Messrs Constable, the publishers, but in 1856 he gave up business for the profession of literature, and began the series of adventure stories for the young with which his name is popularly associated.This is a collaborative reading.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
R. M. Ballantyne (April 24, 1825 – February 8, 1894) was a Scottish juvenile fiction writer. Born Robert Michael Ballantyne in Edinburgh, he was part of a famous family of printers and publishers. At the age of 16 he went to Canada and was six years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. He returned to Scotland in 1847, and published his first book the following year, Hudson's Bay: or, Life in the Wilds of North America. For some time he was employed by Messrs Constable, the publishers, but in 1856 he gave up business for the profession of literature, and began the series of adventure stories for the young with which his name is popularly associated.This is a collaborative reading.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
R. M. Ballantyne (April 24, 1825 – February 8, 1894) was a Scottish juvenile fiction writer. Born Robert Michael Ballantyne in Edinburgh, he was part of a famous family of printers and publishers. At the age of 16 he went to Canada and was six years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. He returned to Scotland in 1847, and published his first book the following year, Hudson's Bay: or, Life in the Wilds of North America. For some time he was employed by Messrs Constable, the publishers, but in 1856 he gave up business for the profession of literature, and began the series of adventure stories for the young with which his name is popularly associated.This is a collaborative reading.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
R. M. Ballantyne (April 24, 1825 – February 8, 1894) was a Scottish juvenile fiction writer. Born Robert Michael Ballantyne in Edinburgh, he was part of a famous family of printers and publishers. At the age of 16 he went to Canada and was six years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. He returned to Scotland in 1847, and published his first book the following year, Hudson's Bay: or, Life in the Wilds of North America. For some time he was employed by Messrs Constable, the publishers, but in 1856 he gave up business for the profession of literature, and began the series of adventure stories for the young with which his name is popularly associated.This is a collaborative reading.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
On this episode of #TheGlobalExchange, we make available the webinar CGAI held last week, Trump, Trade and Foreign Affairs. Featuring keynote speaker Bruce Stokes, and panelists Martha Hall Findlay, Louise Blais and Perrin Beatty PC OC, we discuss the ever-evolving relationship between the United States, Canada and the world. For Bruce's keynote, please see PowerPoint slides on our website! // Participants' bios - Bruce Stokes is Visiting Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States - Martha Hall Findlay is the Director of the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary - Perrin Beatty PC OC is the former President & CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce - Louise Blais is former Ambassador to the United Nations and Consul to Atlanta // Host bio: Colin Robertson is a former diplomat and Senior Advisor to the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. // Reading Recommendations: - "The West Wing" TV Series - "Abundance" by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson - "The Fur Trade in Canada" by Harold Innis - "Charter and Supplemental Charter of The Hudson's Bay Company" by Hudson's Bay Company // Music Credit: Drew Phillips | Producer: Jordyn Carroll // Recording Date: October 01, 2025 Release date: October 06, 2025
As the Hudson's Bay Company continues to sell off what it owns to pay back creditors, a historic document has come up for sale. The Bay's charter is its founding document, dating back to 1670, in which King Charles II gave the company exclusive trading rights over much of what would become Canada.Now the court is grappling with finding a process to sell this one-of-a-kind piece of Canadian history after an offer from Galen Weston and his family derailed plans for an auction. Susan Krashinsky Robertson explains how the sale of this document has raised a lot of questions about who gets to own history, who gets to decide and how some of Canada's wealthiest families have expressed interest in buying it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com
The Hudson's Bay Company is dead. While the Canadian media obsesses over the sale of The Bay's retail properties, thousands of historical artefacts and artworks — including the original copy of the Royal Charter — sit concealed in the cockles of the company's dustiest vault. Now, Canada's oldest retailer is hemming and hawing over donating these culturally-significant artefacts to Indigenous communities requesting them, or selling the artefacts for cold, hard cash… all-the-while refusing to share what's in their inventory.Taylor Noakes chats with Jesse about why the Bay's obfuscation of their collection is more important than a document — even one the king signed.Host: Jesse BrownCredits: Jules Bugiel (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate Producer and Fact Checking), tom sayers (Audio Editor), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor)Guest: Taylor NoakesThis episode uses generative AI for the following purposes: Voice cloning of Canadaland's editor and publisher Jesse Brown.NOTE: A previous version of this episode included a shorter version of Ruby Liu's email to Justice Peter Osborne. The new version includes more of the email.Further reading: Despite requests from Indigenous leaders, HBC artifacts will not be returned - Ricochet Billionaire David Thomson wants to buy Hudson's Bay charter, donate it to Manitoba Archives - CBCB.C. billionaire wanting Bay leases doesn't have cash to launch new chain: landlord - The Canadian PressLiberal MPs call for action against antisemitism after stabbing of Jewish woman in Ottawa - The Globe and Mail Canadaland Politics is recording a LIVE podcast and Q&A from Calgary on September 22nd, 2025 at 7:30PM MT hosted by Mount Royal University. Let us know you're coming by RSVPing here. Sponsors: oxio: Head over to canadaland.oxio.ca and use code CANADALAND for your first month free! The Oat Company: Head over to oatcompany.com and use code CANADALAND20 for 20% off your order. They ship across Canada so you can enjoy them anywhere.If you value this podcast, support us! You'll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You'll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you'll be a part of the solution to Canada's journalism crisis, you'll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
1905. Under pressure from prospectors, the Hudson's Bay Company, and Ojibwe and Cree groups, the federal and Ontario governments put aside their differences and negotiate a treaty for the lands north of Ontario.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.
