The French Connection
It's always been a part of my cracktacular personal canon that Elle's unknown mother is French-Canadian, and Elle grew up in Québec.
Elle is a French name.
Bishop is one of the most common English surnames in Québec.
She derisively refers to Claire as "pom-pom." The Québec French word for cheerleader is "la pom-pom girl" (I know, it's quite the Anglicization), and cheerleaders are often derisively called "pom-poms" in the halls of Québec high schools. (Hearing her say that is how it became my own crazy personal canon.)
Québec is the #1 producer of electricity in Canada! (LOL.) In fact, sudden electrical interference blew out Québec's entire power grid in 1989, when Elle would have been six. It still lives on as one of Canada's most notorious blackouts. Indeed, Québec had many issues with unexplained blackouts during the time when Elle would have been growing up.
To expand on that last point, Québec brought electricity under state control in the early 1960s, in conjunction with a powerful post-war wave of nationalist sentiment which wanted to see Québec take control of its own affairs. The slogan for this movement was "maîtres chez nous" ("masters in our own home"). Electricity is now a major part of the Québec economy, and the province is responsible for powering many Canadian provinces and American states. It has been implied numerous times in the show that the power a person develops is related to their personality. Imagine being a shy and lonely child with a propensity to develop a superpower, and growing up constantly hearing this historical refrain, that your province was weak and oppressed until it gained control of electricity, and now it's powerful, prestigous, and controls its own affairs. What kind of superpower do you think you'd want to develop?
Adam and Peter must have gotten the idea to meet up in Montréal from someone.
She loves drinking Slushos. Maybe she grew up near a Couche-Tard.
We almost always see her wearing blue and white, the colours of Québec. When we don't, she's usually wearing red and white, so...maybe she's a federalist.
Her general flirty/touchy-feely, fiery, and sarcastic nature is very French, n'est-ce pas? ;)
If only we had seen her eating poutine on the show, then this theory would have been flawless!
If only we had seen her eating poutine on the show, then this theory would have been flawless!