As the saying goes, “the road to hell is paved with good intention.” But for Canadians, the saying takes a very deep and literal meaning in the spring.
A popular Canadian joke claims that there are only two seasons in Canada—winter and construction. Indeed, after long and harsh winters, crews of construction workers are dispatched all over Canada to tackle new projects, fix the roads and repair the many cracks in the pavement. A good intention, really. Yet, it is one that Canadians fear almost more than freezing rain and the perspective of losing the Stanley Cup to a US hockey team.
Ever heard of good intentions paving the way to hell? France’s most common issue is probably strikes—incidentally, “strikes and protests season” also starts early in the spring. There is always a strike going on somewhere but most are only worth a Gallic shrug. For instance, if you complain that you haven’t received your paycheck, the answer will invariably be “the cheque is in the mail.” Any further complaint will be refuted as follows—“we posted it a long time ago, but the Post Office may be on strike….” French are used to see part of their administrations and services working sporadically. It is not expected to be otherwise.
All in all, French only fear two kinds of strikes and protests: those affecting public transportations (trains and subways) and truck driver’s strikes. Transport strikes are big in terms on impact on users, especially in Paris where the population heavily relies on the subway and suburban trains. Besides, most—if not all—public transportation workers are unionized and are considered to have somewhat highly privileged work conditions, so support from the population can quickly wear out. Truck driver’s strikes have less of an immediate effect but can cripple the country in no time. They usually block supermarkets and gas supply, thus motivating the government to act quickly on the matter.
When it comes to the construction season, Canadians’ attitude is not unlike the French’s toward strike—a mix of despair, hope and resignation.
Despair is the best way to describe the feeling that crosses your mind when on one of the first sunny days of spring, you notice a bunch of orange signs and arrow scattered on the road. Most signs just say “detour” but you could swear they mock you: “you will never get to work on time, ah ah!” Construction sites appear to be totally random most of the time. For instance, on a long stretch of bumpy road, only a few square metres here and there will be patched. Yet, of course, the whole street will be closed for months.
For instance, I worked on infamous Bank Street for almost four years. Every year, a portion of the street would be torn up and rebuilt, thus prompting the shut down one of Ottawa’s major downtown artery from April to October. Two weeks into the construction, we had no buses, no sidewalks and we were breathing dust for ten blocks. Businesses went bankrupt faster than the asphalt was sliced and getting to work became a daily challenge, even as a pedestrian. Yet, despite yearly pleas from local business associations and angry residents, construction on Bank Street invariably resumes every year. It actually became a fixture in Ottawa.
After despair comes hope. After all, construction crews are here for a reason—there is indeed plenty to fix. Bumpy roads are one of the stuff Canadians don’t like and after winter, they can be downright dangerous. So Canadians figure it will just be a few months of misery, slow driving, road blocks, detours and one lane freeway. Yeah, you wish. Contrary to popular belief, Canada usually enjoys nice weather from May to October—so the construction season lasts for six months—half of the year. And no matter how well the roads are fixed, the job will have to be redone the following year.
To top it all off, the Harper government launched the Canada’s Economic Action Plan which aims, among other things, at “creating jobs through a massive injection of infrastructure spending.” But the measure is criticized: a lot of projects are said to be just ridiculous, like the replacement of doorknobs at the Parliament or the upgrade of water fountains. Still, I’m afraid we will see even more construction sites this year. Hopefully, it will at least help the economy…
Eventually, you know you reached resignation when you sigh to yourself “oh well, if Canadians like to destroy and rebuild random stretches of road, so be it.” I guess construction season is to Canada what strikes are to France—a cultural specialty.
Resignation – definitely. It’s a way of life. The winter months with the freezing temperatures, snow and snow plows wreck the roads – the other months of the year are spent repairing the damage.
Great post – made me laugh! I love seeing Canada through your perspective.
.-= Beth´s last blog ..Should I Carry a Compass? =-.
Mm, I really hate when there’s road construction in Manila. They try to schedule it between summer and rainy seasons, but they always extend to the rainy season and botch it up because hey, it’s raining. Lol.
.-= Lizz´s last blog ..Video Beauty Tutorial: Blue Summer =-.
Zhu in Singapore it is illegal to strike unless special permit or approval is given. Then again, we know how disruptive it can be no in Singapore even an assembly of some sort is illegal too.
When I was in England in 1990, 1995, our English friends warned us about the transport strikes (buses, trains) and it might just affect our travelling within England so I can understand how bad it is.
