26 klicks from the Quebec border
there is an Ontario as different from that of the GTA as Ontario is from BC.
The 400 km/5 hr trip, from the outskirts of the GTA, transports one into a vastly different region that is culturally & socially foreign from the self proclaimed Center of the Universe.
People converse in 2 languages, switching back & forth, often in the course of a conversation with the same person. Reminiscent of my travels. Meal prices are reasonable, people friendlier. Truckers & the vast majority of drivers, follow the speed limit.
Farmers even drive their tractors to the local truck stop for breakfast!
Didn’t fully appreciate how different, from the rest of Canada, the area + the province of Quebec was, when I grew up there. Just considered it normal & from my travels, came to realise it is, in most of the world!
Of course as soon as it becomes necessary to deal with the bureaucracy the reality of being in a rip-off Canadian province returns in spades (doesn’t matter which province in this bankrupt country when it comes to usurious fees). An example being charged $42.50 for a photocopy of a single page accident report from the OPP, can you say “Highway Robbery”!
Tags: Travel
busman7