There seem to be a lot of new developments recently indicating that the Canadian and U.S. markets are a little more intertwined than before. First is in the area of phone plans: every unlimited landline calling plan either includes unlimited calling to Canada or offers that option for a few dollars more per month. As for cell phone carriers, AT&T Wireless offers a North America calling package that makes all of Canada part of your home calling area, and Verizon Wireless offers a similar package for west coast customers.

Now it's spreading to consumer product packaging. In the last few months, the following have been observed to feature packaging both in French and English: Starbucks coffee cups, various eye drops, humidifier wicks, and Kleenex tissues (a-choux).

I'm all for bilingual packaging if it allows companies to produce one set for both Canada and the U.S. and keeps costs down for consumers overall. But what about Spanish? In the U.S., that would appear to be far more useful than French. Newark Airport now has many signs in Spanish and English, generating a distinct competitive advantage over other New York area airports. If I had to guess, the more logical choice for bilingual packaging in the U.S. would be Spanish and English, with a separate French/English run for Canada.