For much of its history half of Canada drove on the opposite side of the road from the other half. Ontario and Quebec drove on the right, while British Columbia and The Maritimes drove on the left. When New Brunswick changed sides of the road the year became wryly known as “The Year of Free Beef.”
Which side of the road to drive on hadn’t been written into law for thousands of years. Ancient Romans preferred to drive down the middle of the road, but when they encountered another wagon chose to pass them on their right, simply because most were right handed.
It was only in 1792, when massive new wagons were being used to transport goods and people, that the first road laws were written in France, confirming the ancient custom of driving on the right.
Britain, however, drove on the left hand side of the road. Allegedly this was because in the Middle Ages it enabled them to quickly pull out their sword and fight back if they were attacked.
In 1792 Pennsylvania became the first place in North America to impose a law to drive on the right, again because of large delivery wagons.
Soon after, the independent colonies that would later unite to become Canada followed suit in passing road laws.
However the future-provinces disagreed on what side of the road to drive on.
Quebec, with its French history, had always driven on the right. Owing to its early history being united with Quebec, Ontario also drove on the right.
However British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland all drove on the left because of their close British ties.
This was not streamlined in Confederation. It likely simply was not a priority. Roads were few and in terrible condition, and most long distance travel was done by train or steamship.
This unique situation in which different parts of the same country drove on different sides of the road remained for decades, until after the First World War.
It was now The Roaring 20s in the Maritimes, the economy was booming and ownership of the brand new automobile was increasing dramatically, especially in New Brunswick.
There, the powerful Minister of Public Works, Peter Veniot, launched one of the most ambitious construction projects in Canada, building a network of 1200 miles of modern roads (and 4500 bridges) spanning the province. New Brunswick devoted an incredible one third of its budget to road construction, the costs of which were recouped in part by a series of levies and taxes on automobiles. Peter Veniot became known as “Good Roads Veniot.”
The new roads often meandered through indirect routes in scenic areas. The opposition accused “Good Roads Veniot” of using road construction to buy votes, but these scenic routes made New Brunswick a 1920s tourist hotspot among American car owners.
American car owners, including sports and silent film stars, flooded the province largely due to the tourism promotion of Fredericton’s Doug Black, who understood how to market the new roads to American car owners.
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia agreed to change at the same time to driving on the right, bringing the Mainland Maritime provinces in line with the rest of North America.
However, due to complicated internal political turmoil Nova Scotia disallowed its own Legislation after it was passed, deciding to keep driving on the left.
New Brunswick decided to go forward with the change alone.
A massive public information campaign was launched to inform the public the rules would change on December 1st 1922. The unadorned and functional slogan of the campaign was “Turn to the Right Instead of the Left.”
The slogan was ubiquitous, plastered all over billboards, newspapers, silent film newsreels, and radio.
In a modern sense the unavoidable slogan became a meme, and was cut up and incorporated by citizens and businesses as a well known reference, a pun, as a joke.
Saint John’s Imperial Theater urged customers to “Turn to the right” and come into their theater.
C. H. Thomas Tailors had a “Turn to the right — we’re cutting our prices right down” sale.
Fredericton’s Peoples Benefit Store advertised “Turn To The Right Goods At The Right Prices.”
J. H. Flemming, Fredericton’s Haberdasher, extolled customers to “Turn to the Right. You wont get left if you purchase your Xmas Gifts from us.”
A Fredericton man wrote a sullen editorial to the Daily Gleaner lamenting that “the right girls had turned to the wrong” because young women were too busy drinking and dancing to date him.
On December 1st 1922, The Moncton Transcript ran a headline warning “GO SLOW AND TURN TO THE RIGHT.” The paper reported major delays at the Nova Scotia border as cars and wagons dealt with confusion.
In the province’s largest city, Saint Johners seemingly reverted back to Ancient Roman times with The Daily Telegraph reporting “drivers registered complaints about slow moving vehicles holding to the middle of the street.”
The Daily Gleaner reported no accidents in Fredericton but alluded to what would would soon become a curious side effect of the change: “the chief difficulty so far has been with the horses, which have been accustomed to turn to the left and have not realized their age old habits must now be changed. Delivery horses which were left standing by their driver on the right side of the road today were seen to go to the left side of the road where they had been accustomed to stand.”
These public policy changes brought about a curious twist — the year after the road change when 1923 became jokingly known as “The Year Of Free Beef.”
Cars were expensive, and many Maritimers could not afford them. The cheaper method of transportation was wagons pulled by oxen.
Oxen, simply put, are not very bright.
The famously stubborn beasts had learned to pull their wagons on the left and refused to change.
It was much easier to just train a new ox to drive on the right then it was to retrain an old ox.
Having no use for their old oxen who refused to “Turn to the Right”, many were sold to slaughterhouses. Because of the sheer numbers, the price of beef went down. The day after the “turn to the right” the wholesale price of beef in New Brunswick was 12 and half cents a pound, which would be worth $2/lb in today’s money. Six months later it would be three cents a pound.
Only one year after New Brunswick’s change, Nova Scotia and British Columbia also made the switch, and the year after that PEI did too. Newfoundland would drive on the left until 1947.