Construction is everywhere too in Singapore 😀
at least door knobs don’t have to be replaced every year.
roads are another matter.
for all the money they put into road repair, you’d think they would put heating elements in streets, to melt the snow.
they could make outdoor lights into heating lamps.
perhaps they could make giant blowers to blow the snow back up into the clouds.
with enough heat, ottawa could be miami-like, complete with palm trees. wouldn’t you like that?
if it was warm enough, ottawa wouldn’t need doors. then think of all the money you could save on door knobs!
.-= Seraphine´s last blog ..Fowl Language =-.
I live in New Jersey, where we’re lucky if the roads get fixed at all. 🙁
.-= Ghosty Kips´s last blog ..Protecting Intellectual Property =-.
I have no patience for the transport strikes in France. It’s not like they’re shoveling coal or anything anymore! They rarely check tickets, let people smoke and do all sorts of betises on the trains, and yet they expect to retire at 55? Give me a freaking break!
Construction during the summmer, now there is something I can sympathize with! We tell the same joke in Michigan. A few years ago they were reconstructing both of the two highways that lead into Detroit from the west, and of course where was I working that summer? Yep, Detroit. It was a MESS. I feel your pain!
.-= Soleil´s last blog ..Sprung! =-.
There are not many strikes in the US, but sometime they run out of money. When my eldest daughter turned 18 as a birthday present I took her to New York. I wanted to mainly go to the Statue of Liberty, a French present to the people of the US. Well, when we got there they said the Congress had not voted on the budget, and since they had run out of money, there were no employees at the Statue and it was closed. Voila, tant pis pour nous.
.-= Vagabonde´s last blog ..Visiting our friends from the ‘60s at The Farm community =-.
Ha ha… We seem to have a lot of strikes these days.
Bad influence across the Channel.
From airports to post offices, we can almost rival our European counterparts!
So do you say “sidewalk” (as shown in your photo) instead of “pavement” in Canada?
.-= London Caller´s last blog ..Cabbage spring rolls / 包菜春卷 / Popia kubis / キャベツの春巻き =-.
Hi Zhu,
I saw a documentary a few weeks ago on Radio Canada about why these road repairs take a long time to complete and why the roads are easily damaged after one winter season.
According to some witnesses, there is a lot of corruption going on. And the contractors would use substandard materials to save on cost. They also delay the completion to enable the contractors to get more money from the government.
Great post! I knew it would be a good one given the title (not that your other posts aren’t good!)
The road to hell is paved with good intentions is a fantastic saying. Good intentions can be oh so very treacherous, presumptuous, and a benign expression of arrogance thinking that one knows best.
.-= seb´s last blog ..It’s Rabbit Season =-.
@Beth – I love studying what makes Canada Canada, in good and in bad. And I’m happy it makes you laugh, as a Canadian 🙂
@Lizz – I can see that 😆 The rainy season must be something quite weird. Not sure I’d like that… I hated typhoon season in HK.
@shionge – Wow, tough laws! This is weird to me, I wouldn’t ask the for the permission to strike.
@Seraphine – Well, I though of that but I guess ultimately it would be more expensive than fixing the roads. Mind you, it would be cool to drive on heated roads!
@Ghosty Kips – That bad? I find the roads in NY State pretty good, despite similar weather as in Canada.
@Soleil – I have little patience for SNCF and RATP strikes as well, although I do support strikes in principle. I belive in workers’ rights, but I also think the right is strike is being overused in France.
@Vagabonde – Oh, she must have been disappointed! I hope you had a chance to see it later.
@London Caller – really? I didn’t think the English would strike. They seem to… English for that 😆
@Nelson – Hi Nelson, thanks for the input. I have to see the documentary! I think it could be part of the problem too. As an outsider, I do find that some construction site do go very slowly…
@seb – I love this saying too – so true in may circumstances!
This is so true …….
I can believe you’ve got such a good and close visions of what life is all about in Ottawa !
.-= Crikette´s last blog ..La marque à trois balles ! =-.
I know what you mean about the roads – I’m from Pennsylvania, and they have the same “winter/construction” joke here. Only, as with Canada, it’s completely true. In fact, the Dept. of Transportation recently rated us as just about the worst in the USA in terms of bridges. Thankfully, there are almost no. Just a whole lot of traffic slowdown.
Is that why all you Pennsylvania drivers drive so fast throught upstate NY? “Gee honey, no holes!”
(Woot!)
It makes me wonder, does winter and snow shoveling really damage the roads that much? Which if they do, and apparently so, then they should just build stronger roads in the first place!
.-= Linguist-in-Waiting´s last blog ..Sticker =-.
it’s as close as we get to socialism and keeping unemployment lower…
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Bumpy roads 🙂 I somehow believe our Indian friends there might not even notice them, but I could be wrong 🙂
There is bumpy and bumpy, I guess!