fWotD Episode 2993: Manitoba Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Tuesday, 15 July 2025, is Manitoba.Manitoba is a province of Canada at the longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's fifth-most populous province, with a population of 1,342,153 as of 2021. Manitoba has a widely varied landscape, from arctic tundra and the Hudson Bay coastline in the north to dense boreal forest, large freshwater lakes, and prairie grassland in the central and southern regions.Indigenous peoples have inhabited what is now Manitoba for thousands of years. In the early 17th century, English and French fur traders began arriving in the area and establishing settlements. The Kingdom of England secured control of the region in 1673 and created a territory named Rupert's Land, which was placed under the administration of the Hudson's Bay Company. Rupert's Land, which included all of present-day Manitoba, grew and evolved from 1673 until 1869 with significant settlements of Indigenous and Métis people in the Red River Colony. Negotiations for the creation of the province of Manitoba commenced in 1869, but deep disagreements over the right to self-determination led to an armed conflict, known as the Red River Rebellion, between the federal government and the people (particularly Métis) of the Red River Colony. The resolution of the conflict and further negotiations led to Manitoba becoming the fifth province to join Canadian Confederation, when the Parliament of Canada passed the Manitoba Act on 15 July 1870.Manitoba's capital and largest city is Winnipeg, the sixth most populous municipality in Canada. Winnipeg is the seat of government, home to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the Provincial Court. Four of the province's five universities, all four of its professional sports teams, and most of its cultural activities (including Festival du Voyageur and Folklorama) are located in Winnipeg. The city has an international airport as well as train and bus stations; a Canadian Forces base, CFB Winnipeg, operates from the airport and is the regional headquarters of the North American Aerospace Defense Command.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:17 UTC on Tuesday, 15 July 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Manitoba on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Ivy.
In this episode of On The Line, two big conversations on two critical topics: housing and national security.First up: Mike Moffatt. Mike is one of Canada's leading housing experts. He's a professor at Western University's Ivey Business School, senior director at the Smart Prosperity Institute, and host of the Missing Middle podcast. Matt talks to Mike about the state of Canada's housing market, why prices are crashing in Toronto and Vancouver, and why that's both a good and a bad sign. They cover policy, affordability, investor behaviour, and what governments are still getting wrong — and right — about how to fix it.This episode of On The Line is brought to you by Airbnb. Last week, we talked about how the number of Airbnbs that could be homes accounts for only 0.6 per cent of Canada's housing stock. Everyone knows that you can't solve a crisis with less than one per cent of a solution. But did you know that Airbnbs actually play a critical role in helping Canadians navigate affordability? Seventy seven per cent of Airbnb hosts say that renting their homes helps them cover the rising cost of living.Learn more at Airbnb.ca/closerlook.Our next guest is Glenn Cowan. Glenn is a venture capitalist, a former special operations officer, and the founder of ONE9 — a firm investing in dual-use technologies that serve both national security and commercial markets. Glenn joins the show to talk about Canada's defence industrial base, why doing national security innovation in this country is so hard, and what the future of warfare looks like. He shares lessons from his experience in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa — and explains why Canada needs to be far more serious about the technologies and partnerships that will shape the next generation of global conflict.This episode of On The Line is also brought to you by the Métis Nation of Ontario. It's Moose Factory in the 1860s. The summer sun rises over the still water of Hudson's Bay. When others might rest for the summer, Métis families pushed hardest. Nets dropped before dawn. Canoes were packed with the morning's catch. Women salted fish on wooden planks, turning the haul into trade goods. From the shores of Hudson's Bay, salted fish travelled inland to Hudson's Bay Company posts across what is now northern Ontario. Canada's first great supply chain was stitched together by hard summer work by Métis families across the Upper Great Lakes and Northern Ontario.As Canadians take time to relax, remember: the Métis helped build this country under the July sun. To learn more, visit OntarioMetisFacts.com.All that and more on On The Line. Subscribe at ReadTheLine.ca, follow us on your favourite podcast app, and don't forget to leave us a nice review. Audio drops every Tuesday morning, with video rolling out Tuesday evening on YouTube and our social channels. Catch it wherever you listen or watch.
As I swing back under the sweeping branches of the catalpa tree, I begin recording today's short trailer. This one stands on its own—not part of the regular audio feed, but a self-contained glimpse into the moment. With my trusty voice recorder in hand, I flip the camera around and start a gentle descent. The trail opens up ahead—8:05 pace, nice and easy in the drizzle. The air is fresh, the lens catching a few raindrops, and everything feels grounded in that zone two rhythm. A walk break brings me toward what once were the gates of Mr. McCrae's farm, back in the 1840s and '50s—when this land was part of Fort Victoria, a Hudson's Bay Company camp. History whispers through the trees. I pass the oddly named Vanilla Ice Cream House, its bright walls out of place in the grey mist. Then up ahead, the south end of Cedar Hill Golf Course opens wide, fairway gleaming under low cloud. Almost done now—just a short descent toward the rec center. This little trailer wraps here. Thanks for joining me.
