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Listen to the Eh Sayers podcast to meet the people behind the data and explore the stories behind the numbers. Join us as we meet with experts from Statistics Canada and from across the nation to ask and answer the questions that matter to Canadians.
Max: Welcome to a special summer edition of Eh Sayers Trivia. Today, I've forced three of my colleagues to come compete against each other in a series of skill testing questions. Today's theme, bees. The rules are simple. I'll ask them all four questions worth one point each and one bonus question worth three points.
Whoever has the most points at the end of the show wins. What's the prize for the winner, you might ask? Absolutely nothing, except... No, really, nothing. The studio's buzzing, so grab your honey and get ready to see who comes out on top as our queen bee. Without further ado, let's meet our contestants
Jackie: I'm Jacqueline Luffman.
I am chief of publishing services and dissemination division. I've been here 29 years.
Marc: My name is Marc Lemire. I am chief of corporate communications here at Statistics Canada.
Max: All right. Welcome to the winner of the inaugural Christmas tree trivia episode of Eh Sayers. Who am I sitting in front of right now?
Please introduce yourself to all the folks for your victory lap.
Vince: I am Vince Germano, a communications officer at Statistics Canada.
Max: And how much do you know about bees and honey? On a scale of one to 10, where, where would you rank yourself?
Jackie: On a scale of one to 10, I would rank myself maybe a five.
Marc: Oh, my gosh.
Uh, let's, let's go middle of the pack to lower. So let's go with four. Four. Four.
Max: So like a seasoned bee expert.
Marc: Y- oh, yeah. Don't embarrass me. Well, I'll, I'll do my best. Thank goodness for multiple choice.
Max: Okay.
Vince: Mm. I would say probably like six
Max: All right, so we'll jump right into it here. Question number one, are you ready?
Jackie: Sure.
Vince: Yes, let's do it. I guess I just buzz in?
Max: That's... Oh, look at what he did there. Yes, sir. Okay. Number one, how many pounds of honey were produced in Canada in 2025? Multiple choice here: A, 43 million pounds of honey; B, 71 million pounds; C, 84 million pounds; or D, 117 million pounds.
Jackie: Well, this is, this is tough, and I don't know yet how many beekeepers there are or anything like that.
I like the middle. I'm gonna say 80 million pounds or whatever the 81 was.
Max: C, 84 million pounds.
Jackie: 84 million pounds. Final answer.
Max: Final answer.
Vince: Let's go with A. A, 43 million pounds, final answer?
Marc: Yes. Let's go with C, 84 million.
Max: C, 84 million, final answer?
Marc: Final answer.
Max: Correct. Yes, sir. You got it. 84 million pounds of honey was produced in Canada in 2025.
Well done.
Marc: I am off to a lucky start.
Jackie: I like middle. We're- That was my strategy.
Max: We're batting 1,000. Let's keep it up. Okay.
Jackie: All right.
Max: All right, moving on. Number two, so sales of honey rose 14.8% year over year in 2025. Ooh. What is the total dollar amount of honey sold in 2025? You got A, $241 million worth of honey; B, $356 million; C, $792 million; or D, $1.3 billion.
Vince: That's a lot of honey, some would say. Let's go with D.
Jackie: Ooh, okay. Well, if there was about 80 million pounds and generated... Well, that doesn't necessarily mean that all of it was sold, but I would imagine you have to at least... You know, it's gonna be over a dollar a pou- Well, maybe it'd be a dollar a pound. Eh, it could be more than that.
Max: I like where you're going with this.
Jackie: You see where I'm going, yeah?
Max: Absolutely. I- Yes.
I'm catching what you're putting down.
Jackie: Again, this is my reverse math here. Um, I think I'll go with B. Billion.
Marc: Wow. What was B again?
Max: B was $356 million.
Marc: That one sounds good to me.
Max: B. Locking it in?
Marc: Locking it in.
Max: The answer was A, $241 million.
Jackie: No.
Max: But that's close. Okay. You were in the ballpark. Oh, you
Jackie: know what? I was doing-
Max: Yeah. Oh, 100%. I- You were... I thought you were gonna get it bang on. Yeah. But not far off, so.
Jackie: I, I went a little high.
Max: Well- I
Marc: was, I was on the
Max: right side. Yeah, absolutely. Definitely. A
Marc: billion dollars in sales.
Max: That's- $1.3 billion is a lot.
Yeah. That's for sure.
Marc: Yeah.
Max: That's for sure.
