Canada Letter: On Foot and Underground at Canada’s Crossroads

The Times’s recent Canada-related coverage with back stories and analysis from our reporters along with opinions from our readers. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Saturday, October 27, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Canada »]( [On Foot and Underground at Canada’s Crossroads]( By IAN AUSTEN There were a few unpredictable outcomes in the recent flurry of municipal votes around the country. In Vancouver, Kennedy Stewart, a former New Democrat member of Parliament, [squeaked in]( as mayor. And after quitting as leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives following [sexual misconduct allegations]( Patrick Brown is now the mayor of Brampton, Ontario, a fast-growing Toronto suburb that he only recently began to call home. [The intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street in Winnipeg will remain off limits to pedestrians.] The intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street in Winnipeg will remain off limits to pedestrians. John Woods for The New York Times In Winnipeg, however, voters were also confronted by another question: the future of an intersection that’s sometimes called Canada’s crossroads. By an [overwhelming margin]( they rejected a plan to end a 40-year ban on pedestrian crossings at the intersection of Portage and Main, a corner long synonymous with Winnipeg itself. At a time when many Canadian cities are moving to make themselves more amenable to pedestrians, it seems a perhaps quixotic decision. But it may also reflect tensions between drivers, pedestrians and cyclists that are bubbling up throughout Canada. How the intersection became arguably the most famous junction in Canada is hazy. Portage Avenue purportedly followed the path of a trail used by Europeans when they settled what became Winnipeg. Both it and Main Street are imposingly wide. But that’s typical of many cities in Western Canada. It’s sometimes claimed to be near the geographical center of Canada, but that’s simply not true, even if determining where the middle of Canada lies is a [matter of contention](. And it’s often claimed to be the coldest, windiest corner in Canada which is, at best, unprovable. (If you have any other thoughts or theories about the origins of the intersection’s fame, I’d very much like to know about them: nytcanada@nytimes.com.) But like Times Square in New York, Portage and Main was where Winnipeg’s citizens gathered to mark the end of wars and more recently, despite its pedestrian restrictions, the return of the Winnipeg Jets. Many bloody confrontations took place there during the [general strike of 1919](. And it has been celebrated in song. The intersection’s name forms the chorus for “[Prairie Town]( by Winnipeg’s own Randy Bachman, and provided an opportune rhyme for [Stompin’ Tom Connors]( in “Red River Jane.” [Some of the 1,800 special constables funded by Winnipeg businesses during the general strike of 1919 move in on workers at Portage and Main.] Some of the 1,800 special constables funded by Winnipeg businesses during the general strike of 1919 move in on workers at Portage and Main. University of Manitoba Archives, Winnipeg Tribune fonds The decision to close the intersection to pedestrians in 1979 came out of an unusual deal. “It came from a desperation for development combined with the idea that you should separate cars and pedestrians,” Richard Milgrom, who heads the department of city planning at the University of Manitoba, told me. At the time downtown Winnipeg was in decline. So the city’s council agreed to a developer’s request to close the intersection to pedestrians for 40 years and funnel them through an underground shopping mall that would form part of what was, at the time, a rare office tower development on one corner. The result has been far from ideal. Professor Milgrom told me he sometimes loses his way in the underground labyrinth when showing students around. And he compared above-ground entrances to the concourse to “Second World War fortifications.” A [study for the city]( found that the arrangement created “significantly more circuitous routes” for wheelchair users. And at night, the concourse is largely deserted. Brian Bowman, the mayor who was re-elected this week, had announced plans to bring pedestrians up from under ground. But he also vowed to respect the referendum result. Two things appear to have doomed the reopening. Some Winnipeggers were upset by the cost of tearing down the barriers and other repairs, which had been estimated at 11.6 million Canadian dollars. The underground tunnels, however, also need repairs that will likely cost