Bump! Canada — Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa — Montreal: — The second largest French-speaking city in the world with a population of 3.4 million, Montreal has all the ingredients for a perfect gay getaway. Bump! explores the spec... more »tacle of Black And Blue, a weeklong party festival, AIDS fundraiser, and cultural event that attracts upwards of 20,000 gays, lesbians, and their friends to Montreal from all over the world each year. Shop till you drop at Priape, a Montreal retail success story that beat the odds. Pump some iron with bodybuilder James Michael Levigne, who won gold at the 1998 Gay Games in Amsterdam and hopes to repeat when the quadrennial event comes to Montreal in 2006. Some of the hottest male dancers in the world can be found in Montreal we get up close and personal with these men as they bare their souls (and plenty more) for our cameras. All this plus Montreal's fabled nightlife and European flare now that's Joie de Vivre!
Toronto
Toronto is Canada's largest city, home to over 4.5 million people. We start off this edition of Bump! on Church Street, the heart of the gay community, touring the neighbourhood with gay city councilor Kyle Rae, learning how this area became the "gay village". Bump! visits with Sharon Gless and Jack Weatherall, stars of the acclaimed North American version of Queer As Folk, set in Pittsburgh and filmed in Toronto. For art collectors, the options are endless. We drop by the studio of queer underwear artist, Will Munro, where Bump! host J.R. Anderson models his avant-garde designs. Shopaholics will revel as we visit some of Toronto's many gay-owned and gay-friendly shops and stores. Bump! also attends Fashion Week and meets local success story Dean and Dan Caten, gay twin designers now based in Milan. We also get front row seats at Fashion Cares, a glittering annual event that has raised over $5 million for Toronto's AIDS/HIV charities. Finally, we round out our trip with a tour of gay-owned B&B's and guesthouses before we head to back to the gay village and check out the hopping social scene.
Ottawa
Picturesque Ottawa is Canada's national capital, and is renowned for its festivals. We find out about the 3 million bulbs in bloom at the Tulip Festival, the brilliant fireworks of the annual Canada Day Celebration, and Winterlude, where thousands don skates and glide down the Rideau Canal. Fitness and nature buffs will be hooked as we go rollerblading on Ottawa's vast network of scenic pathways, and then visit the Gatineau parks, with its hundreds of kilometres of trails for hiking and mountain biking and five pristine lakes where you can canoe and camp. Thrill seekers will get their fix as the Bump! crew hurtles down the Ottawa River with the folks from Owl Rafting. Elaina Martin gives us an overview of The Rock City Women's Fest that takes place every August, celebrating womens' achievements in music and the arts. Then we visit with some notable locals, including activist Bruce Bursey of The Wellness Project, addressing GLBT health concerns, Arthur Jamieson of Act Out, a gay theatre group, and artist Carl Stewart, who makes a political statement with his erotic tapestries. Bump! shows viewers some of the many options for the gay tourist, including numerous gay-owned and gay-friendly accommodations, restaurants, shops, and boutiques, the new Splash circuit party, and several happening bars and clubs.« less