Okay. Number three: In 2025- Mm-hmm ... the number of beekeepers in Canada rose 6.5% year over year to its highest level since the 1980s. The number of beekeepers in Canada in 2025 was almost double the number compared to a decade ago. The question is, how many beekeepers were there in Canada in 2025?
No multiple choice on this one.
Vince: Let's go with around 8,000.
Jackie: Oh, Lord. Um, y- I did read something about beekeepers recently, something we produced in th- at Stats Can.
Vince: Okay.
Jackie: So I thought there was actually, like, in the thousands. I thought it was, like, 20,000 maybe.
Marc: Okay, so it doubled from where it was in the '80s.
Max: No, it's reached its highest level since the 1980s.
Marc: Oh,
okay. Sorry.
Max: And it's doubled compared to a decade ago.
Marc: Right. Okay. Gotcha. Let's go with, uh, 15,000 beekeepers.
Max: Marc, are you a genius? Because the answer was 16,000- Really? ... 360 beekeepers.
Marc: That was a shot in the dark. I swear I did not study for this.
Max: All right, moving on.
So number four, there's two kinds of bees. There's honeybees and pollinator bees. 4/5 of all honey produced in Canada in 2025 came from the honeybees of the prairie provinces. Pollinator bees don't make as much honey, but they do make more money. So pollinator bees contribute billions of dollars annually to Canada's farm economy.
Bees are essential for pollinating many fruits and vegetables grown in Canada, including apples in Nova Scotia, blueberries in Quebec, veggies in Ontario, and cherries in British Columbia. All that being considered, almost 2/3, 64.5%, of beekeepers in Canada in 2025 were located in this province: A, Ontario, B, British Columbia, C, Quebec, D, Saskatchewan, or E, Manitoba.
Jackie: Well, even though I am originally from Winnipeg, I'm not gonna say Manitoba 'cause I don't think that's the answer. Okay. I'm gonna guess it, because it's the biggest province, Ontario.
Marc: I'm gonna go Quebec.
Max: C, Quebec, finally.
Marc: C, quebec, final answer.
Vince: Uh, let's go with D, Saskatchewan.
Max: D, Saskatchewan. The answer was B, British Columbia.
Jackie: Oh.
Vince: What?
Max: Yeah.
Jackie: Interesting.
Max: Yeah.
Jackie: Okay.
Max: Caught me off guard as well.
Jackie: But it sort of makes sense for pollinator bees, doesn't it?
Max: That's right.
So the bonus, are you ready?
Jackie: Yeah.
Max: This is the big one.
Jackie: Okay.
Max: Not for all the marbles, but for a lot of the marbles.
Jackie: Okay.
Max: All right. According to StatCan's Food Availability release-
Jackie: Mm-hmm
Max: which estimates the amount of food physically present in the country for consumption, how many kilograms of honey were available per Canadian in 2023? No multiple choice.
Jackie: Per person, okay. So our population is around 41 million.
Max: Mm-hmm.
Jackie: I would say we produced, if I recall, you said we produced lot of pounds of honey there.
So I'm going to say, kilograms you want?
Max: Kilograms of honey per person.
Jackie: I would say like two kilograms per person.
Vince: Kilograms?
Max: Mm-hmm.
Vince: I have no idea.
Max: Got to guess. Take your time.
Vince: 1,800 kilograms.
Max: 1,800 kilograms per person.
Vince: Let's just go with that.
Max: The answer is just over one kilogram per Canadian.
Vince: Oh, really?
Jackie: Really?
Max: Yeah. Great answer.
Jackie: Well, that's awesome.
Marc: Okay, now let's not have that go to air then.
Max: No, good try. Good try. 25, I mean, you're, you're in the ballpark still. I mean...
Marc: I just, I figured, yeah, I figured it would produce a lot more.
Max: Congratulations to my and your queen bee, Jacquie Luffman.
Jackie: Okay. There. That's awesome.
I do make a mean honey cake.
Max: Okay. Well...
Jackie: Yes. And you use about, you know, a full cup and a half of honey.
Max: I need to try this cake then.
Jackie: Yes. Okay. Yes. I have a very good recipe if you ever need it, so.
Max: You've been listening to Eh Sayers. Thank you to our guests Jacquie Luffman, Vince Germano and Mark Lemire. You can find this show wherever you get your podcasts. There, you can also find a French version of our show called Écoutez bien. If you like this show, please rate, review and subscribe. And as always, thanks for listening