Father of the Trans-Canada Highway’s cross-Canada excursion remembered
HALIFAX — Perry Doolittle had a vision of connecting Canadians from coast to coast when he backed the tires of his Ford Model T into the Atlantic Ocean at the outset of a cross-country excursion almost a century ago.
Doolittle — known as the father of the Trans-Canada Highway — was a tireless advocate for the construction of a national roadway during a time when automobiles were not commonplace.
“People were leery of this thing that moved without a horse attached to it,” said Doolittle’s great-granddaughter Ruth Young. “But I believe he felt that this was a wave of the future.”
Young and two other great-grandchildren of Doolittle were in Halifax on Monday to accept a leadership award on his behalf from the Canadian Council of Independent Labs.