In the latest episode of On The Line, Jen Gerson is joined by Dave Cournoyer — Alberta politics watcher, writer at daveberta.ca, and longtime chronicler of this province's wilder turns — for a conversation that cuts through the noise and gets to the big question: what is actually going on in Alberta right now?This episode is brought to you by the Metis Nation of Ontario. It's the Abitibi River, Northern Ontario, 1854. They called it “the Long Portage.”From the banks of the Abitibi River, Métis voyageurs hauled heavy freight canoes and Hudson's Bay Company trade goods across miles of forest and muskeg. Their hard work linked Fort Albany and Moose Factory along the James Bay coast with Lake Timiskaming. And, from there, the entire northwest.As the HBC moved inland from Moose Factory to open and work at posts to the south and west, the Métis “Factory Boys” and their families cut the trail, built the storehouse, and ran the trade. They were guides, interpreters, diplomats, and entrepreneurs.And they endured. The Métis remained in northern Ontario and in the story of how this country was built. Because Canada is not Canada without the Métis. Today, Métis rights are a settled fact of law in Ontario.This Indigenous Peoples Month, visit OntarioMétisFacts.com to learn more.The conversation opens with a serious look at the growing undercurrent of separatist sentiment inside the United Conservative Party. They unpack the emotional pull of independence, the logistical realities of separation, and why this movement — once fringe — is now creeping toward the mainstream. They also explore the federal government's role in fuelling some of this rage, and how Alberta's energy economy keeps acting as both asset and anchor.And then, the inevitable question that must be asked in any progressive conversation in this province: where the hell is Naheed Nenshi? Jen presses Dave on why the Alberta NDP is missing in action while the UCP is rolling out wildly controversial ideas. The moment is ripe. The opportunity is obvious. And yet... nothing.As always, like and subscribe at ReadTheLine.ca. You can also follow us on your favourite podcast app so you never miss an episode. Share it with a friend, post about it online, or shout it across the parking lot outside the nearest community centre in Calgary. We'll take it.And don't forget: On The Line drops Tuesday mornings on audio, with the video version rolling out Tuesday evening on YouTube and across our social channels. Prefer to watch? Stay tuned tonight — and follow us to catch the drop.Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Elon Musk's dramatic entrance into the fight between Republican factions over details of the Big Beautiful Bill, whether an independent judiciary can survive in the face of new threats, and the implications of Trump's cruel new travel bans. Here are this week's chatters: Emily: Chris Cameron for the New York Times: Trump Orders Investigation of Biden and His Aides; Matt Brown and Chris Megerian for the Associated Press: Trump orders investigation into Biden's actions as president, ratcheting up targeting of predecessor; Amanda Seitz and Geoff Mulvihill for the Associated Press: Trump administration revokes guidance requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions; Reva B. Siegel and Mary Ziegler in Virginia Law Review: Abortion's New Criminalization – A History-and-Tradition Right to Health-Care Access After Dobbs. John: The Economist: How to prevent drunken punch-ups; Maya Goldman for Axios: Seniors' marijuana use reaches new high; Benjamin H. Han, Kevin H. Yang, Charles M. Cleland, et al. in JAMA: Trends in Past-Month Cannabis Use Among Older Adults. David: Ian Austen for the New York Times: A 355-Year-Old Company That Once Owned One-Third of Canada Is Shutting Down; Heather Whiteside for The Conversation: More than a department store: The long, complicated legacy behind Hudson's Bay Company; Terina Ria for City Cast Salt Lake: How Julia Reagan Became a Billboard Icon; City Cast Salt Lake Podcast: The Julia Reagan Billboard Debate, Permanent Farmers Market, MomTok Parody (audio 32:00). Listener chatter from Sam Rutledge in Eugene, Oregon: 2021 Telephone Game; Artist Application for 2025 Telephone Game For this week's Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss whether the term “TACO” (“Trump Always Chickens Out”) is a useful way of understanding Trump, and what else might be driving his unpredictable and impulsive actions. In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with author Susan Dominus about her new book, The Family Dynamic: A Journey into the Mystery of Sibling Success. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Kevin Bendis Research by Emily Ditto Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Elon Musk's dramatic entrance into the fight between Republican factions over details of the Big Beautiful Bill, whether an independent judiciary can survive in the face of new threats, and the implications of Trump's cruel new travel bans. Here are this week's chatters: Emily: Chris Cameron for the New York Times: Trump Orders Investigation of Biden and His Aides; Matt Brown and Chris Megerian for the Associated Press: Trump orders investigation into Biden's actions as president, ratcheting up targeting of predecessor; Amanda Seitz and Geoff Mulvihill for the Associated Press: Trump administration revokes guidance requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions; Reva B. Siegel and Mary Ziegler in Virginia Law Review: Abortion's New Criminalization – A History-and-Tradition Right to Health-Care Access After Dobbs. John: The Economist: How to prevent drunken punch-ups; Maya Goldman for Axios: Seniors' marijuana use reaches new high; Benjamin H. Han, Kevin H. Yang, Charles M. Cleland, et al. in JAMA: Trends in Past-Month Cannabis Use Among Older Adults. David: Ian Austen for the New York Times: A 355-Year-Old Company That Once Owned One-Third of Canada Is Shutting Down; Heather Whiteside for The Conversation: More than a department store: The long, complicated legacy behind Hudson's Bay Company; Terina Ria for City Cast Salt Lake: How Julia Reagan Became a Billboard Icon; City Cast Salt Lake Podcast: The Julia Reagan Billboard Debate, Permanent Farmers Market, MomTok Parody (audio 32:00). Listener chatter from Sam Rutledge in Eugene, Oregon: 2021 Telephone Game; Artist Application for 2025 Telephone Game For this week's Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss whether the term “TACO” (“Trump Always Chickens Out”) is a useful way of understanding Trump, and what else might be driving his unpredictable and impulsive actions. In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with author Susan Dominus about her new book, The Family Dynamic: A Journey into the Mystery of Sibling Success. