What a shovel is for
On Oct. 23, 1961 several hundred students and a number of vehicles formed up at Mount Allison University for a march into the nearby town of Sackville, New Brunswick, and from there out to the 15-mile wide Isthmus of Chignecto which joins the Northumberland Strait to the Bay of Fundy to begin what became one of the largest student demonstrations in Canadian history.
The demonstratiuon was meant to protest the lack of action in dealing with the chronic poverty and underdevelopment in the Atlantic region, which consists of the three Maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, plus Newfoundland. For New Brunswickers this neglect and negligence on the part of Ottawa was symbolized by the unbuilt Chignecto Canal, promised at Confederation in 1867 and never built. Lacking this, the once prosperous economy subsided into permanent recession and sometimes outright depression while in the background there was always of chorus of politicians in Ottawa making promises to do something, someday, but nothing was ever done.. By 1960 local leaders had revived the push for the canal coupled with a proposal to harness the Bay of Fundy tides, the highest in the world, for electricity. So prodded, the federal government had formally begun a study of the project.
The objective of the students was to dig a ditch across the entire isthmus, to try to help galvanize public support before the government decision. In practical terms it meant digging nine miles and linking up with existing streams.
Many of the marchers carried large placards. Two fellows near the front had one that summed up the entire mood of the students. It said, "Ottawa take note, this is what a shovel is for."
Song of the ditch-diggers
on the Isthmus of Chignecto
(Sung to the tune of Squid Jiggin' Grounds)
WE'VE BEEN PART OF THIS COUNTRY A CENTURY OR SO
SEEN PROMISES COME AND SEEN PROMISES GO
BUT ALTHOUGH OTTAWA IS THE MARITIMES' PAL
THEY STILL HAVEN'T BUILT THE CHIGNECTO CANAL
SINGING ORALA ORALA ORALA AY
WHEN WILL OUR CANAL ERE GET UNDER WAY
THEY SAY THEY CAN'T BUILD IT, THE COST IS TOO HIGH
IT RUNS IN THE MILLIONS, THEY WON'T EVEN TRY
IF THE MPs WOULD STAY OUT OF FLORIDA A YEAR
WE COULD BUILD A CANAL FROM THE YUKON TO HERE
SINGING ORALA ORALA ORALA AY
WHEN WILL OUR CANAL ERE GET UNDER WAY
NOW ALL UPPER CANADA HAS A SEAWAY
AND OUT IN THE WEST THERE'S A PIPELINE TODAY
THEY DUG THROUGH TO KITIMAT, DID IT QUITE WELL
SO WHY CAN'T THEY BUILD THE CHIGNECTO CANAL
SINGING ORALA ORALA ORALA AY
WHEN WILL OUR CANAL ERE GET UNDER WAY
Words by Ed Smith
Who's Walker?
I was the leader. The demonstration has been about three weeks in the making and despite the fact that it involved obtaining vehicles and equipment from several sources and getting a commitment from a fair number of students willing to go and dig, the lid had been kept on. We tipped off some news media the night before, but when the mob assembled on campus the whole thing caught everyone by surprise.
As we entered the town, a fellow in a trench coat came running up to me, identified himself as a reporter, and after asking me if I was the leader, said, "What do you have to say about Walker's announcement this morning in Parliament.?"
"Who's Walker?" I responded.
"He's the minister of public works. Didn't you know?"
"No."
"Well he just announced that the government decision on the canal. They rejected it."
"Well,: I said, "we knew they were considering it and this demonstration was meant to show how the people here felt about it. But now it will be a protest against their decision."
"So you're going ahead?"
"Yes."
Later that day as we got under way with a large trailer beside the highway for headquarters, I got interviewed several more times. Everyone by that time just treated it as a spontaneous reaction to Walker's announcement. So much the better.
We aimed for something like a mile a day working round the clock although if I recall correctly we were slowed at times by bad weather so the whole thing took about two weeks. Fred French from Newfoundland, who later became a doctor and today is a globetrotter, handled the scheduling, recruitment. and the technical aspects while I concentrated on explaining what we were doing both the media which came in swarms and on the campus itself, and in dealing with public figures and private suppliers of things we needed. Ed Smith, another Newfie, supplied us with our theme song.
I also had to field the recurring question of whether I was working for K. C. Irving, the industrialist. Unknown to me, he had come out sometime before this with a promise to make massive investments in the area if the decision were favorable. The irony is that at the time I was an idealist only a half-step away from joining the Communist Party and I would never have done iy at the behest of the last of the old-time capitalists. But it showed how broad the support for the canal was at that time. (I never did join the party by the way and once I became aware of the facts on the ground, I backed away.)
What about today?
I've been an expatriate for 20 years living in Israel but like a salmon I never forgot my spawning grounds and the Internet provided a way to keep in touch daily.. In the 20 years I was there nothing was done and in the 20 years I wasn't there, nothing was dibe. But people I questioned on the subject still say the canal probably with tidal power is the best solution to bring prosperity to the region.
What was done instead in the interirm was in the main pouring down the drain huge sums into what were called "megaprojects," and I don't recall any of them lasting very long. The best known was the Bricklin car plant. This may have been a good idea but it should have been left to private financing. As an engineer John Vautour put it, "Rather than waste the money on Bricklin, it wouldn't have cost any more to give every man, woman and child living in New Brunswick at the time $5,000 each and the province would have been further ahead." You can read his full comments at this site.
http://www.unb.ca/bruns/9899/Issue5/OpEd/letter1.html
As far as energy goes New Brunswick went the nuclear route in the 80s at a great cost and now the province has to ante up again or the Lepreau plant is kaput.In France the Rance tidal generator has been operating since 1960 and, they say, supplying power at a cost lower than the average in that country.
Of course tidal power is not a complete solution because well, it comes in with the tide, and there could be environmental problems, but the potential from the Bay of Fundy is very substantial. Here's the Rance story.
http://www.edf.fr/html/en/decouvertes/voyage/usine/retour-usine.html
The idea is that the two projects together will stimulate large investments in industry. The promised Irving industries alone -- you can bet your last dollar on it -- would still be going strong unlike all the half-baked replacements tried over the years. And Irving was just for starters. And what is overlooked from the Chignecto project is the immense boost it could give to tourism, since it would become a magnet for the entire east coast of the United States.
Ivry March 19, 2003
ASTEROIDS Early Canadian rock