We drove to Ontario this summer to visit with a few ex-military friends. I don't like to fly, so my wife and I and our eight-year-old son drove.
Surprisingly, the road across the province is in pretty good shape. No construction delays and, other than a few rough spots, there were no issues. On the return trip however, near Jeffrey's, we did barely miss a moose.
But the same could not be said for the TCH on the mainland. Road construction and delays everywhere. Hundreds of miles of construction in all four provinces, and getting through Montreal was madness. On the return trip, I decided, after a visit with a Quebec friend, to bypass Montreal and the construction north of the city was even worse.
It had been nearly 20 years since I did that drive and one thing has not changed: the highway signage in New Brunswick is absolutely horrible. Highway signs show off highway services and when you turn off you look for signs to tell you which way to go and how far, they don't exist and when we did actually find what we were looking for, they all confirmed that signage is horrible.
But that's not why I write. I write about Marine Atlantic. We wanted to travel via Argentia but there were no cabins. My fault; I waited too long to book. No one to blame but myself. But even if we had we been able to book one it would have cost us $223.67, nearly double what we spent to stay at every other hotel on the highway.
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But that's not what really got my goat!
On our return trip home, my son wanted fries. I went to the kitchen and left with his fries and $9.10 poorer. I'm not lying. A plate of french fries cost me $9.10. For that amount at McDonald's, I can get two hamburger Happy Meals with a drink, a toy and a yogurt.
When I told my friends about this when we got home they all said the same thing. We are like sheep. Marine Atlantic and the Government of Canada have been shearing us since Confederation. It's 177 kilomtres from Port Aux Basques to North Sydney — $552.04 for a family of four in a car to travel 177 kms. Assuming they have a meal, add another $100, for a total cost of $652.04. That works out to $1.84 for each km travelled.
Baaaaa!
Tom Badcock,
St. John's