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Kevin Bendis Research by Emily Ditto Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Elon Musk's dramatic entrance into the fight between Republican factions over details of the Big Beautiful Bill, whether an independent judiciary can survive in the face of new threats, and the implications of Trump's cruel new travel bans. Here are this week's chatters: Emily: Chris Cameron for the New York Times: Trump Orders Investigation of Biden and His Aides; Matt Brown and Chris Megerian for the Associated Press: Trump orders investigation into Biden's actions as president, ratcheting up targeting of predecessor; Amanda Seitz and Geoff Mulvihill for the Associated Press: Trump administration revokes guidance requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions; Reva B. Siegel and Mary Ziegler in Virginia Law Review: Abortion's New Criminalization – A History-and-Tradition Right to Health-Care Access After Dobbs. John: The Economist: How to prevent drunken punch-ups; Maya Goldman for Axios: Seniors' marijuana use reaches new high; Benjamin H. Han, Kevin H. Yang, Charles M. Cleland, et al. in JAMA: Trends in Past-Month Cannabis Use Among Older Adults. David: Ian Austen for the New York Times: A 355-Year-Old Company That Once Owned One-Third of Canada Is Shutting Down; Heather Whiteside for The Conversation: More than a department store: The long, complicated legacy behind Hudson's Bay Company; Terina Ria for City Cast Salt Lake: How Julia Reagan Became a Billboard Icon; City Cast Salt Lake Podcast: The Julia Reagan Billboard Debate, Permanent Farmers Market, MomTok Parody (audio 32:00). Listener chatter from Sam Rutledge in Eugene, Oregon: 2021 Telephone Game; Artist Application for 2025 Telephone Game For this week's Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss whether the term “TACO” (“Trump Always Chickens Out”) is a useful way of understanding Trump, and what else might be driving his unpredictable and impulsive actions. In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with author Susan Dominus about her new book, The Family Dynamic: A Journey into the Mystery of Sibling Success. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Kevin Bendis Research by Emily Ditto Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this special edition episode, Michael LeBlanc and Steve Dennis address the unprecedented challenges facing retailers with Steve's "10 Tantalizing Tips for Tumultuous Times." Steve rates current market turbulence at a 9 out of 10, comparing it to COVID-era disruption but noting the added complexity of legal uncertainties around tariff policies.The news segment covers significant retail developments, starting with ongoing tariff turmoil. A U.S. court ruled Trump's tariff policies illegal, creating additional uncertainty for retailers already struggling with implementation. Steve explains how this legal challenge, combined with the administration's failure to secure the promised "90 deals in 90 days," has intensified market turbulence.Earnings season revealed stark contrasts in retail performance. While Abercrombie & Fitch, Costco, and Dick's Sporting Goods posted strong results, Target's struggles were particularly alarming—down nearly 4% compared to Walmart's 4-5% growth, highlighting a major and continuing performance gap between direct competitors. Department stores including Macy's, Dillards, and Kohl's continued their downward trajectory, with most posting negative comps. The episode also covers Hudson's Bay Company's final closure in Canada, with Canadian Tire acquiring the historic brand's IP for $30 million.The second segment focuses on ten essential tactics for survival and growth. The first foundational tips emphasize radical commitment to reality and transparency, urging retailers to honestly assess their situation and act accordingly. Steve advocates for embracing uncertainty and building agility into operations, followed by maintaining innovation through continuous testing despite budget pressures.Customer-focused strategies include choosing your passionate core of fans (inspired by Seth Godin's work), being human-centered while digitally enabled, and prioritizing storytelling over purely functional benefits. Steve emphasizes that people buy a brand's story before they buy the product.Strategic excellence tips include "editing to amplify"—narrowing customer and offering focus to boost signal amid market noise—and conducting comprehensive friction audits of the customer journey. The hosts stress distinguishing between table stakes (necessary but non-differentiating capabilities) and true differentiators that create competitive advantage.The final tip, "cash is king," proves particularly relevant given tariff impacts on cash flow. Throughout the discussion, the hosts acknowledge that guidance must be tailored to individual circumstances—strategies for Walmart differ significantly from those needed by smaller specialty retailers. The episode serves as both a reality check and practical roadmap for retailers navigating what Steve describes as an era of unprecedented uncertainty, volatility, and competitive pressure where strong players are aggressively pursuing market share opportunities. Here is a 10% off code for the CommerceNext Growth Show exclusive to Remarkable Retail listeners: REMARKABLE. About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.
With his global tariff agenda in legal jeopardy, Donald Trump is doubling down on some of his original trade targets. After a 355-year run, Hudson's Bay Company is closed for business.
Fast-moving fires in Manitoba are burning up the land and threatening communities - including those in a remote First Nation in the north, where hundreds of people still need to be evacuated. But once they're brought to safety, the province is running out of places to house people.Also: A company that was built before the nation even existed is closing up shop. It is the last day of sales for the Hudson's Bay Company. The retailer is closing all of its department stores - leaving thousands of people out of work.And: There are many benefits to taking a brisk walk, or a jog. But a new study suggests it may also have a noticeable impact on cancer survival. You'll hear about the research and why doctors say it's time to start prescribing exercise.Plus: Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian airfields, looking ahead to the first ministers meeting, and more
In this history-rich episode of Spellbreakers, Matt Trump dives deep into America's overlooked battles for territorial control and national identity. Using the upcoming Badlands meetup in Halsey, Oregon as a springboard, Matt explores the fascinating origins of the Oregon Territory, the power struggle between American settlers and British corporate forces like the Hudson's Bay Company, and the long-forgotten significance of places like Fort Vancouver and Oregon City. He draws connections between the Erie Canal, the War of 1812, and America's enduring tension with British imperial influence. With tangents on Daniel Boone, the strategic importance of falls in river navigation, and a spontaneous ode to the American pioneer spirit, this episode blends historical analysis with heartfelt patriotism and community vibes. Stick around to learn why the Oregon Trail's final miles were more treacherous than the Rockies, and why we may still be fighting off the British today.
La plus vieille entreprise d'Amérique du Nord vient de faire faillite. Fondée en 1670, Hudson's Bay a survécu à tout : guerres, révolutions, crises économiques… mais pas aux années 2020. Comment un tel monument a-t-il pu s'effondrer ? Et surtout, quelles leçons en tirer en tant qu'investisseur ?Dans cette vidéo, je vous raconte l'histoire fascinante de la Hudson's Bay Company, de ses débuts dans le commerce de la fourrure à sa chute en 2025. On parle de stratégie, de management, d'effet Lindy (oui, encore lui), de signaux faibles… et du fait que même les géants peuvent tomber.Distribué par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.
The Hudson's Bay Company maintained a monopoly over trade in the area for over 200 years, ensuring it had a lasting impact on the economic and political development of what would later become ...
