Billy Bee® announces a sweet discovery about honey bees and Canadians

Canada’s number one honey brand gets inspired by Canada 150, pointing to five similarities between Canadians and bees; looks to crown Canada’s Sweetest Town

LONDON, ON (August 1, 2017)—Today, Billy Bee®, Canada’s favourite honey brand announced a celebration of the surprising similarities between Canadians and honey bees. With the discovery of five sweet similarities (or “bee-haviours”) in mind, Billy Bee is buzzing coast-to-coast to determine Canada’s Sweetest Town.

Today’s announcement includes recognition of five cities that are great examples of the “bee-haviours”: Saulnierville, Nova Scotia; Regina, Saskatchewan; Victoria, British Columbia; Markham, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec.

When asked how honey bees compare to Canadian communities, Paul Kelly, Research and Apiary Manager at Guelph University’s Honey Bee Research Centre responded, “Working with honey bees in Canada has taught us a lot about the social ‘bee-haviours’ that allow them to build successful hives here. These traits —being collaborative, welcoming, sharing, hardworking and enduring—are also part of what makes our country so successful!”

Canada’s Sweetest Town will be determined by Billy Bee using secondary research including data from Statistics Canada about volunteerism, charitable giving, demographics, employment rates and even weather conditions. Billy Bee is combining this with a review of national and regional news media, as well as civic awards to determine which of Canada’s towns best fit the “bee-haviours.”

So far, Billy Bee has discovered that:

• Much like honey bees selflessly collaborate to build and improve their hives, residents of Regina, Saskatchewan, with one of the highest rates of volunteerism in Canada, collaborate to improve their city.
• Honey bees are welcoming to bees from other hives, just like the City of Markham, Ontario that thrives by welcoming more than 70 per cent of its population from international cultures.
• To communicate, honey bees perform the “waggle dance” to share important information, much like the Baie en Joie Dancers in Saulnierville, Nova Scotia who share their important Acadian cultural traditions through dance.
• Honey bees can work up to nine months straight, making them a hardworking bunch. This is also true for the people of Victoria, British Columbia, with one of the highest employment rates in Canada.
• For honey bees to endure our harsh Canadian winters, it takes strength and tenacity. To do it, they huddle together and feast on honey. The people of Montreal, Quebec also rely on each other to endure their harsh winters, with one of the highest rates of snowfall in the country.

The Sweetest Town, set to be announced during National Honey Month in September, will be presented with a donation of $10,000 to go towards bee-friendly gardening initiatives in the community. This is an extension of Billy Bee’s commitment to Canadian beekeepers, one of the major drivers behind the company choosing to offer 100 per cent Canadian honey.

“As Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary, our country’s uniquely sweet personality has been in focus,” says Cheryl Radisa, Vice President of Marketing at McCormick Canada. “Billy Bee recently began offering 100 per cent Canadian honey and through our work with the Canadian honey industry, we discovered strong similarities between honey bees and Canadians. We wanted to celebrate those sweet similarities, because we are proud to say — Canadians are as sweet as honey bees!”

About Billy Bee®

Founded in 1958 and acquired by McCormick & Co. Inc. in 2008, Billy Bee Honey Products is Canada's number one honey brand (Nielsen Markettrack All Channel Latest 52 weeks to June 24, 2017).