Surely, the country’s longest commute is in Toronto. Right?
Actually, no.
Cape Bretoner Leslee Nicholson drives five hours each way to work, three days a week, to get to her “dream job” in downtown Halifax.
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Nicholson gets up at 2 a.m. at her Victoria Mines, Cape Breton Co. home.
She’s on the road by three. Five hours and 435 kilometres later, she gets to work for 8:30 a.m. She spends $150 a week on gas, and doesn’t get home till 9 or 9:30 p.m.
“People think I’m crazy,” Nicholson laughs.
Most people move to Nova Scotia to get away from commutes far shorter than Nicholson’s, but she does this one willingly.
When she got a new job with the provincial Labour and Workforce Development Department last June, her daughter, Jessie, 14, wanted to finish her Grade 9 year in Whitney Pier. So Nicholson’s doing the killer commute till the school year ends.
Two days a week, she works from the department’s Sydney office, just a seven-minute hop away.
Yesterday, Goodyear Canada named Nicholson Canada’s Longest Commuter. A survey commissioned by the company suggests most Canadians travel a more reasonable 63 minutes each day. One-quarter of us say we’d take a pay cut in return for a shorter commute.
But Nicholson says it’s not so bad, because she’s so much happier in her job now: “I have more energy on the weekends.”
She’s a bit afraid of the winter months, though, and she’s got a message for drivers: Slow down.
“Every day, I see at least one car in the ditch.”
