Quote:
Originally Posted by Spoolmak
Whats the difference between rudeness to fellow canadians outside of your province, to rudeness to everyone in general...Edmonton is by far the rudest city I have ever been to. And I`ve been to quite a few American cities ..
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I've found American's are less rude than Canadians (I work with a lot of American's and they're generally very friendly folks). I don't know about Edmonton - I've only been there a few times and never had a problem. A lot of people complain about Quebec where I work, and I know France has announced a campaign to be nicer to tourists. Seems like a French culture thing. Anyway, BC in general is ok, but you see a lot of anti-Alberta talk on websites (if that's any indication of the general population I don't know). I think a lot of BC'ers see Alberta as some polluted oil soaked mess - and assume everyone works in and loves the oil industry. Just like some people think BC is a forest clearcutting, raw sewage in the ocean type of place. Like all stereotypes there is some tiny truth - but it's mostly wrong.
On the topic of roads you hear a lot here from big city BC that assume the rest of the province is some backwoods unimportant empty space. And roads to Canada should be ignored because they're empty or just clogged with evil tourists. Forgetting the truckers, trade, and the huge importance of tourism to the BC economy. When the mayor of Revelstoke hears complaints from Europeans about the shocking state of roads in BC, and the main highway in BC is closed for several weeks a year then it's about time to start fixing it. BC needs to think of tourists as people who come and drop off a big pile of money then leave - since that's what tourists are - a huge source of income.
BC has made great progress. But like with Alberta highway upgrades - and I imagine highways in many parts of the world, progress is painfully slow. I don't quite understand it - given the economic and safety benefits you'd think politicians wouldn't ignore roads like they tend to do. Sadly they typically look for short term political gain rather than long term benefits for their area. There are some areas of the world where transportation and safety is a priority. The Romans and Mayans knew it was worth the cost.
As for tolls - I'm not the fence about that. I'd gladly pay a coq type toll - assuming it was removed when the road was paid for, but really people are paying tolls already. It's called a huge gasoline tax in BC. Tolls tend to hurt the poor, inconvenience the middle class, and really help the rich. Not particularly fair.