Why Canada Is The World’s “Best Country” & OnlyFans Is Everyone’s New Retirement Plan

Cormac: Hey guys, how's it going? I'm Cormac,

Brit: I'm Brit,

Lea: I'm Lea,

Tyeler: and I'm Tyeler. And welcome to Now On Narcity, Narcity Media's first-ever podcast, where we're breaking down the biggest, wildest, and weirdest stories that are tearing through our site this week.

Lea: This week on the show we're talking about why Canada is the best country in the world and how much money you can actually make on OnlyFans.

Brit: We've rounded up some of the best headlines from the week that you need to hear about, and I think you're gonna like these.

Cormac: So grab a drink, and pull up a stool. Welcome to your digital dive bar, baby. This is Now On Narcity.

Brit: If you're listening to this, this is the first episode of the Now On Narcity podcast. We're putting one of these out every Friday, breaking down the stories we've read and wrote about this week. Each week, we're gonna use a segment that we are calling shot and chaser. We're gonna drop a headline that has absolutely exploded on the site this week that you may not believe is an actual real, non-satirical headline and give you a little hot take on it from yours truly. So let's kick it off.

Lea: *Plays an airhorn on the soundboard*

Cormac: The soundboard kicking into action! Hell yeah! That's how you know the shot and chaser the segment has begun. Hell yeah.

Tyeler: Give me an air horn. Lea, give me an air horn!

Lea: *Airhorn sound.*

Cormac: Ontario's stay-at-home order has been extended until mid-May. The bad news is that Ontario's stay at home order has been extended. The good news? Just three more shutdowns till Christmas.

Lea: Border checkpoints have gone up between Quebec and Ontario to limit travel between the provinces. It's hard to say which set of provincial residents are happier with the decision.

Tyeler: Canada is freezing student loan interest until 2023 and delaying when you start repayments. So you'll be able to pay off your student debt by 3023.

Lea: A Quebec MP was caught naked on Zoom during a parliamentary session. And Canadians everywhere instantly checked to see if their laptops were open or closed.

Brit: The company behind Dollywood just bought the Vancouver Aquarium. Great news for animals who refuse to work outside of Nine to Five.

Cormac: God I love Dolly Parton. Rogers just apologized and re-issued lots of credits to customers after a countrywide outage this past week. Finally, a Roger in my life who knows how to apologize. You know what you did, Dad. Call me, please.

Tyeler: Rog. Come on, Rog.

Cormac: Come on Rog.

Brit: Okey doke. Because we all love some friendly competition, and because we're apparently all really patriotic lately, one of the top trending stories on Narcity over the last week is that Canada has ranked the best country in the world. See you later, Switzerland. We were number two last year. We're stopping for nobody. We are now in first place. They're in sorry second.

Lea: Right to the top, baby.

Cormac: Who did the ranking? That's always the first question with this sort of stuff. Who? Because if it's Canada news, then I think it was…

Brit: I think it was … Justin Trudeau did it?

Cormac: Yeah, I think so. That sounds about right.

Brit: US News and World Report released the 2021 rankings and I lied — Switzerland is not in second right now. It goes Canada, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, the US of A, New Zealand, the UK, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

Tyeler: You're telling me that the US of A is above New Zealand? Arguably the most beautiful place on Earth. Wow, that's very strange. So I can actually give some insight as to why we ranked number one, if you're curious. Contrary to popular belief, it's not hockey and maple syrup.

Cormac: Aw. Cause we suck at hockey now.

Tyeler: Cormac, don't ever put disrespect on the Leafs like that. Anyways. So according to the press release, Canada is perceived as having a really great job market *womp-womp sounds* and caring about human rights and social justice. And according to those who were surveyed, it's not viewed as a corrupt country.

Brit: Nice.

Tyeler: Um, so Canada ranked first place for social purpose, second place for racial equality, and sixth place for entrepreneurship.

Cormac: And I think it's really interesting that like, I'm always really interested to see because we've had a few of these sorts of articles do really well for Narcity. And it's really funny how much people love to find out that Canada does really well in these rankings.

Lea: Yeah, we're surprisingly patriotic.

Brit: Is it patriotism? Is that what's happening here?