Ontario judge declares mistrial in sexual assault case of five former members of Canada's world junior hockey team. Mark Carney, Pierre Poilievre, Jagmeet Singh, and the other federal leaders have just 3 days left to make their pitch to Canadian voters. Tension between India and Pakistan grows with troops briefly exchanging cross-border fire. Hudson's Bay Company wants to auction off hundreds of historic artifacts and pieces of art.
In the latest episode of On The Line, the key issue is why the Conservative campaign is already being rocked by internal fighting — is the campaign going that badly? Our first guest tackles that issue — Stephanie Levitz joins the show from the Globe and Mail, where she is a reporter covering the campaign. Despite all the doom and gloom, the Conservatives are actually having a decent campaign — their polls have softened a bit, but they're still very competitive. What's behind the angry leaks?This episode of On The Line is brought to you by Westinghouse. Canada's energy future is being shaped by the choices we make today. Westinghouse is 100% Canadian-owned and brings the world's most advanced, operational Gen III+ reactor — the AP1000® — proven, safe, efficient, and ready now. It can be brought online within a decade, delivering clean, reliable power when we need it most. Canada needs energy. Westinghouse is ready.Learn more at westinghousenuclear.com/canada.Steph and Matt talk about the CPC campaign to date, and in a lot of ways, it's a great campaign. They also talk about the campaign the CPC planned to have, and why it might be hard for Pierre Poilievre in particular to make a pivot to something closer to what the voters he needs want to hear. They also chat about the recent flood of angry complaints from inside the CPC house, and especially the very public spat between the federal Conservatives and the Ontario Progressive Conservatives — a long-simmering fight that has now spilled out into the open. And for all of that, Matt makes a small confession to Steph: he's starting to get the feeling that the CPC is maybe, just maybe, going to be able to pull off a win after all. He explains why.This episode is also brought to you by the Mêtis Nation of Ontario. It's Moose Factory, 1890. For generations, the Métis had been the backbone of the Hudson's Bay Company, working as trappers, traders, voyageurs, and labourers. But in Moose Factory, they did something even greater — they helped build Canada's original economic engine — the fur trade. In the blacksmith shop, William Moore's hammer rings as he and other Métis shipwrights form ships, sleds, and canoes to carry goods and furs across vast distances. For decades, the Hudson's Bay Company relied on the Métis' ingenuity, hard work, craftsmanship, and knowledge of the land. It was their work that ensured the success of the fur trade, and their skills that kept Canada's supply lines moving. From shipbuilding to blacksmithing, the Métis of Moose Factory helped build Canada. To learn more, go to OntarioMétisFacts.com.After Matt wraps up with Steph, Gregory Jack, senior vice president of public affairs at Ipsos, joins Matt for a quick update on the latest numbers. Most interesting is signs of a growing divide in Canada. It's not just along partisan lines, or even regional ones. It's generational — people over 55 and under 40 are living in almost totally different Canadas. And if the young people show up and vote — always a big if, but if — it could be a very surprising election day.As always, like and subscribe at our main page, ReadTheLine.ca. You can also follow us on your favourite podcast app so you never miss an episode. And if you're enjoying On The Line, share it with a friend, post about it online, or just yell at someone on the bus. We won't judge.Thanks for listening — and we'll see you next week for the next installment of On The Line.
What were once positioned as the four stripes that were recognizable by Canadians worldwide now sparingly lace abandoned shelves across the country dressed with 'clearance' tags. The Hudson's Bay Company has begun the process of liquidating all but six stores Canada-wide, with those remaining - three in Ontario and three in Quebec - still very much up for grabs if the company doesn't present a comprehensive restructuring plan moving forward. But the question on many people's minds still remains: how did Canada's oldest company fall into the hands of creditor protection? A name once emblematic of Canadian retail, history and culture, now grasping onto whatever capital (and hope) it can to sustain a presence in an online-dominated retail landscape. Host Gurdeep Ahluwalia speaks with retail expert, Gary Newbury, about what lead to the slow burn of the Hudson's Bay Company, and if the writing was on the wall-post pandemic for the fate of the country's first company. The two discuss what the next months could look like for HBC, and what notes other retailers should be taking if they aren't interested in falling next in line. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us: Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter
The market may be turning around, but judging from our inbox, some investors are still feeling shaky. On this week's TLDR, we ask when, if ever, it's okay to touch your portfolio, and look at the conventional wisdom around changing your investments as you approach retirement. Plus, we get heated over what Tesla's falling sales numbers tell us about the state of the company — and what happens when business leaders get mixed up in politics. And, we talk to Vass Bednar, co-author of The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians, about the demise of Hudson's Bay Company.This episode was hosted by Devin Friedman, business reporter Sarah Rieger and former hedgefunder Matthew Karasz, with an appearance by public policy entrepreneur Vass Bednar. Follow us on other platforms, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter: linkin.bio/tldrThe TLDR Podcast is offered by Wealthsimple Media Inc. and is for informational purposes only. The content in the TLDR Podcast is not investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell assets or securities, and does not represent the views of Wealthsimple Financial Corp or any of its other subsidiaries or affiliates. Wealthsimple Media Inc. does not endorse any third-party views referenced in this content. More information at wealthsimple.com/tldr.
