Driving from Ontario to Manitoba

[Sunspace]

@Gorsnak

I’m pretty sure that’s a goose. Gander is in Labrador.

Yes. One time my sister and I drove up from the Soo to Wawa so I could see Lake Superior Provincial Park (so beautiful!). We went as far as the goose statue and took pictures.

(“Visit Wawa and get goosed!”)

[Sunspace]

@Baffle

The only road link between the two halves of the country is down to a single lane in both directions. Hilarity ensues!

And profits for Westjet! (Sometimes I think that Air Canada couldn’t find a profit if it bit them on the arse. Of course, these are the people who thought that going into debt to buy Canadian Airlines was a good idea…)

[Derleth]

@RickJay

That doesn’t really have anything to do with the difference between the US and Canada though. (And why would you think private airlines are bad? What’s bad about them?)

Have you ever flown on an American airline? I have absolutely nothing against private airlines, and I think more things in general should be privitized, but everyone knows that American airlines are the worst in the world.

There’s few roads in northern Ontario because very few people live there. If you look at a road map of the populated areas of Canada, they’re full of nicely constructed freeways. Canada has private airlines too (to be fair, in my extensive experience they’re a bit better than American carriers, but that may just be the luck of the draw) and an underdeveloped rail system.

The U.S. needs a lot of roads because 300 million people live there and it’s a big country.

And you just restated my final point for me (regarding Alaska).

[Broomstick]

@Derleth

Have you ever flown on an American airline?

Yes.

This may have something to do with why I got my own pilot’s license

It is interesting about the lack of roads in much of Canada, but I’m sure if there was an overwhelming demand/need for them, they would be built. Although the US Interstate system wasn’t started until the 1950’s, it did incorporate prior existing roads. Even before then, we had the US highways (many of which still exist) which, although not spectacular, were actual roads that crossed extensive parts of the country.

The thing is, when the US was doing early road and rail construction we didn’t have airplanes. Contrast this with Alaska, which had few roads and lots of dogsleds until WWII - at which point we had airplanes so we could build airports instead of roads. I suspect there are extensive parts of Canada that operated under similar rules due to similar climate and population (or lack of it).

I’ve also heard that there is a dearth of roads connecting major Australian populations centers, because it was easier to sail around the coast than to construct roads through the desert (It wasn’t the terrain that was the problem there, but rather thirst, heat, and supply line problems). Nowadays, I hear most Australians travel between major populatoin centers via airplane.

If vast distances need to be crossed and the roads weren’t built before 1950, I’d wager you’d see more airplanes than cars and trucks. as a general rule. (With notable exceptions like that ice road that gets rebuilt in Canada every winter)

[Baffle]

@Broomstick

I’ve also heard that there is a dearth of roads connecting major Australian populations centers, because it was easier to sail around the coast than to construct roads through the desert (It wasn’t the terrain that was the problem there, but rather thirst, heat, and supply line problems). Nowadays, I hear most Australians travel between major populatoin centers via airplane.

Not until 2004 was the city of Darwin connected to the rest of the country by railroad.