Canada S Road

In 10 weeks during the summer of 2012, on the 50th anniversary of the Trans-Canada Highway, author Mark Richardson drove the nearly 8,000 kilometres of the iconic road, meeting a variety of people along the way, exploring the route's fabled history, and discovering how important this ribbon of asphalt is to Canada.

Since the last Ice Age, the only safe route into Canada's interior during the winter started at the Bay of Fundy and followed the main rivers north to the St. Lawrence River through what is now New Brunswick. Aboriginal people used this route as a major highway in all seasons and the great imperial powers followed their lead. The Grand Communications Route, as it was then called, was the only conduit for people, information and goods passing back and forth between the interior settlements and the wider world and became the backbone of empire for both England and France in their centuries of warfare over this territory. It was Joseph Robineau de Villebon, a commandant in Acadie, who first made strategic use of the route in time of war because he understood its importance in the struggle for North America. A strategic link between the Atlantic colonies and Quebec, the French made extensive use of the route to communicate and move troops between the northern settlements and Fort Beauséjour, Louisbourg, and Port-Royal. The British put great effort into maintaining and fortifying the route, building major coastal forts at Saint John to guard its entrance and erecting garrisons and blockhouses all along the way to the St Lawrence, first as a defence against the French and then to ward off the Americans. The route also played a key role in the American Revolution as well as the Aroostook War of 1839 that saw bodies of troops lining each side of the border extending from St. Andrews (NB) and Calais (ME) to Madawaska. In 1842, the Grand Communications Route and the Webster-Ashburton Treaty determined the location of the Canada--US border. It is still in use today: the Trans-Canada Highway and Route 7 follow its path. As well as telling the story of the Grand Communications Route from the earliest human habitation of the area, The Road to Canada describes the historic sites, forts, blockhouses and other historic remains that can still be visited today, including Martello Tower (Saint John), the Fort Hughes blockhouse (Oromocto), the Fort Fairfield blockhouse (Fort Fairfield, ME), Le Fortin du Petit-Sault (Edmundston), the Fort Kent blockhouse (Fort Kent, ME) and Fort Ingall (Cabano, QC). The Road to Canada is volume 5 in the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series.

A Road for Canada traces the history of the Trans-Canada Highway, from its origins, conceived more than a century ago as a wagon road, to its present-day status as a crucial artery linking Canada from ocean to ocean. Lavishly illustrated the book recounts the first attempts to cross Canada by car and tells the stories of the dreamers who persevered with their vision of a national road.

Hard Surface is a lyrical, informative and amusing approach to what we encounter every day and often take for granted. Stopping at points of human, geographical and historical interest, it is also a journey through a country's past and present, celebrating as it goes along our search for meaning and nationhood. As the first non-fiction celebration of the Canadian road, Hard Surface takes the reader on a brisk ride that joyfully reveals the road to be an extension of our search for truth, meaning and a better life, demonstrating that the real value of the road may not be the transportation of goods and cargo, but the search for ourselves, and the gathering and spreading of stories across a great and vast land. Excerpt from Hard Surface : On the side of any one of these roads has waited a girl with a bus ticket in her hand, or even with her thumb out. She has a few dollars in her pocket, and the rest of her life is in front of her. The life that she is after is one that lies further on, always further on. It is a glorious life and she understands the road to it will be long and packed with adventures in which she will be the central character. To the drivers that pass her she appears paltry beneath the great sky, forlorn even, framed by looping telephone cables that arc over top of her. She is as common as the road, but she is proud, and with a thumb pointed skyward, or a knapsack on her back, she marks herself with the universally optimistic gesture of the hitchhiker, the traveler, the person in motion. Praise for Peter Unwin: 'Peter Unwin is one of the few writers who does not push his ego all over the map, obscuring the locals from view.' ' The National Post 'A respected writer of fiction and historical features who draws on his skills and experience.' ' The Globe and Mail 'His passionate writing style is intoxicating.' ' Toronto Star 'Peter Unwin's prose is swift and exuberant.'' Ottawa Citizen 'Peter Unwin's stories are a joy to read'if you choose this book as a gift'¦buy it early. Don't risk having to give it away before you've enjoyed it for yourself. Better still, buy two copies.' ' Edmonton Sun

Celebrate another historic gold medal with the behind-the-scenes story of the Canadian World Junior program, from bestselling author Mark Spector. On the World Juniors hockey stage today, Canada is known as the team to beat. They hold the record for the most gold medals won (eighteen since the tournament’s inception), their games draw millions of fans each year, and the tournament serves as a showcase for each year’s best talent. But things weren’t always so rosy. For years, Canada languished in obscurity at the World Juniors. Wearing the red-and-white wasn’t a mark of honour but merely a sideshow to the players, owners resented the interruption to their league operations, and Canada was an afterthought at the tournament. Canada was supposed to be better at hockey than any nation on earth, but no one took them seriously. So, the team set out on a reclamation mission. The Program of Excellence was born, and with it, a new hope for hockey’s future in Canada. No more would Canada be content with merely showing up. Instead, each year, the country would send its best talent—from Gretzky to Lemieux to Crosby to McDavid—to reclaim its spot at the top of the hockey world. Tracing the owner disputes, off-ice antics, and riveting on-ice action of nearly forty years at the World Juniors, Road to Gold is full of inside stories from hockey greats. And, this edition features a new chapter reliving the amazing final game against Russia in January 2020 that brought the gold medal back to Canada. Funny, smart, and clear-eyed, Mark Spector traces the remarkable rise of the Canadian World Junior program and shows how Canada created not just a new team, but a new dream for the sport.