Editing Transportation in Canada (section)

==History==
The standard history covers the French regime, fur traders, the canals, and early roads, and gives extensive attention to the railways.<ref>G.P. de T. Glazebrook, ''A history of transportation in Canada'' (1938; reprinted 1969)</ref>

===European contact===
Prior to the arrival of European settlers, [[Aboriginal peoples in Canada]] walked. They also used  [[canoe]]s, [[kayak]]s, [[umiak]]s and [[Bull Boat]]s, in addition to the [[snowshoe]], [[toboggan]] and [[sled]] in winter. They had no wheeled vehicles, and no animals larger than dogs.

Europeans adopted canoes as they pushed deeper into the continent's interior, and were thus able to travel via the waterways that fed from the [[St. Lawrence River]] and [[Hudson Bay]].<ref>[http://www.collectionscanada.ca/virtual-vault/ Virtual Vault], an online exhibition of Canadian historical art at Library and Archives Canada</ref>

In the 19th century and early 20th century transportation relied on harnessing oxen to ''[[Red River ox cart]]s'' or horse to wagon. Maritime transportation was via manual labour such as canoe or wind on sail. Water or land travel speeds was approximately {{convert|8|to|15|km/h|0|abbr=on}}.<ref name="GeoOfTrans">{{cite web | last =Rodrigue | first = Dr. Jean-Paul | title = Historical Geography of Transportation - Part I | work = Dept. of Economics & Geography | publisher = Hofstra University | date = 1998–2008 | url =http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch1en/conc1en/ch1c3_1en.html | access-date = January 18, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080112113050/http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch1en/conc1en/ch1c3_1en.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = January 12, 2008}}</ref>

Settlement was along river routes. Agricultural commodities were perishable, and trade centres were within {{convert|50|km|0|abbr=on}}. Rural areas centred around villages, and they were approximately {{convert|10|km|0|abbr=on}} apart. The advent of [[Steam locomotive|steam railways]] and [[Steamboat|steamships]] connected resources and markets of vast distances in the late 19th century.<ref name="GeoOfTrans"/> Railways also connected city centres, in such a way that the traveller went by sleeper, railway hotel, to the cities. Crossing the country by train took four or five days, as it still does by car. People generally lived within {{convert|5|mi|0|abbr=on}} of the [[downtown]] core thus the train could be used for inter-city travel and the [[tram]] for commuting.

The advent of [[controlled-access highway]]s in Canada established [[ribbon development]], truck stops, and industrial corridors along throughways.

===Evolution===
{{Blockquote|Different parts of the country are shut off from each other by [[Cabot Strait]], the [[Strait of Belle Isle]], by areas of rough, rocky forest terrain, such as the region lying between New Brunswick and Quebec, the areas north of Lakes [[Lake Huron|Huron]] and [[Lake Superior|Superior]], dividing the industrial region of Ontario and Quebec from the agricultural areas of the [[Canadian Prairies|prairies]], and the barriers interposed by the mountains of British Columbia|The Canada Year Book 1956<ref name="Year">{{Cite journal |last=Howe |first=C.D. |author-link=C. D. Howe |journal=Canada Year Book – Information Services Division – Dominion Bureau of Statistics | title=The Official Handbook of Present Conditions and Recent Progress |place=Ottawa, Ontario |publisher=Kings Printer and Controller of Stationery |year=1956 |pages=713 to 791}}</ref>}}

The Federal Department of Transport (established November 2, 1936) supervised railways, canals, harbours, marine and shipping, civil aviation, radio and meteorology. The Transportation Act of 1938 and the amended Railway Act, placed control and regulation of carriers in the hands of the Board of Transport commissioners for Canada. The Royal Commission on Transportation was formed December 29, 1948, to examine transportation services to all areas of Canada to eliminate economic or geographic disadvantages. The commission also reviewed the Railway Act to provide uniform yet competitive freight-rates.<ref name="Year"/>