The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 23

(S3) London Evervdav 1 British fe) TRAVEL CLASSIFIED PAGES 23 to 36 airways MONTREAL JULY 26. 1975 Heritage Highway link between early settlements time is available, Highway No. 2 has to be the choice, offering contact with people, communities, and history. Oshawa, a headquarters for the automotive industry, has a unique museum where the past, present and future of road transportation are laid out for viewing. Eastward is Port Hope, centre of uranium refining operations in Canada.

A few miles further along is Cobourg, founded in 1798 by United Empire Loyalists, has a court room which is a replica of London's famous Old Bailey Here, too, is the birthplace of Marie Dressier, star of silent and early talking pictures, now a fine restaurant. Near Morrisburg lies Upper Canada Village, the historical showplace of Eastern Ontario. When construction of the St, Lawrence Seaway forced relocation of many roads and other structures, more than 40 of them were re-located and restored to show what life was like in an early Canadian community. People go through their daily tasks just as their fore-bearers did a century ago. A few miles further east lies the Long Sault Parkway linking a series of islands, each one of which was a hilltop prior to the seaway flooding, sightseeing boats from the Long Sault make cruises each day through the seaway locks and canals.

Further downstream lies Cornwall, site of the first Long Sault Canal, built in 1834. and the location of the Robert Saunders St. Lawrence Generating Station, key to the joint Canada-U S. power development which accompanied construction of the seaway. Still further along, after Bainsville and before Riviere Beaudette, is the invisible border one crosses to enter la belle province de Quebec "wv, 7...

'MkMr' Visitors are burying Toronto putdowns By G. J. FITZGERALD of The Gazette Long, long ago long before words like highway, superhighway, expressway and freeway came into common use a narrow, winding trail, in places only wide enough for a single crude vehicle, hugged the shores of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. Dust-caked at times, muddy and a quagmire at others, frozen solid at still others, it was the sole lane link of communication between the isolated and primitive communities struggling to survive in a new country, strung out like an irregular string of pearls.

Early settlers trudged alonpide ox carts carrying all their possessions enroute to settlements or to farms on land granted them by either the Crown of England or the Crown of France. Sometimes, beaten into submission by the rugged existence for which they were unprepared, they trudged in the opposite direction, to try to return to the Old World from which they had fled with high hopes. Few, if any, dared dream that the simple trail would one day be a principal factor in communications within a century old Canada. Nor did they dream that one day it would be parallelled by railway lines, or by a canal to bypass the rapids. Nor could they have dreamt that one day a super-highway the McDonald-Cartier Freeway would link two metropolitan areas with populations in the millions.

This would be a highway which would bypass or bisect the communities along the way, by specially constructed superhighway. The original road, which eventually became Highway No. 2 in Ontario and Quebec, wound its way along the main streets of the many communities which it served. As a matter of fact, it became, in a sense, a Main Street linking them. Some years ago the governments of the two provinces realized the attractions lying alongside the road, and christened it the Heritage Highway, Sur la Route des Pionniers.

By decree, they also extended its eastern terminus to Perce, on the Gaspe Peninsula, and retained the other one at Niagara Falls. Mile Zero of the Heritage Highway is at the western end of the route, at Nigara Falls, settled by Loyalist troops and their families after the War of 1812. The entire peninsula is a beauty spot which, under the aegis of the Niagara Parks Commission, has become a showcase for floral beauty. FRUIT BELT The route, the Niagara Parkway, passes through the heart of Canada's fruit belt en route to Hamilton, via the Queen Elizabeth Way, soaring over the Burlington Skyway towards the blast furnaces and mountains which are that city's main features. For visitor interest, there is the city's 1,800 acre Royal Botanical Gardens, and Dundurn Castle, plus the view of the city from the mountain overlooking it.

Not, strictly speaking, part of the Heritage Highway, is Access Route 1, from Windsor, where the McDonald-Cartier Freeway has its western terminus, and takes off for 505 miles to the Quebec border. A more leisurely route is Highway 3, which winds its way through lush farmland and fishing villages, to the point where it enters the Niagara River heading for the falls. There's another Access Route, No. 2, which starts at Sarnia and terminates in Toronto, passing through London, on the River Thames, naturally Northeast of London is Stratford, on the Avon River naturally, the home of the Stratford Festival Theatre, and a summer mecca for Shakespeare lovers. Just off it is Kitchener, centre of Canada's largest Mennonite farming colony.

There's still another access route terminating at Toronto, this one from Sault Ste. Marie, following the north shore of Lake Huron, passing through the great pre-Cam-brian Shield and the city of Sudbury, and on to Midland, once the westernmost outpost of civilization on the continent, and the scene of bitter battles between the French and the Hurons, after the latter had wiped out an outpost missionary settlement. Between Hamilton and Toronto, a motorist has a choice of routes, via the Freeway, also known as 401, the Queen Elizabeth Way, and Highway 2, the Heritage route, which follows the shoreline of the lake. Toronto, since World War II, has shed the stodgy image it bore for so many years, and has emerged as a bustling, cosmopolitan provincial capital city. Much of its new physical image centres around its futuristic city hall, and the spate of hotels and skyscrapers which have risen up in its immediate vicinity.

