But boy we loved the attention. Tim Hortons responded to the show by creating a fake ad for “the Priestley,” which Priestley described on the show as a Timbit shoved inside a strawberry vanilla doughnut. The National Post responded to the sugar rush with an inspired selection of their own fried dough, including the Canadian Tire (“It tastes pretty good but think you can find anyone around to help you order it?”) and the Green Gables (“People have a real fondness for it, I guess.”)

I was relieved to discover that Canadians can be pushed too far, especially when it comes to PEI’s most famous fictitious resident. Social media responded with anger when a photo of a new edition of Anne of Green Gables began circulating. Gone are the red pigtails, replaced with a tousled blonde that wouldn’t look out of place at Sweet Valley High.

Even word that the book was slapped together via Amazon’s print-on-demand service (it isn’t even available on the retailer’s Canadian site) did nothing to calm the upset. But Lucy Maud Montgomery’s books have been in the public domain since 1993 and since there’s no legal recourse for bad taste, we should expect to see a lot more of the same. When it comes to copyright laws (and those who exploit them), the joke’s on us.

A frame from Mike Holmes' new book, "This American Drive." Courtesy Invisible Publishing.

When Mike Holmes passed through Toronto on his reading tour last fall, he warned the audience, “I’m a cartoonist, not an author.”

Holmes is, in fact, both. His latest work, This American Drive, is not just a novel with pretty pictures. Weaving traditional storytelling and elements of the graphic novel with unexpected ease, the book is Holmes’s memoir of his road trip from Halifax to his then-girlfriend’s parents’ home in Texas. Along the way he passes through the America of our imagination—full of fast food joints and rock ‘n’ roll icons.

Aside from Holmes’s dry wit and and hilarious drawings, the book is also pleasant to the touch. Its thick, textured cover and smooth cream pages alert the reader that Invisible Publishing’s books aren’t your average corner-store-comics fare. Publisher Robbie MacGregor stresses the importance of making books that are as appealing to the eye as to the brain. This small Nova Scotia publishing house makes a point of finding new authors who might otherwise slip under the radar.

Holmes says he’s never really noticed a difference between Canadians and the world south of the border—a fact he drives home in his book with a humourous illustration of the first few miles beyond the Maine border: a Tim Hortons, a Walmart, and an Irving station.

“Oh Maine. Come join us,” he coaxes from the page. “We’ll treat you right.”

One of the postcards the Government of Canada encourages you to send to your friends.

In the best example of Catch 22 that I can think of since, well, Catch 22, it seems our prime minister, Stephen Harper, will not be attending the international climate change talks in Copenhagen in December because it is unlikely any final deal on climate change will be met—though that is partly thanks to months of his government’s own actions to obstruct the climate change discussion process.

The largest barrier to coming to an internationally recognized treaty is the increasing wedge between the developed world (Canada, the U.S., Western Europe) and developing countries with large populations (India and China), arguing over whose responsibility it is to address climate change first.

This bickering sounds more reflective of 7 year olds, not world leaders discussing the most important global subject of our time. It seems all the facts, studies and reason in the world won’t get Mr. Harper to take climate change seriously, or at least leave well enough alone and let other countries take steps forward.

But something I came across on the Government of Canada’s climate change website urging me to “take action” struck me. The website has postcards featuring children holding a globe in their hands, urging you to send to “someone you know and help foster awareness on climate change in Canada.”

Hmm. Who do I know who seems to need a nudge understanding the importance of climate change?

The emotionally based—slightly ET-influenced, for some reason—messaging on the website seems to be asking individuals to do their part, which will be important no matter what international agreements are made. But is it not odd for a government to identify an issue as extremely important for it citizens, and yet not make it a priority itself?

After all, this website also says that “Canada will participate in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Copenhagen (COP15) in December 2009. The goal of this conference is to reach a new global agreement for fighting climate change.”

Last time I checked, a global agreement should be good enough reason to get yourself on a plane. We all remember that the Prime Minister skipped out on the pre-cursor discussions in New York to attend the grand opening of a Tim Horton’s. What’s next? a Dunkin’ Donuts launch?

I suggest we all take a moment to “do our part” and remind Stephen Harper about the significance of climate change and what he can do as “his part.” I understand he might rather be sitting in the comfort of 24 Sussex, listening to Ringo Starr with a double double in his hands, instead of making some tough decisions at the negotiation table that will be long-lasting and internationally binding. Who wouldn’t? But we all didn’t run for Prime Minister, and while every individual has a role to play, that still doesn’t excuse our leader for missing a globally significant climate change discussions because he doesn’t think they’re going to be effective.

So go ahead, and send our Prime Minister one of the government’s moving calls to action, better known as an e-card. You can send it to [email protected], and better yet, ask all your friends to as well. Perhaps he will have time to read them all on the plane to Copenhagen.

Last week, our Prime Minister skipped a day at the UN Climate Summit in New York for a photo-op at a donut shop in Oakville. Outraged by his obvious sense of priorities—a double double at Tim’s over our global climate crisis—two youth activists founded a Facebook campaign called “Donuts Over Planet,” with thousands of Canadians demanding an apology, and the chirps have been busy on Twitter.

One Tweeter, OldScot, said Harper is the new “Donut King.” While Greenpeace tweeted that perhaps there were “more important donut innovations to address.”

Donuts over Planet founder, 26-year-old Jamie Biggar said: “I think for the majority of Canadians, especially the young, this was hugely offensive. I can’t remember ever seeing so many young Canadians so angry about what’s being done to their future, so sad about what’s being done in their name, and so determined to tell the world that Harper does not represent them.”

Harper said the visit to the Tim Hortons’ Innovation Centre was his chance to welcome the return of the company to Canadian soil, after running as an American operation for over a decade, reported the Toronto Star.

Critics say it is because Harper is not very found of the UN, or multinational organizations, having bailed out on other UN talks in the past.

But there is more to it than that. The Copenhagen Climate Conference is 69 days away and our Prime Minister is not even at the drawing board, choosing dough over tough talks we need. This is not apathy, but denial over climate change.

Critics say he has known climate denier friends, including John Weissenberger. He has appointed ‘climate critics’ to federal scientific institutes. He is a man who believes tar sands expansion is conducive to the fight against climate change. And let’s not forget how the Canadian government has obstructed global climate progress before, such as last year’s Bali climate talks.

With 69 days to go for the global climate negotiation, if Harper is going to be absent for preliminary talks or just obstruct them, then “maybe he should just stay home for Copenhagen,” says Lauryn Drainie, a youth activist. “It’s not our voice he is representing. We don’t need him there.”