Lea: We're just proud. We love our country.

Cormac: I think so. And it's funny, because it's not technically pride about how the country is, it's proud of how the country is perceived, which is sort of funny because Canada's branding is — they go hard on the branding, don't they?

Lea: Daddy Trudeau!

Brit: Elite marketing campaign, for sure. And so something that I thought was really compelling about this ranking is that one of the categories is the best countries for women, specifically. And Canada's in the top five, we scored number four. But at the top of the list is Sweden, followed by Denmark and Norway before Canada. The US did not make the top 10…

Lea: Shockingly!

Brit: Oh, honey. But I think — so it specifically came from over 8,000 women that were surveyed in this ranking process. So these are women talking about their lived experiences. And so if it's alright for the ladies in Canada, for us to score number four, that matters to me. But, uh, the reason why I care about these articles (because I do wonder why the ranking articles perform so well) is because I want to know, I want to, like, build up my bucket list, and I already had a bit of a crush on Japan. And now —

Lea: I love Japan!

Brit: Landing at number two, I'm interested. You have my interest, Japan.

Brit: Okay, so we know that Canada is the best in the world. But way more importantly, there are some Canadians making absolute bank on OnlyFans right now. You would not believe it. If you don't know what OnlyFans is, it is a content sharing platform protected by a paywall. So it's like social media, but to see the content of the creators you follow. You have to pay a monthly subscription, say $20 or something like that, and OnlyFans scrapes a little off the top to make their own scratch as well. Something that's important to know about OnlyFans is that it has a rap for being really explicit. Of course, you got your fair share of nudity, there's some some kink on there, some very specific kink. There's also just a ton of other content. I know when I was first told about what Snapchat was, I thought it was exclusively for nudes. And that's because anything secret sounds explicit, but this is not just sex. But what we are about to talk about is. So there are a couple Canadian women that are earning big bucks on OnlyFans, and one particularly has been jumping up all the headlines this week.

Lea: So Helen Boudreau is a graduate at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), and she used the university's logo on a photo she took for OnlyFans (or a few photos that she took for OnlyFans), semi-exposing her breasts. She was sued by UQAM for $125,000, but they announced that they dropped all charges on April 7 after she agreed to never reference it in any online content — explicit or not explicit.

Tyeler: Wow.

Lea: Yeah, the University said that it had formerly warned her three times that her photos damage the institution's image and reputation as well as its official brand before suing her. They also said that freedom of expression is a value that the university holds dear and it doesn't have any prejudice against sex work. And there was a protest in Montreal, about the fact that they were censoring Boudreau. And they were saying how they were discriminating against sex workers, since she is making bank on OnlyFans. And even though there was a protest, they came under fire for it, they still said their name and logo was used in an inappropriate way.

Cormac: So we're talking an in-the-streets protest?

Lea: Yeah, there was a protest in front of UQAM, where people went topless, and they stood and protested in front of UQAM. Yeah.

Brit: Yes! Yes. Wow.

Tyeler: That's awesome.

Lea: Yeah. And it was all over social media.

Brit: There was also a big, big online outcry too. Tons of people were posting in solidarity. Basically, this chick just posted a grad photo of herself flashing. And of course, she had her diploma, UQAM's logo was in there, it was a whole thing. But people rallied in support and said that they were just like, stifling her her freedom of expression in support of sex work in general. Yeah, it was a whole big thing.

Cormac: You said she's making bank. How much are we talking here?

Lea: Well…

Brit: Oh, honey!

Lea: Well… She told Tout Le Monde En Parle that she was making a seven-figure salary in 2021, right up there with Elan Musk, guys.

Tyeler: Wow!

Lea: We're talking bills!

Brit: Bills. She gained remarkable notoriety from this photo. She was already fairly notable on OnlyFans as well as on her social media for just being a beautiful, beautiful, hot, cool woman.

Lea: And she's a tattoo artist!

Brit: And now with this photo, and with the court case and all of the rallies in support, it's blown up even more. And yeah, she said she was on track to make seven figures.

Cormac: Damn. I mean, speaking of notoriety — it's funny that this came out. I mean, it's all sort of happening at the same time. Narcity also broke a story this week in a very similar fashion about Marcella Zoia, who — anybody in Toronto will know the name, anybody outside of Toronto will sort of better know her as Chair Girl.