In the latest episode of Remarkable Retail, hosts Michael LeBlanc and Steve Dennis kick off with a roundup of the week's most impactful retail news. They dive into the potential liquidation of Hudson's Bay Company, examining the challenges the iconic retailer faces amid financial turbulence. With speculation swirling around the sale of HBC's heritage Stripes brand and the struggle to find buyers for prime real estate, the hosts analyze the ripple effects on Canadian retail.They also discuss Forever 21's second bankruptcy filing and probable liquidation, attributing the fast-fashion giant's downfall to a combination of fierce competition from digital disruptors like Shein and Temu, as well as a reliance on traditional mall-based retailing. Another key story involves Wayfair's decision to expand its physical retail presence despite years of online focus. Opening its second large-format store in Atlanta, Wayfair seems to be testing the waters of omnichannel retail, blending digital convenience with tangible customer experiences. The episode also touches on earnings updates from Nike, Williams-Sonoma, and Five Below.After covering the latest retail news, the hosts continue their engaging conversation with Jason “Retail Geek” Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis. Goldberg dives into Amazon's ongoing challenges in breaking into the grocery market despite the tech giant's e-commerce dominance. Amazon Fresh stores, while improved, still lack a clear competitive differentiator against industry leaders like Walmart. Goldberg notes that despite Amazon's long-term strategy and willingness to experiment, their grocery ventures remain more experimental than groundbreaking.Goldberg also explores the evolution of social commerce, with a particular focus on TikTok Shops. Unlike past social selling failures on platforms like Facebook, TikTok Shops have managed to build momentum, but only for specific product categories. Goldberg argues that social commerce's real value lies not in direct sales but in product discovery. Brands need to adapt by creating content that fosters discovery rather than pushing for immediate transactions.The conversation also covers the rise of retail media networks, with Goldberg emphasizing Amazon's transformation into a high-margin ad powerhouse. By monetizing third-party seller ads, Amazon has outpaced traditional retail models in profitability. While Walmart and others are catching up, Amazon's ability to leverage its marketplace for advertising revenue puts it in a unique position. About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about federal election, how tax cuts are dominating discussion and how no one seemed ready despite the fact that we've all known for months this was coming. Plus, Israel re-ignites its bombardment of Gaza and so long, Hudson's Bay Company. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Was B.C's carbon tax effective in reducing emissions? GUEST: Barry Penner, Chair of Energy Futures Initiative Former Vancouver mayor runs for Federal Liberal MP GUEST: Gregor Robertson, federal Liberal MP candidate for Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby, and former Mayor of Vancouver 23andMe files for bankruptcy, is your genetic data safe? GUEST: John Green, Lawyer at John Michael Green Law Corporation End of an era: Hudson's Bay Company's liquidation sale begins GUEST: Steven Chang, Producer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
INTRO (00:23): Kathleen opens the show drinking a Lakelife Lager from Bruzze Brewing, and a Charleston spicy Bloody Mary. She reviews her weekend in Macon GA and Charleston SC. TOUR NEWS: See Kathleen live on her “Day Drinking Tour.”COURT NEWS (22:51): Kathleen shares news on Post Malone joining the Court, Chappell Roan launches a billboard campaign to support “The Giver”, Dolly Parton celebrates 40 years of Dollywood, Jelly Roll launches a collaboration with HeyDude shoes, and Taylor Swift sweeps the iHeartRadio awards. TASTING MENU (2:43): Kathleen samples Krispy Kreme Taste O'Luck green donuts, Old Florida Ranch Gourmet Tortilla Chips, and Old Bay Fried Georgia Peanuts. UPDATES (36:25): Kathleen shares updates on the stranded astronauts, Lori Vallow gets to approval to represent herself, Pope Francis is released from the hospital, Meghan Markle is accused of stealing (again,) and JP Morgan is facing a mutiny. HOLY SHIT THEY FOUND IT (49:52): Kathleen reveals the possible discovery of the fossil of Noah's Ark near Mount Ararat's summit, and a ghost ship is found after 132 years in the Great Lakes. FRONT PAGE PUB NEWS (54:20): Kathleen shares articles on the TikTok trend known as “blackout rage gallons” or BORGS, Southwest ending their free bag policy, the Hudson's Bay Company could liquidate assets as soon as next week, Leonardo DiCaprio will star in the Evel Knievel biopic, United Airlines offered “men-only” flights until 1970, and convicted murderer Scott Pederson was attacked in prison while playing Pickleball. WHAT ARE WE WATCHING (31:28): Kathleen recommends watching “1923” on Paramount+, and “A Body In The Snow: The Trial of Karen Read” on HBO Max. FEEL GOOD STORY (1:09:25): Cougar cubs have been spotted in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the first time in over a century. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Join us as we explore the fascinating history and hauntings of Fort Vancouver! Built in 1825, this iconic site marks its 200th anniversary this year. Originally a fur trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company, Fort Vancouver has a rich, complex history—colonial expansion on Indigenous communities, military takeovers, and lost gravesites.We dive into the hauntings of Officer's Row, the Vancouver Barracks, and the infamous Post Hospital. From phantom touches to moving safes, ringing phones, and murder mysteries, there's no shortage of supernatural activity here!Tangents about previous episodes include:Episode 44: Ghosts of McLoughlin HouseEpisode 155: Haunted Port Townsend: Spirits of Point Wilson Lighthouse | Espooky TalesEpisode 55: Legend of Bandage ManEpisode 194: Exploring Places Forgotten: The Allure of Abandon ArchitectureVisit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! If you have any true crime, paranormal, or witchy stories you'd like to share with us & possibly have them read (out loud) on an episode, email us at pnwhauntsandhomicides@gmail.com or use this link. There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker, or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. Sources
Prime Minister Mark Carney on a whistle-stop tour of Europe, shoring up support from Canada's allies. US President Donald Trump defends his use of a centuries-old law to deport more than 130 Venezuelans to El Salvador. The Hudson's Bay Company in court today, applying to liquidate all 80 of its stores.
We speak with retail strategist David Ian Gray, founder of DIG360, about the future of the Hudson's Bay Company and hear your insights into why the retail giant is struggling to survive.
U-K prime minister Keir Starmer is urging Ukraine's allies to keep the pressure on Russia.Hudson's Bay Company says it will begin liquidating as early as next week.Thousands rally in South Korea calling for dismissal impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol.
