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Hot Entertainment: Avril Lavigne

Canadian rocker Avril Lavigne

With several platinum albums, seven Juno Awards and eight Grammy Award nominations under her belt, Avril Lavigne could be forgiven for wanting to take a break. But the 27-year-old Canadian dynamo never slows down. Somehow she’s managed to squeeze in time to launch a fashion and lifestyle brand, including two fragrances, as well as act in films and establish a charity, The Avril Lavigne Foundation. The indefatigable pop star promotes her latest album, Goodbye Lullaby, at Rogers Arena on Oct. 3.—Sheri Radford

More information:

7:30 pm. $37.50-$49.50. Rogers Arena, Pacific Blvd. at Abbott St. Tickets 1-855-985-5000.

Travel Tuesday Q&A with Marc Télio of Entrée Destinations

Marc Télio on a polar-bear expedition in Canada last year.

Native Montrealer Marc Télio was just 23 when he opened a travel company specializing in high-end trips to Canada and Alaska. Seventeen years later Entrée Destinations continues to offer travelers the highest standard in service and unforgettable experiences, like helicoptering into a remote lodge in Manitoba for a polar bear photo safari or cruising British Columbia’s Gulf Islands by yacht. For some of us, these spectacular tours will be filed under “Canadian inspiration”, since they don’t come cheap. But in life and in travel, as Marc says, you get what you pay for.

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Thunder Cove, Prince Edward Island

Every Friday we feature an inspirational travel photo of a Canadian destination taken by one of our readers. Share your adventures by joining our Flickr Group so we can easily find you. We’ll credit you and link to your photo. If you have a particular theme you’d like us to showcase, let us know on Facebook or Twitter.

Thunder Cove, Prince Edward Island. Photo by Michael Baglole.

Why we chose it: The photographer used flashlights to illuminate the red boulders that frame this lovely shot of PEI’s north-central shore. Near-perfect symmetry, unbelievably rich colour, and a creative use of light…it was love at first click.

Interview With DobbernationLoves’ Andrew John Virtue Dobson

Dobson at a noodle house in Tokyo, Japan.

Andrew John Virtue Dobson started his blog DobbernationLoves (on Twitter: @dobbernation) after his first solo backpacking trip through Europe. The Toronto-based blogger’s day job is at Planeterra Foundation, the charitable arm of Gap Adventures, the Canadian-based travel company that hosts tours around the globe. The blog’s title is a clever play on Dobber (a nickname) and Nation (which he sees as “an authoritative stance on what I was doing and where I was going”). Dobson describes DobbernationLoves as a “lifestyle blog with an encyclopedia’s worth of information on travel, Toronto-based restaurants, cheese, wine and beer. I post consistently throughout the week all of the things I love, whether it be covering a fashion or arts based event, or some recipe I came up with over the weekend. I share whatever makes me smile.”

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Reese Mini’s Awards The Perfectly Tiny Across Canada

Charlottetown, P.E.I. winner Lori Joy and her tiny artwork. Image via The Guardian

By Waheeda Harris

Canadians appreciate the little things – with one of the planet’s biggest land masses with a small population, we know a thing or two about being the little guy.

Reese, the popular chocolate company, wanted to find the best of the small in our nation and spent two weeks in August roaming coast to coast to find those wee places or people to receive the newly-launched Perfectly Tiny Award.

Those lucky enough to be selected received a year’s supply of the new Reese minis, a large trophy and bragging rights for revelling in the small.

Five cities – Greenwood, BC, Prince George, BC, Edmonton, AB, Sackville, NS and Charlottetown PEI were the winners for five different tiny reasons. And what did the judges discover?

From a tiny fish catcher to a small dog rescuer, small horses to wee artistic creations, Canadians have pride in the petite, and congratulations to the first five to be on the award list. “We were looking for people with passion, and we certainly found them,” explained Sean Citrigno, Reese spokesperson and member of the Perfectly Tiny search team.

A special kudos to the city of Greenwood, located in the Kootenay region of BC, as the smallest city in Canada. With a proud population of 625 residents, their mighty yet tiny outlook garnered them a Perfectly Tiny Award.

Canadian Air Travel: Only 78 Per Cent of Summer Flights On Time

Photo by Robert S. Donovan

We all worry about bad weather flight delays in the winter, we even come to expect them in a country like Canada where climates are more wild than mild. Come summer, if you expect delays to go away, you’d be wrong. Data compiled by QMI Agency showed that during June and July roughly 78 per cent of flights on Canada’s three major carriers arrived on time. Compare this to the US where an estimated 76.6 per cent of flights within that country are on time, and we’re only slightly ahead.

In Canada, flights from Toronto to the East Coast look to be the most frequently delayed of all routes. You can read more on individual air carriers on-time estimates and what the impact of delayed flights on the economy, here.

Hot Shopping: Shop Local

Summer fashions from Plum Clothing

Plum Clothing, a 30-year-old Canadian company, proudly carries designed-in-house clothing and accessories, with the majority made right here in Vancouver. Whether it’s an outfit for the boardroom, a summer wedding or a trip up the coast, chances are the right fit is in store. New fashions for spring and summer are pictured above in a photo shoot done in charming Steveston Village, just 30 minutes from downtown.—Jennifer Patterson

Hot Shopping: Hot Colour, Cool Purse

Kristina bag from Roots

Treat Mom to one of summer’s must-have bags from Roots (including Kristina Bag $288, pictured). Bright, buttery-soft leather makes up every piece in this line of arm candy, which ranges in styles from satchels to boho totes to clutches. Each Canadian-made bag works as the perfect carryall to take from the beach to an evening out for dinner.—Jennifer Patterson

Hot Shopping: Soothing Sips

We love the brews from Canadian company DavidsTea

If travelling to a new city means another exciting hunt for that next, best cuppa, you need to swing by Canadian-owned DavidsTea. The selection of over 100 loose-leaf tea varieties from around the globe would surely have even British aristocrats requesting another spot of the sweet brews. Have your sights set on a steaming cup of cocoa chai rooibos or strawberry rhubarb crumble white tea? Order one to sip now and take the dry leaves of the other in a 50-, 100-, or 250-gram bag or tin. Purchase travel mugs and kettles, too.—Jennifer Patterson

Hot Art: From Dusk to Dawn

"Mighty Watch" by Elzbieta Krawecka

For Polish-born Elzbieta Krawecka, who’s lived in Krakow and Kuwait, the vast Canadian skies represent liberty and hope. Her soft brushstrokes, evocative of European landscape painters, capture light and give her pieces an ethereal quality (“Mighty Watch,” pictured). Lose yourself in Krawecka’s endless horizons during Coming Home at Diane Farris Gallery (Mar. 3 to 19).—Kristina Urquhart