Cormac: Zoia got in trouble in 2019 for participating in a video in which she throws a chair onto the Gardiner Expressway. It was a very big deal at the time. It's definitely made her infamous in the city and outside of it as well. And she spoke to Narcity in an exclusive interview this week, which is a very, very interesting read. She said that she also is making figures on OnlyFans. She says that since she signed up in about November 2020, since she started her OnlyFans, she's made $250,000 in six months of work.

Lea: Goals.

Cormac: And we're seeing this trend of people getting their five minutes and turning it around. And you know, I think Helene Boudreau's case, she had the OnlyFans beforehand, so she didn't start it afterwards, Marcella Zoia started it later, but we are seeing people use their five minutes of fame to make some bank.

Brit: These gals are cashing out and they're absolutely killing it. And Helene's profile on Instagram is private. But if you get the pleasure of following her, her content is amazing. And yes, you will see those coveted new UQAM photos. But yeah, it's been a wild journey. And also, Helene went the full mile and got a tattoo of that photo.

Lea: She got a tattoo of herself on herself.

Tyeler: She got the viral photo, her grad photo tattooed on herself?

Lea: Yes.

Brit: So while her breasts are existing on her body, they're also existing a secondary time on her body.

Cormac: That is wild. It seems as though like with Helene, and with Marcella, like it seems like more and more people, especially more and more celebrities are jumping to this platform. Is it like — am I the only one who thinks it's like really blowing up right now? Or is that actually the case?

Brit: Agreed. It doesn't feel "flavour of the month."

Tyeler: So, Cormac, to answer your question OnlyFans clearly has made some serious headlines in the last year really. So we actually reached out to OnlyFans and we asked them some questions and we asked them for some stats. We got some really interesting information back. So let's just dive into this. So OnlyFans has over 1 million creators currently on the platform, and they have over 120 million registered users. That is mind blowing to me, that's a lot of peeps.

Lea: It's a lot of feet pictures.

Tyeler: So even more mind-blowing than that. OnlyFans has up to 500,000 new users joining per day, y'all. That's a lot of people.

Brit: Wow. So is that? Is that new content creators or content consumers?

Tyeler: It could be both. So I need one of you to ask me about how much money is being made on OnlyFans. I am begging you, because I need to tell someone about this stuff that we got.

Cormac: Please, Tyeler enlighten us.

Tyeler: So OnlyFans to date has paid out over $3 billion with a B to creators on their site.

Cormac: I mean, that's a serious chunk of change that's going to creators, but I'm imagining that there's probably like a decent amount of that going to OnlyFans to right, what kind of cut are they taking on that?

Tyeler: Oh, heck yeah, OnlyFans is doing very well in this pandemic, they take a 20% cut from each of their creators. Yeah, so they're making some serious cash.

Lea: Still less than Uber. Uber takes 30%.

Cormac: So one of the things I really quickly want to bring it up that maybe doesn't get mentioned or thought about when we're talking about how many people are signing up to OnlyFans is that from — from various sources and various reports, it doesn't sound like more people equals more money for these creators. There's a great New York Times article by a Canadian writer Gabi Drolet, in which she talks to a lot of sex workers from the beginning of the pandemic. This was like a really big thing at the start of, obviously, of COVID-19 when people were stuck inside. And this was a really realistic and safe way to make money. And it turns out that like people weren't tipping as much, even if more people were watching. And so it is interesting.

We're seeing a lot of celebs, Bella Thorne was the big one last year, who come to the site expecting to make a ton of money straight off the bat. Whereas a lot of people are using this as their livelihood and they are working super, super hard on this kind of stuff, whether they're recording explicit content or not. And so it'll be really interesting to see this sort of balance between celebs and big names coming to the site and like people who are just, like, plugging away. I think it's gonna be a really interesting story to keep an eye on over the next little while.

Tyeler: I think it's great.

Brit: I am kicking myself for every free nude I've ever sent out.

Cormac: So those are some of the biggest stories from the past week. Brit, what news are you keeping an eye out for for over the next little while?

