Observations on Quebec

Photo: Contributed - Paul Rommer ​

Montreal skyline

I have just returned from my first visit to La Belle Province. I was there on business, talking to clients about the PAL-V flying car after being somewhat taken aback by the interest we have developed in the eastern provinces.

After checking the weather the day before, I left Kelowna with bags packed for -2 degrees, not realizing that the forecast had changed. I ended up being rather under-dressed for my meetings, in temperatures hovering around -15 degrees.

I stayed at a hotel in downtown Montreal. It had a fantastic restaurant, very reminiscent of European restaurants in terms of style, food, and service. The hotel itself was eclectic, with sumptuous high thread count cotton sheets, but the building itself was old, and what was done in terms of decor was lacking in terms of soundproofing.

There was time to enjoy a quick trip to old Montreal, and a chance to dine in a fabulous little crêperie before returning to meetings.

Quebec has its own unique identity, something I noticed on the drive to the hotel at 1 a.m.. The speed limit, for example, is incredibly low on the highways. Don’t think I saw a sign over 70 k.p.h., although the speed limit did not seem to mean anything to the locals. 

I also saw some of the most atrocious lane management and lane changing habits. 

As a rally driver, I get to mingle with some very talented Quebec drivers. 

They were not on the road that night. 

People would drift freely between lanes, and only go halfway over before drifting back again. Two cars would drift dangerously close to each other before parting. It sort of reminded me of driving in the middle of Nairobi in Kenya - no rules, and everyone look out for themselves.

It appears to be completely unimportant as to where white lines are painted. This is not unique to Quebec. It also is true in New York, where white lines are simply an outer marker to delineate when you have more than enough vehicles riding side-by-side between a set of white lines.

A lane can sometimes contain two or even three cars wide. Just as you think the lane is full, somebody will drive up the outside or inside, squeezing everyone a little closer, and baddaboom baddabing we have another car joining the party.

Overall, it was a fun time, and the French Canadians I met were very friendly and hospitable, but here are my takeaways in summary:

    1    Quebecers are like the French. They keep the good stuff, and export the bad. The French traditionally drink all the best wine themselves, and sell the beaujolais to the UK. The Quebec population eats incredible food while telling us that poutine is amazing and . . . we believe them.

    2    In Quebec, lane marking is more of an artistic pastime than a legalistic indication of where one should drive. The dashes in the white lines replicate the feeling of using an indicator, so nobody needs to indicate they are changing lanes.

    3    Hotels in downtown Montreal get really busy (and noisy) at 1 a.m. - not cool if you have a 3 a.m. wake up call to get to the airport.

    4    How many cars can you get between the white lines?  - “juste un de plus!”

    5    Speed limits are more guidelines than laws.

I can’t wait to go back with my wife!

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.