The Welland Canal only refers to the one that is currently in service, there were three built before it. The First Welland Canal was completed in 1833 with 40 wooden locks at 110 feet long each. The Old Welland Canal was completed in 1853 with 28 stone locks at 150 Read more
In the heart of the eastern townships of Quebec, Sherbrooke reminds me of Lausanne in Switzerland. It’s not quite as beautiful, but the St. Micheal’s Cathedral on the top of a hill can be seen from Rue Dufferin like how the Lausanne Cathedral can be seen from Post Charles Bessières. Read more
The St. Lawrence river runs from Kingston past Brockville and Montreal to Quebec City then out to the Atlantic. It’s an important waterway that helped build Canada with trade and transportation. What is less well-known are the churches along the river between Montreal and Quebec City. Four of the ten Read more
Arthabaska has been amalgamated with Victoriaville, but it was inhabited as early as 1830 while Victoriaville was only named after Queen Victoria in 1861. More famously, Arthabaska is known to be the summer home of Sir Wilfred Laurier, the first Prime Minister of Canada who spoke French as a first Read more
Jean Chrétien was Prime Minister of Canada for a decade between 1993 and 2003. He was born and raised in Shawinigan, Quebec, where a museum is dedicated to his role in integrating Canada with the wider world. Although fire department maps name the gallery space as a “temporary exhibition” space Read more
La Cité d’Énergie is the main tourist attraction in the otherwise sleepy post-industrial Shawinigan. It’s one way the town is trying to reinvent itself as its population is declining for better opportunities in larger cities. The science centre is easily distinguishable by its 115-metre-tall pylon that has been converted into Read more
Like other industrial towns of Quebec, Shawinigan used to be ruled by an anglophone elite on Rue des Érables. The land was owned by the Shawinigan Water and Power Company and the town was centrally planned as company land. The Olmstead Brothers Agency planted the trees in Shawinigan in the Read more
The Saint-Maurice River flows from the Laurentians to meet up with the St. Lawrence at Trois-Rivières. The flow of water rushing down 444 metres from the mountains has powered Canada’s oldest industrial community between 1730 and 1883. The Forges du Saint-Maurice produced iron cannonballs, stoves, and agricultural tools for the Read more
The paper mill at Saguenay is the oldest one in Quebec. Opened in 1896, it produced wood pulp for newspapers, like how the mill in Trois-Rivières supplied for the New York Times. The mill reached its peak in 1910 when it was renown for its high pulp quality, it closed Read more
Quebec Route 381 connects two of the most scenic locations in La Belle Province. It traverses the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of the Laurentians to provide the shortest route between Saguenay and Baie-Saint-Paul. The entire route is 114km long and takes about an hour and a half to complete. It was first Read more