Brit: B.C. announced some brand new travel restrictions which are new. It's the first time this has happened since being in the pandemic, and they're going to be doing random road checks, pulling people over to make sure that they're not traveling outside of their health region. So if you're in Vancouver, you get pulled over in Squamish, you're gonna have a problem. They say that it's not going to be arbitrary and random. But I'm very curious to see how this goes. It's happening today, Friday, kicking off. What I'm really curious about is over here in Alberta, where I am, what's going to happen next. Currently, we're still allowed to dine on patios we can gather outside and groups of 10. There's no strict travel orders of this nature. And everyone is on the edge of their seats. Jason Kenney joined the update today. But it was just a standard vaccine case count update. So everyone's wondering if there's going to be more restrictions. And I'm dying to know, I'm also dying to know how these B.C. random audits they're calling them are going to play out.

Cormac: Lea, What about you?

Lea: I'm super interested to see what's going to happen with Bill 21, which is Quebec secularism law. So if you don't know what Bill 21 is, it's a secularism law in Quebec, that forbids teachers, lawyers, police and other public sector workers from wearing any religious symbols. They wanted to extend formally by law to the rule to teachers, but the Superior Court actually ruled against it. So now the Quebec government is appealing it, to enforce that rule, so I'm kind of curious to see how it's gonna pan out.

Cormac: Do you know when we can expect to know the ruling on it?

Lea: I don't, they just came out this week. So it takes a while to appeal the decision in court. So it's probably going to be a little while from now, probably a couple months, maybe. But I'm kind of excited to see, you know, what's going to happen with that and what teachers, whoever religious symbols are, are going to end up doing.

Brit: So this is like teachers wearing hijabs for example.

Lea: Yeah, um, or kippah, crosses or any other religious symbol.

Brit: It was trending all day today. So I'm very interested to see what happens.

Cormac: Tyeler, what about you?

Tyeler: So, I mean, as all of us know, earlier this week, Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts in the George Floyd murder case. And I'm interested to see how that all plays out because his sentencing isn't for another eight weeks. So it'll be interesting to see what happens there and how that all evolves.

Cormac: Absolutely. And I think personally, I'm interested in seeing if there's any more restrictions that come or go in the next week in Ontario, we've had a few come last week we've had a few go since it's all a bit up and down at the moment. And it's always fun to try and keep on top of what's going on in this province.

Tyeler: Worst case, Ontario, they just keep rolling and baby.

Lea: Yeah, emergency brake galore.

Cormac: Yeah. Oh, it's just, it's just like, it's that The Office episode, snip snap, snap snap, you have no idea what that does to a person, Doug!

Lea: Think of the children, Doug!

Cormac: Whether you're listening to this on a playground on a golf course, or just after 8 p.m. in Quebec. Thanks for tuning in. We'll have another episode for you next Friday. And we really hope you come join us for that one as well. I'm Cormac.

Brit: I'm Brit.

Lea: I'm Lea.

Tyeler: And I'm Tyeler. And thank you for coming and hanging out with us at the digital dive bar. We'll see you next week.

Brit: We are a Narcity Media podcast. And we'd like to kick off this exciting new journey with a pledge to you.

Cormac: We begin by acknowledging our privilege and the lacking perspective that comes with it.

Tyeler: Inclusion and representation are of the utmost importance to us. And this is why we pledge to use special segments and bring on guests of a wide breadth of backgrounds and lived experiences to help tell our stories.

Lea: We started this podcast to learn and unlearn together. And we're here to do that alongside our listeners.

Brit: We're not here to tell your stories for you. And if you have a story, we want to share your voice. We consult our internal diversity and inclusivity committee on all of our high-level decision-making. And we're opening this discussion now and never ever closing it.

Lea: We're learning. That's why we're here. And we want to make sure we're providing an informed and inclusive resource for you to do the same.

Cormac: Keep the conversation open with us. Let us know if you have a story to tell or know someone who does.

Tyeler: Our platform is for the amplification of all voices and our door is always open for you to offer your perspective.

Cormac: If you have any feedback at all, please reach out at podcasts@narcitymedia.com. Let's make this a safe, brave and supportive space to share stories and have a good time.