I found this profoundly depressing, coming just weeks after an election that confirmed Canadian complacency and Canadian democracy have a strong negative correlation:

Tim Hortons serves up national identity, researcher finds

[St. Francis Xavier Professor] Cormack believes much of the mystique is owed to the “True Stories” ads starring real Canadians that started in the mid-1990s with 80-year-old Lillian trekking up a steep hill each day to get her fix. The ads often feature Canadians travelling through unfamiliar territory, sustained by the familiarity of Tim’s, she says, and that taps into our self-concept as a nation of hardy explorers surviving harsh winters in a vast land.

Oh, right, *that* delusional self-concept. As opposed to this one:

Even the company’s perpetually beige-and-brown packaging and “humble, plain-Jane” image fits in with Canadians’ notion of themselves as strong, principled people who don’t grasp at fads, Ms. Cormack says — but whether that’s true is another matter.

“It’s that funny contradiction — we keep announcing that we’re quiet and boasting that we’re not boastful,” she says with a laugh. “But it still kind of works.”

Jesus Christ.