The Most Adulterous City in Canada is ……

February 15 is the busiest day for new sign-ups at Ashley Madison, the brainchild of Toronto native Noel Biderman who founded and runs the social network geared towards people looking to cheat on their spouse, according to data the company compiled.

“That’s a day when you are supposed to reflect on your relationship,” Biderman says, “and if that day is negative … then a lot of people will decide tomorrow they’ll do something different.”

Talk about a complete 180 degree shift from the manufactured bliss that is valentines day.

Annually the company releases a list of the top “cheating” cities in Canada, based on the number of new sign ups the website receives from cities  across the country.   Ottawa has taken the dubious honour of first place in each of the lists first two years.  There are some 55,000 members in the Ottawa area alone, or about one out of every 20 residents of the region.

Biederman says the company says it signed up 240,000 Canadians in all in 2012.

Ashley Madison bills itself as “the third largest dating agency in the world.” With that raises some questions about the morals of a business that depends on infidelity for its profits. Is Ashley Madison creating cheaters?

No, says Biederman, who argues his company doesn’t weild that sort of power.

“Do you really believe I can send people down this path with a 30-second TV spot?” he asks.

A homegrown Canadian business, Ashley Madison has not been embraced with pride by its native land.  Biderman notes that the company has had more publicity in foreign countries than he has had here.

“Only in Canada have we not been embraced yet,” he says

As far as that list goes Calgary comes in second and fellow Albertan Edmonton rounds out the top three.

Biderman insists however the results don’t necessarily say anything bad about those cities,  it may just say something about their free spirits.