Towering over them all is the CN Tower, the tallest free-standing building in the world, and regarded by Toron-tonians as the eighth wonder of the world. A great deal of the change is due to the influence of the large number of immigrants who settled there when they came from the Old World during the last three decades. More is due to the influx of Canadians from all parts ot the country, seeking the excitement of a metropolis after life in small towns and cities The attractions of Toronto are too numerous to be given detailed consideration here. Suffice it to say that they are numerous enough to keep a visitor occupied for several days, both sightseeing and sampling the numerous national cuisines to be found there. Eastbound, if time is of the essence, the Freeway, 401, is the logical choice.

If the which was the Rotary meeting in June which attracted 14,000 people who spent something like $6 million. Toronto could counter with a Shriners' convention in June that drew 100,000 people and $50 million into Southern Ontario. Toronto also can handle ail of the business it can get. It now has some 17.000 rooms in 47 major hotels, an increase of 10,000 in just five years. Montreal, on the other hand, has 9,000 rooms now although more are under construction, including the world's largest (900 rooms) Holiday Inn.

'WALK ON GRASS' Toronto also boasts that it offers the best city vacation in North America. Says Ross MacKenzie. of the Metro Toronto Convention and Touris Bureau "Most things are not contingent on the weather and today's sophisticated traveller wants to go where he can be guaranteed a good time come rain, snow, sleet or hail." He also wants to go where it's safe, friendly and humane and that is what Toronto has become. You can see signs of it everywhere, including signs in parks that read: "Please Walk on the Grass." It just seems to be better for people than most other places. out over 710 acres, cost $39.5 million and boasts animals from five continents.

Other attractions include Old Fort York, a military barracks established in 1793; the Marine Museum at Exhibition Place; Casa Loma, a 100-room mansion with secret panels, a hidden stairway and spooky turrets; and the Art Gallery of Ontario, with the largest public collection anywhere of Henry Moore's works. The gallery is right next to the Kensington Market, a real international bazaar whose outdoor stalls sell everything from live chickens to smoked eels. Still to come is a $50-million, Disneyland-type amusement park being planned by Family Leisure Centres of Cincinnati on 320 acres of land in Vaughan Township, just north of Metro Toronto. It will take about three years to complete and the forecast is for two million visitors per year. Cause and effect sometimes are difficult to determine, but Toronto also has grown enormously as a convention centre, ranking eighth last year among North American cities attracting major American conventions.

That business has grown here from 350 conventions of 100 or more delegates in 1972 to 494 such meetings last year. In 1975, the total will top 500. Montreal by contrast, will have between 300 and 325 conventions in 1975, the largest of polluted By BROOIE SNYDER of The Gazette TORONTO The days of the Toronto jokes lines like "the best thing about Toronto is the road to Montreal" and "first prize in the contest is one week in Toronto, second prize is two weeks are gone forever. The putdowns have been buried by an avalanche of millions of visitors who have found Toronto safe, clean and an increasingly desirable place to be and who nave made it the unquestioned tourism capital of Canada. The estimate is that 20 million visitors will come to Toronto this year, an increase of about eight per cent over 1974, which in turn was 12 per cent ahead of 1973.

By contrast, in 1973 the last year for which figures have been tabulated Montreal attracted 5.5 million visitors. The total was about the same in 1974, up perhaps one per cent, and is expected to remain steady this year, too. in all cases, only visitors spending more than 24 hours are counted. There are a number of reasons for Toronto's emergence as a tourist mecca, not the least of them the publicity it has received 58 feature articles in American magazines and newspapers in 1974 alone as "the world's great new city." One result of that has been that while the number of American visitors dropped by six per cent across Canada last year, the total increased in Toronto where Americans made up 19 per cent of all tourists. In Montreal, the number of American visitors has declined, according to Benoit Bouchard of the municipal Tourist Bureau.

He blames it on the general state of the U.S. economy and on the fact that 80 per cent of American visitors travel by automobile, a form of transport being curtailed by speed limits on highways and the price of gasoline. Toronto, meanwhile. Is making the most of its good fortune with a wide variety of places to go and things to do. Some of the most popular of them: The $27-million City Hall and its people-oriented Nathan Phillips Square launched Metro Toronto into the age of tourism in 1965 and now attract some 18 million visitors each year.

The City Hall itself is an architectural dazzler a white dome nestled between 27-and 20-storey curved towers. The square is a nine-acre area that contains green lawns and a reflecting pool that becomes a skating rink in the wintertime. CNE VS EXPO The Canadian National Exhibition is expected to draw 3.2 million people during its 2'M-week run from Aug. 13 to Sept. 1.