millions of dollars. [Winnipeg’s most famous corner, when pedestrians were still allowed to wander across it.] Winnipeg’s most famous corner, when pedestrians were still allowed to wander across it. City of Winnipeg Perhaps the bigger issue, however, was an echo of something that’s also heard in Ontario from people like Doug Ford, the province’s premier and a former member of Toronto’s City Council: “the war on the car.” Winnipeg’s study projected that while pedestrian crossing times would drop, motorists traveling through the intersection in some directions at rush hour might be held up by seven to 20 minutes if the city chose a design that enhanced pedestrian safety. A [map of the plebiscite result]( created by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation clearly shows an urban-suburban divide when it comes to Portage and Main. Getting pedestrians off streets is not the only planning idea of the ’60s and ’70s that has fallen out of favor among urban planners. Professor Milgrom said that keeping cars off some roads also proved disappointing in many cities. Vancouver has returned transit buses to a downtown section of Granville Street which had long been a pedestrian mall. Ottawa’s Sparks Street, which has no motor traffic, becomes a wasteland once the public servants who work near it go home each afternoon. But Professor Milgrom hasn’t given up hope. “Sooner or later that intersection is going to get opened,” he said. “Opening Portage and Main is no silver bullet for downtown. But not opening it will hold back a lot of things.” Review of Reviewing Sam Tanenhaus, who once edited [The New York Times Book Review]( is spending a year at the University of Toronto as a visiting professor. We’re taking advantage of that to hold a New York Times subscriber event next month. On Nov. 30, Jennifer Szalai, nonfiction book critic at The Times who is a University of Toronto alumna, and Randy Boyagoda, a longtime contributor to the Book Review and a U. of T. English professor, will join Sam in a talk about on the art of the book review. Catherine Porter, our Toronto bureau chief, will do the introductions. And we have a special deal for Canada Letter readers. Type in the code CANADALETTER and you’ll save 5 Canadian dollars off the ticket price. You can buy tickets and find all the [details here](. Trans Canada [Smoking Marijuana Is Legal in Canada, Unless You’re South Korean]( Even after years of covering marijuana developments in Canada, I was taken by surprise by something that occurred this week. South Korea is warning its citizen that if they indulge in some legal smoking while in Canada, they could face punishment when they get back home. [Murda Beatz, an ‘Alien’ in Rap, Can’t Stop Making Hits]( Murda Beatz, a leading rap music producer for the likes of Drake and Migos and originally from Niagara Falls, Ontario, doesn’t at all resemble his stage name. [33 Unique Treats From All Around the World]( Coffee Crisp, its maker has long boasted, “makes a nice light snack.” The candy issue of The New York Times Magazine, however, observes that it is a snack reserved for Canadians. [When Art Comes Along for the Ride]( The latest expansion of Toronto’s subway is featured in our review of transit art around the world. ADVERTISEMENT Around The Times [The Tragedy of Saudi Arabia’s War]( The killing of a Saudi Arabian journalist and dissident in Turkey has turned the world’s attention to Saudi actions in Yemen. Be sure to read Declan Walsh’s assessment and take time to view Tyler Hicks’s moving, sometimes horrifying, photos. [Taking a Dip in History: A Pool Party at Hearst Castle]( Does paying $1,000 for a swim make any sense? Maybe in this case. [Pando, the Most Massive Organism on Earth, Is Shrinking]( The “Trembling Giant,” the name given to a massive and peculiar aspen grove, has a new reason for its apparently anxious state. HOW ARE WE DOING? A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has family ties throughout Western Canada. He has reported about Canada for The New York Times for over 15 years. Follow him on Twitter at @ianrausten. We’re eager to have your thoughts about this newsletter and events in Canada in general. Please send them to [nytcanada@nytimes.com](mailto:nytcanada@nytimes.com? subject=Canada%20Letter%20Newsletter%20Feedback). LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. Advertisement FOLLOW NYTIMES [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytimes]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »]( | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Canada Letter newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2018 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018