Canada In The Year 1983

The original report was made at the request of The Commonwealth Relations Trust; 120 people requested copies. A second edition of the report is now available as a research document for students of Canadian Life and is available from Credible Books.

Example Chapter - Preamble

First I wish to thank the people of Canada, and of the CBC in particular, who opened their doors (offices, homes and a boat) to me and did so with tremendous generosity and love. Words, and especially my poor selection of them, cannot express the gratitude I feel.

It is worth noting at this point the high regard in which the Commonwealth Relations Trust is held. The name opened many doors because apart from the reputation of the Trust, there is also the fact that you are not there for any financial gain either way, just interest and ideas.

My route was Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary (and Banff), Regina, Winnipeg (between which cities I travelled by Greyhound bus), Toronto (which I reached by train), Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City (bus again) then I hired a car and worked my way across to Halifax. This may sound like a lot of places; but in fact it is one of the worrying things about a report such as this that there is so much I have not seen in Canada. Add to that there is much that I have seen, heard and experienced and had to leave out, and there is what I have not noticed and failed to understand at all. All things considered I have decided that such a report as I have to write is totally impossible! There is a trail of well-filled waste paper baskets across Canada to prove the point, and I feel certain paper shares must have rocketed.

Anyway, what follows is a one dimensional trace of one man's memory of one man's view, at one time through a multi-dimensional culture set in a massive landscape of the second largest country in the world. As far as I can estimate I have only spoken with about 500 people out of the 25 million available, visited some 16 towns of which there are 660 with a population in excess of 5000 people, travelling a meagre 5000 miles or so and please do not ask me how many miles of road and rail there are in Canada!

The report is arranged chronologically town by town from west to east, and the information about each place is separated into General, Broadcasting, Cultural and Social sections.

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