Statistics Canada Reports II

[Calgarian]

Every Canadian needs to drive across the entire country at least once in their lives. We know we live in a huge country, but when you actually experience it, it's even bigger than expected!

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Every Canadian needs to drive across the entire country at least once in their lives. We know we live in a huge country, but when you actually experience it, it's even bigger than expected!

Or take the train.

[Taeolas]

For me personally, I've driven across the continent twice. But I went through the US. One way I went from Houlton, Maine down to Monterrey California.

Coming back was Monterrey to Ottawa, by way of Windsor.

And yes, a trans-continental trip is certainly a bucket list item every Canadian (and American) should do at least once in their lives.

[Bishop2047]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Every Canadian needs to drive across the entire country at least once in their lives. We know we live in a huge country, but when you actually experience it, it's even bigger than expected!

I would also like to see more Canadians take an opportunity to go to the North. There is a LOT of Canada up there and so much of it is hardly touched by human hands. The people are a wonderful (though different) breed, and the fishing is unreal.

[harls]

City economists estimated the population of the Winnipeg CMA — the city plus Rosser, West St. Paul, East St. Paul, St. Clements, Brokenhead First Nation, Springfield, Tache, Niverville, Ritchot, Macdonald, Headingley and St. Francois-Xavier — at about 936,500 on July 1, 2024.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manit...tion-1.7293887

[Wigs]

Go Peg City!

[giallo]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Or take the train.

I took the train from Kamloops to Halifax and back in 30 days. It truly opened my eyes to the sheer scale of Canada.

Enormous is the most fitting adjective.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by harls

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manit...tion-1.7293887

Woot Wootypeg!!

[Xelebes]

The loneliest road I've ever gone up is the Dease Lake Highway. We drove up six hours and we only came across an abandoned ski lodge and a gas station (with an abandoned logging camp behind it) halfway in. If we drove another half hour past our destination (a gold mine), we would have hit the tiny village of Iskut. Or if we turned left at the gas station, we would be an hour way to the town of Stewart. The worst part was making the trip through an Alaskan cyclone, especially as Vancouver was cut off from the rest of Canada because of the floods.

[giallo]

^ Cool.

North of Terrace gets really empty, really quickly. Stewart was like entering another world. It felt like I was in the wild there.

[Harrison]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

The loneliest road I've ever gone up is the Dease Lake Highway. We drove up six hours and we only came across an abandoned ski lodge and a gas station (with an abandoned logging camp behind it) halfway in. If we drove another half hour past our destination (a gold mine), we would have hit the tiny village of Iskut. Or if we turned left at the gas station, we would be an hour way to the town of Stewart. The worst part was making the trip through an Alaskan cyclone, especially as Vancouver was cut off from the rest of Canada because of the floods.

Agreed, drove that entire Highway 37 route in September 2022 from Watson Lake down to Stewart and further to Burns Lake. The stretch from just before Jade City to Stewart was one of the most gorgeous drives I've ever done and probably saw like 10 vehicles.

I stopped at the general store in Iskut and totally felt like i was in the middle of nowhere, even less so than Stewart since you at least have the U.S. border right there in Hyder and an ocean-front.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

I think part of the reason why the Maritimes feel remote is because we basically only have a single road connection to the rest of Canada which tends to go through very rural territory (up through the Gaspe).

A lot of it is poor transportation connections. Montreal is closer to Fredericton than it is to Toronto but the drive to Fredericton is much longer.

There's also relatively little cultural connection between Quebec City and the mostly English-speaking more populated areas of the Maritimes. A Halifax-QC flight would be about as quick as Vancouver-Calgary if it existed but it doesn't.

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by someone123

A lot of it is poor transportation connections. Montreal is closer to Fredericton than it is to Toronto but the drive to Fredericton is much longer.

Do you mean it because we have to bypass the northern part of the state of Maine? Because right now, Montréal is 820km away from Fredericton and 540km from Toronto (if you keep driving in Canada)
...Backchecked by google maps.

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Do you mean it because we have to bypass the northern part of the state of Maine? Because right now, Montréal is 820km away from Fredericton and 540km from Toronto (if you keep driving in Canada)
...Backchecked by google maps.

As the crow flies (straight line):
Montreal to Fredericton: 537km
Montreal to Toronto: 504km

Driving:
Montreal to Fredericton: 820km (8hr 3min driving)
Montreal to Toronto: 542km (5hr 22min driving)

So yes, it's the circuitous route that changes things.

When my wife and I visit inlaws in S ON (Lake Erie shore) we usually go via the 95/295/87/90 through the US and save a few minutes. (Smoother roads, too)

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by giallo

^ Cool.

North of Terrace gets really empty, really quickly. Stewart was like entering another world. It felt like I was in the wild there.

something from another world appears to be there, nearby Stewart (alien ship-thingy looming behind mountain).
https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4877...5409&entry=ttu

[Biff]

Cool, that lady and her dog are in for some anal probing for sure...aliens still do that right, or is that just in the south in the US?

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

something from another world appears to be there, nearby Stewart (alien ship-thingy looming behind mountain).
https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4877...5409&entry=ttu

That's a road sign warning of a curve. Zoom out and you can see the others further down the road.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Nashe

As the crow flies (straight line):
Montreal to Fredericton: 537km
Montreal to Toronto: 504km

Driving:
Montreal to Fredericton: 820km (8hr 3min driving)
Montreal to Toronto: 542km (5hr 22min driving)

So yes, it's the circuitous route that changes things.

VIA is even less direct as it doesn't follow the border. The route from Toronto to Vancouver is a bit like this too, with detours farther north in Ontario and service to Edmonton instead of Calgary. But that's an impractically long train. An overnight passenger rail route that serves Montreal/Quebec City/Fredericton/Moncton/Halifax might make sense. Even an Amtrak-like service with preclearance that transits Maine. I wonder about a highway through Maine that would allow Canadians to do border crossings at offramps in the USA and pass through with an ID check. This would be economic stimulus for a poor and isolated part of Maine.

I think these are practical changes that could be implemented in the long run if there were more drive and political capital in the Maritimes. And a significant percentage of the "remoteness" of the Maritimes from other regions (~1/3) is due to fixable infrastructure deficits rather than geography.

[rousseau]

https://x.com/researchremora/status/1613285728657592339

[Build.It]

That's an awesome chart