The Great Canadian Holidays and Coaches summer tour through western Canada made a stop in Moose Jaw recently, with the 50-plus tourists and their guide joining local tourism guru Gord Johnson in checking out some of the sights the city has to offer.
That included the Tunnels of Moose Jaw and a special luncheon at the Western Development Museum, where tour members were treated to a delicious meal while learning a bit about Moose Jaw and Saskatchewan from various locals in attendance.
That was all by design, said tour director Bob Christy, and has become a popular part of any stop the group makes during their 22-day journey.
“I think it’s great,” Christy said. “The Tunnels of Moose Jaw are really fascinating, the actors do a bang-up job with a lot of humour, but people still get an education of history.
“Then when Gord comes, he always gives us an interesting overview of the history of Moose Jaw when we’re driving to the museum. And it’s always interesting for the passengers to sit down with someone local and just talk about the community and living here and growing up here. So it’s a great opportunity for people from the East to meet with people from the West.”
That aspect of the tour is precisely how and why Great Canadian Holidays came into existence, as Johnson explains.
“How they got started is there was the referendum in Quebec and they were going to leave confederation, so consequently, there was this couple in Ontario who wanted to create a bus company where they would have different kinds of inscriptions and photos on their buses with the idea of promoting Canadian unity,” Johnson said. “So through their tours through all of Canada, they can help people get in touch with other Canadians and just create that sense of togetherness… I think that’s very commendable. And now they have 55 buses travelling all over the country.”
The Moose Jaw stop came on Day 6 of the aforementioned 22-day sojourn, continuing through Okotoks and Calgary for the Stampede and a stop in Banff. Next up is Vancouver and Victoria, Port Hardy, a 15-hour ferry to Prince Rupert, a two-day train to Jasper and three days in that resort community that includes a trip along the spectacular Icefields Parkway. From there, it’s back to Calgary and a flight home.
“We always make sure there are a lot of interesting things to see and do and that everyone has a lot of fun,” Christy said. “It’s a pretty good trip and a pretty comprehensive trip.”
Having a chance to be a part of it all is just as much fun for Johnson, who has been the contact for Great Canadian in Moose Jaw for the last 14 years.
“We’ve really developed a lot of neat tourism attractions here, between the Tunnels and Tourism Moose Jaw, Mac the Moose, the trolley tours… there’s a lot of things to see and do here that are very interesting and it’s nice to have a chance to show people some of what Moose Jaw is about,” Johnson said.
