Some of Canada's most beautiful places are vanishing. Making the trek to see them will only accelerate their decline. Inside the last-chance tourism rush.
The Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Park is melting at a rate of about five metres per year. According to some researchers, the ash from this summer’s wildfire sped up the melting even further. I’ve never seen the glacier and wonder if I should visit before it’s too late. Or would such a trip be harmful to the environment and make everything worse? Christopher Lemieux, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, is a conservation social scientist who specializes in the study of protected environments. He thinks about these questions all the time. How much tourism is too much? Lemieux leads his students on trips to the Athabasca Glacier so they can experience the impact of climate change firsthand. But he wonders if the insights his students gain justify the carbon footprint they create. Lemieux’s story in the newly released November issue of Maclean’s is all about this dilemma and how it fits into a phenomenon called last-chance tourism—the rush to see dying coral reefs, shrinking glaciers and sinking archipelagos before they vanish. Canada has a booming last-chance tourism industry. The unforgiving Northwest Passage is now largely ice-free in the summer, making it possible for tourist boats to weave around the area’s islands. Expedition groups in Churchill, Manitoba promise polar bear and beluga whale sightings. Is this good for the local economy? A moral catastrophe? Both? Lemieux’s story wrestles with these questions, leaving no easy answer. —Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief |
For a city of just 11,000 people, Bromont, Quebec, isn’t short on entertainment for visitors; 1.6 million of them flock there each year to blow off steam. For those looking to gear down, there are galleries, gourmet restaurants and a handful of spas—including Balnea, which offers massages, thermotherapy and yoga on 80 acres within an 800-acre nature reserve. Inside the spa’s new outdoor extension, which offers an eco-friendly hideout for the winter-getaway crowd. |
While Marc-André Gagnon was a master’s student in organizational development at HEC Montréal in the late 2010s, he racked up credit bills, student loans and a line of credit. “Debt was common in my group of friends. I figured it was just part of being a student,” he writes in this feature for Maclean’s. But after he graduated, the pressure hit—and between his financial anxiety and juggling multiple jobs, he felt like a shell of a human. How a life on wheels helped him get back on track. |
Alongside his gourmet seafood steakhouse, burger joint, YouTube cooking channel and handyman role on FX’s The Bear, Canada’s coolest celebrity chef, Matty Matheson, has also cooked up three books in six years. This time, the loud and shouty East Coaster shifts his focus from caloric comfort food to appetizers and (somewhat) lighter fare. Salads include griddled salami panzanella and macaroni and tuna, while soups are served up with giant meatballs and sausages. It’s safe to say the chef isn’t going vegan anytime soon. —Rosemary Counter |
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