Will Burger King serve poutine now that it's bought Tim Horton's?

I included an article on the possibility of Burger King buying Tim Horton's in Politics and economics from Reuters for August 25, 2014, illustrated the entry with the above image, then made the following comment.

Investors and corporations may love this idea, but I'm pretty sure rank-and-file Americans do not.  It might be enough to make me give up Burger King.  As for Tim Hortons, well, they never were a U.S. company.

Two days ago, the purchase happened, as Reuters reported in Burger King to buy Canada's Tim Hortons for $11.5 billion, Reporting by Euan Rocha and Allison Martell in Toronto and Ashutosh Pandey in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Lisa Von Ahn on Tue Aug 26, 2014 11:38am EDT.

Aug 26 (Reuters) - Burger King Worldwide Inc (BKW.N) announced plans to buy Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc (THI.TO) for C$12.64 billion ($11.53 billion) in a cash-and-stock deal that would create the world's third-largest fast-food restaurant group.

With roughly $23 billion in combined annual sales, more than 18,000 restaurants in 100 countries and two strong, independent brands, the new entity would have an extensive global footprint and significant growth potential, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The companies had said on Sunday that they were in merger talks, and shares of both soared on Monday.

Someone who supports what passes for the Left in the U.S. played a surprising role in the deal.  Reuters again: Buffett puts shareholders ahead of patriotism in Canadian deal By Luciana Lopez in NEW YORK on Tue Aug 26, 2014 7:16pm EDT.

(Reuters) - Warren Buffett may be most famous for the billions of dollars he has made from investing but he is also well known as a cheerleader for the United States. The Oracle of Omaha routinely exhorts investors to put their money in America, "the mother lode of opportunity," as he wrote in his annual letter this year.

So Buffett's participation in fast-food chain Burger King Worldwide Inc's purchase of coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc – complete with relocation of Burger King's domicile to Canada – might at first blush raise questions about his patriotism.

Investors and tax experts say Miami-based Burger King's move to Canada through a so-called tax inversion will help curb its U.S. tax bill. Similar recent moves by other U.S. companies - mainly through the purchase of European companies - have drawn the ire of President Barack Obama, who suggested they are corporate deserters lacking economic patriotism.

Americans may be displeased at the tax inversion, but Sarah Kliff of Vox thinks Canadians will be politely sad if Burger King takes over Tim Hortons.

Burger King is in the midst of a potential takeover of Canadian coffee and donut chain Tim Hortons. Canadians, while still a mild bunch, are not thrilled with the idea.

"It's our brand," Holly Cosgrey, a 60-year-old Torontonian told Bloomberg News. "Timmy's is always trying new things, adapting, they always have good service, and you always get your coffee fast no matter how long the lineup is. Burger King may screw it up."

To understand what the Tim Hortons purchase means in the United States, you need to dig into to the arcane tax policies about inversions. But understanding what a takeover of Timmy's (as the chain is known north of the border) means to a Canadian is a story about culture and pride. It's about an American fast food company taking over a beloved institution older than the Canadian flag itself.

Kliff is not kidding about what a Canadian institution Tim Horton's is.  I dated a woman who lived in Ontario for a decade,* and Tim Horton's was where everyone went for coffee and donuts (and when smoking was legal in a restaurant, "coffee and a smoke").  About the only good thing I'd see out of the deal is that people in the U.S. outside of Michigan and a few other border states might actually get to experience Tim Horton's coffee and donuts.  Other than that, well, will Burger King ever serve poutine?   Probably not.  Too bad.  After ten years of visiting Canada, I learned to like poutine.


Above modified from a comment on Daily Kos.

*She was not a Canadian, but an American living in Canada, a "landed immigrant."  I understand she's moved back to California since we broke up.