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Of all the many Canada-mocking opportunities afforded us by the Toronto Film Festival, perhaps none is riper than this report on the sad state of the festival's swag bags and gifting suites. Paltry to begin with by our obnoxiously generous standards, celebrities are opting to pass on the freebies completely this year, as daunting visions of filing international IRS tax forms dance through their heads:

A pale comparison to the U.S. awards shows, where gift bags are worth between $40,000 and $100,000, the official TIFF premium gift bag was valued at $2,200 and included Ray-Ban sunglasses, Swarovski Crystal necklaces, gift certificates for Botox and luxury getaways, a Birks jeweler pendant, and other items.

But stars are not lining up for them. [...]

"We think it may take a year or two for the buzz to start building," said David Morelli from Cohn and Wolfe Public Relations. "We hear that celebrities have been very tightly reined in this year.

We can't help but admire the pluck of that optimistic Flack of the North, who can envision a future in which his country's fledgling celebrity sycophancy industry evolves past its current sacks-full-of-Canadian-Tire-money-level primitivism, to a point when they can gamely challenge their more developed competition in Hollywood.