Mark Carney is Canada's new prime minister. He and his cabinet were sworn in this morning. The cabinet is smaller than the previous government's. Carney says his main focus will be relations with the United States. And one of his first acts: taking aim at the carbon tax. There is already pushback though – from those who say his cabinet doesn't represent the whole country.G7 Foreign ministers show solidarity with Canada, in the face of Donald Trump's annexation threat.And: It dates back to 1670, and now Hudson's Bay Company's days might be numbered. Court documents show the retail giant is nearly a billion dollars in debt.Also: An art heist… unravelled thanks to a piece of tape, a storage locker, and a CBC reporter's off-duty picture taking. The perpetrator has now pleaded guilty, and the iconic photo of Winston Churchill has been restored to the lobby of the Château Laurier. But there are still lingering questions.Plus: Canada's sovereignty at the G7 finance ministers conference, the aftermath of protests in Bangladesh, and more.
Twenty-five years after the Hudson's Bay Company land purchase, and ten years after the CPR, impatient Canadians begin to wonder if the northwestern frontier will ever fulfill its potential. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.
Greetings, and welcome back to the podcast.This episode we are joined by Mr. Jim Gray, O.C. - co-founder of Canadian Hunter Exploration - one of Canada's largest natural gas producers before its sale in 2001 for ~$3.4 billion.Among his many awards, Mr. Gray has been inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence, the Order of Canada, the Calgary Business Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.Mr. Gray was awarded an Honourary Doctor of Laws degree in 1991 by the University of Calgary, and the Energy Person of the Year Award from the Energy Council of Canada.Mr. Gray is also a founder and former Chairman of Calgary Academy, Honourary Chair of the Canada West Foundation and Honorary Life Director of the Calgary YMCA. Mr. Gray is Chairman of the Energy Group of Brookfield Asset Management Inc.Mr. Gray's previous directorships include Brookfield Asset Management Inc., Cequence Energy Inc., Phoenix Technology Services, Emera Inc., Hudson's Bay Company, and Canadian National Railway, of which he is Director Emeritus. Among other things, we discussed The Can Hunter Days, Pioneering the Deep Basin & 90 Years of Staying Active.Enjoy.Thank you to our sponsors.Without their support this episode would not be possible:Connate Water SolutionsATB Capital MarketsEnergy United Upgrade Labs360 Engineering & Environmental ConsultingCanadian Gas AssociationSupport the show
Se stai considerando di iniziare a investire, Scalable è l'app ideale. Investi con un partner sicuro e regolamentato, puoi iniziare con qualsiasi cifra e hai a disposizione oltre 8.000 azioni e 1.900 ETF per costruire un portafoglio diversificato e far crescere i tuoi risparmi nel tempo. Apri un conto gratuito con Scalable su www.scalable.capital Investire comporta dei rischi. --- Vile Denaro è la mini-serie di 10 episodi in collaborazione tra Scalable Capital e Nova Lectio dove si approfondiscono le vicende torbide del mondo bancario e finanziario. Testo: Jacopo Turco Voce: Alberto Lodi Mix e Sound Design, Davide Marcone Produzione: Nova Lectio Fonti: https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/the-untold-story-of-the-hudsons-bay-company/ https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-law-and-society-la-revue-canadienne-droit-et-societe/article/abs/company-with-sovereignty-and-subjects-of-its-own-the-case-of-the-hudsons-bay-company-16701763/563CE0342F496B292465D925BFF2DCE4 https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-the-history-of-the-hudson-bay-company/ https://canadaehx.com/2020/12/26/the-indigenous-and-the-hudsons-bay-company/ https://www.britannica.com/money/Hudsons-Bay-Company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episode: 2411 Hudson's Bay Company. Today, fur traders and far-off borders.
Send us a textLeave a rating for this podcast with one click here What can the past teach us about the future of real estate in Canada? Nicole explores the captivating evolution of the Canadian real estate market, from its roots in Indigenous land stewardship to today's dynamic, tech-driven industry. Nicole dives into the transformative impact of pivotal events like the Hudson's Bay Company landholdings, federal housing acts, and the rise of urbanization. She also highlights how affordability and sustainability are reshaping the landscape, offering actionable insights for buyers, sellers, and investors navigating today's market.Listen For2:58 - The Origins: Indigenous Land Stewardship Meets European Settlers7:40 - 1930s-40s: The National Housing Act & Federal Housing Policy19:34 - Condo Boom: Urban Centers, Affordability, and Lifestyle Trends25:56 - Navigating Market Complexity with Adaptability and KnowledgeContact Nicole LopezReal Estate AgentRoyal LePage Credit Valley Real Estate, BrokerageEmail | Website
His parents were freed slaves so George could travel anywhere. He worked for the Hudson's Bay Company in the Rocky Mountains. He tried farming but was drawn to Oregon, sold his farm and joined a wagon train. Upon arriving, he found that blacks were not allowed to settle in Oregon. He moved to the Puget Sound where he helped other settlers. He played a big role in securing the territory for the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Witness to Yesterday (The Champlain Society Podcast on Canadian History)
Larry Ostola talks to Barry Gough about his book, The Curious Passage of Richard Blanshard: First Governor of Vancouver Island. This biography by historian Barry Gough focuses on Richard Blanshard, the first governor of Vancouver Island, and explores the early days of Canada's westernmost province. Blanshard arrived on Vancouver Island in 1850, after a long sea voyage, to begin his short and troubled tenure as governor. His time in office, lasting only three years, was marked by conflict with the powerful Hudson's Bay Company and its leader, James Douglas, who succeeded him as governor. Despite his pivotal role in alerting London to American threats, Blanshard's tenure was unsuccessful, overshadowed by political and cultural challenges. His story sheds light on the struggles of early colonial governance, the influence of commerce, and the clash of European and Pacific Northwest cultures. Barry Gough is one of Canada's premier historians and biographers. His insightful research and lucid writing spanning five decades have earned him high distinction. Among his awards are the Canadian Historical Association's Clio Prize, the Maritime Foundation's Mountbatten Award, the Washington Historical Society's Robert Gray Medal, the Alcala Galiano Medal and the Keith Matthews Award. In 2022, he was awarded the Lieutenant Governor's Medal for Historical Writing for Possessing Meares Island. He is a Fellow of the Society for the History of Discoveries. Image Credit: Harbour Publishing If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society's mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada's past.
