THE MIDDLE OF SOMEWHERE
Five time zones wide, Canada is a large country.
In a romantic way, I’m proud of this, personally energized by the possibility of adventure that this represents. In more practical terms, I see how size has produced a dysfunctional three-tired system of government, and how in so many ways it has disenfranchised many Canadians.
If you include the return trip I made as a small boy, playing in the back of my parent’s Land Rover, towing a Bowler trailer, forth and back across the country, then I’ve driven across Canada a total of nine (9) times. That’s eight times more then most Canadians and nine times more then many.
Why? Why have I driven across such a vast land so many times?
A few of my trips across have been primarily for the sake of seeking adventure. Several more have been cross-country pilgrimages in search of a place to call home. For one of the trips; one that was expressly for the purpose of adventure, I actually went first to Cape Spear, Newfoundland - which is as far east as you can go in Canada - before pointing my headlights west and setting off on a five month meandering journey.
One trip was made just as the country fell into the icy grip of winter, complete with blinding snowstorms, trecherous roads and the opportunity to watch a country prepare for Christmas.
These trips have given me the chance to camp in the mountains, or in the grasslands or in the back of my truck, with only granola and apple sauce to eat, tucked securely into a sleeping bag and be rocked - literally - to sleep by the pounding of wind and hail as I perched on the north shore of Lake Superior as a storm consumed the lake. Often I have ventured off of highway 1 - the Trans-Canada - in search of some idea about how Canadians live, the Canadians that are not found in one of our four larger cities, or even in the handful of smaller cities… I mean when was the last time you met someone from Holland, Canada?
So often we think about Canada in terms “East” and “West”, and occasionally, if the conversation turns to global warming and arctic sovereignty ”The North”.
We - Canadians I mean - tend to talk about Toronto like it is in the “East” - which it is not. At best it is just right of centre, perhaps politically as well as geographically; and we point to Vancouver as the best place in the country to live, which I would argue.
Mostly we forget about what lies in the middle, or in the “East” for that matter.
So for tonight I am reflecting on the country as a whole, and letting my mind wander its backroads.
Merry Christmas Canada.
QG
