No relief in sight Only public washroom on Trans-Canada between Winnipeg and Ontario border latest service to be cut by provincial government By: Bill Redekop  Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, May. 22, 2018 Last Modified: 9:56 AM CDT Wednesday, May. 23, 2018 Updates

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This article was published 21/05/2018 (2422 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEAR PRAWDA — The only public rest station on the Trans-Canada Highway between Winnipeg and the Ontario border is the latest in a steady stream of cuts planned by the provincial government.

And there was no holding back for those using the facilities at Pinegrove rest area Tuesday as word of the cut leaked out.

“It’s a fiasco,” said Wayne Lovenuk. “What we should do is lock up all the washrooms at the legislature for a week and see if the politicians change their minds.”

Added his wife Penny: “You’ll have to cross your legs until you get to Kenora.”

An online petition the couple started to save the rest area went up at 10 p.m. Sunday. By 2 p.m. Monday, more than 800 people had signed it, and more than 300 had commented.

Lovenuk started Zack’s Burger Bus at the rest stop in 2000, closed it when his previous wife died in 2012, then reopened it last year. He can’t open this year because of the government’s decision.

But the province says the lifespan of the lagoon that services Pinegrove has expired. “To retrofit the lagoon will be $1.6 million,” Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler said Tuesday. “It will soon become an environmental issue.”

What caught Lovenuk by surprise was Schuler’s comment that the rest stop will remain open until the fall. A government letter to Lovenuk May 10 told him he cannot reopen his burger bus this year at the site.

“Manitoba Infrastructure is no longer seeking a food service contractor for this site. The rest stop will be closed and the washroom facilities will be removed,” states the letter to Lovenuk from Manitoba Infrastructure deputy minister Bram Strain.

Schuler maintained people travelling the highway have made it clear they prefer stopping where there are services other than washrooms. There are restaurants and gas bars 20 kilometers on either side of Pinegrove, which is between Richer and Prawda.

“Especially, families with young children want a little more services than washrooms,” he said.

People stopping at the shady rest area Tuesday didn’t agree with the province.

“It absolutely sucks. I stop here every weekend” to and from a cottage in the Whiteshell, said motorcyclist Brad Soutter.

“I know they’re trying to save a buck but this isn’t the way to do it,” said fellow motorcyclist Blake Harris. Harris said this is the ideal place to stop with his kids because they can run around safely.

“Oh no,” said trucker Klass Wall, stopped at the rest area with a trailer-load of timber, when told of the closure. The rest area is set up for semis to park. Trucks sometimes line the lanes of the rest stop all night to get some rest, he said.

Wall said the Trans-Canada is used 24 hours a day, especially when it comes to commercial trucking. “It’s like New York City. It never sleeps,” he said. But the businesses along that stretch of highway where a trucker might use a washroom do sleep.

“It’s almost like home for me,” said Eclair Montague, a storm chaser employed by the Weather Network to collect data and get as close to storm centres as possible to shoot photographs and video.

Montague uses the rest stop daily when he’s collecting weather data or taking footage. The rest stop is well-lit, safe, wheelchair accessible, and has a pay phone.

Gorden Pritchard said he believes the country needs more public rest stops — not fewer. He said North Dakota has a higher ratio of rest stops, although the United States has been on a mission lately to close some of theirs.

Pritchard added the Trans-Canada is supposed to showcase the country. “How does removing a rest stop benefit Manitoba? This is on our national highway. This isn’t just some road going to a beach,” he said.

Lovenuk said it’s the third time Pinegrove has been shut down, including once during the Filmon government’s term when it closed for a few weeks but reopened after public pressure. “This has been a political football since the 1970s” when it first opened, he said.

The rest stop is in the middle of the divided highway of the TransCanada, with a washroom on each side. New washrooms were rebuilt only about seven years ago, said Lovenuk.

Pets like the rest stop, too. “The number of people who stop with their pets is unbelievable,” said Penny. “We had some people tell us their dogs bark if they pass the rest stop without stopping.”

CAA Manitoba, which usually sides with motorists, was sympathetic to the government’s position. “It’s a sad, nostalgic day for Pinegrove but there would be benefits for businesses along the way,” said CAA Manitoba spokeswoman Erika Miller. People may stop at businesses and make purchases, she said. 

As for times when nature calls unexpectedly, Miller said people need to take precautions. “It comes down to trip planning,” she said.

But the best laid plans often go awry, especially when kids are involved, commuters said, adding establishments that are open aren’t necessarily friendly to people using their washrooms if they don’t buy anything.

Pritchard often sees commercial trucks parked there. The rest stop is set up with long lanes for semis to park and use the facilities, grab a bite, take a nap, check their messages, or check their tires or their load.

That concerns Terry Shaw, executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association. “Do we want guys pulling over to the side of the road to do their checks?” he asked.

Shaw has asked the province for an explanation and wondered if it was part of a larger plan to reduce the number of rest stations. In the interview later on Tuesday, Schuler said it was not part of a larger plan.

“There will be more pee bottles on the side of the road,” said Penny. “It may be OK for a guy (to go in the ditch or bush) but what are women supposed to do?”

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca