I just sent this email to my MP and you should too.
Dear Mrs. Elizabeth May,
I’m writing to propose something that might sound crazy at first—but I believe it’s an idea worth serious national conversation: the Government of Canada should buy Tim Hortons and nationalize it.
Tim Hortons is undeniably a Canadian symbol. It’s been part of our shared national experience for decades. But the reality is, it’s not a Canadian company anymore. Since being sold to a foreign parent company, it’s felt less and less like the Tim Hortons we all grew up with.
It’s not just about ownership. It doesn’t employ Canadians like it used to—especially seniors, who often worked there part-time and genuinely loved the social connection and dignity that came with that work. Now, many of those jobs have disappeared or changed beyond recognition.
Visitors from around the world still come here excited to try “Tims,” thinking they’re about to experience something uniquely Canadian. What they often get instead is low-quality food and a disorganized, underpaid workforce. It reflects badly—not just on the company, but on Canada itself.
Nationalizing Tim Hortons could restore pride in something we all grew up with. It could mean better jobs, higher standards, and a stronger connection to Canadian communities and culture.
I hope you’ll consider raising this idea with your colleagues. At the very least, it’s time we started talking seriously about what we want our national institutions—including cultural icons like Tim Hortons—to look like.
Sincerely,
My name Address Phone number
Those downvoting, please tell me why you think this idea is bad. When I present this idea to people irl they say wow why is nobody really pushing for this.
Tim hortons going downhill is such an obvious stain on our country and people seem to just let it slide.
The only valid critique i’ve heard is “that’s dumb”
We should be nationalizing infrastructure where having a single vendor (ie. monopoly) makes sense.
Cafés are a great example where many small businesses are ideal.
Let Tim Horton’s fail and let small independent cafés flood the space.
What if the workers at these shops made $30+/hr like other gov positions?
The “tim hortons infrastructure” already exists
You still haven’t answered, why save a private business? Why bail out whatever international private equity by buying Tim’s from them? Why would that every be worth tax payer money?
Why does it matter if they get some money in return for a good investment on our part? They are stealing money from us anyway in its current state.
I’m not the one suggesting doing it. You have to answer why do it all instead of letting it fail…
The thing is it’s not failing because they exploit temporary foreign workers. Tim hortons gets richer by exploiting others.
The government can stop abuse of temporary foreign workers without buying each company that does it though. That’s not sustainable nor effective, That’s like trying to fix a plumbing leak one bucket at a time.
Redesigning or removing the temporary foreign workers program could be effective, it just requires political will to endure the screaming and retaliation of private business interests who count on abusing it for profit.
Besides, even if the government WAS interested in buying Tim Hortons and there was a solid case for it, they should be financially responsible about it and do what private businesses do, abusing their own position to drive it into near-or-actual-bankruptcy before making their bid of pennies on the dollar to pick up only the parts that have actual value, like the brands and the store locations. If they wanted to try to drive it into bankruptcy, they might start by suddenly getting rid of their ability to abuse the temporary foreign workers program. Just a thought.
It is dumb. It’s a shitty american donut and coffee shop and you want to spend public money on it to… Save face?
It’s not american though, it’s owned by brazil, and it’s only shitty since it was bought by them
It’s owned by Restaurant Brands International, which is headquartered in Miami, Florida.
It wasn’t ever good. You suffer from false nostalgia.
Making your national identity a shitty coffee shop is stupid. Labatts Blue is a better cultural icon, let’s nationalize that and purchase it from InBev.
I don’t think you comprehend how important tim hortons is in canada. It’s not a beer lol
It also doesn’t exactly have to remain as just a coffee shop. In remote areas of canada, tims is the community gathering space even with its shittiness
It’s not important in the least
Hahahahahahaha
I’m sorry buddy. It’s really not important.
Molson and Labatt has had a much bigger cultural impact than Tim Horton and it’s still not important. These are not important things. They’re not even essential and they sure as hell aren’t a part of my culture.
Because coffee and doughnuts are not an essential service. And there’s no way I’d pay taxes to support such a business. Unless it’s main purpose was to provide free meals to everyone in Canada, then that world go towards ending food insecurity.