pea-soup noun a French-Canadian CANADA In the citation, Richler is referring indirectly to the Montreal hockey team, the Canadiens.
Besides, looked at closely, come playoff time it was always our peasoups, which is what we used to call French Canadians in those days, against their -- that’s to say, Toronto’s--English-speaking roughnecks. — Mordecai Richler, DispatchesfromtheSportingLife, p. 250, 2002