At the age of 16 Ballantyne went to Canada and was six years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. His rule in writing, being in every case, was to write as far as possible from personal knowledge of the scenes he described.In this book he details the lives of the crew as they must overwinter in the frozen north including their meetings with Eskimos and bears and their struggles with disease. This is a realistic account of what life was like for the explorers of the Arctic. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
At the age of 16 Ballantyne went to Canada and was six years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. His rule in writing, being in every case, was to write as far as possible from personal knowledge of the scenes he described.In this book he details the lives of the crew as they must overwinter in the frozen north including their meetings with Eskimos and bears and their struggles with disease. This is a realistic account of what life was like for the explorers of the Arctic. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
In 1859, an American shot a pig that belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company. Suddenly the U.S. and British Empire were on the brink of war once again. Over the years, tales about the conflict have been embellished and conspiracy theories were invented. But behind the folklore is a story of peace, diplomacy, and how we make meaning out of history.
Exploring Washington's wine regions, history, and grapes. Trivia? Bush flattery? An old hobo ditty about cigarette trees? Yep, got that too. Resources from this episode: Books: The Oxford Companion to Wine [5th Edition], Harding, J., Robinson, J., Thomas, T. (2023) Websites and Digital Document Files: Brittanica: Hudson's Bay Company (4 June 2024) https://www.britannica.com/money/Hudsons-Bay-Company Center for Land Use Interpretation: Northwesternmost Point on the Continental 48 United States, Washington https://clui.org/ludb/site/northwesternmost-point-continental-48-united-states Chateau Ste. Michelle: https://www.ste-michelle.com/about-us/history-and-heritage Decanter: International Riesling Day: American Style, Pursehouse, C. (13 March 2023) https://www.decanter.com/wine/grape-varieties/riesling/international-riesling-day-american-style-499237/ Falstaff: A Global Tour of Riesling, Krebiehl, A. (23 March 2022) https://www.falstaff.com/en/news/a-global-tour-of-riesling Internet Archive: The Big Rock Candy Mountains, McClintock, H. (6 September 1928) https://archive.org/details/78_the-big-rock-candy-mountains_mac-harry-mcclintock-h.-mcclintock_gbia0004598b Lake Chelan Wine Valley: About the Lake Clean AVA https://lakechelanwinevalley.com/about/lake-chelan-ava/ Spitbucket: The Legend of W.B. Bridgman, LeBeau, A. (31 March, 2018). https://spitbucket.net/2018/03/31/the-legend-of-w-b-bridgman/ Washington Wine: Washington State Wine Commission https://www.washingtonwine.org/ Wine Enthusiast: An Armchair Traveler's Guide to Washington State Wine Country, Sullivan, S. P. (8 May 2023) https://www.wineenthusiast.com/culture/wine/washington-state-wine-guide/?t Wine Industry Advisor: Marchesi Antinori Will Take Full Ownership of Col Solare (20 June 2024) https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2024/06/20/marchesi-antinori-will-take-full-ownership-of-col-solare/?utm_source=AfternoonBrief&utm_medium=newsletter Glass in Session Episodes Relevant to - or Mentioned in - This Episode: S13E3: J'Adore Amador https://glassinsession.libsyn.com/s13e3-jadore-amador S16E3: Belgian Wine & PIWI Grapes https://glassinsession.libsyn.com/belgian-wines-and-piwi-grapes-s16e3 S16E2: Oh, Canadian Wine https://glassinsession.libsyn.com/oh-canadian-wine-s16e2 Glass in Session® podcast and podcat swag mentioned in this show: https://www.teepublic.com/user/glass-in-session Glass in Session® is a registered trademark of Vino With Val, LLC. Music: “Write Your Story” by Joystock (Jamendo.com cc_Standard License, Jamendo S.A.)
Send us a Text Message.We are headed to the United States' largest state by area, Alaska, known as the Last Frontier State. This might go down in history as Kenzie's favorite episode because she gets to talk about otters the WHOLE time. She shares with us the legend of the Kushtaka, a giant otter-man that comes from Tlingit folklore. Legend says the Kushtaka will trick you into following them deep into the Alaskan wilderness, only to never be seen or heard from again. Then, Lauren redeems herself and concludes the story of the Devil's Chair. Afterwards, she tells us about the SS Baychimo, a steel-hulled, 1,322 ton cargo steamer built in 1914 in Sweden and owned by the Hudson's Bay Company. She became a notable ghost ship along the Alaskan coast, being abandoned in 1931 and seen numerous times since then until her last sighting in 1969. This episode will make you think twice about exploring Alaska's vast wilderness, especially alone.--Follow us on Social Media and find out how to support A Scary State by clicking on our Link Tree: https://instabio.cc/4050223uxWQAl--Have a scary tale or listener story of your own? Send us an email to ascarystatepodcast@gmail.com! We can't wait to read it!--Thinking of starting a podcast? Thinking about using Buzzsprout for that? Well use our link to let Buzzsprout know we sent you and get a $20 Amazon gift card if you sign up for a paid plan!https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1722892--Works cited!https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yta4QOa3v1nS3V-vOcYPNx3xSgv_GckdFcZj6FBt8zg/edit?usp=sharing --Intro and outro music thanks to Kevin MacLeod. You can visit his site here: http://incompetech.com/. Which is where we found our music!
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