By contrast, Montreal's Man and His World, in its eighth year as the son of Expo, will attract about three million during its summer season The CINE, which started in 1879 and now is the world's largest annual fair, will be highlighted this year by a Scottish Tattoo, a 2i-hour performance by 1,200 pipers and drummers that runs from Aug 14-17 Ontario Place stands high over Lake Ontario on three man-made islands- and is 96 acres of family entertainment. It's open from late spring to early fall, has an outdoor amphitheatre seating 8,000 for concerts ranging from symphony to rock, an outdoor skating rink for all seasons, a children's playground and a domed Cinesphere' which houses the world's largest curved film screen It will be visited by 2 9 million people in 1975. The Ontario Science Centre, with 1.6 million visitors per year, has 55 intriguing exhibits with the theme "Please Touch." A moon landing can be simulated, paper made, there's tic-tac-toe to be played with a computer, a laser beam burning through solid brick and the wonders of "super cold." OTHER ATTRACTIONS The Royal Ontario Museum boasts the finest collection in the world of ancient Chinese artifacts and some five million other things of all ages from all over. It will attract 1.4 million visitors this year, many of whom will wander next door to Yorkville, once the hippies' place but now an area of high-fashion boutiques and outdoor cafes. The Toronto Islands form the most complete park of more than 100 dotted throughout the metropolitan area.

For 50 cents, 1.25 million people this summer will ride an old-fashioned ferry boat to the islands, a beautiful 610-acre playground. Mass folk festivals are held here and there is a small zoo and canoeing, sailing, boating and swimming. The Metro Toronto Zoo opened last August and will draw well over a million visitors in its first full year of operation. It is spread Montreal beaches Pools only By JULIA MASKOULIS of The Gazette So you want to take the kids swimming at a Montreal area beach this weekend and you're wondering where to go, eh? That old swimming hole once a scene of midnight frolics where many a damsel threw discretion into the bushes (along with her clothes) on a skinnydipping dare is becoming obsolete. The choice around Montreal for the weekend traveller it seems, is not where to go but where not to go and land up in the nearest general hospital with cramps.

According to one man who has made it his business to find out. your safest best is probably a swimming pool within a few miles of your house that offers at least a certain amount of chlorinated safety. Walking into his office, he looks you in the eye and says "I don't want to talk to you." "Talk, talk, talk, talk that's all everybody dees This is the last time I'll talk to anybody about beaches Tony LeSauteur is a civil servant with the municipal affairs department's environment protection services His position as director of the lakes program is usually very satisfying But some years ago, seven in fact, he initiated a yearly study of pollution counts at Montreal-based beaches. This area, he says, is not very satisfying. "I've been talking about beaches since 1969 when I first started running tests on the water.

I only did it because everyone called safe swimming holes build a treatment plan but they were dropped. Since then Montreal has continued to grow and with it the problem intensified. A major sewage plan is underway right now and is due for completion in 1981. The cost of the plan is estimated at seven hundred million dollars and will consist of 70 miles of sewers directed to a main treatment plant at Riviere des Prairies. After leaving the treatment plant, sewage will be released into the St.

Lawrence River through a main pipe. "It's a very, very good treatment plan but 1981 is very far away," says LeSauteur. He says many hotels and campgrounds around Montreal have primitive sewage systems that expell sewage directly into the waters continually. A proper system for a campground costs about $20,000, for a hotel $40,000, "but most don't find it economically feasible to install them unless pressure is applied at a local level The main difference between the success of the lakes program and the beach program is public apathy, says LeSauteur "It people want their beaches they 're going to have to fight for them," he says The 224-member lake associations in Quebec have 30,000 voluntary members acting as "watchdogs" for the lakes. "The reason we have been so successful is because people living on the lakes understand they must try to pass regulations through a municipal level.

If need be, apply pressure on local politicians." my office asking me where to go swimming and not get sick. It's not even part of my job. "But I wanted to give people an answer when they called, so I started doing tests every year. "What happens NOTHING six years of testing beaches and watching the water get more and more polluted while nothing happens." "It's not even part of my job," he adds, more for his own benefit than mine. 'GO TO VERMONT' "Now I tell them to go to Vermont." Over the past seven years studies have shown consistently high coliform bacteria counts.

Last summer, in addition to the eight beaches closed by the province, another seven were closed by municipalities because of pollution. The pattern is the same this summer. The results come in They submit recommendations And more beaches are closed by summer's end The problem stems mainly from a very elementary domestic sewage system But this is not new There are over 100 outlets of sewage directly into the St Lawrence River around Montreal. of them are about 200 years old and proposals for an sewage treatment system date back to the turn of the century. The director of the MUC's Water Purification Department, Jean R.

Marcotte, says the first concrete steps were taken around 1930 to.